“Mufasa: The Lion King” has one essential factor going for it: an unique story.
Which will look like faint reward or a minimum of a really, very low bar within the grand scheme of issues. However in a panorama the place Disney continues to remake its animated catalog in barely completely different and often much less fascinating varieties, whether or not “live-action” or “photorealistic,” that often solely serves to remind how good the 2D animation was, originality is to not be undervalued.
And this story isn’t merely checking off fan service containers and overexplaining origins that by no means wanted them: It’s truly good. A prequel to “The Lion King,” opening in theaters Thursday, it’s a story of discovered household, betrayal and future, one which begins to clarify the estrangement between brothers Scar and Mufasa that everyone knows will finish in homicide, how Mufasa (Aaron Pierre) finally ends up as king of the satisfaction lands and, maybe most significantly, why just one has an English accent.
On this telling, Scar was as soon as Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), destined to be king of his satisfaction, and Mufasa was a misplaced cub, separated from his dad and mom in a dramatic flood. Taka saves Mufasa and brings him into his household. His mom (Thandiwe Newton) embraces the newcomer; his father (Lennie James) rejects him as nothing however a stray. Not that it issues a lot to the cubs; each are thrilled to have a brother. They play and defend each other and develop up collectively. However fissures begin to seem on this basis as Mufasa emerges because the distinctive one and Taka because the coward. After which a lioness enters the image in Sarabi (Tiffany Boone). We’ve all seen sufficient motion pictures to know what occurs with that.
The screenplay comes from veteran screenwriter Jeff Nathanson, whose credit embrace the 2019 “Lion King,” this 12 months’s pretty “Younger Girl and the Sea” and “Catch Me If You Can.” He clearly took a company mandate (give us extra “Lion King”) and made absolutely the least cynical model of that. There are nonetheless questionable corporate-feeling selections, like straining to tie it to a present and future “Lion King” by having Rafiki (John Kani) inform the story to Simba (Donald Glover) and Nala’s (Beyoncé) daughter Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter), Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) and Timon (Billy Eichner). These comedic breaks, and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s songs peppered all through, aren’t additive. They actually solely serve to interrupt up the momentum of the compelling primary story.
However the largest concern stays the shape itself. The photo-realistic computer-generated animals could have technically improved for the reason that 2019 “Lion King,” however they nonetheless aren’t film stars like their 2D animation counterparts. Spectacular although it could be intellectually, the fact of watching these animals for 2 hours is a considerably numbing and uninteresting expertise regardless of one of the best efforts of director Barry Jenkins. The Oscar-winning filmmaker of “Moonlight” did an admirable job including visible curiosity and colour into the landscapes, bringing it nearer to the vibrancy of animation than ever earlier than, and making it as cinematic as attainable. The unique story additionally helps right here in that he was by no means going to should recreate iconic sequences in a much less stimulating type. There are simply inherent limitations that filmmakers haven’t but found out, together with how odd it appears for these animals’ mouths to be shifting and talking English phrases. It’s strangest once they’re singing, mouths agape to carry the lengthy notes in a manner that no lion’s mouth ought to ever seem.
If that is one future for filmmaking there’s nonetheless a variety of room for enchancment and experimentation. That doesn’t imply it shouldn’t be embraced whereas the kinks are labored out. Nevertheless it additionally doesn’t imply the moviegoing public has to get enthusiastic about each rehash. “Mufasa: The Lion King” is healthier than those that got here earlier than it, however that doesn’t imply it’s nice.
“Mufasa: The Lion King,” a Walt Disney Studios launch in theaters Thursday, is rated PG by the Movement Image Affiliation for “peril, motion/violence and a few thematic components.” Working time: 118 minutes. Two and a half stars out of 4.
