(courtesy IMP Awards)
Full admission upfront: this reviewer, for reasons that still evade him, never quite warned to The Lion King, the 1994 animated gem from Disney that introduced us to the world of Mufasa, Simba and the Elton John-soundtracked Circle of Life.
Two trips to the cinema were made to see it, quite obviously, twice, it was rewatched on DVD and then streaming and yet despite it having all the pieces in place that should have made it a heartwarming home run, I stayed curiously unmoved.
And then something remarkable happened; driven by nieces and nephews wanting to see films at the movies over the Christmas break – let’s be honest; they do want to see films but so does their guncle very much – I ended up watching Mufasa: The Lion King, ostensibly the live action prequel to the 2019 remake of the 1994 film but in effect to the whole franchise too, and loved it.
Majestic, epic and filled with semi-memorable songs like Lin-Manuel Miranda – not his best work but then this man. is so talented that even his B-grade songs are better than most people’s A-grade any day of the week – Mufasa: The Lion King is full to bursting with grand themes of destiny, fate, familial bonds and betrayal, all set against a lavishly-realised African landscape.
Where the original film felt a little too emotionally over-engineered. Mufasa: The Lion King feels warmly authentic, setting up the stories to come while still feeling like a film that could easily stand on its own two, or really four, paws.
It helps, of course, that there is a wealth of storytelling that precedes it.
While the story in the film may be brand new, told by Rafiki (John Kani) to a storm anxious Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter) – she’s Simba and Nala’s daughter (the king and queen are voiced by Donald Glover and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter respectively) – while our old gag pals and veteran comedy duo Timon and Pumbaa (Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen) do their wisecracking, often meta, thing (there are references made to The Lion King stage show for instance), it leverages viewers’ significant knowledge and love for the franchise as a whole.
Thus, this original, fresh and heartfelt story, which comes alive with cinema-realistic animation that surges off the screen with vitality, offers plenty of emotional touchpoint for anyone with even a passing interest in the franchise.
Helping too is how epically enthralling the ideas behind the movie are.
The Lion King franchise has always been anchored by ideas as old as storytelling itself, with power, betrayal and the inherent selflessness of true leadership always making their thematic presence felt.
But these prevailing themes are given even more life and veracity in Mufasa which provides key emotional background for the events the 1994 and 2019 films, to the point where this uninvolved viewer who, as previously admitted, found it hard to engage with the series, suddenly felt all the things.
Sure, it can all still be a bit earnest and New Age-y twee, and you do have to wonder what it is the lions eat since they are kumbayah-ing with all the animals on which they would normally predate, but overall, Mufasa is alive with themes evil and redemptively alive, giving us a sense of what it is that impels Mufasa to rule so wisely and thoughtfully in the first place.
Clearly created to extend the franchise, Mufasa is nonetheless a rich and rewarding piece of storytelling that enthrals all the senses, offering up immersively expansive themes, songs that warm the soul (even if they don’t always find purchase in your earworm catalogue), characters who matter and a narrative that is both pellmell full-on and emotionally intimate, with all these various pieces adding up to a film that gives new life to a franchise which, after all, revolves around it with evolutionary earnestness and a thirst for death and life, betrayal and goodness all being part of the same glorious and continuous whole.