'Mufasa: The Lion King' is Duller Than a Rock in Africa
Everything the light touches turns to boredom. Mufasa: The Lion King is an uninspired, tiring, cliche written mess of a prequel that manages to be even worse than the abysmal live-action, I'm sorry, photorealistic first film. Disney is a company that holds no franchise sacred. That's never more apparent in all these dreadful live-action action remakes than when a story about a bunch of talking animals from Africa comes to life. Or more like the living dead. Some stories don't need to be interpreted as live-action, and others don't need sequels. Mufasa: The Lion King is the case where you don't need either.
The movie starts before the Lion King, but not in Mufasa's story. We begin with Rafiki (John Kani), who goes with Simba (Donald Glover) to a cave, where he tells him about his father's story. The movie frequently cuts between the cave and Mufasa's (Aaron Pierre) past to remind the audience that this is a Lion King film. The movie didn't need to keep cutting to a young Simba as it has nothing to do with Mufasa's rise to king. Mufasa has a direct-to-video quality where the production values are that of a AAA movie but the narrative qualities of a film you'd find on a Blockbuster shelf in the kid's section. Yes, I'm that old to reference Blockbuster as a way to see a movie.
Yet the film's unnecessary content has the value of a totally forgettable movie that only exists to service the fans while providing no new information that can help our characters grow. When we cut to a young Mufasa, he encounters a terrible flood that separates him from his parents. After a series of other events, Mufasa must grow from the kind lion that he is into a steadfast, brave leader. It's not hard when seeing this movie to guess how Mufasa became the Lion King. It's a very dull path that leads to more of the same musical numbers and bloodless animal fights we are familiar with.
Songs like "When I Am King" or "I Will Walk with You in the End" just don't have the same ring as the tunes from the original film. And this film knows it. It can't help but reference one of the original's songs at one point with a slight derivation in its lyrics to pander to fans. Sadly, Mufasa is exactly that. Pandering. How we see the relationship between Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and Mufasa develop is forced. Without spoiling anything, although you can easily guess what I'm referencing, Taka's transformation feels rushed. It was like the screenwriters remembered this particular element of the film has to happen because that's what the fans remember. More so, if Disney really wanted to make money, they could have made a third film called Taka: A Lion King Story. Instead of making Taka's twist nuanced, it's simplified for a children's audience.
Sure, it's not meant to be Shakespeare, although The Lion King always had a Shakespearian element to its performances. James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons elevated the material into something more performative than the usual kid's movie voices. Furthermore, why can't a Disney movie be more nuanced? Toy Story's existentialism is profound. There's a reason adults cry when they reach the third movie's ending.
Just like the first remake, Mufasa is very pretty to look at but flat underneath. The dead-eyed animals from the first film have a tad more life in this one, but not nearly enough to make anyone discernable. Throughout the film, I had trouble figuring out who was who because everyone looked the same. It's not like a cartoon where exaggerated expressions and hilites make each character distinguishable.
When you don't know which lion is which and your story has more stuffing of new characters than a Thanksgiving turkey, you are left with a film that's inferior to an already weak predecessor and will be long forgotten. I wish I could say this was the end of it. But there are more live-action monstrosities from the magical kingdom heading our way.
