Directed by Barry Jenkins and written by Jeff Nathanson (“The Lion King” and “Young Woman and the Sea”), the photorealistic animated film “Mufasa: The Lion King” continues to slither around the mucky problems of pride in all its applicable meanings. As a prequel to “The Lion King,” despite its convincing photorealistic realism, the film serves as an unconvincing origin story and lacks cultural sensitivity.
Mufasa is the fallen father of “Simba, the titular character of Disney’s 1994 animated feature “The Lion King” and its 2019 photorealistic animated remake, also “The Lion King.” “Mufasa: The Lion King” is told in flashback, which is bookended and sometimes interrupted by the continuation of Simba’s life as a father and the upcoming birth of another progeny.
Simba (voiced by Donald Glover) leaves his daughter Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter) with his security detail of warthog Puma (Seth Rogen) and meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner) and the shaman mandrill Rafiki (John Kani). Simba must tend to Nala (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter) who is about to give birth.
The Lion King
In the world of “The Lion King,” a pride is just a group of gals who like to hang out together and not the harem of the brothers Mufasa and Scar or even Mufasa. Mufasa has only one mate, Queen Sarabi. And lions only have one cub at a time. “The Lion King” begins with a celebration of the birth of Simba. Simba is saved by Mufasa and died under a wildebeest stampede after Scar refuses to help him. Scar fools Simba into thinking Mufasa’s death is his fault and Simba leaves the Pride Lands but is rescued by a meerkat named Timon and a warthog named Pumbaa.
Simba grows up, becomes reacquainted with Nala and will defeat Scar. Simba becomes the Lion King and the movie ends with Simba and Nana having a cub which is presented to the assembled animals as Simba once was at the beginning of the film.
Neither Sarabi, Nala’s most Sarafina nor Nala become the mates of Scar while he is king. And one has to wonder just who is Nala’s father?
As I noted previously, there are other problems with the hyperrealistic animation of animals and the whole concept of kings within the wild.
- ‘The Lion King’ : Gender Politics
- ‘The Lion King’ : Reading Animal Emotions or the Importance of Eyebrows
An animated features can take us out of reality and add dimension to the characters that might be more easily understood the children and the general public.
Mufasa: The Lion King
Anyone who knows about kittens or puppies, knows that a birth of a singleton is an anomaly. Usually the litter is more than two, but not in the world of the Lion King.
Simba says, “My friends, the time of my family’s growth is upon us.” That means Nala is seeking shelter under a rock and that Simba needs to watch over her. He leaves Kiara (Carter) with his trusty security detail of Timon (Eichner) and Pumba (Rogen), warning them not to tell stories to the young cub. Deep in a peaceful cave which was big enough to have served as a safe place for Nala, Kiara is entertained by the mandrill Rafiki (John Kani).
Kiara will be familiar to Lion King fans who watched direct-to-video film “The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride” and TV series “The Lion Guard.” Kiara is Simba’s first cub and the supposed heir to the Pride Lands which sounds like a calculated counter to the androcentric nature of the original film and its remake.
Rafiki knew Mufasa before he came to the Pride Lands. Mufasa was a young cub during a time when a long drought ended. The animals celebrated the rain, but in a desert, rain also means a flash flood. The unwise Mufasa (voiced by Braelyn Rankins as a cub) goes too far into the water so when the flash flood comes, he is unable to reach safety in time. His father, Masego (Keith David) and his mother, Afia (Anika Noni Rose), risk their lives to save him, but Mufasa is washed downstream, far away from his homelands.
Mufasa is saved from a crocodile by a curious cub, Taka (Theo Somolu as a cub). Although Taka’s father Obasi (Lennie James) doesn’t want to raise Mufasa, Eshe (Thandiwe Newton), Taka’s mother, adopts him. Mufasa is forced to stay with the lionesses while Taka is usually with the young males. From the lionesses he learns how to hunt.
When they are young males, Obasi’s territory comes under attack by The Outsiders, white lions led by Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen), who is larger than Obasi and his pride has more members. Obasi bids Taka and Mufasa to flee, asking Mufasa to take care of his adopted brother. Yet Taka has already been told that “Deceit is a tool of a great king,” by his father.
Among the lions, there is a legendary place called Milele. Mufasa first heard about it from his mother. It’s a paradise where the lands are verdant and green, just over the horizon.
Taka’s pride also knew about Milele and the two young lions, now voiced by Aaron Pierre (Mufasa) and Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Taka), head there. Along the way they meet a young orphan lioness Sarabi (Tiffany Boone) and her hornbill friend Zazu (Preston Nyman) and decide to spare a strange mandrill, Rafiki.
Yet they are pursued by Kiros who wants avenge the death of his son because despite his large pride, he only has one son.
Taka becomes smitten by Sarabi, but Sarabi falls for Mufasa. Instead of thinking there might be other lionesses around the next rock, Taka becomes bitter and betrays his adopted brother. Yet Taka isn’t without some redemptive qualities although these seem too convenient rather than convincing.
You might wonder when do these lions eat and what? The script by Jeff Nathanson reminds us of this basic need more than once. The threesome mention eating such as when they find Rafiki, and again when Mufasa smells out a much-too-small-to-be-more-than-an-appetizer-for-one inhabitant of the snowy mountains they decide to cross. Yet we never see them stopping to eat or killing any animal. The prey-versus-predator problem runs throughout the Lion King world.
Besides the plot problems mentioned above, I would also question the scripting in terms of what white lions mean to other cultures.
For the curious, white lions are a genetic mutations. They are not albinos because they have pigmentation and dark eyes (leucistic). While they are rare, they do occur in the wild. According to the Captured in Africa Foundation, “White lions have a special place in African folklore and history, with legends telling that they were ‘children of the Sun God’ and were ‘sent to earth as gifts.'”
White lions were the focus of Osamu Tezuka’s manga series that ran from 1950 to 1954, “Jungle Emperor” (ジャングル大帝). This series was not unknown in the US as it became a TV series and was originally broadcast in Japan in 1965 with 52 episodes. It came to the US in 1966 (dubbed) as “Kimba the White Lion.” There was some dispute about Disney’s “The Lion King” and there was a debate.
- ‘Lion King’ Sparks Debate in Japan (10 August 1994)
- ‘Lion King’ Has Been Clouded by Intellectual Property Controversy for 25 Years. Here’s the Story Behind It ” (26 July 2019)
- The ‘Lion King’ Secret Disney Doesn’t Want You to Know (9 July 2019)
- Who’s Lion It Is, Anyway? (3 September 2019)
According to Cracked.com, Disney attempted to prevent a screening of a new feature-length version of “The Jungle Emperor” in 1997 based on copyright claims. “Back in 1997, Toronto’s Fant-Asia film festival screened a new feature-length animated version of Jungle Emperor. According to festival director Julian Grant, Disney sent them a cease-and-desist letter. ”
The white lion is one of Tezuka’s most famous characters (along with Astro Boy). In 1978, the adult Leo character became the mascot of the Seibu Lions (now known as the Saitama Seibu Lions). The mascot has appeared on the team’s baseball cap. In 2014, the lion appeared on the uniform.
“Mufasa: The Lion King” is not the first mention of the Outsiders. In “The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride,” however, they are not white lions. The animated TV series and the straight-to-video films used color as well as other physical attributes to differentiate the Outsiders from Simba’s pride. In “Simba’s Pride,” the Outsiders are led by a lioness, Zira, who has a son, Kovu, who isn’t apparently the bio son of Scar although he was Scar’s chosen heir when Scar was king of the Pride Lands. This seems to dig another plot hole for the Lion King world.
Although the realism of the animation is admirable, especially the fur and water, the plot isn’t compelling and the Lion King kingdom has more plot holes than prairie dog paradise or a meerkat mob mounds. “Mufasa: The Lion King” doesn’t fill those holes. The original animated feature of “The Lion King” benefited from the talents of lyricist Tim Rice and music by Elton John. Together, they wrote five original songs (“Circle of Life“, “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King“, “Be Prepared“, “Hakuna Matata“, and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight“). For the photorealistic 2019 film, Knowles-Carter wrote a song “Spirit,” with Ilya Salmanzadeh and Labrinth. “Mufasa” has original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a score composed by Dave Metzger. None of the songs embedded themselves into my consciousness. You might feel differently.
In a way, Nathanson’s script reads like a vicious side swipe by the mighty paw of Disney against the legacy of Osamu Tezuka, something that at this late date, no one involved in anything Lion King-related can claim ignorance. Whether it will leave a scar and doom white lions to Disney villainy is something that time will tell. As with the 2019 photorealistic animated remake, it’s hard to divorce one’s expectations of realistic behavior and one wonders if this is doubly and more dangerously true for the target audience: kids.
Mufasa was originally voiced by James Earl Jones in the 1994 “The Lion King” as well as the 2019 remake. “Mufasa: The Lion King” is dedicated to him. “Mufasa: The Lion King” premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on 9 December 2024. The film will be released on 20 December 2024.
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