“Mufasa: The Lion King,” the photorealistic animated movie from Disney, a film which serves as both a prequel and a sequel to 1994’s “The Lion King,” and its 2019 “live-action,” remake, is an excellent case study in what makes movies tremendous and what diminishes their potency and mighty roar.
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Well-crafted technically and visually constructed by filmmaker Barry Jenkins—though Disney might have as well directed it in some regards—the movie has a worthy drama at its center, a tale of brotherhood and bonds, royalty and the privilege and entitlement that surround it, the fallacy of élite bloodlines, nepotism, false monarchs, envy, inferiority complexes and more.
It’s, honestly, also just an origin story for Mufasa and a certain iconic villain. Still, there’s so much rousing, archetypal texture and contour to all that it examines that it’s mostly forgivable.
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But the true problems at the ‘Mufasa’ core are its lack of conviction in itself, its really great story and the way it’s been forced to bow to the obligations of fanservice, nostalgia and franchise demands.
What does that mean specifically, since those criticisms are often glib and facilely used? Two things, actually. One: it’s filled with songs—as the franchise is known for, obviously, that’s not a surprise— but not only are they not especially memorable, but more crucially, they rob the narrative of its momentum and delay the captivating drama, often stopping it dead in its tracks. Two: there’s a framing device throughout the film; it’s a bit of fan service from the original films that include Rafiki (John Kani), Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) and Timon (Billy Eichner), but again, the actual crime isn’t just their appearance per se, it’s suspending the main narrative drive with padding that’s not necessary or very compelling.
So “Mufasa: The Lion King” begins with a prologue: Simba (Donald Glover) and Nala (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter) have to leave their daughter Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter) behind, and so he is babysat by Pumbaa and Timon, and the mystic mandrill Rafiki. An anxious and worried Kiara is soothed with a story about the legend of his grandfather, Mufasa (voiced by Aaron Pierre)
The real tale is epic, long and seemingly tragic: a young Mufasa (Braelyn Rankins) is separated from his parents during a great flood and loses them all together. Orphaned, he finds his way into a new pride and is adopted by the Lion Queen Eshe (Thandiwe Newton), the mother of Prince Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). But the xenophobic Obasi (Lennie James), disdainful of other lions and blinded by myths of dangerous outsiders who will encroach on their territory, wants nothing to do with Mufasa and treats him with great contempt (Obasi is basically your everyday Republican, hateful, ruled by fear).
Eventually, the skillful and very capable Mufasa, who has essentially become Taka’s loyal brother, earns Obasi’s trust by saving Eshe in an attack by challenging lions, triggering Taka’s inadequacy as he cowers and retreats in feather rather than helping save his mother.
This rival pride of wicked white lions is run by the malevolent Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen), hellbent on tyranny and destroying Obasi’s bloodline. Obsessed with his legacy and pedigree, Obasi then commands his son to run away and start a new pride, ordering Mufasa to go with and protect him. However, the message is clear, and Taka’s pride has been wounded: he may be the royal heir apparent, but everyone knows Mufasa is more courageous and capable.
What ensues is essentially a long voyage and predators and prey drama: Mufasa and Taka, eventually joined by a young Rafiki, the orphaned lioness Sarabi (Tiffany Boone) and her hornbill scout Zazu (Preston Nyman), head towards a mythical land beyond the horizon for a hopeful, but potentially naïve salvation.
But on their odyssey, this pack of disparate misfits is hunted by Kiros’ deadly white lion pride. And this main plot is terrific, classic in its Biblical toying of Cain and Abel-like sibling tropes; notions of jealousy, envy, the personal inadequacy that breeds bitterness, and the resentful entitlement that comes from those born into silver spoon privilege, but are outshined by the ordinary, nonetheless. Bonds are tested on this adventure, and eventually, the true colors of each main character are revealed.
However, again, “Mufasa: The Lion King” and its absorbing story are often marred by the elements above: songs and framing device flashbacks that interrupt drama and conflict and create a scattered feeling.
The songs (Lin-Manuel Miranda) aren’t bad, but like the story-within-the-story narrative device, they are deeply frustrating at disturbing something much more gripping.
The framing device and book ends, however, are even worse. They often feel like an excuse to call back to characters you already know and love. Furthermore, instead of featuring comic relief itself, like all good four quadrant movies such as this does, ‘Mufasa’ entirely relies on this Pumbaa/Timon jocularity that it cuts back to often as really the one source of levity. To add insult to injury, the running Pumbaa/Timon gag is a meta-one about filmmaking, audiences, and would-be-clever and winky ’Lion King’ references that are eye-rollingly out of place, especially given the classical nature of the story.
Our pejorative above about the director—Disney as the director— isn’t really aimed at its filmmaker, Barry Jenkins himself. The film looks perfect; its technical craft is impeccable, the score rousing, the editing crisp, etc. etc. But there’s a Disney-like anonymity to it, and if you told me Jon Favreau directed it or any number of filmmakers who have made photorealistic animated movies, I would believe you.
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And yes, that’s feature, not a bug of making one of these films through the Disney machine, but if you’re looking for Barry Jenkins’ particular very-human voice in here, you’re likely not going to find it other than the emotional stakes of everything feel tremendous, potent and Shakespearean in the same sense of the original movie; woundingly primal ideas of Scriptural betrayal, corrosive resent, the ugliness of tribalism, fear-based rulers, tyranny and more.
“Mufasa: The Lion King” could have been a very great and worthy ‘Lion King’ successor, but thanks to the perceived requirements of what this franchise demands, it’s only just a good one, which is a shame, given its regal and majestic potential. [B-]
“Mufasa: The Lion King” opens via Disney on December 20, 2024.