- Mufasa The Lion King does not live up to the hype.
- The movie features bad storytelling, is overstuffed with songs, and is in general not well made.
- Mufasa The Lion King is nothing more than a revenue-milking project based off of the popularity of The Lion King.
Beebom Score
Just for a second, close your eyes and take yourself a few years back, remember when Disney gave out animated movies that were enough to make a grown man or woman dance, laugh, cry, and overall give them a well-rounded and fun experience? Now, open your eyes and bring yourself back. Disney has come up with Mufasa: The Lion King and if you are planning to watch this movie in theaters with aspirations rooted in the brilliance of ‘The Lion King,’ I think you should go through this review before you swipe that card of yours.
Disney’s Lions Sing More than They Roar
Okay I understand, this is a Disney movie, we all get it, but not every movie made by the House of The Mouse needs to be a musical. Even if it is, a couple of songs here and there makes sense. The characters need to express themselves sometimes and what could be a better way than to sing your feelings out right? My problem is, why do they need to sing their feelings out every 10 minutes? Mufasa: The Lion King features so many songs that for a moment you would forget that this is not a music video.
One moment I’m looking at a vicious White Lion and his Pride seconds away from killing off another lion but out of nowhere, he starts to sing about how he will kill the other guy, why he will kill the other guy, and how much fun he will have killing the other guy. Like…why? Moana 2 was a similar case and it is high time that Disney stopped stuffing songs, half of which are not even good into movies. If they think this makes a flick better, they are wrong.
The Story Is Just as Weak as Mufasa’s Grip on That Cliff
The story of Mufasa: The Lion King is basically a retelling of The Lion King with different characters and plotlines that we have only seen 5000 times before. The king was killed by a ruthless tyrant, the brothers turned against each other because of a female, the protagonist unites everyone to fight against the tyrant, and boom, you have the summary of this movie.
This movie attempts to tell us the story of how Mufasa became the king. Essentially, Mufasa is an adopted cub who proves himself to be much more capable than the actual prince, Taka. However, when Mufasa falls in love with the lioness Taka loves and she reciprocates, he snaps and turns against Mufasa attempting to kill him but is unable to do so leading us to the point where The Lion King started.
I feel that when a production house has a good title that is loved by people across the globe, there is no need to forcefully scavenge content from that franchise just to milk out revenue. The Lion King’s tale is complete, it has the perfect balance of everything and delivers a well-rounded story that does not need a prequel. In the pursuit of making this prequel, all Disney did was ruin the love and memory people have for The Lion King.
The Only Good Thing in This Movie Is the Visuals
However, the one thing I would compliment is the visual aspect of Mufasa: The Lion King. The character creation and the animation in this movie are really good. Not just the characters but also the environment creation and most of all, the water physics shown in the movie is insanely well done. You can literally see every single strand of hair on every lion’s mane and one can only imagine how many man-hours might have gone into creating that detail. The visual aspect of the movie justifies the $200 million budget of Mufasa: The Lion King.
Disney Has Forgotten About Their Adult Audience
The biggest beef I have with Disney is that it looks like they have completely forgotten about their adult audience. If you look at their recent releases, these days only a few of them are made in a way that anyone of any age could watch and enjoy them. The movies they make seem to be targeted towards only children but what Disney fails to consider is that the sequels or prequels they make have a larger viewer base of adults who watched the original movie as youngsters and Disney will have to cater to those people as well.
On a concluding note, I would say that Disney has to stop disregarding the love people have for franchises like these. From my point of view, Mufasa: The Lion King completely ruins the legacy left behind by the original Lion King movie. However, if you have kids, they might enjoy it but as an adult, you would probably doze off. So, do whatever you will with that information and I’ll see you in the next review!
