Mufasa: The Lion King Review!

Mufasa The Lion King is a film of beauty and an incredible voice cast with a mythical journey of Mufasa and his brother to teach the cub, Kiara! The film is directed by Barry Jenkins who directed Moonlight (2016) which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It is written by Jeff Nathanson and he also wrote The Lion King (2019). This of course was based on the 1994 animated classic. He is collaborating with cinematographer, James Laxton, who worked on Moonlight. It begins with “Look at the stars. The great kings of the past look down at us from those stars.” This is the archival voice recording of James Earl Jones and the text, “In Remembrance of James Earl Jones.” We had lost the acting legend on September 9th and this film is a tribute to his performance.

It is dawn at Pride Rock, we hear Lebo sing, “Ngomso”, Xhoso for “tomorrow.” Fantastic that Lebo M’s voice begins the film with his voice beginning “Circle of Life”; “Nants ingonyama bagithi baba” (There is a lion, they said, father). Lebo M worked with some of the score with Nicholas Britell, who also worked with Jenkins as composer on If Beale Street Could Talk (2018). The score is by Dave Metzger who is also the composer for the animated movie, Wish (2023). The animals including the water buffalo race across it, the birds take flight, and it made me think that I needed to see this film again in 3D, this has not happened before to me, to appreciate its beauty. Simba (Donald Glover) is walking to the edge of Pride Rock.   

Nala (Beyonce) is some distance away next to a den of rocks. Then, Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogan) arrive, and Timon announces, “The security detail has arrived!”  He jokes about a three legged zebra, by the way, it is pronounced “zeh-bra.” Simba tells them not to scare Kiara and tell her a story. This is his daughter whom Rafiki held at the end of Lion King. She made her debut in the direct-to-video sequel, The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (1998). Kiara is voiced by Blue Ivy Carter, Beyonce’s daughter, who gives a good performance, no songs for this group though. Simba tells his daughter, “Be brave Kiara when I’m gone.” Timon and Pumbaa tells her the story of their battle defeating Scar. I good recap of the earlier movie and a funny twist with the duo taking on the villain. 

A storm rolls in and this disturbs Kiara. She goes to Rafiki, this shows the cave layout of the Pride Rock interior with a waterfall, he tells Kiara about another cub, her grandfather, Mufasa. She tells him, “I can never be brave like Mufasa.” Rafiki blows dirt from his palm. The story telling device reminds me of The Princess Bride (1987). His story takes place on the savannah with a passing herd of elephants. Mufasa is a cub (Braelyn Rankins), the actor was in the live action remake of Lady and the Tramp (2019). His mother is Afia voiced by Anika Noni Rose who of course is the voice of Tiana in The Princess and the Frog (2009). Mufasa’s father is Masego who is voiced by Keith David, also from The Princess and the Frog, voicing Dr. Facilier. She sings “Melele” joined by Masego, a place, “beyond the horizon”, a paradise. I really wanted to run out of the theater and get the soundtrack, but of course I would have missed the rest of the movie and songs! 

A river flows, there are purple flowers, and butterflies burst from them, the visuals are stunning! A drop of water falls from the sky, Mufasa is refleccted in it, the first rain after a long drought. They head to the watering hole, which all of the animals have gathered around, Mufasa is placed on a rock. It suddenly changes to a flood, Mufasa is separated from his family trying to scramble up rocks. Masego throws his son onto some rocks. He says to find his mother’s voice. An elephant struggles in the flood and then shatters a dam!Mufasa is spinning in the water’s depths and then finds a log for safety as the flood takes him away. Mufasa is stranded, losing his family, and drifts down the river. It may be familiar about a prince who is lost in a river as a child in mythological and religion. He is found by another cub, Taka, Theo Somolu provides his voice. Somolu voiced Max in the animated series, Mighty Express. 

Five+ Stars out of Five! 

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