Leave it to Disney to try wringing every last dollar out of their existing IP, but with the success of THE LION KING in 2019, a film that took in over US$1.5 billion at the global box office, the temptation to go for it was surely too great to pass up. And so, we now have MUFASA: THE LION KING, a story that is both a prequel and a sequel. This time, though, we have no James Earl Jones to voice Mufasa, and Barry Jenkins (IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK; MOONLIGHT) has taken over the director’s reigns from Jon Favreau.

Picking up not too long after THE LION KING ends, Simba (Donald Glover, TV’s ATLANTA) and his mate, Nala (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter), need to go away for a short while (basically the length of the movie) so they leave their young daughter, Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter), in the temporary care of Pumbaa (Seth Rogen, DUMB MONEY) and Timon (Billy Eichner, BROS). It’s not long before Rafiki, the wise mandrill (John Kani, BLACK PANTHER), shows up, and to keep Kiara (and the audience) entertained, he tells her the story of how her grandfather, Mufasa, came to be the Lion King. It all begins when Mufasa was just a cub, not much older than Kiara. A flash flood sweeps him away from his pride and he is eventually saved by Taka, a young cub from another pride. The two males become instant friends and Taka’s mother, Eshe (Thandiwe Newton, REMINISCENCE; TV’s WESTWORLD) agrees to take Mufasa into the pride much to the distress of her mate, Obasi (Lennie James, BLADE RUNNER 2049), who sees Mufasa as a threat to his bloodline. When word comes that Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen, DRUK), a huge white lion who plans to take over Obasi’s pride, is on his way, Eshe sends Mufasa (now voiced by Aaron Pierre, REBEL RIDGE) and Taka (now voiced by Kelvin Harrison Jr, ELVIS; CYRANO) away for their safety. The males head for Milele, the mythical land of plenty that lies over the horizon. Along the way, they meet the lioness Sarabi (Tiffany Boone) whose pride was already destroyed by Kiros, the hornbill Zazu (Preston Nyman), and Rafiki.

Sigh! Why didn’t Disney leave this IP alone? Sure, the photorealistic animation in MUFASA: THE LION KING is impressive, but how many close ups do we need to see before we concede that the animators have improved upon the animals’ facial expressions from the 2019 film. I’ll say two would be enough but instead we get far more than that and they come at the expense of the impressive grand vista shots, which are few and far between in this film. But while the animators turned their attention to getting the animals’ faces right, they seemed to have neglected the rest of their bodies and you’ll be struggling to figure out which lion is Mufasa and which is Taka as they romp and run around the savannah together. They look too similar and the only way to tell them apart is by their accents. Mufasa’s is American; Taka’s is British. Go figure. The same can be said for all the lionesses. They’re identical looking. Come on, folks at Disney! I’ve been on safari and my guide was able to tell each lion apart from 100 feet away. They would be hard pressed to tell these lionesses apart sitting in front of an IMAX screen.

That’s not the biggest problem with the film though. It’s the music. It’s so unnecessary and, if anything, it takes a machete to the story’s pacing. Even worse, the tunes by Lin-Manuel Miranda (TICK, TICK… BOOM!), are both completely unmemorable and smack of Miranda’s typical musical styling with a pseudo-African veneer. Sorry, Lin-Manuel. I like you and I think you’re very talented but Tim Rice and Elton John wrote better songs.

MUFASA: THE LION KING is not a terrible film though, and I’m sure it’s going to pull in at least US$1 billion at the box office. It’s just not a good film, one that even Pumbaa’s and Timon’s overplayed shtick couldn’t save.

MUFASA: THE LION KING opens around the world today (December 20^th). It’s meh-yeow.

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