'Mufasa: The Lion King' Review: There Will Be References

Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tiffany Boone, and Mads Mikkelsen lead the voice cast in Barry Jenkins' newest film, now streaming on Disney Plus.

Now Streaming: Closely resembling a child placing two photographs together and making them kiss, photo-realistic computer animation will never be funny. Or romantic. Or truly dramatic. 

Admittedly, though, photo-realistic computer animation looks amazing, especially in 4K on a decent-sized monitor. Frequently, while watching the woebegone Mufasa: The Lion King on Disney Plus, I was struck by how good it looked: the lions looked like lions; the white lions, who are the villains of the piece, because everything white is evil, of course, looked like white lions; the birds and the fishes and the mammals looked like real-life animals; and the wilderness looked absolutely gorgeous. 

Be that as it may, I have no idea what story director Barry Jenkins intended to tell. Of course, I admire his artistic intention and/or heartfelt desire to provide financially for his family and loved ones. 

Yet, Mufasa: The Lion King, whose script is credited solely to Jeff Nathanson, is a prequel that resembles The Lion King (1994) and its official remake The Lion King (2019), whose script was also credited solely to Jeff Nathanson, in its narrative arc, and even in some of its story details. So was this a case where Nathanson decided to borrow gobs of script pages from his own earlier script and just change the details a bit? 

Early on, for example, Mufasa is nearly swallowed up by an unexpected flood that comes rampaging through a canyon. His father dies saving him, but the floodwaters sweep Mufasa away to a distant land where he must find himself before returning to save his kingdom. 

So you're telling me that young Mustafa nearly died through circumstances that later repeated themselves years later when he needed to save his son Simba from animals that were rampaging through a canyon, only to be thwarted by his brother Scar and killed by the animals, whereupon Scar gives Simba a massive guilt trip, blaming him for the death, and propelling Simba into a distant land where he must find himself before returning to save his kingdom? 

Wow! Screenwriting is easier than I thought. 

Frankly, it's only in reconstructing the narrative above that I realized why the film confused me so much as I was watching. The title itself doesn't make sense to me: weren't the original film (1993) and its direct remake (2019) meant to be about the true king of the lions, namely, Simba? Now I see that I've had the wrong idea for more than 30 years: The Lion King is meant to be about the position, not the person. 

(Like the long after-the-release retitling of Star Wars (1977), I have a feeling that Disney is planning a series of releases, all with different names at the beginning of the title. So we can expect a prequel to the prequel with Masego: The Lion King and a sequel to the remake entitled Kiara: The Lion Queen. Will the inevitable Disney Plus series roll with Tales of the Pride Lands? Time will tell.)

Young Mufasa has been swept by the floodwater into a distant land, where he is rescued from hungry crocodiles by Taka, the young son of royalty. Take further bonds himself with his new friend Mufasa by throwing a footrace to him, which allows Mufasa, a stranger in a strange land, to stay in his new home.  Mufasa and Taka become bosom buddies. 

Attacked by vicious white lions, part of a pride known as the Outsiders, Mufasa (now voiced by Aaron Pierre) defends Taka's mother and kills one of the attacking Outsiders, raising the ire of the young lion's father, Kiros, leader of the Outsiders, who vows revenge against Mufasa. (By the way, in an eyebrow-raising explanation, the Outsiders were ostracized because of the color of their skin, which turned them all vicious and murderous. This may also explain why Kiros is voiced by the supremely evil and very white Mads Mikkelsen) Kiros starts by killing Taka's family, which means Mufasa and Taka (voiced as an adult by Kelven Harrison Jr.) must go On The Run. 

While On The Run, Mufasa and Taka meet the comely Sarabi (Tiffany Boone), who is traveling with the wisecracking bird Zazu (Preston Nyman) and wise yet wacky mandarin Rafiki (Kagiso Lediga). Naturally, both Mufasa and Taka are attracted to Sarabi -- she's the only lioness around, after all! -- but Taka opens his mouth first, and so Mufasa is honor-bound to deny his feelings for her and constantly put Taka forward as her mate-to-be. Sarabi, of course, like any female, know her own feelings: She doesn't want Taka, she wants Mufasa, and that's that. 

Taka, of course, like any male, is insanely jealous of the feelings that quickly develop between Mufasa and Sarabi, and so he is quick to betray them both when he ends up in the company of the truly evil Kiros. Naturally, however, Taka knows that this movie is a prequel and that Mufasa must live, so he saves his life a couple more times, for his trouble, gets slashed in the face and renames himself Scar so he can one day soon be voiced by Jeremy Irons. 

For reasons unknown except the Disney intellectual properly attorneys, the entire story is told by old Rafiki (John Kani) to old Timba and Pumba, perhaps to make room for white actors Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner. Periodically, the story pauses so Timba and Pumba can make jokes like late-night comedians, more fitting for the modern day than anything else, which breaks whatever spell is being spun by the the story of young Mufasa, but hey, gotta make room for white voices in the room. 

The creative team also includes multiple songs, none of which come to mind to me now as I write this, three days since I saw the film. Put the blame on me, though, since I am older and my memory is not so great; I'm sure they're all fantastic and utterly hummable for your kids (?!). 

If only the photorealistic animation could sing! And talk! Maybe then the movie would come to life, instead of just laying down limply on screen, waiting to be admired by onlookers. [Disney Plus]