My Review of Mufasa: The Lion King (2024)

 

Written by Jeff Nathanson 

Directed by Barry Jenkins 

Taka: "You stole my destiny!"

I can't believe I'm about to say this but after the rather underwhelming photorealistic version of The Lion King from 2019, I'm genuinely surprised that a prequel I had written off as a desperate cash grab managed to be surprisingly entertaining. I'm shocked.

Serving as both a prequel to and a sort of sequel to the 2019 movie it spawned from, we open with Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter) being looked after by Pumbaa (Seth Rogan) and Timon (Billy Eichner) while Simba (Donald Glover) and Nala (Beyonce Knowles-Carter) are elsewhere. Kiara's worried for her parents but at least Rafiki (John Kani) has a story to entertain her for most of the movie's runtime.

The story of being about her grandfather, Mufasa (Aaron Pierre/Braelyn and Brielle Rankins) and it's a bit of a doozy. Yup, at a young age and involving a flood, Mufasa ended up losing his parents, Masego (Keith David) and Afia (Anika Noni Rose) but fortunately for Mufasa, he also fell into a new pride who mostly accepted him.

The pride consisting of ineffectual king Obasi (Lennie James), Eshe (Thandiwe Newton) and their son, Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr/Theo Somolu). Obasi didn't particularly care for Mufasa but Eshe and Taka did with the latter forming quite the brotherly bond with Mufasa. Actually, it's rather sweet in spite of knowing that it was eventually going to revolve as a relationship.

The arrival of the white lions led by Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen) gave the movie some genuinely nasty antagonists. Kiros was such a vicious character, he had no problem getting his own sisters to kill pride members who failed him. However the death of his son had him going up against Obasi's pride and in particular, Mufasa and Taka.

Add in the introductions of characters like Sarabi (Tiffany Boone) and Zazu (Preston Nyman) and this prequel felt completed. A love triangle between Mufasa, Sarabi and Taka had the latter betray everyone to Kiros before another flood took out the villainous lion and Taka then became known as Scar. Yes, we got an origin story for his name.

The rest of the movie then reunited Mufasa with his biological mother, paired him with Sarabi while in the present for Kiara, she learned that she now had a baby brother. It's a nice ending that also felt like a potential lead into another movie of sorts.

- James Earl Jones sadly passed away before the movie's release. Archive recordings of his Mufasa are heard at the start and the movie was dedicated to him.

- Milele, which was frequently mentioned in the movie became Pride Rock towards the end.

- Standout music: I Always Wanted A Brother, We Go Together and Tell Me It's You.

- Chronology: Not long from where the events of The Lion King took place. Pumbaa and Timon mentioned knowing Simba for six years.

I didn't have high hopes for Mufasa: The Lion King but I was pleasantly surprised with it. It's not quite as awesome (or contradictory) a prequel as Cruella turned out to be but I liked it more than it's 2019 predecessor and that I didn't see coming.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The Lion King (2019)

 

Written by Jeff Nathanson

Directed by Jon Favreau

Simba: "My father once told me: protect everything the light touches, if I don't fight for it who will?"

Earlier this month, I wrote a long overdue review for the animated movie and with Mufasa: The Lion King coming out this week, it was finally time to actually watch this live action taken on the iconic 1994 movie.

I got to be honest, part of the reason why I held off watching this was down to the fact that it looked so bland and almost colourless from thr trailers. Gone was the vibrancy of the animated movie for this version.

As a movie, it's a bit too dull and muted and especially during scenes where the colour needed to pop. Like most live action adaptations, it largely stuck to what the original movie with a little bit of character expansion here and there.

Once again, Simba (Donald Glover/JD McCrary) was destined to succeed his father, Mufasa (James Earl Jones) and once again, Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) enlisted the help of hyenas Shenzi (Florence Kasumba), Kamari (Keegan-Michael Key) and Azizi (Eric Andre) to usurp both Mufasa and Simba as King of Pride Rock.

There's a bit more time spent on seeing Scar's ruling ruin the Pride Lands with both Sarabi (Alfre Woodard) and Nala (Beyonce Knowles-Carter/Shahadi Wright Joseph) determined to put a stop to Scar. Nala did so by actually reuniting with Simba, albeit she wasn't too thrilled with his friendship with both Pumbaa (Seth Rogan) and Timon (Billy Eichner).

As you can tell, the last act played out the same between Simba and Scar with a side battle of sorts between Nala and Shenzi to fill up the time. Add some choice moments with Zazu (John Oliver) and Rafiki (John Kani) throughout the movie and it's just a race to the finish line for this one.

- Some new characters included a guinea fowl, a bushbaby, an elephant shrew, and an impala but they had little to do.

- James Earl Jones was the only actor from the 1994 movie to reprise his role. Scar was a more scraggly but lighter coloured lion compared to his animated counterpart.

- Standout music: Same as the 1994 but not as good if I'm being honest.

- Chronology: An unspecified time in the Pride Lands of Tanzania.

I didn't hate this version of The Lion King but I'd be lying if I said I loved it. Compared to it's animated counterpart, it feels very bland by comparison, more than I thought it would. I was largely underwhelmed by it.

Rating: 6 out of 10