My first impressions for this film prior to watching it was that it was another new Disney movie that was overhyped and underperformed. I’m not usually a big movie critic, but after seeing the countless Instagram posts making fun of the movie, including low scores from rotten tomatoes and IMDB, 58% and 6.7/10 respectively. I figured I shouldn’t join in the bashing until I had seen it for myself. I had high hopes on my way to the theater, hoping that social media was too harsh on this film and that I would leave the theater impressed by the story, quality, and music. 10 minutes into the movie, I realized that social media was right.
A Bar Set Too High
I want to give the movie the benefit of the doubt, but I just can’t do that in good faith. The original 1994 Lion King movie musical is one of the best, well known, excellently executed works of all time. It’s unrealistic to expect a prequel to live up to the high standards set by Rob Minkoff and Roger Allers, but I was at least expecting a worthy attempt, this just isn’t it. My largest complaints are the music, the animation quality, and the overall pacing of the film.
What Went Wrong?
One of the largest appeals when it comes to the Lion King are the iconic musical numbers. The new music in Mufasa The Lion King was mediocre and plotless, a rare miss by Lin Manuel Miranda. While the songs were memorable, I remember them for all the wrong reasons. The songs were overly cliche, cheesy, and felt rushed and unoriginal. Despite large breakthroughs in Disney animation, the animation quality felt lackluster. There were lots of scenes containing water in the film where the water looked poorly animated, choppy, and wasn’t smooth. The coloration of the overall film felt dull lifeless, and strangely yellow. While the concept for the plot was clearly well thought out and developed, the pacing of the film felt awkward. The first 15-20 minutes of the film contained so much plot it was difficult to keep up, but after that an hour went by of filler and unnecessary character development. In the film, we learn a lot about Rafiki’s backstory, his early adulthood and origins. Despite spending about 15 minutes learning about his backstory, he doesn’t contribute significantly in this story to have made those 15 minutes worth it. His character has always been illusive, but the majority of his lines felt entirely understood, rambling, and confused.
Top Tier Takeaways
While I had a lot of negatives when it came to the film, there are a few important positives to note. The storyline was very entertaining, and had a few unexpected twists and turns, interesting side stories coming together, and a heartfelt message displaying themes of family, unity, and acceptance. For the first time, we saw Scar’s backstory and the events, actions, and causes of his exiled state in the Pride lands. Getting to see the upbringing of one of Disney’s most iconic villains was eye catching and added further to the plot of the franchise as a whole. Overall Mufasa The Lion King adds well to the plot of the bigger picture, I just wish it had the impact a 30 year anticipated film should have.
