The relationship between Simba’s father and uncle, Mufasa and Scar, showcased in The Lion King was rocky at best. But no one truly knew the origins of how these two became brothers and Mufasa became the king of the Pride Lands until Mufasa The Lion King film premiered on December 9, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre, followed by a December 20th release in the United States.
It stars Aaron Pierre, Mads Mikkelsen, and returning cast members Beyoncé with her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, John Raki, Donald Glover, Billy Eichner, and Seth Rogen.
After being separated from his parents in a flood, Mufasa is rescued by Taka, the heir to a royal bloodline. Their encounter initiates an expansive journey in which this group of misfits searches for their destinies
The visuals were top-notch and provided great detail on the African grasslands, water, canyons, animals, and jungle. The whole environment was a job well done, making it feel realistic. Surely, it doesn’t fail to captivate audiences with its production of the visuals of the African environments.
The story is decent, but its pacing was unnecessarily slow for what seemed like a short-midrange journey with weak obstacles. It doesn’t give the opportunity for deeper character development because it seems similar to many movies of heroes and superheroes alike.Although a little credit can be given to them because the characters do finally develop in The Lion King.
The acting was good, evoking some emotion to their character. Aaron Pierre’s portrayal of Mufasa was of high quality, Kelvin Harrison Jr. gave true character to Taka, Tiffany Boone did well with being Sarabi, and Mads Mikkelsen was successful in giving character to Kiros.
However, the soundtrack didn’t make the movie better. It seemingly tends to distract you from the main story that it doesn’t have much role in developing. It feels thrown into the story for no good reason. Some of the music does show the true emotions of the main characters, but others can be found annoying and unnecessary. The movie does highlight themes of bravery and courage seen through Mufasa and how he overcame his hydrophobia due to losing his parents.
Though the movie had a great production and beautiful visuals, the story, pacing, soundtrack, and character development weren’t done so well. It seems Disney just thought about telling Mufasa’s story out of the blue. If only they had done an original animated film telling Mufasa’s story following the original 1994 film, maybe this 2024 real-life version could have been better. It was decent but needed more work. Due to the slow pacing, the ones who might enjoy it most are older kids, teens, or adults, although they may find the movie boring and a waste of time.
