In December 2024, Disney released “Mufasa: The Lion King,” a live-action/photo-realistic CGI prequel to “The Lion King” that follows the origin story of Mufasa, Simba’s father and the first Lion King. The story is framed as a tale that Rafiki, the eclectic mandrill, tells to Kiara, Simba’s daughter.
Mufasa — voiced by Aaron Pierre — is a young lion who loses his parents in a flash flood. He nearly drowns but is saved by Taka — voiced by Kelvin Harrison Jr. — a young lion prince who will eventually become Scar.
Taka takes in Mufasa as a brother, despite his father’s hatred for strays. Mufasa is raised by the lionesses, learning to track, hunt and fight. Then, the pride is massacred by a pride of white lions led by Kiros, voiced by Mads Mikkelsen.
Taka and Mufasa flee to look for a new home. Along the way, they meet up with Sarabi, a lion princess who also lost her family to Kiros. Taka falls for Sarabi, but she does not return his affections. Feeling betrayed and slighted, Taka turns on his brother.
“Mufasa” is an improvement on 2019’s live-action “The Lion King.” The lions look better — much more expressive and less creepy. It’s also a new story and soundtrack, as opposed to a beat-for-beat retelling.
Lin-Manuel Miranda returned to Disney to do the soundtrack for “Mufasa,” and oh, how I missed him. Only he could rhyme “brother” with “brother” four lines in a row and still have me glad to leave the theater with the tune stuck in my head.
The story and themes of “Mufasa” are surprisingly mature, if not a little on the nose. The main antagonists are a pride of white lions pushing into territory that isn’t theirs. The metaphor for colonialism isn’t subtle, but it is effective.
Mufasa battles off the white lions by rallying together animals of all different species — many of them herbivores — to have courage and fight. Mufasa also learned all his unique and useful skills from the lionesses, adding a simple but sweet feminist twist as well as a truthful homage to real lion pride structures.
However, the characters felt rushed and flat, both in terms of development and design.
Don’t mistake the lions looking better for the lions looking good. Disney has still not managed to hold a candle to the charm of the original 1994 animated film.
In terms of the writing, Taka’s arc is messy at best. His brotherly love implodes because he witnesses Mufasa and Sarabi sing one duet. Immediately, he decides to sell out his only companions to their enemy. Then, during the final showdown, he regrets his decision and steps in to save Mufasa, earning his iconic eye scar in the process.
The whole arc felt rushed. It seemed like the writers started out writing a heartwarming coming-of-age story about an unlikely found family, got halfway through and remembered “Oh, crap. This guy is supposed to be Scar, isn’t he?” and hastily wrote a third act to get us where we needed to go, giving no thought to where we’d come from.
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The problem isn’t just with Taka, it’s with Mufasa, too. He’s too perfect. His biggest flaw is a paralyzing fear of water. At every turn, Mufasa is courageous, kind, charming and respectful.
Mufasa even refuses to exile his brother after the betrayal. In other words, he’s boring. There would have been a much more interesting film if Mufasa had made some mistakes.
A prequel is meant to teach us more about a character and help us better understand them, adding complexity to later films. But we already knew Mufasa was amazing; we’ve known that since 1994. So, what was the point?
“Bye, bye,” Kiros’ big “bad guy” number, fell tragically flat. The song places a sinister tune alongside ironically playful and childlike lyrics, meant to evoke a cat playing with its prey before killing it. Miranda and Mikkelson both gave it their all and I salute them.
The problem, once again, lies in the animation. The visuals of the film play this song so straight. Kiros spends the number menacingly circling and stalking, making him lose that sinister playfulness and seem stupid instead. An original concept animation of a far more playful dance number recently surfaced on YouTube, and it works so much better.
In many ways, the film’s shortcomings are natural byproducts of its existence. The character arcs can’t be as natural and satisfying as they ought to be because it’s a prequel. Cute little Taka has to end up as the cartoonishly villainous Scar, whether or not that degree of character degradation makes narrative sense.
There can’t be fun, campy designs or dance numbers because of the film’s insistence on realism. It never stood a chance.
For what it is, “Mufasa” is a fun way to spend an afternoon, particularly if you have the means to see it on the big screen. It is far from perfect; it’s barely good. But since The Walt Disney Company seems to insist on making photo-realistic rehashes of established, once-beloved IPs, “Mufasa” is one of the better films they’ve made recently, and may be one of the better films they make for a while.
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
