Genre: Musical, adventure, animation
The Lion King is one of the most well-known Disney stories of all time. Mufasa: The Lion King is both a prequel and sequel to the 2019 remake.
The film starts off with Rafiki (voiced by John Kani) telling Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter), Simba (Donald Glover)’s daughter, the story of how Mufasa (Aaron Pierre) became king, starting with how he and Scar (Kelvin Harrison Jr) became brothers and how their relationship grew.
As Rafiki moves between the present and past tense sharing the historical story, Timon (Seth Rogen) and Pumba (Billy Eichner) add colourful commentary, making the tale a little bit more entertaining.
The story begins when a young Mufasa gets lost and separated from his parents. He meets little Taka who immediately shows empathy towards Mufasa and takes him home to his parents who, after much persuasion from Taka, adopt Mufasa into the family.
The brotherhood between the two cubs grows throughout the years, as Mufasa learns to hunt and goes on a journey to find Milele, the mythical land that his parents told him stories about.
Soon, the land is assaulted by two white lions called The Outsiders who attack Mufasa and Eshe, Mufasa’s adoptive mother (Thandiwe Newton) but Mufasa kills one while the other flees. Taka and Mufasa are forced to flee when the leader of The Outsiders hunts them down to kill them as revenge.
When Mufasa and Taka reach the land, they encounter a stray lioness named Sarabi (Tiffany Boone), her hornbill scout Zazu (Preston Nyman), and a younger Rafiki.
Taka immediately falls for Sarabi, but after Mufasa and Sarabi create a stronger bond, Taka gets jealous and betrays Mufasa to The Outsiders. This is ultimately the conflict that leads to the rivalry between the two lions that spans many years. We also see how Taka ends up adopting the name Scar.
The movie delves into the relationshipbetween Taka and Mufasa and provides understanding for why their rivalry was so deep for so many years. Visually, the film is very similar to the 2019 film. Many of the same voice actors from the previous one return, with young, upcoming actors receiving their chance to shine too.
The songs in this film are really good. The involvement of talented songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda on the soundtrack was a good sign that the songs in the film would be fun and enjoyable. I Always Wanted a Brother, Tell Me It’s You and Ngomso are a few of the songs that stand out.
This is the perfect family movie as it features themes of bravery, loyalty, friendship, betrayal and doing what’s right.
Mufasa: The Lion King is now showing at Hemingways Movies