Rubbish poster aside, <em>'Mufasa: The Lion King'</em> is a success. I can't overlook that poster, how amateur can you get - it genuinely looks like something I'd whip up seconds before the deadline. Thankfully, the movie itself is very good, it's one I enjoyed quite a bit. The animation is class, the lions look amazingly majestic. I will say the white ones look a bit iffy, but that's nothing even close to a big issue. The voice cast are all perfectly good. Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr. (only now realising his character wasn't called Tucker... bit embarrassing on my part), John Kani et al. all merit props. The standouts for me, however, are Mads Mikkelsen and Lennie James - two actors I do love watching (or listening to, in this case), admittedly. Music-wise, it's not the strongest - I can't recall any of the songs, to be honest. That's not actually a terrible thing though, as it means none of the musical numbers grated on me either - and that's always a win in my books. Elsewhere, Timon & Pumbaa are unamusing and wasted, but at the same time are unnecessarily forced into this prequel/sequel. Obviously, this still falls far adrift of the beloved original animated film. Nevertheless, I'll hold it in higher esteem than the 2019 remake, even if I didn't overly mind that one to be fair. Oh, lastly, nice touch dedicating this to James Earl Jones at the get-go - was expecting it at the end.

They've been praying for rain for ages but are ill-prepared for when it finally comes and washes away the young "Mufasa" from the loving paws of his parents and out into the wilderness. Luckily, he is rescued by the friendly young cub "Taka" whose mother "Eshe" convinces his sceptical father "Obasi" to let her adopt him. The pair prove inseparable as they grow up, but the encroachment of a pride of angry white lions led by "Kiros" soon threatens their peaceful lives and forces the two to flee in search of a mystical land. Along the way they encounter the wily lioness "Sarabi" and her airborne early warning system "Zazu" and joining forces, have their work cut out for them crossing the snowy mountains. The whole story is regaled by the sagely "Rafiki" to a young cub "Kiara" and the underused, rough-round-the-edges, warthog/meerkat combo of "Pumbaa" and "Timon" so we know the ending all along. Not that jeopardy is in anyway the point here, it's not that kind of Disney film. It's really just a fairly shameless rip-off of the first, far superior, film that though it looks great with all the integrated live-action visuals has a story that's cheesily wafer thin. It's purpose is to set out the origins of the "Lion King" (1994) but all it really does is remind us of just how good that was and just how average this one is. They keep referring to the "Circle of Life" but barring a few meanderings from the orchestral score into the songs from the past, we are simply left with some banal offerings from Lin-Manuel Miranda best summed up by "Bye Bye" - straight from the Janet and John book of rhyming "seas" with "trees". Certainly, it looks great but it's also quite confusing whom it's for. The kids watching in the cinema with me were quickly bored by the undercooked story once the awe of the visuals had worn off. It's all perfectly watchable and is quite a testament to the arts of those in the CGI department well worthy of the big screen, but it's all instantly forgettable fayre that just sort of rolls along towards it's rousing denouement unremarkably.

Great movie. Story's amazing and CGI never been so good before. I mean great visuals. To be honest, I didn't see any flows in this movie. It's perfect.

Disney's *The Lion King* is one of my favorite franchises, so when I heard a prequel to the 2019 remake about Mufasa's origins was in the works in 2022, I was excited. That movie became the 2024 film *Mufasa: The Lion King*, which starts off where the remake ended, showing Rafiki telling Mufasa's origin story to Kiara, with most of the movie showing Mufasa as a young orphan who started off as a normal cub adopted into a royal family by a king and queen named Obasi and Eshe, respectively, where he became the brother of Taka, a prince who would grow up to be Simba's uncle, Scar. The movie is a fun, nuanced story about how blood doesn't define royalty or status, and showing Mufasa transitioning into a king whilst Taka feels hurt and turns into Scar is quite powerful, as we see how Mufasa does nice things for everyone-from saving Obasi and Eshe from white lions that are part of the Outsiders led by Kiros to leading the animals of Milele against the Outsiders-and become a king by bringing species together. Kiros is also a surprisingly dark villain for this franchise. While Scar is no better as he killed his brother, Kiros is genocidal, leading to him almost ending his own species in the process. It makes what Scar did later all the more dangerous as Scar didn't just murder a brother, but outright murdered someone he called family and later turned against for his own benefits. The running gag of Timon and Pumbaa interrupting Rafiki's story is also funny because of how it pokes fun at cynical viewers on the internet where they constantly mock stories either for omitting characters from the plot or straight-up just making stuff up for the sake of it. The soundtrack is also a banger, largely thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda as songwriter. Every song in the movie is fantastic and adds a lot to the movie's plot and pacing. Some lyrics in the songs, like those in "I Always Wanted a Brother", hint at what happens in the future. My only issue with this movie is how uncanny the characters' animation can occasionally be. This is mostly present in cub Mufasa and Taka and young Rafiki. The visual effects team were so determined to make the haters of the 2019 remake's visual style happy they overcompensated and created an uncanny valley effect with subtle human facial expressions. It's not as bad in Kiara, Timon and Pumbaa, older Rafiki, Simba, and the rest of the older lions, but even so, those younger selves' expressions are way too emotional and clashes with the overall nature documentary-style aesthetic Disney is trying to go for. The remake succeeded with its "less is more" approach as it forces the audience to look at things like body movement and subtle gestures for emotion. The fact Disney messed this up in the prequel film is frustrating. Regardless of that criticism, *Mufasa: The Lion King* is still an amazing prequel/sequel film and I hope we get another soon.