Mufasa Review: Meager lions at the movies

Mufasa: The Lion King

6 out of 10

PG, 1hr 58mins. Musical Family Adventure Drama.

Directed by Barry Jenkins.

Starring Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., John Kani, Tiffany Boone, Mads Mikkelsen, Donald Glover and Blue Ivy Carter.

Now Playing at Landmark Cinemas, Pen Centre.

The majesty of the pride lands (and its history) is roaring in cinemas again with Mufasa: The Lion King. The majesty and pride, however, are limited by the truth of what’s really on screen.

It’s a soulful and strange way for a movie to tell a story, using real computer animation and real photographed environments of Africa for a tale about the balance and authenticity of nature.

The film exists in a grander lore of The Lion King, maintaining the unsettling visuals of a 2019 remake for a prequel story about pride leader Mufasa, famously played for decades by James Earl Jones and now voiced by Aaron Pierre.

Similarly to Simba (star of most Lion King stories until now), the plot follows a young Mufasa from being a cub to becoming king of Pride Rock in the utopia known as “Milele”, and all his growth and adventures in between.

Mufasa: The Lion King is a moderately enjoyable family flick for the holiday season, though saying so is a half-hearted recommendation. Yet several elements in the plot and themes of Mufasa seem like a slightly less interesting retread of the same ideas from the original Lion King. 

What exactly, for example, is the Milele that Mufasa is looking for? That arc of discovery feels like a lot like “Hakuna Matata” from the original story. And Mufasa’s confrontation of birth family versus chosen family is exactly the same as Simba’s - as is Mufasa wrestling with accepting his place as a reluctant leader.

When Mufasa wants to tell an original fantasy story about families, kingdoms and legends, it succeeds. When it copies or parodies past movies, it feels lazy and a bit embarrassing.

Read more here: The Lion King 2.0 Review - a prince in the king's shadow

Oscar-winning director and producer Barry Jenkins (best known for his 2016 Best Picture winner Moonlight) is trying to bring some gravitas into the Lion King legends, but the story is as simple as it it culturally wise and grounded. 

That works when paired with the whimsy of regular animation - but this movie looks like a cheap knockoff of real animals, as if this was a National Geographic (or Disneynature) movie that contains English-speaking and singing lions. It’s an ineffective mess that makes it hard to take any element seriously with.

Garish visual effects throughout mean faces across the characters are too cartoonish and exaggerated, while the rest of the animal kingdom looks too stiff and gravely realistic. That means minimal personality or feelings can be seen, creating a visual style for the movie that’s the worst of both worlds.

Mufasa is a slight improvement on the tonally wonky and shallow 2019 predecessor, but it’s miles behind the true cultural and empowering success of the 1994 classic The Lion King. It’s unclear what, if anything, Mufasa will really add to the franchise’s legacy as they conclude their 30th anniversary this year.

If you can make sense of these opposites and imbalances in the circle of life, Mufasa has a few story beats and ideas that make it a pleasant night out with the family.