Mufasa: The Lion King Review – Disney Storytellers Remember Who They Are! Too bad the songwriters did not! Barry Jenkins, the Mufasa: The Lion King Director does a stunning job visually and with the story, blending in the rich history of Disney’s The Lion King giving us a backstory we have wanted for 30 years now. What is a huge disappointment is the songwriting of Lin-Manuel Miranda, and this pains us to say, that he should have gone over to the Moana 2 team and fixed those songs instead of working on Mufasa: The Lion King.
“The Lion King” centers on the father-son bond between Simba, a lion cub destined to be king, and his father, Mufasa. The story follows Simba’s journey of grief and acceptance of responsibility following Mufasa’s tragic death, orchestrated by his treacherous uncle, Scar. The prequel, Mufasa: The Lion King, centers on the Brother bonds between Mufasa and Taka. Mufasa is a stray cat and outsider, and Taka is the next King of the Pride that takes in Mufasa. The story also is a journey of grief acceptance, and treachery. An adventure journey of discovery of “Who You Are”. One will become the King we all know and love, the other the Disney Villain we all hate to love or love to hate, Taka Mad! (in my best Kevin Smith voice).
Exploring the unlikely rise of the beloved king of the Pride Lands, “Mufasa: The Lion King” enlists Rafiki to relay the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, with Timon and Pumbaa lending their signature schtick. Told in flashbacks, the story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka—the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny—their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe.
Spoilers Warning: While we will not spoil scenes, and the plot is already known, we will stay away from ruining the movie outright. There will be a few spoilers we are warning you, the reader, now before writing them. If you would like to read more about Mufasa: The Lion King Popcorn Buckets that are now for sale, follow the links. Mufasa: The Lion King officially opens on December 20th, 2024. Tickets are now on sale, if you are visiting Disney World during the holiday check out AMC 24 at Disney Springs.
Fantasy Land News Review of Mufasa: The Lion King –
There is a lot to say about Mufasa: The Lion King and Disney Storytelling in general, but I will spare you an in-depth lecture and backstory. Mufasa is not easy to put into a few words, with the legacy of the original Disney’s The Lion King animated classic looming over its head. The Lion King, when the movie came out 30 years ago parents loved it but said that the storytelling may be too intense for younger viewers.
Mufasa: The Lion King does the same thing exactly 30 years later. This film may be too intense for the youngest of Disney viewers. But, that is up to parents to decide. It is not society’s place to tell you how to raise your kids, or what they can and can’t handle. Mufasa has some violent scenes, and some very intense parts, but I believe kids should and could handle it with some real parental guidance. Even if these are just large cats, with no balls, they are a reflection of humans who have to live in a world of dichotomies. Happy, and Sad. Violence and Peace, Life and Death.
Barry Jenkins does a masterful job of bringing the past to life in Mufasa: The Lion King. The way he weaves in the musical score, or a small visual representation of The Lion King, we feel like we are back home in the Pridelands. Mufasa takes us back in time. We are once again with characters most of us grew up with, we feel a nostalgia for seeing Simba, Nala, Timon & Pumba, and Rafiki on the big screen again. But, it is towards the end, when we get the full force of Mufasa’s Return, standing on top of Pride Rock, with all the other animals on the savannah cheering him on, that we know Barry Jenkins Remembers where we are.
Mufasa, originally voiced by actor James Earl Jones, does not lose his power with the new voice Aaron Stone Pierre taking over the role. In fact, from the opening music and credits, James Earl Jones is given a moment of respect by Disney, which was given a round of applause in the theater we were seated in. We know we are not getting that deep bass of Mr. Jones, but we are getting the younger version, who will grow into that voice. Aaron Stone Pierre stands in the footprints of a legend, and he should stand tall. All the voice actors did a great job, not once during our showing did we even think that the giant cat on the screen wasn’t who they were supposed to be.
Storytelling should, and does take center stage in Mufasa: The Lion King. The storytelling is superb. The film’s original score was composed by Dave Metzger and is very well done. Blending in music we all know and love from the OG Lion King perfectly. Then we have Lin-Manuel Miranda writing the original songs for Mufasa, which fail to resonate in any way.
The songs just do not work. For example, we get a beautiful tribute to James Earl Jones, and then we are off across the savannah in these visually stunning cinematics, the voice of Lebo M reminds us we are home in the Pridelands. We meet Nala in the wild, Simba stands upon Pride Rock, we are introduced to Kiara (Simba & Nala’s daughter), Timon & Pumba banter back and forth, Rafiki is introduced, and the story is set for Mufasa. During this whole time, we are sitting in our seats amazed by what we are seeing, and grappling with feelings of nostalgia. Then the first song “Milele” is sung, and we wanted to cry, and not from memories, but from how bad the songwriting was!
The songs had no African feel or vibe that The Lion King songs had. Where the heck was our Circle of Life? Where was our “want” song? I Just Can’t Wait to Be King type of song. There was zero feel to the music. Nothing made us want to grove, or go home and get the soundtrack. Where was the sound of Ladysmith Black Mambazo? For those who do not know Ladysmith Black Mambazo, they are a South African male choral group singing in the local vocal styles of isicathamiya, a singing style that originated from the Zulu people. LBS, for those who do not know, was featured on the multi-platinum Paul Simon album Graceland and was featured on The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride soundtrack.
Yes, Anika Noni Rose and Keith David have amazing voices. All the songs are performed well, but you can only do so much with songs that were not written well to begin with. Lin-Manuel Miranda is a household favorite. In The Heights, Hamilton, and Moana, are all great and worth seeing and listening to. We know he knows how to write very well, and we listen to his music daily. We can’t figure out why he didn’t go on to work on Moana 2 and help that soundtrack out, instead, he did the Mufasa music, and truly let it down. Sorry to be harsh, but every featured song pulled us right out of the story being told.
I hope the community at large thinks differently than we do. If they do agree with us we may start seeing people asking for a ‘Zach Snyder’ style director’s cut that removes the songs, and only keeps the score!
Okay, so who is this movie for and why should they see it? Let’s get personal for a second, as written above, this is a Father-Son story, and as a Father and a Son, I feel like I can be an authoritative figure on this subject, lol. I am a son who was adopted by a man I called dad, I did not know my “real” father, and that is okay, there are no hard feelings there, and I certainly don’t need a therapist (I can watch movies like Mufasa and work through those feelings). I have five kids of my own who are now mature and older and one of them has kids of her own, making me the grandfather of the family.
Mufasa: The Lion King brought up these feelings of being the patriarch of my family, and not in a chauvinistic way because if you live in my house, you know Holly is in charge, but I digress. It made me think of the legacy I will leave behind for my kids and their kids. Did I do the right things in life, did I pass along the knowledge I have garnered in my years on this earth, can I sit back and watch my kids pass all that onto the next generation? Is my story worthy of them repeating it and passing that story along? This is what Disney Storytelling does. It reflects your thoughts and images onto you, and it doesn’t matter if that reflection is a Lion. It could be a clownfish or a big Goof.
So I think I got more out of Mufasa than I expected. I remember seeing The Lion King 30 years ago while a high schooler and having these thoughts as my younger self. I didn’t have the knowledge my elders had at the time, and so viewing Mufasa through the eyes of my high school self, and my more grown adult self are two vastly different things!
Mufasa is for me, it is for everyone who grew up understanding the story of The Lion King. The storytelling will carry you and me through the movie, and now anytime we watch it we can just turn to our significant other and make some jokes about friends who showed up on time, or about how they truly spayed those big cats for the big screen.
If we could figure out a star system here at Fantasy Land News, we would give the story a 5/5, but the music a 1/5, making the average 3/5.
Disney Annual Passholders can visit Animal Kingdom and pick up a new Mufasa postcard, plus three new lions are on Kilamenjari Safari.
It’s been a few weeks since I saw the film. The music and certain aspects of the plot were deeply disappointing. I’ve read several critics say that the music is not memorable.
In the days after seeing the film, my daughter and I listened to the soundtrack several times, largely in an effort to connect with and appreciate the music.
A few weeks later, neither of us even remember the tunes.