(Image credit: Disney Enterprises Inc.)
The first part of this remake “never really picks up steam” — “couldn’t the talented artists involved have better things to do with their time?”
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When Disney’s CEO announced in February that the studio would start relying more on “sequels and franchises,” he wasn’t kidding. This year has already seen the release of Inside Head 2 and Moana 2, and now Mufasa: The Lion King, the prequel to the photorealistic 2019 remake of the 1994 animated hit .
Yes, we are talking about the remake prequel. And yes, as pointless as that explanation sounds. This contrived cash-in may be worth watching all the way through on Disney+ if you’re a die-hard fan of The Lion King, but like many prequels, it begs questions no one asked in the first place. A huge amount of thought and energy is spent answering the question. When did Simba’s father Mufasa meet his wife Sarabi? Where did Rafiki the mandrill get his staff? How did Zazu the hornbill become Mufasa’s right-hand man (or right-legged bird)? Is it? The film is directed by Barry Jenkins, who created the Oscar-winning Moonlight, and features songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, one of the most respected Hollywood and Broadway songwriters of his generation. Could the talented artists participating make better use of their time?
But the big question this movie answers is how a dastardly lion named Mufasa (Aaron Pierre) ends up in the idyllic Pride Lands with his friend later known as Scar (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). The question is, have you found the path? Because it contradicts everything established in The Lion King. As you may remember, the gist of the original movie is that Mufasa’s son Simba is the youngest son of a monarch who has protected the Pride Lands for generations, and that Mufasa’s younger brother Scar is trying to take his place in the pecking order. It meant he was angry. But perhaps someone at Disney was uncomfortable with its feudal premise, so they scrapped it in favor of a more complex, egalitarian origin story. The thing is, this democratic new version fits the lore so well that the producers would be better off renaming the movie “Mufasa: Lion Chancellor.” That’s as bad as Padme being “chosen” to be queen of her planet at the age of 14 in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
Anyway, the movie opens with the news that Simba (Donald Glover) and his wife Nala (Beyoncé) are about to have a baby, and they head into the woods without telling their daughter Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter) where they’re going. It disappears. why. (The motives for this strangely bad parenting are never explained.) Chiara’s babysitters are Timon the meerkat (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa the warthog (Seth Rogen), and they sit in a cave together and watch Rafiki (John Kani) tells Chiara: her grandfather Mufasa; After this unnecessarily long and complicated setup, the main story begins. (Spoiler alert)
It turns out that Mufasa is not of royal blood, despite having a name that means “king.” As a baby, Mufasa lives happily with his family, but there comes a time when one of Disney’s favorite childhood traumas occurs. Mufasa’s father dies in a flood, and Mufasa is swept away to a faraway region. There he meets the spoiled future Scar, now named Taka. The two grow up together as siblings, but then another childhood trauma occurs. A pride of white lions called the Outsiders invades their territory and kills Taka’s father. Mufasa and Taka must escape, but it is already clear that one has become noble and brave, and the other bitter and deceitful.
Mufasa: The Lion King
Director: Barry Jenkins
Starring: Aaron Pierre, Beyoncé, Donald Glover, Blue Ivy Carter, Preston Nyman
Running time: 1 hour 58 minutes
This series of unfortunate events raises more questions than answers. First, why are so many fathers killed in the Lion King series? Second, why does Rafiki have this disturbing and tragic story to tell worried little Chiara? Did they think it was suitable? The question we have to ask is whether Mufasa and Hawk’s journey will take them to the Pride Lands before they are cornered by the Outsiders, but of course we saw The Lion King. People know they will be successful. There is no sense of tension. Their journey includes lots of running through grasslands and climbing through trees, but the camera turns and shakes so violently that they’re advised to take seasickness pills. However, the movie never gains momentum.
At least there are some great views to admire along the way. As Mufasa and the hawk are on the move, the various colorful landscapes are more varied and appealing than the monotonous brown backgrounds of The Lion King. However, the same is not true for CGI animals, which are less naturalistic and less characterful than their 2019 counterparts. One problem is that photorealistic lion faces aren’t the most expressive, nor do they look particularly different from each other. In the 2019 movie, that didn’t really matter because the lions were usually interacting with other species. But the new movie could be visually monotonous, as it’s about a lion talking to other lions while being chased by more lions. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out which lion is which.
(Credit: Disney Enterprises, Inc.)
The animation is not the only problem with Mufasa: The Lion King. In fact, the quality of all the components is a notch or two worse than their Lion King counterparts. Miranda’s songs show off his magic with scansion and rhyming schemes, but they don’t have the karaoke-friendly melodies of Elton John or Tim Rice songs. And with each addition to the franchise, the voice cast gets worse. Zazu was voiced by Rowan Atkinson in 1994, John Oliver took over the role in 2019, and the role is currently held by Preston Nyman, who has no comic talent for either. Similarly, Scar was played by the great actor Jeremy Irons in the comics and Chiwetel Ejiofor in the remake, but this time he will be played by Kelvin Harrison Jr., but he hasn’t decided which accent to use. As for poor Aaron Pierre in the title role, his voice deepens to the incredibly rich and expansive tones of James Earl Jones, who played Mufasa in the previous two Lion King films. Should we believe it will happen? That’s as ridiculous as the idea that Jake Lloyd or Hayden Christensen could grow up to be Darth Vader.
The worst part of the film is Jeff Nathanson’s boring screenplay, in which Mufasa plods through Africa, bumping into various members of the supporting cast and having boring soul-searching conversations that sound like therapy sessions. There are also periodic interruptions, such as the film cutting back while Rafiki tells his story and Timon and Pumbaa cracking post-modern jokes. These interludes add some welcome comic relief, but they also serve as a reminder that there’s little humor in the central story. “This story is to die for,” Pumbaa groans at one point. “I need a bathroom break!” Viewers will know what he’s thinking.
★★☆☆☆
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