Mufasa: The Lion King – Film Review
by Katie McCabe

Director – Barry Jenkins
Writers – Jeff Nathanson, Linda Woolverton, Irene Mecchi
Stars – Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tiffany Boone

The Lion King (1994) was the jewel in the crown of the fabled Disney Renaissance of the late 80s/ early 90s. The sweeping score and Hamlet-inspired storyline blew the audience away, and since then, Disney has repeatedly tried to recreate that magic. Back in 2019, a ” live-action” version was released, and now we are getting a similar “live-action” prequel in the shape of Mufasa.

Directed by Academy Award-winning director Barry Jenkins, Mufasa is the story of, well, Mufasa, the ill-fated king, voiced iconically by James Earl Jones in the original, whose death traumatized countless Millennials. But how did Mufasa come to be King of Pride Rock? That is what this film aims to answer.

Jumping between two timelines we learn that Simba’s young daughter Kiara (voiced by Beyonce’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter) is afraid of a coming storm. Rafiki, being the wise and all-knowing Mandrill that he is, decides to tell her the story of another young cub who also had to learn to be brave. What ensues is a fun and at times deeply charming origin story of Mufasa and his brother Taka (no prizes for guessing who Taka turns out to be in the end).

Jenkins is clearly a skilled director and he brings a liveliness and visually engaging style to the film that feels fresh and exciting. The use of CGI animation is also beautiful to watch and the way the animators have captured the lion’s fur and sunlight is stunning. But can CGI Lions live up to the animated versions of the past? Not really. Sadly they are just a little too realistic and something of the playfulness of the cartoon style of the original is lost.

The run time of 1 hour 58 minutes is a little bit long for those of us with a more limited attention span but if over the Christmas season you are looking for a fun family film that has some charming moments then you won’t go too far wrong with Mufasa.