The worst (and much and away probably the most worthwhile) of the pre-pandemic cycle of pointless Disney remakes, Jon Favreau’s The Lion King swapped out the colourful and dynamic animation of the unique for tediously unimaginative photorealism, turning the cartoon musical into a colorless safari of blank-eyed, celebrity-voiced African wildlife. How a filmmaker as completed as Barry Jenkins ended up directing the inevitable follow-up (and bringing alongside a few of his key inventive collaborators from Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk, and The Underground Railroad) is one thing of a thriller to this critic, however the result’s clearly an enchancment: a brighter, livelier, extra visually interesting piece of digitally taxidermized IP.
Whether Mufasa: The Lion King represents the absolute best use of Jenkins’ appreciable expertise for conveying temper and character is, nonetheless, a distinct matter, starting with the plain downside of the plot. Despite some floor similarities to Hamlet, the story of The Lion King isn’t precisely Shakespeare: The sensible king Mufasa (boomingly voiced in each the unique and the Favreau remake by the late, nice James Earl Jones) is murdered; the evil uncle Scar takes over Pride Rock; Mufasa’s son Simba returns to overthrow Scar; the animal kingdom rejoices and everybody lives fortunately ever after. Even by the requirements of the Disney Renaissance, it’s rudimentary stuff.
Mufasa: The Lion King is, thus, a prequel to a narrative that doesn’t want one, specializing in the backstories of Mufasa (Aaron Pierre) and Scar (or “Taka,” as he’s referred to as all through the film). We first meet the younger Mufasa as a cub whose dad and mom regale him with tales of a verdant utopia referred to as Milele. Separated from his household in a flood, he finally ends up washing up within the territory of a delight of English-accented lions. Taken in by the huntress Eshe (Thandiwe Newton), he grows up alongside Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), the son of the lazy, pretentious king Obasi (Lennie James), as his finest good friend and adopted brother. (Making Mufasa and Scar one thing apart from blood relations is a retcon, although it no less than explains why they’ve completely different accents—not that anybody has ever puzzled.) Eventually, bother arrives within the type of a band of murderous white lions led by Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen), the self-declared king of all liondom, and Mufasa and Taka set off for components unknown, hoping to achieve Milele.
Along the best way, they meet a younger lioness named Sarabi (Tiffany Boone) who’s additionally on the run from Kiros and his crew, in addition to a few different acquainted characters: the secretarial hornbill Zazu (Preston Nyman) and the mischievous mandrill mystic Rafiki (John Kani). Between songs and chase scenes, the script (by Jeff Nathanson, who wrote Favreau’s Lion King, two Rush Hours, and one of many later, lesser Pirates Of The Caribbeans) follows well-trod paths, briefly stopping for acquainted messages about outsiders, suspicion, and discovering one’s household. There’s a framing machine by which we see an aged Rafiki telling the story to Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter), the younger daughter of Lion King protagonist Simba, although it’s largely an excuse to incorporate the comic-relief inter-species couple Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogen).
Throughout, Jenkins’ digital digital camera not often stops transferring because it swoops, sweeps, and circles across the digital surroundings with stylized prospers of slo-mo and the occasional dreamy close-up. (A favourite transfer, which Jenkins pulls out repeatedly all through Mufasa, is to have the digital camera bob and float out and in of water.) The musical numbers are rather more distinct and colourful than in Favreau’s Lion King (which managed to suck the enjoyable out of the unique’s memorable Tim Rice and Elton John-penned songs). The downside is that the songs themselves—written by Lin-Manuel Miranda—are lackluster, and Jenkins’ whooshing camerawork can solely go to date.
There is, after all, a much bigger conceptual hurdle, the elephant (and lion and warthog and giraffe) within the room: the animation. Lacking the anthropomorphic elasticity of their hand-drawn counterparts within the authentic movie, the animal characters of Favreau’s Lion King appeared, paradoxically, each lifelike and lifeless, their voices by no means matching their restricted facial expressions. Simply put, there are solely so many ways in which a sensible lion can transfer or emote, and Jenkins by no means overcomes the tech-demo dullness he’s inherited. Ironically, he could also be extra hamstrung by conventions of realism on this all-digital manufacturing than in his personal live-action work; the moments of transcendence and presence which are his logos by no means come.
The current period has produced extra fruitful pairings of indie director sensibility and company mental property (e.g. Barbie), in addition to some worse and extra misguided ones. One may even make the argument that Jenkins has made a basically higher movie than Favreau whereas working with inferior, much less elemental materials. But that doesn’t change the truth that Mufasa is, finally, compromised by its studio formulation by way of each story and elegance. Presumably lots of people will go see it. And perhaps when it fades from public consciousness, the diminishing nostalgia of The Lion King can be harvested once more to feed one other technology of Disney executives. It’s the circle of life.
Director: Barry Jenkins
Writer: Jeff Nathanson
Starring: Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, John Kani, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tiffany Boone, Mads Mikkelsen, Thandiwe Newton, Lennie James, Anika Noni Rose, Blue Ivy Carter
Release Date: December 20, 2024
