MUFASA: THE LION KING (2024)

After the confounding experience that was Jon Favreau’s 2019 reinterpretation of animated classic The Lion King (1994), there could never be any surprises in store for the Disney franchise. Half a decade since that movie’s release, I didn’t bat an eye when the two films advertised during the screening of Mufasa: The Lion King were a live-action Snow White and a Lilo & Stitch movie with photorealistic animation. This is par for the course for these beloved children’s films, whose reinterpretations are churned out so relentlessly that one wonders if the giant corporation behind them won’t decide to recreate 2019’s The Lion King within the next decade.

Now Barry Jenkins, the acclaimed director of Moonlight (2016) and If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), has taken the helm of the latest offspring to a Disney classic. Mufasa: The Lion King is a prequel to the 1994/2019 story that spawned it, following in the same vein as Favreau’s reimagining of this world, where photorealistic animation replaces expressive animated characters, and natural landscapes that are largely unremarkable serve in lieu of the rich, vivid, and varied environments conjured in the ’94 film. Thankfully, there’s a bit more life to this prequel (which is also technically a sequel to Favreau’s movie), with tracking shots and framing which indicate some care went into this project. Jon Favreau’s technique of slapping most scenes in medium shots bereft of personality and scale isn’t present here, with Jenkins having the good sense to instil some visual variety in this new two-hour epic.

For anyone who’s followed both directors’ careers, that shouldn’t be a surprise; it’s easy to tell which of the two has a better grasp of mise en scène and overall craftsmanship in the art of filmmaking. But when Mufasa’s realistic animation makes these characters absurdly inexpressive, the landscapes get tiresome without the vibrant and distinct colours of the ’94 classic, and the narrative is a forgettable effort to remind viewers of excellent storytelling without crafting something meaningful of its own, there’s hardly anything enjoyable about this experience.

I’d like to say that Jenkins made a sometimes beautiful, sometimes woefully off-the-mark ambitious epic, where his version of aiming for the stars was flinging shit at the clouds and hoping that some of it would at least land on a nearby tree. And in the film’s opening scenes, to their credit, you can sense his ambition in the characters’ monologues and the weight that underpins them. There just aren’t any characters to care about, so lofty soliloquies don’t exactly equate to big swings in a movie whose script is as safe as they come.

The plot is framed through Rafiki (John Kani) narrating the story of Mufasa’s early life to Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter), Mufasa’s granddaughter. This narrative framing device shows Mufasa (Baelyn and Brielle Rankins as a young Mufasa; Aaron Pierre as the adult version) becoming orphaned due to a natural disaster, before being adopted by a new pride alongside his new best friend and brother, Taka (Theo Somolu when young; Kelvin Harrison Jr. when adult). This is interspersed with infrequent cutaways to the present day, where Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) offer ‘comic relief’ to Kiara in between this story being told.

Mufasa contains plenty of references for fans of this fictional universe to nod their heads at, but that’s not what art should be. When taking in the majesty of the ’90s film, whether it’s the songs that could win over a seasoned hater of musical sequences, the sensational voice acting, or the tragic plot developments that befall this film’s most beloved characters, I can’t say I ever spent any time wondering about the lore surrounding Rafiki, or Zazu, or any of the other delightful characters on the screen. In reflecting on this film’s greatness with a recent rewatch, that impulse never surfaced then, either.

Favreau’s woeful interpretation of The Lion King might have been terrible compared to the original film, but at least it was a case of terrible delivery imitating greatness. There were at least a few scenes where the power of the original film shone through, particularly in its opening sequence. That’s why that movie’s downfall comes down to the fact there isn’t a single element that bears comparison to the original, since to waste any time pondering on this will only lead to one coming up empty on ways Favreau’s remake is the ’94 film’s better (or equal).

But Mufasa has such an empty story to tell that I would sooner rewatch Favreau’s reinterpretation than Jenkins’ effort. There’s simply nothing to care about. We already know that nothing bad will befall Mufasa, but that’s not the issue; plenty of prequels sidestep this by being entertaining and arresting enough to make viewers forget that they know the ultimate outcome of these plotlines. The only way this movie can be justified is through the bizarre perspective that what made The Lion King successful is the lore it created. But while the ’94 film had a very compelling plot, it wasn’t exactly complex. This isn’t Dune, or a sci-fi/fantasy world where it’s not just the character dynamics that are rich, but the world-building itself.

It doesn’t matter how Mufasa came to meet Rafiki, or Zazu, or Sarabi (Tiffany Boone). What matters is what occurred long after they’d had their first encounters, with a weighty story that combined endearing characters and animation with a dramatic tour de force. You know, that bygone era in this fictional universe’s timeline where there was a plot that had something to offer other than, ‘hey, I wonder how Character X met Character Y years before you had any reason to care about either of them’. Not long into Mufasa it becomes clear that the only recognisable element tying Jenkins to this work is the film’s visual style. Unsurprisingly, intelligent framing and shot choices actually mean very little when they are tracking some of the most bland and inexpressive characters you’ll see in cinemas this year.

Mufasa devolves in personality over time, with this eponymous protagonist not just servicing the role of the endlessly perfect hero, but a leading figure who is so heroic that he refuses to take responsibility for how infallible he is, instead lying low in the shadows and attributing his good deeds to others. There’s no character flaw in sight, just perfection. One could say that Mufasa occupied a similar role in the original film, but there he was the protective father to the true protagonist, who sought to figuratively cover his son’s eyes from the horrors of the world, making the film’s later plot developments all the more tragic.

With none of that pathos in sight and no worthwhile developments to be uncovered about Mufasa (beyond his growing appreciation for how incredible he is), the experience is more than a little boring. Pierre’s voice acting doesn’t make the chance of immersion any greater; nothing is badly done per se, but he bears a lot less charm than Matthew Broderick had as Simba in the original film, or James Earl Jones’ depiction of Mufasa in both versions of The Lion King.

Then again, none of the actors here come close to replicating the highs of the original film. Mufasa’s audiences have been granted mercy from listening to John Oliver’s voice, with his role as Zazu in the ’19 version being overtaken by Preston Nyman. Not that it matters much, for two reasons: neither is nearly as good as the original film’s Rowan Atkinson (who wasn’t even a stand-out in the ’94 movie’s astonishing vocal cast), and Oliver’s aggravating British accent has instead been supplanted by the actors portraying Taka. Why must there be a British accent for a character that becomes Mufasa’s brother? That spoiler practically writes itself, but for anyone who hasn’t yet spotted the connection, it won’t take long to make that deduction.

One has to assume that Favreau and Jenkins have a vendetta against English actors; only this could explain why their movies exclusively employ the most pompous, aggravating voices possible from this nation. The original film never suffered from this issue, with Atkinson putting on a fine performance, while Jeremy Irons supplied one of the most vibrant and rich instances of voice acting in cinema history as Scar. No one will be going into Mufasa expecting that calibre of acting, not when Beyoncé held her own in the main cast of Favreau’s outing. Now there is her daughter, Blue Ivy, taking the reins, and again she doesn’t do any worse than the rest of this cast, and I mean that as neither a compliment nor an insult to her performance. It’s simply there, as is the case with all of these portrayals.

Whether this comes down to disinterest, poor direction, or an inability to use the medium of voice acting to its fullest extent, these two latest films in the Lion King franchise showcase an almost impressive ability to get next to nothing out of some seriously talented actors. This even applies to the main antagonist, a white lion who… oh, no, there isn’t actually much to say more than that. Watching the white lion characters gain prominence in this story after feeling like bit players through and through is like the cinematic equivalent of witnessing a new skin coming out in a video game you barely care about. This vicious and bloodthirsty lot are led by Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen), who’s hellbent on revenge in a plot point that’s so uninspired it’s shocking it wasn’t altered in a redraft of this script.

Mikkelsen, one of the finest actors working today, sounds utterly replaceable, as does everyone else here. But let’s assume for a moment that this cast put together spellbinding vocal performances. Just like with Jenkins’ inspired direction, it would amount to very little when the animated figures representing these voices look gormless in every single one of their interactions. Well, except for when they’re snarling; those moments are impressive, especially given that this director tries to make scenes featuring these tense moments urgent by adding some personality to the film’s compositions. Other than that, there’s no window for emotional investment in this dull misfire from a talented filmmaker.

USA | 2024 | 118 MINUTES | 1.85:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: Barry Jenkins.
writer: Jeff Nathanson (based on ‘The Lion King’ by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts & Linda Woolverton).
voices: 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.