Rating of
3/4
Not the 1994 movie but better than the remake
Indyfreak - wrote on 12/31/24
I have to admit that I was surprised by how much I did like Mufasa by the end. The plot has more urgency and doesn’t repeat earlier stories. It has much more expressive animation than the previous film too.
The evil white lions were good additions. Mads Mikkelsen was fun as the villain. I will admit that the framing device with Timon and Pumba was superfluous and not necessary. It felt like extra padding to make it a 2 hour story.
As for the new voice actors to play the leads, Aaron Pierre was alright as a young Mufasa. But Kelvin Harrison Jr. did an excellent job as young Scar. His performance conveys the charm and conniving nature of Jeremy Irons’ iconic work in the original film.
The songs are hit-or-miss though. Sometimes I forgot it was supposed to be a musical. There were a couple decent songs for their given moment in the story. But I can’t say if they will have a lasting impact like in the original 1994 movie.
As far as these nostalgia-bait prequels go, especially for Disney, I liked it better than expected. It’s not as epic as the original 1994 movie. But it was still entertaining.
