Mufasa: The Lion King 2024 by AverageMansReviews

Mufasa: The Lion King 2024 by AverageMansReviews

Review Time

Warning: there is flashing effects/colourful effects/environmental/burning

This is how things began: briefly; Rafiki [Younger: Kagiso Lediga/Older: John Kani:] a mandrill that is a shaman of the what comes to be called The Pride Lands, tells the story of how things came to be what they are.

Generally speaking: the script, framework and pacing of this 118 minutes film is; did this story really have to be told? It by far doesn't make Mufasa look particularly great and discredits his legacy, but as you will read in this content this won't be the only time I make references to this and on top of that it slightly has adapted the outlay from The Lion King 1½ 2004 or alternative name The Lion King  3/4: animated project [from the perspective of storyteller:] but in no way shape or form as funny or amusing, so framework and pacing is of the solid variety as it knows what it is doing and sticks to the plan.

Art, action and comedy; it looks nice, the only things that stood out for me was the white lions, I have just realised the white lions do a lot of the heavy lifting for this project; be it the action or the genuine comedy as we have Mufasa [Young voiced by: Braelyn and Brielle Rankins/Older voiced by: Aaron Pierre/Oldest: James Earl Jones: archived recordings right at the beginning of this film] and Taka [Younger voiced by: Theo Somolu/Older including another name voiced by: Kelvin Harrison Jr.:] they are adopted brothers that are currently trying to out run these white lions, so in a nutshell they jump off thinking this white lion wouldn't follow, but they were wrong [I haven't forgotten about the musical numbers aspect; but I will bring them up later.]

Character developments and voice performances; well as you may have guessed already, but this sequel/prequel [yes as I have already shown both of these words are acceptable based on; we are in this sequel but discussing/seeing predominately a prequel.] This definitely without a shadow of doubt harms the legacy of Mufasa as without giving too much away gets chosen to fulfil a destiny that wasn't his as he isn't of royal blood anyway and yes I know he doesn't want it to begin with, but that is almost beside the point meaning another character gets sold out and very much begins their journey to become someone else. Okay now let's talk about the character developments as they are; they very much fulfil the criteria of a sequel/prequel; the only characters and voice performances that comes out of this sequel/prequel as an excellent and interpretation is younger and older Rafiki and  Kiros [voice by Mads Mikkelsen:] he is a white lion leader of white lions seeking revenge against Simba; we all so have him sing a musical number entitled "Bye Bye" which incidentally is the only song that really grabbed my attention and in my honest opinion is the only song that really is the quality of the soundtrack from The Lion King 1994 [animated film: yes I know it is high praise, but it is the only musical number that really well and truly embodies the standard and qualities, the rest of the musical numbers feel like cheap imitations/trying hard.] But I digress; for the rest; they are a very paint by colours approach and yes it is a case of I copy and paste approach of what I have said about the character developments, but instead of the word character developments just replace that with voice performances instead.

This film receives: 5/10, this film is mixed; I mean originally I was going to give this film a higher mark, but I really can't do it, no I can't do it; it just has so many mixed things about it; hell the uncomfortable truth based on my opinion is the fact that Disney wanted a cash grab, because I don't remember anyone particularly wanting or calling for this title. I mean based on the facts when this content was first created Friday 20/12/2024 is its opening weekend and it has just over $122 million from a budget of $200 million plus which if I was Disney I would be deeply unsatisfied with this performance, but hey at least it has some awards accredited to its name. 4 Nominees Casting Society of America, USA 2025 Artios Award Outstanding Achievement in Casting - Animation Feature Molly Rose Francine Maisler, Satellite Awards 2025  Satellite Award Best Visual Effects, Music + Sound Awards, International 2024 Music+Sound Award Best Original Composition in a Film Trailer Felix Erskine (composer) Lukas Burton (music producer) and The Queerties 2024 Queerty Next Big Thing