Mufasa: The Lion King
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This article may reveal major plot points, especially considering the game, film, episode, season, or series has either been released recently or not in specific countries yet. Suppose you do not wish to know vital information on media elements in a story. In that case, you may not wish to read beyond this warning: We hold no responsibility for any negative effects these facts may have on your enjoyment of said media should you continue. That's all. |
| ♥ | This article is dedicated to the original and first voice of Mufasa, James Earl Jones, who died of type two diabetes at his home in Pawling, New York, at 93. (January 17, 1931 - September 9, 2024). |
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 This movie doesn’t have a drop of nobility in its blood at all.
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Mufasa: The Lion King is a 2024 American musical drama action-adventure film directed by Barry Jenkins from a screenplay written by Jeff Nathanson. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, the film is photorealistically animated, and both a prequel and sequel to the 2019 remake of the 1994 film The Lion King. Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, Donald Glover, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, and John Kani reprise their roles from the remake; new cast members include Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tiffany Boone, Mads Mikkelsen, Thandiwe Newton, Lennie James, Anika Noni Rose, and Blue Ivy Carter in her feature film debut. According to director Barry Jenkins, he wants a remake of The Lion King 1½.
Synopsis
Rafiki tells the young lioness Kiara, the daughter of Simba and Nala, the legend of Mufasa. He is helped in this by Timon and Pumbaa, whose shocking formulas are now well known. Told in flashbacks, Mufasa's story is that of an orphaned lion cub, alone and distraught, who, one day, meets the friendly Taka, heir to a royal lineage.
Qualities That'll Never Be King
- This film is rather unnecessary because the first remake, while it was a huge box office success, wasn't well received in the first place, and as such, many fans will see this movie just as pointless since it is a downgrade from the original second movie.
- Like the first movie and like most live-action Disney remakes, it's a huge cash grab made solely to pander to nostalgia.
- Terrible release-date and false advertising/greedy practices: The movie came out on December 20, 2024, which was the same release date of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which resulted in the former overtaking this film on its first day. Disney pretended on Twitter that this film was the #1 movie in the world, but all of the comments pointed out that Sonic 3 was more successful and better received critically overall.
- To make matters worse, Disney was actually aware that Sonic 3 was the #1 movie in the world, but they showcased their greed by deleting most of the comments pointing it out, and continued advertising it as the #1 movie in the world, despite literally telling lies on Twitter just to make money. This proves that they can't handle criticism.
- The worst part about this is that Disney blamed Sonic 3 for their failure with this film, similar to the Bubsy 3D director who blamed Super Mario 64 for that game's failure, but here it is even worse because Disney downright ordered people to not see Sonic 3 and had to see Mufasa instead and also forced theaters to pull Sonic 3 in favor of this, which resulted in the film grossing a lot more money than Sonic 3 throughout the rest of the first weekend. This shows how desperately greedy Disney is.[1]
- While the songs are better than in Wish and The Little Mermaid remake, they are still unfitting and below average. The most notable example of this is the song "I Always Wanted A Brother", in which the repeated use of the word "brother" is stretched out painfully to fit the tune, to the point where it sounds more like "brothah" than brother. It also doesn't help that many compare Scar's singing voice to Gumball from The Amazing World of Gumball here.
- The villain's song also sounds ridiculous, as he says "bye bye" way too much in the song.
- The CGI, while top-notch, is rather uncanny at times with the facial expressions, even if it is more expensive than its predecessor.
- The entire plot plays out like a watered-downed clone of Transformers One; in which two friends, Mufasa and Scar, the latter being called Taka, start as friends only to grow apart as the movie continues. Only unlike Megatron being banished from Iacon, Scar stays on the Pride Lands.
- Unlike Transformers One in which Optimus and Megatron grow apart because of Sentinel Prime's betrayal and argument over his fate, here Scar betrays Mufasa because he is jealous that Mufasa got Sarabi, which is a weaker excuse for Scar to betray Mufasa, and also at the end, Scar realizes that he pushed it too far and saves Mufasa, so why is this film necessary if Scar was going to overthrow Mufasa in The Lion King?
- This film is entirely focused on the story of Mufasa's rise to becoming a king, so the entire opening sequence in which Kiara learns the story from Rafiki is somewhat pointless.
- It's also pointless considering that Mufasa refuses to forgive Scar even though the latter has already shown some remorse for his actions in selling out Mufasa to Kiros.
- Timon and Pumbaa serve no purpose to the film other than to be narrators of the story while annoying the audience for telling jokes.
- It's hard to tell the difference between young Mufasa and young Scar due to their designs looking too similar.
- The pacing is terrible, as there are almost no pauses between scenes. It just quickly goes from one scene to the other.
- Speaking of which, the characters never shut up. The second a character stops talking, another character immediately starts talking. This gives no time for the characters to think, like they would in the original The Lion King.
- Similar to how 2023's Wish is a poor way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Disney, this film is unfortunately a poor way to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of The Lion King, especially if you are a long-time fan of The Lion King franchise..
Qualities That Will Be King
- This movie is still an improvement over the 2019 remake as it tells an original story rather than being shot-for-shot. Even though the plot is literally Transformers One but Disneyfied, at least it was something different.
- Good direction from Barry Jenkins.
- Scar is far more likable this time around, and he does redeem himself, despite viewers of The Lion King knowing what will happen to him eventually
- There's a great tribute to the late James Earl Jones, who voiced Mufasa from 1994 to 2019, before the film begins a black screen says "Look at the stars. The great kings of the past look down on us from those stars. Whenever you feel alone, just remember that those kings will always be there to guide you. And so will I."
- The musical numbers are better than in Wish, but they still need some improvement.
- The voice acting has massively improved over the first film.
- Both Aaron Pierre and Braelyn Rankins do a very good job at voicing Mufasa.
- Tiffany Boone does a great impression of the late Madge Sinclair as Sarabi, and her singing is also pretty good.
- Blue Ivy Carter brings a very charming voice as Kiara, as she captures the youthfulness of Kiara that Michelle Horn, Neve Campbell, and Eden Riegel all gave to her 2D-animated counterpart.
- Mads Mikkelsen does a very sinister and spicy voice for Kiros, and if you hear him sing "Bye Bye", Mads has a great singing voice.
- Donald Golver's voice for Simba is decent, and is an improvement compared to the 2019 remake.
- Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner reprise their roles as Timon and Pumbaa and still do great jobs as them, despite being annoying.
- The CGI is still top notch like the previous film.
- A concept of a Mufasa-origin story can still be interesting, especially if you're into The Lion King lore and wanted a movie focusing on Mufasa and a story about his origin story, although poorly executed here.
Reception
Mufasa: The Lion King gave mixed reviews by critics, but a positive reception from audiences.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 57% of 154 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Barry Jenkins' deft hand and Lin-Manuel Miranda's music go some way towards squaring the Circle of Life in Mufasa, but this fitfully soulful story is ill-served by its impersonal, photorealistic animation style."Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 56 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, lower than the A earned by its predecessor.
Despite this, Mufasa: The Lion King has grossed $188.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $350.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $539.7 million. It is slightly lower than The Lion King Remake, but still a success financially.
Trivia
- The "What did you say about my brother?" line became an internet meme.
Videos
References
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