It would go without saying that the original The Lion King is one of my favorite films of all time and it’s my favorite animated film of all time. It can be in the resonance of Disney’s hand-drawn animation in the late 80s and 90s. The story is epic and the music is incredible. A computer-created remake was made a few years ago and now there is a prequel to that story called Mufasa: The Lion King. It tells the story of how Mufasa became the king of the Pride lands or in the case of this movie Malalai. 

Simba (Donald Glover) has to take a trip with his partner Nala (Beyonce) and the mother of his daughter Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter). He leaves her in the care of Rafiki (John Kani) and Tamon and Pumba (Billy Eichner, Seth Rogan). While taking care of her they tell her the story of her father and how he became The Lion King. It’s a sprawling adventure with a lot of twists and turns that span many years.

The first thing I noticed about this film was the absolutely gorgeous visual effects the movie was created by using. The visual effects team deserves an Oscar for their work here. I was completely blown away by how realistic everything was. From the various scenes in or around water to the landscapes of the Pride lands, mountains, and deserts. Everything looked as real as I could possibly imagine. I know this may be recently biased, but I can honestly say this is the best-looking film I’ve ever seen and I’ve been watching movies for nearly fifty years. That’s how breathtakingly gorgeous this movie was to me. It looked REAL!!!

The thing I noticed about the original The Lion King was that it was basically a retelling of Macbeth. The work of William Shakespeare lends itself to animated films like these. Barry Jenkins did a similar thing with this movie. He used a classic tale of two friends/brothers who like the same girl and the boy who gets spurned by the girl gets mad at the other boy and wants to get revenge on him any way he can. That’s what you have here but with much better visual storytelling overall. It’s once again an epic tale told in the backdrop of The Lion King.

One of the best parts of the original The Lion King was the voice actors who portrayed the characters. The least of which was the legendary James Earl Jones as the voice of Mufasa. He owned the screen with this role. This prequel equally has a great voice cast. From Aaron Pierre as young Mufasa, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Taka Mufasa’s friend, Preston Nymon taking over for John Oliver as Zazu, and last but not least Mads Mikkelsen as Kiros the evil albino Lion who wants to be King of the pride lands himself. This cast is fantastic. I was instantly brought back into this world with some of these voice-over performances.

I’ve always had a mantra that when you have a great film like The Lion King you shouldn’t touch it in terms of remakes or sequels/ prequels. Gladiator II and Twisters are also two examples of this as well as Mufasa: The Lion King. In this day and age, Hollywood producers have leaned in on these types of movies quite a bit in recent years. This film is the rare example where the story and visual style of filmmaking justify this prequel to the original film. It’s that good to me. I was so into everything I was watching. I loved it, even the music.

The songs in The Lion King are iconic. Still to this day “Hakuna Matata” and “The Circle Of Life” are a couple of the greatest movie songs of all time. I just watched Moana 2 and I didn’t remember the songs In that sequel as soon as I walked out of the theater that night. The songs, like  “We Go Together”, “I Always Wanted A Brother” and “Bye Bye”, in this prequel written by Lin Manuel Miranda will be embedded in my mind for weeks to come. I genuinely enjoyed listening to these songs being portrayed in the context of the story. This is a fantastic soundtrack people will remember going for in this holiday season.

Mufasa: The Lion King is a prequel that makes the original material it’s based on better for having been made. Nothing is going to top the original The Lion King. This one has terrific voice-over performances, phenomenal visual effects, and a story that makes complete sense regarding the source material it’s based on. The songs are catchy and people will be singing them in their cars and working out moving forward. This is the rare prequel that is a quality film using previously created characters and themes. I was genuinely moved by this film from the moment I started watching it. I hope it catches on with audiences this holiday season and for that matter awards season regarding the songs and especially the visual effects as well. 

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen