Mufasa: The Lion King

A hymn to the wonders of the natural world, Disney’s follow-up to its 2019 hit blends phenomenal artistic mastery with the elemental power of storytelling.

Image courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.

At the time of writing, the top fourteen highest-grossing movies of 2024 were all sequels, bar Wicked, which is actually a prequel. So, commercially, it has been a red-letter year for follow-ups. Artistically, it hasn’t been half bad either, with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Twisters and Alien: Romulus all proving to be exceptionally superior additions to their respective canons. And now Mufasa adds its creative weight to the phenomenon. Not only has Walt Disney enticed Lin-Manuel Miranda on board to contribute six new songs, but the company had the chutzpah to hire Barry Jenkins as director, a filmmaker about as far removed from the original helmer Jon Favreau as you can get. Jenkins made his name with the low-budget gay African-American drama Moonlight, while Favreau’s directorial credits include Elf, Iron Man, Cowboys & Aliens and the upcoming The Mandalorian & Grogu. Never the twain?

There is a lot of moonlight in Mufasa, and several shades between, in one of the most miraculously conceived ‘cartoons’ in the history of computer animation. This, set across a range of gobsmacking African landscapes, is cinema at its most wondrous, distilling the natural world in all its colour and infinite variety. Be it a stampede of elephants, a run-in on a frozen mountain top or a near-death escape in a flash flood, the film just blows you away – if you still have the capacity to be awestruck. Add to that Dave Metzger’s evocative score, the sensational sound design and excellent voice work, and you have a film that delivers on multiple levels.

Dedicated to James Earl Jones, who made the voice of Mufasa his own and died this September at the age of 93, the film is an origins story of the eponymous lion king. Here, in his adult incarnation, Mufasa is voiced by Aaron Pierre, who continues to scale the ladder of success in leaps and bounds (cf. Rebel Ridge). Narrated by the wise old mandrill Rafiki (John Kani again) as a story-within-a-story, the events are directed at the young cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala. As the myriad shards of backstory unfold, some strands of the narrative may be lost on younger viewers, but the larger-than-life spectacle should keep them glued to their seats. And, due to the photorealistic animation, many scenes might come across as pretty intense for the faint-hearted. Cannily, the script skips back from some of the more dramatic sequences to Rafiki in real time, whose listening companions include the warthog Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) and the meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner), both providing welcome comic relief.

Whereas Disney’s original 1994 cartoon was largely modelled on Hamlet, the new film has more than a whiff of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid about it. Like the Sundance Kid, Mufasa can’t swim, while the main thrust of the action focuses on the bromance of Mufasa and Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr), both of whom find themselves outlaws and on an odyssey far from home. There’s also the girl who comes between the two – here it’s Sarabi (Tiffany Boone), before it was Katharine Ross – and there’s the relentless pride/posse that hovers threateningly on the far horizon (“who are those guys?”). There’s even that famous jump off a cliff.

Where the two films differ is in the presence of Rafiki, who spills wisdom like a squirrel dropping nuts. At one point asked why his eyes are closed, he answers, “my eyes are open – it’s my lids that are closed.” And, as usual, Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner bring an irresistible comic vibe to their scenes (Pumbaa, annoyed by how much screen time Rafiki is getting: “pretty soon he’ll have his own fragrance”). Add to that the joyous playfulness of Miranda’s songs and you have a sequel/prequel that has every reason to justify its pride.

JAMES CAMERON-WILSON

Voices of  Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr, John Kani, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, Tiffany Boone, Donald Glover, Mads Mikkelsen, Thandiwe Newton, Lennie James, Anika Noni Rose, Blue Ivy Carter, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Keith David, Preston Nyman, Braelyn Rankins, Theo Somolu. 

Dir Barry Jenkins, Pro Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak, Screenplay Jeff Nathanson, Ph James Laxton, Pro Des Mark Friedberg, Ed Joi McMillon, Music Dave Metzger, songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sound Harry Cohen, Jason W. Jennings Paula Fairfield and Luke Gibleon. 

Walt Disney Pictures-Walt Disney Studios.
119 mins. USA. 2024. UK and US Rel: 20 December 2024. Cert. PG.