The Island Cinephile

Mufasa: The Lion King – Say Bye-bye to Disney’s Golden Era of Film

Directed by Barry Jenkins

“A flea can trouble a lion more than a lion can trouble a flea.“

Rafiki

To conduct a fair review of Mufasa: The Lion King, I reviewed The Lion King as a refresher. Unlike the animated version which encompassed the magic of Disney, the live action prequel falls short of that. The film starts with Simba and Nala who leave to an oasis to prepare to give birth to another cub. As long-life friends, Simba requests Timon and Pumbaa to babysit Kiara, their first cub. They acquiesce and sometime during this they are visited by Rafiki. Upon Kiara’s curiosity, he begins to share the story of Kiara’s grandfather – Mufasa.

I love how the film tried at making the live action characters much more expressive than the National Geographic feature film that is the first live action. Though, I am still not a fan of hyper-realistic characters; CGI makes them appear dull. The beauty, the magic and vibrant colors, have been sacrificed in the pursuit of realism.

Mufasa, initially voiced by the late James Earl Jones, is now voiced by Aaron Pierre. Pierre does a solid job at voicing the future King of the Pride Lands, but he was unable to capture the necessary power and emotion that Jones gave Mufasa. Taka, voiced by Kelvin Harrison Jr., also did a fine job at voicing the soon-to-be Scar. Though, the British accent in Botswana threw me off for a bit. Rafiki’s voice actor, John Kani, achieved the necessary depth to carry such a heavy character. Also, I would say that Mads Mikkelsen brought Kiros to life as he seemed like a genuine threat. Timon and Pumbaa, portrayed through Billy Eichner and Seth Rogan, erred on unnecessary with dull quips showcased as humor. It seemed that the comedy fared better in the animation because of the witty dialogue and how it aided character development. I fear the prequel lacks this inspired dialogue or in-depth characterization, which makes a lot of the scenes fall flat. The focus on several characters also detracted from the time needed to establish any emotional connection between them and the audience.

For a musical, the songs were tolerable but not as memorable as the original. In the 1997 version, an original score had been crafted by Hans Zimmer, along with five original songs created by Tim Rice and Elton John. The music of the original held so much warmth and kept in line with the plot. Our prequel reused themes from Zimmer’s original score under the production of Dave Metzger, with songs written by Lin-Manuel-Miranda and Nicholas Britell. But it felt off-beat when the produced songs seemed far removed from the Tanzania pride lands. There were two commercially successful songs from the film being “I Always Wanted a Brother” and “Tell Me It’s You” which counts for something.

Evidently, Mufasa: The Lion King is an entertaining prequel created for the new generation. However, it lacks its former magic. More work needed to be done on character development, dialogue, songs, and plot which all made the original animation so successful.

Watch trailer for Mufasa: The Lion King.