"Mufasa, a cub lost and alone, meets a sympathetic lion named Taka, the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of a group of misfits searching for their destiny." 

OUR MOVIE REVIEW:

2019's live-action adaptation of Disney’s iconic 1994 film The Lion King roared its way to phenomenal success. Despite mixed reviews and a modest 52% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the film smashed box office records, becoming a global sensation. It earned a coveted spot in the billion-dollar club—an achievement shared by only a select few films. It also claimed the title of the highest-grossing animated film of all time (until Inside Out 2 dethroned it this summer), ranked as the seventh highest-grossing film ever upon release, and stood as the second highest-grossing film of 2019, trailing only Avengers: Endgame—a banner year for Disney.

Given such success, a sequel was less a question of if and more a matter of when. Enter acclaimed indie filmmaker and Oscar-winner Barry Jenkins, who took the reins to direct Mufasa: The Lion King. Disney’s follow-up shifted the spotlight to Simba’s father, exploring Mufasa’s rise to power as king of the Pride Lands. While the sequel boasts highlights—improved visuals and new songs penned by the brilliant Lin-Manuel Miranda—the film ultimately struggles to deliver the emotional depth and dynamic storytelling that made the 1994 original an enduring classic.

The film chooses to frame its narrative through Kiara, Simba and Nala’s daughter from the direct-to-DVD sequel, as she listens to the wise mandrill Rafiki recount the tale of Mufasa. This setup creates an unusual hybrid of a prequel and sequel. While the framing device is unconventional, it doesn’t disrupt the story’s overall flow. Joining the storytelling are Timon and Pumbaa, who inject their trademark colorful commentary—though often their antics teeter on the edge of downright irritating.

Among the criticisms leveled at 2019’s live-action The Lion King, one area where Mufasa shines is its stunning visual effects. Watching the film in IMAX, it’s evident that one of its primary goals was to deliver a breathtaking visual spectacle—and in this regard, it undoubtedly succeeds. A major complaint about the 2019 film was the lack of emotion conveyed through the animal characters' faces. Disney clearly took note, making significant strides in this follow-up. While the characters' expressions still fall short of the vibrant emotional range of the 1994 animated classic, they represent a marked improvement over the stiff and lifeless depictions of the 2019 version. This upgrade injects much-needed personality into the characters, elevating the film’s visual storytelling.

Lin-Manuel Miranda returns as a Disney collaborator, contributing new songs to the project. While his work with Disney has been somewhat hit or miss, Mufasa demonstrates that Miranda shines brightest when crafting entirely original music for fresh material, as he did with Moana and Encanto. This stands in contrast to his less successful attempts at expanding on existing works, such as the live-action The Little Mermaid—most infamously with the cringe-worthy "The Scuttlebutt." Though none of the songs in Mufasa reach the earworm status of "How Far I’ll Go" or "We Don’t Talk About Bruno," they are solid enough to serve as enjoyable, if not groundbreaking, interludes that enhance the narrative flow.

Unfortunately, the film's greatest weakness lies in its writing. The plot feels less like a cohesive narrative and more like a hastily sketched storyboard—a rough concept cobbled together without much care for depth or nuance. The story beats are rushed and awkwardly stitched together with clunky transitions, while the dialogue is painfully basic, lacking the natural rhythm and flow of real conversation. It feels as though it were penned by a novice writer unfamiliar with the intricacies of believable human (or lion) interaction. This glaring shortfall drags the film down, making it feel more like simplistic children's entertainment than the emotionally rich storytelling that made the 1994 original a timeless classic.

Not only does the writing fall flat, but for a film released five years after its predecessor, Mufasa feels shockingly rushed. The prequel/sequel hybrid introduces numerous plot points that not only fail to align with the original The Lion King but at times outright contradict it. I had hoped for greater care in crafting the story, yet it seems as though the writers were handed a bare-bones plot synopsis of The Lion King without ever actually watching the iconic film they were tasked with expanding upon.

Ultimately, my expectations for Mufasa: The Lion King were modest, so its shortcomings didn’t come as a major disappointment. For the holiday season, it serves as an easy choice for families with young children, especially once the buzz around Moana 2 begins to settle. However, if you’re seeking a film that appeals to a more mature or multi-generational audience, you’d be better off investing your time and money elsewhere.