On Dec. 20, 2024, the long anticipated Lion King prequel was released. After a huge success in 2019 with Beyonce and Donald Glover starring as Simba and Nala, they returned to their roles in Mufasa: The Lion King.
Mufasa: The Lion King follows the story of how Mufasa and Scar became enemies even though they are brothers. Instead of adapting The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride, they decided to do something different: an origin story about Mufasa.
The writing of the continuation of the original Lion King was absolutely amazing. The balance between the present day with Kiara, Rafiki, Pumbaa, and Timon and the past with Mufasa, Taka, Sarabi, Rafiki, Zazu and Kiros, was extremely well written.
As someone who could not watch the Lion King for the life of me when I was younger as I cried every single time, I knew this movie would toy with my emotions as well. When a natural disaster strikes, Mufasa winds up miles away from home, leading to the new brotherhood with Taka. Not only was this making me emotional, the end of the film made me have happy tears, seeing the success of Mufasa and the story of how his kingdom came to be.
The beginning of the film does have a slow pacing to it, but so does every movie. While I was a little bored in the beginning and wanted the movie to hurry up, patience is key for the beginning of movies. Especially when it’s a Disney movie.
Even though it was not a live action movie and we had no idea what facial expressions the actors were having, the voice acting held so much emotion, allowing every viewer to understand the story. While we did see the animations of the characters’ expressions, the raw emotion in the voice added a new level to it. Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr. did a phenomenal job with expressing their characters heartbreak, love and happiness.
Not only did the actors do a great job, their characters were beautifully created and designed to perfection by Barry Jenkins, the director, who utilized photogrammetry and MPC artists to digitally create the characters and landscapes.
The best landscapes in my opinion had to be the beautiful visuals of Milele and the beginning clips of Africa. The way this was made all through CGI blows my mind.
It’s not a surprise how amazing Lin Manuel Miranda did with this soundtrack. Before even being released “I always wanted a brother” skyrocketed on the charts. I adore the song. Seeing it trend on Tik Tok, made me addicted. As a huge Hamilton fan, I was utterly impressed with his song writing and ability to create a beautiful storyline with music.
The Lion King: Mufasa is definitely a MUST watch prequel, especially for those who love Disney films and The Lion King.
