At the start of “The Lion King”, the cute but spoilt African prince Simba is seen frolicking all over his father’s Mufasa’s territories, mocking his future followers with the song “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”. On Broadway, it is a typical “I want” song, where audiences watch characters expressing their feelings and thoughts at this point in the film, before tragedy, exile love and responsibility change this playful lion into someone worthy of replacing him.
Fast forward to “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins’ prequel to one of Disney’s most beloved franchises “Mufasa: The Lion King,” or rewind as he suggests. It is indeed one of those that a dramatic flood kills both his parents; a little orphan Bambi in no time flat finds himself washed away from home and into an altogether different pride. There he becomes not royalty but an unwanted intruder who threatens an existing pecking order.
There is no need for concern on the part of King Obasi (Lennie James) and his son Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), seeing that the new arrival is too tired to even think about these things. If a young Mufasa had a solo, it would be titled “Being King Is the Last Thing I Want,” which turns out to be the quality that will make him such a good one when the time comes.
Mufasa is presented as a cub played by Braelyn Rankins and later by Aaron Pierre in his youth. Neither of these voices can rival that of James Earl Jones, but would they ever? Moreover, Mufasa isn’t the wise old king here since Jenkins and returning screenwriter Jeff Nathanson envisage him as being more grounded yet instinctively heroic thus the performers must show some indecisiveness which doesn’t exist in Jones’ portrayal.
Rather than fix what’s not broken, the movie starts with a “Circle of Life” type opening sequence where many animals present the new born baby of Simba known as Kiara (played by Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter) who almost surely will get her own feature in future. In this case, therefore, it can be said that “Mufasa” has a dual purpose; intensifying the emotions in the original story and setting up stories for subsequent movies.
This is also how Jenkins begins so that she can bring back Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogen), characters who played to Simba’s uncivilized side in The Lion King. Rafiki the monkey shaman acts both as narrator and historical storyteller. Hundreds of years before ever meeting Mufasa, however, Timon and Pumbaa take their turns to interrupt the mandrill-like old-ape when he tells a story about himself in his younger days. Irritatingly self-aware comments are made by the duo which are related to corporate lawyers, script notes or a particular overplayed song that they assume people don’t want to hear again because now no one wants anything else but souped-up versions of this music called “Hakuna Mufasa”.
It appears as if the framing device should not have been included here. It only tends to interrupt and delay the main story, which is Mufasa’s origin. Meanwhile, before getting separated from his parents, Mufasa hears about a promised land known as Malele that will be reached through a cross-continental tour in search for a new territory. But first of all, there are different characters, some old and others new whom he must win over starting with another cub his own age called Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) who is next in line to be king in the area where he lands after being washed ashore.”
Taka, instead, digs his claws into the vulnerable cub’s paws and catapults away from danger by saving his own life; as a result of this, Taka earned a lifetime loyalty from the hyena. Additionally, on Mufasa’s part, Obasi has never trusted him so when he tells him to go live with the lionesses’ some distance from home, it marks a huge blow for the two cubs who consider each other as their long lost brothers. In other words,”I always wanted a brother”.
This is not how Simba was raised as an only child and it presents yet another perspective that can be explored in “Mufasa” This franchise (including “The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride”) emphasizes destiny. We know what will happen to Mufasa but are left to wonder about Taka (Timon and Pumbaa have running bets on who that character would turn into), although I couldn’t help but gasp as this big reveal occurred before my eyes. Although Nathanson creates an independent plot for “Mufasa,” he ingeniously links this fresh narrative back to familiar characters and elements within the original movie.
The script is bursting with inside references as it introduces Simba’s mother, Sarabi, (played by Tiffany Boone) a talented huntress; exposes the secret behind Rafiki’s abode, which is actually found inside a baobab and shows the creation of Pride Rock itself. This sort of thing reminds me of the way that act 2 in Wicked puts characters from part 1 into the classic Wizard of Oz story we all know. Also like National Treasure, where they made up a fake story about how the Liberty Bell cracked. Each link back to an existing IP gives audiences tingles especially if those come from out of blue.
Disney has tried to do away with traditional villains in their recent movies such as Encanto or Raya and the Last Dragon. Not so Mufasa though, who led by Scar has introduced Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen), who is a brutal headman of “white lions” that are considered outsiders (people will read whatever they want in this). Sometimes Jenkins’ movie gets quite violent but since it has only one rating below PG, we can understand why every death happens off screen.
To say that “Mufasa” is an unexpected continuation of Jenkins’ earlier work (which was much broader in its coverage with the Prime miniseries “The Underground Railroad”) would be a gross understatement, yet the director manages to maintain his creative and cultural integrity in nearly everything he does. He has not betrayed himself; instead, they embraced it by respecting the movie from 1994 and acknowledging how important these role models and life lessons have been to young viewers.
However, it is difficult not to watch the movie with Jenkins’ decision as though he was not interested in animating Wow Wow Wubbzy in their hand-drawn way that was appealing in the original but instead Favreau’s made-up live-action technique. For this reason, every scene in this 2019 film is photoreal like a Sir Richard Attenborough nature documentary. Jenkins, however, has called for more subtlety and expressivity in the animals’ faces onscreen as they try to imitate our emotions by going through the uncanny valley with their faces when singing or talking (Walt Disney’s The Lion King). No matter what your ultimate opinion of this film may be if you can see it “Mufasa” again stereoscopically and in 3D it will completely change your opinion about traditional projection since this mode will never die because of its being eternal. However, there is one thing I am afraid of: I am afraid that this style will become dated.
On Broadway, Elton John’s music was very successfully adapted while traditional show tunes haven’t been featured since then; instead Lin-Manuel Miranda’s rap has become the norm (Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda smooshes three syllables into two as he sings “other animal” for Kovu). However, Disney is still an odd fit for Miranda which grants Lebo M., a first movie vocalist, another chance at lifting up an already good score that also contains Zulu rhythms and chants.
Disney submitted these duets for consideration in the Oscars mentioned earlier, but the best song is a group number called “We Go Together” taken from an African proverb that says “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far…” Mufasa’s challenges are paralleled by those of Simba at almost every point of his journey; however, the film does not really glorify Mufasa’s strength as much as it highlights his humility. In contrast to his words of encouragement in the original movie, he now teaches another timely lesson i.e. unity and respect for your subjects.
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