THE STORY – Lost and alone, orphaned cub Mufasa 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 destinies.
THE CAST – 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
THE TEAM – Barry Jenkins (Director) & Jeff Nathanson (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 118 Minutes
When Disney announced that their “The Lion King” prequel “Mufasa: The Lion King” would be directed by Oscar winner Barry Jenkins, many people were left scratching their heads. Why? Why would Disney tap the director of the intimate, sensual, extremely adult dramas “If Beale Street Could Talk” and Best Picture winner “Moonlight” to direct a follow-up to the wildly successful (and artistically bankrupt) “live-action” 2019 version of “The Lion King,” and why on Earth would he agree? Watching the film, it’s still a bit of a mystery why Disney would choose Jenkins to direct their latest piece of craven IP brand extension, but why Jenkins would want to be involved in something so startlingly different from his other work isn’t. Jeff Nathanson’s screenplay feels strikingly of the moment, with resonant lessons for children delivered in much the same way as the more generic lessons of the original 1994 animated feature were. There’s discussion of the danger of outsiders, the fragmented society that comes from tribalism, the dangers of lazy and power-hungry rulers, and even different kinds of toxic masculinity. It’s enough to make any filmmaker interested, but this isn’t just any other film; it’s a mega-budget Disney prequel, and making such a film comes with certain strings attached. So yes, there are moments when “Mufasa” genuinely does feel like it came from the same man who made “The Underground Railroad.” However, there are far more that feel anonymous and even more that feel so tonally wrong that you want to beg the film to stop shooting itself in the foot.
While Simba (Donald Glover) is off waiting for Nala (Beyoncé Knowles Carter) to give birth, he charges Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) to watch his daughter, Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter). A thunderstorm frightens her, and her protectors aren’t helping, so Rafiki (John Kani) tells her a story to help her – the story of her grandfather, Mufasa (Aaron Pierre), who was separated from his family as a cub by a freak accident. He is eventually saved by another young lion cub, Taka (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.), son of Obasi (Lennie James), a lion king who does not tolerate outsiders, especially strays. He challenges Mufasa to race Taka, with the penalty of death if he loses. Taka, who has always wanted a brother and doesn’t want to see Mufasa killed for no good reason, lets him win. Obasi allows Mufasa to live with his pride, provided that he stays with the women. Obasi’s wife, Eshe (Thandiwe Newton), teaches Mufasa how to be a hunter and strengthen his senses to feel things from far away, while Obasi teaches Taka that a King’s role is to “protect the pride while we nap” and that deceit is “the tool of a great king.” When a group of bone-white lions led by the vengeful, power-hungry Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen) attacks the pride, Obasi sends Mufasa and Taka away, charging Mufasa with protecting his son. After escaping the white lions (whom everyone calls “The Outsiders”), Mufasa and Taka encounter Sarabi (Tiffany Boone), a lion princess guarded by the bird Zazu (Preston Nyman), and young Rafiki (Kagiso Lediga), a mandrill exiled from his tribe for having visions of impending disaster that scare everyone but never come to pass. Rafiki leads them all to Milele, a legendary place beyond the horizon that Mufasa’s parents told him was lush and green and where they would eventually go. With The Outsiders hot on their tails, will this motley crew reach their destination? And will they all still love each other if and when they do?
The main plot, neatly divided into three acts, has plenty of intrigue and good humor to keep adults and children alike invested as Mufasa and Taka’s journey continues. The characters are fun to watch together, and the drama with The Outsiders is appropriately tense, leading to some action sequences that Jenkins handles with aplomb. However, it’s difficult for the film to gain any momentum, as the framing device comes roaring back for pointless commentary and needless meta references from Timon and Pumbaa. Why these characters were deemed so necessary to include in a prequel full of characters from the original film anyway remains a mystery, and the time spent with them is precious time away from not only the main story but from Kiara, who is a complete nothing despite Carter’s charming vocal performance. Perhaps there was concern that much of the film’s messaging would be too much for the younger kids, and more comic relief was necessary to keep them engaged, but every time the story needs room to breathe, it cuts back to the storytelling scenes, giving precious little space for the story’s admittedly worthy (if shallowly presented) messages to sink in.
And that’s not the only thing that hurts the film’s pacing. While the film’s visual effects are certainly a step up from the 2019 film’s uncanny valley, which flattened every character’s facial expressions into glassy-eyed stares, they’re still not quite able to achieve the level of lifelike detail the film aims to achieve. For every shot that feels “real,” there’s at least one other that reminds you that every square inch of the frame was created by computers. Every time such a shot rears its ugly head, it breaks the spell the film is hoping to cast on its audience, shattering the illusion that we’re watching actual animals walking and talking around Africa. Jenkins’s regular DP, James Laxton, manages some beautiful images of majestic landscapes inspired by the actual topography of the continent, which helps give the film the kind of intimate grandeur that is Jenkins’s specialty. The impressive camerawork in the action scenes always keeps things legible, and despite all that movement, the visual effects even manage to have real weight to them. Unlike in the 2019 film, where it often felt like we were watching pixels moving around the screen, here it’s much easier to fear for the characters because we feel the sharp sting of their claws, the rumbling rhythm of their feet as they run, and the crushing pressure as they collide into each other. But then, the camera will swing just so, and we suddenly see the separate layers of pixels that have created the animals we’ve been watching, and just like that, we’re no longer immersed in the story; we’re gawking at the visual spectacle of what hundreds (if not thousands) of computing hours can do with a powerful enough engine.
To many, 1994’s “The Lion King” is the crown jewel of the Disney Renaissance. Despite the fact that it’s hand-drawn and not “realistic,” it immerses you in the world of the Pride Lands from the first frame to last through animation with real personality, vocal performances that bring the characters to vivid life, and culturally specific music that further places you into the world of the film. Despite some typically catchy tunes by Lin-Manuel Miranda and additional musical contributions from the likes of Lebo M. (an invaluable part of the original film’s success), Nicholas Britell, and Dave Metzger (the official composer), the film can’t help but deploy the best of Hans Zimmer’s original music from ‘94 at key moments. It only serves as a stark reminder that we’re not watching the original “The Lion King,” nor are we watching anything that looks remotely like it. “I Always Wanted A Brother,” the film’s “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” rip-off, may improve on the pedestrian shooting of the 2019 version, but it can’t touch the explosion of color and inventive fun of the 1994 original (or, for that matter, its direct-to-video sequels). Despite the artistry that Barry Jenkins and his collaborators bring to “Mufasa,” they can’t get out from under the five-hundred-pound elephant in the room, which is the film’s ultimate reason for existence. Can kids enjoy this? Sure! One particularly enthusiastic young boy seated behind me declared it “fantastic” when the lights came up. But if Disney trusted its audience (and its filmmakers) a bit more, “Mufasa” could have been a much more satisfying, entertaining experience for kids and their parents. They’ve done it before, but with each passing year, it seems increasingly unlikely that they’re going to be able to do it again.
