Mufasa: The Lion King (2024) is directed by Barry Jenkins and stars Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tiffany Boone, Mads Mikkelsen, John Kani, Blue Ivy Carter, Kagiso Lediga, Preston Nyman, Seth Rogan, Billy Eichner, Thandiwe Newton, Lennie James, Anika Noni Rose, Keith David, and Donald Glover. This is a prequel to Disney’s 2019 photorealistic GGI remake of their animated classic, The Lion King (1994), and follows the relationship between Mufasa (Pierre), a young stray, and Taka (Harrison Jr.), the kingdom’s prince who’s next in line to become king. Over the years, the two become best friends. Unfortunately, their relationship begins to deteriorate after Taka begins hearing rumors that Mufasa intends to steal the throne from under him. When a rival pride of cannibal lions (it is subtle but the hints are clear) led by the evil Kiros (Mikkelsen) threatens their home, Mufasa and Taka are forced to choose a side in a battle that directly sets up the events of the first installment. 

Although I love Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as performers, it’s as if they were directed to voice their characters as plainly as possible. Besides maybe Rogan and Eichner as Timon and Pumbaa, there is a grating soullessness to hearing human voices come from photorealistic animals. The film does a slightly better job of providing the characters with recognizably “human” facial expressions, but it still doesn’t come close to fixing the issue. The CGI still doesn’t allow us to see how they feel, so the characters often end up telling us straight up. There’s no better sign of a shoddy script than characters who tell instead of show. On top of this, I personally find it somewhat silly and unnatural when realistic-looking lions break out into show tunes. It’s also tough to distinguish these characters visually considering that they’re all lions. I, as a human being, find it tough to tell the difference between two lions of the same species. Other than Mufasa and Scar who display distinct colors, the only way to tell the difference between the characters is context (but even then, it’s not easy).

Although the fact that this is an original story inherently makes it better than its predecessor, it still features equally weak dialogue and countless plot holes. Although the film was sold to audiences as an origin story for Mufasa and Scar, the film seems to treat would-be connective tissue as an afterthought. The script spends almost no time establishing Taka/Scar’s villainous turn, but what’s even worse is that it plays out in the most predictable and unoriginal way possible. It’s as if Taka and Scar weren’t originally meant to be the same character and the writers desperately tacked it on at the last minute. 

The songs are decent, but nothing special. I found myself grooving along once or twice, but more often than not they made me feel as if Lin Manuel Miranda is running out of ideas. Hollywood, please give this guy a break. Great art takes time and you’ve been squeezing his juice dry. What really hindered the songs for me more than anything else is that they feel annoyingly over-produced. For example, I don’t remember any songs from the original film that feature noticeable auto-tuning. 

Overall, although this features an original story, it’s not much better than any of Disney’s soulless “live-action” remakes. It’s visually inconsistent, boring, predictable, and filled with plot holes/conveniences. I find this film to be corporate in the most negative sense of the word and it made me honestly wonder who enjoys this kind of dimwitted sludge (besides kids obviously). I have yet to see a movie produced by AI, but Mufasa is what I imagine it would be like. Hell, I think that The Lion King 1 ½ (2004), a straight-to-DVD sequel, is a more enjoyable film. D