Director: Barry Jenkins
Cast: Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, Tiffany Boone, Donald Glover, Mads Mikkelsen, Thandiwe Newton, Lennie James, Anika Noni Rose, Blue Ivy Carter, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
Screenplay: Jeff Nathanson
118 mins. Rated PG for action/violence, peril and some thematic elements.

While many have been outraged at Disney’s recent uptick in live-action adaptations of their franchises, the movies have mostly made money, and a few of them have been pretty good, or even great. For me, I’m not upset at the idea (the originals are all still there), I’m far more interested in what comes…next. Sure, the 2019 Lion King is a technical marvel, but it’s just so tied to the 1994 film that any negatives become glaring. I want to know where we go with the story next. The follow-up, from prestige director Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), goes in the opposite direction, a prequel told by Rafiki to young Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter) all set in the past, and it’s a powerful and tragic tale seen through the lens of a Disney semi-Shakespeare adaptation.

Mufasa is the story of…well, young Mufasa (Aaron Pierre, Old) and his rise from a lone cub in search of his lost family to the Lion King of the Pride Lands. After he’s saved by Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr., Elvis), Mufasa is taken into a pride of lions and put under the care of lioness Eshe (Thandiwe Newton, The Pursuit of Happyness). As he bonds with the young Taka and the two friends become brothers, they are set on a course of tragedy when their pride is set upon by Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen, Doctor Strange) and his band of Outsider lions.

I found Mufasa to be an improvement upon its predecessor in almost every way. I appreciated the 2019 Lion King remake as an experimental approach to “live-action” and computer-generated technique, but it never really stood out from the film it was remaking. While some may view Mufasa as less-realistically rendered with the 2019 film, which may be true, but in some of its sacrificing of realism to create expression and emotion within its character portrayals. The 2019 film took things so realistically that it was hard to mine any emotion from the various animal characters because animals don’t show emotion in the same way that we as humans do, so that connection is missing. In Mufasa, the animals cry when they’re sad, smile when they’re happy, but always just enough to create relatable emotion in the character movements.

This prequel/sequel makes some interesting additions to the mythology of Mufasa and Scar, and the nostalgic callbacks to previous Lion King films are not overdone, and because the film spans many years, it’s perfectly reasonable for the film to provide so many pivotal setups to its predecessor. Mufasa ends up being an origin not just for Mufasa and Scar, but also Rafiki and Sarabi and even Zazu to an extent, and it mostly works.

Apart from having a slightly underwhelming finale, Mufasa only really struggles with its music. Much like Moana 2 from this year, Mufasa has music, but it doesn’t have that same impact of its predecessor’s music. There are a few solid numbers, and they do have bearing on the story, but they are missing that punch. Perhaps it would’ve been better to just not include musical numbers this time around.

Mufasa: The Lion King was intense, emotional, and exciting, and John Kani’s narration as Rafiki was an interesting tether to lay a framing device, setting up a possible future adaptation of The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride (certainly one of the better direct-to-video sequels). The new additions to the cast are solid enough, and Jenkins does a fine job putting together his first big-budget studio tentpole, crafting a thought-provoking prequel that is as exciting as it is tragic.

4/5
-Kyle A. Goethe

For my review of Jon Favreau’s The Lion King, click here.
For my review of Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight, click here.
For my review of Barry Jenkins’s If Beale Street Could Talk, click here.