“Let me tell you a story. A story of a great king.”
Let me begin by admitting that the original 1994 classic animation feature film The Lion King has remained my all-time favorite animated film. It wasn’t just the Elton John/Tim Rice songs, but that didn’t hurt. I’ve been an Elton John fan as far back as I can remember. There was just something special, something timeless, in that film. Since that time I regard it as the very last breath of the Walt Disney Studios classic animation. It started the studio’s last string of hits, and it was the end of an era. So that film has become somewhat bittersweet for me. The animated sequels were low-budget made-for-video quality, and the more recent “live action” version did not impress me with anything more than the technology it displayed. The heart has been gone for a long time. With the release of Mufasa, Walt Disney is attempting to pull on the heartstrings of people like me who love the original. Sometimes they pulled it off. Sometimes they did not. The film has its moments, and it certainly has its flaws. With all of that said, I expect it will generate pretty good box office numbers, and while its legacy won’t last half as long as that of the 1994 film, it’s good family entertainment, which has been missing from Walt Disney Studios for nearly a decade. Maybe the studio has learned something of late. If that’s true, I welcome what is yet to come, and Mufasa is a pretty solid start.
“This story begins far beyond the mountains and the shadows. On the other side of the light, a lion was born without a drop of nobility in his blood. A lion who change our lives forever. The earth will shake. Destiny awaits you.”
The film begins with our old friend Rafiki, now voiced by John Kani. Sadly Robert Guillaume is no longer with us. Rafiki is left in charge of Simba and Nola’s daughter Kiara, voiced by Blue Ivy Carter. He’s also kind of looking after our old friends Pumbaa, now voiced by Seth Rogan, and Timon, now voiced by Billy Eichner. Simba and Nola are off to give birth to their next child. Rafiki decides to tell the trio a story to calm them as a storm rages outside and they are worried about the parents. The story he tells is of a young cub named Mufasa, who would one day become the kingly father of Simba and grandfather of Kiara. Throughout the story there are comedic interruptions by Pumbaa and Timon, who believe they should also be in the story. And who can blame them, because Mufasa’s story is so very much like Simba’s.
As a young cub, Mufasa, voiced by Braelyn Rankins, is enjoying his time with his family when rains come and cause a huge flood that washes him far away from home. When he finally arrives, he meets another young cub named Taka, voiced by Kelvin Harrison, Jr.. Taka sees Mufasa struggling in the water and guides him to safety. One of the film’s better songs (I always Wanted A Brother) builds the relationship, and Taka takes him home to his family. Not accepting at first, the family never really has time to bond, as a group of leucistic lions have been terrorizing the wild. Kicked out of their prides at birth because they look different, they take their vengeance on whomever they can. So Mufasa and Taka flee the beasts. Along the way they make a few friends. Sarabi (Boone) is a young cub who is also on a journey to a mythological place of plenty and abundance. She has a companion named ZaZu, voiced by Preston Nyman. He’s the group’s new comic relief. They encounter the typical dangers along the way, and we get the expected story of betrayal and underdog victory. We learn how Mufasa comes to know Rafiki and how he found his magical staff. We learn how Taka earns the name Scar, and there are a dozen or more little Easter eggs along the way. The big reveal, of course, is how they make their way to what will become the Pride Lands and how Mufasa unites the lands to fight together and where he will eventually become king. We even learn how Pride Rock came to be. It’s a lot of origin stuff, and perhaps too ambitious. The two hours running time is a bit over-long, and by the end we really see that it’s merely another riff on the original. Entertaining? Yes. Necessary? Probably not.
A couple of the songs are pretty good. The one I already mentioned and another named Bye Bye are exceptional. They were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and are pretty good, but nothing as magic as the Elton John/Tim Rice classics. There’s even a couple of riffs from those songs included, but surprisingly not respectful. I am disappointed to find that there is almost a little hostility toward the earlier songs. One character talks about getting sued for royalties, and Pumbaa and Timon actually pan the Broadway musical, with one complaining that he was only a sock puppet. These are a couple of meta moments that I found a little disturbing. Have Disney and Elton had some kind of falling out? Why would you make so many emotional connections to the original and then taint it with some crass references to at least the music and the live production? I don’t have an answer for that.
The movie follows many of the emotional and story beats of the original. Many of the reveals are well done, and the film looks amazing. There is a completely necessary tribute to recently deceased James Earl Jones, and his is the first voice we hear. A deserving tribute. In the end, however, this is really The Lion King-lite. That’s not totally a bad thing, and you’ll absolutely enjoy it. Will you remember it 30 years later? “There will be only one Lion King.”
