"Mufasa: The Lion King" Reviews Are In - Dark Horizons
Disney“Moonlight” and “If Beale Street Could Talk” director Barry Jenkins returns with an unexpected gig – at the helm of Disney’s photorealistic CG animated feature “Mufasa: The Lion King”.
The project serves as a prequel to the Jon Favreau-directed 2019 adaptation of Disney’s 1994 animated feature classic. That film, though financially a big success, drew decidedly mixed reviews at launch.
With Jenkins at the helm, could this do better? It doesn’t really look like it. With 83 reviews counted, the film stands at 59% (average rating: 5.8/10) on Rotten Tomatoes. Over on Metacritic it’s at 58/100.
To put that in perspective, the 2019 film stands at a 51% (6.0/10) on RT and a 55/100 on MC – essentially on par. Here’s a sample of review quotes:
“While it’s not as unrestricted and original as a filmmaker like Jenkins is capable of, Mufasa: The Lion King has enough woven in there that will serve families this holiday season, even if it may not resonate with all of Jenkins’ usual audience.” – Billie Melissa, Newsweek
“‘Mufasa’ never quite bursts free of the constraints placed upon it, but those constraints never stop it from moving, or from being moving.” – Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com
“With a solid gang, Mufasa conforms to a typical journey of misfits. But that charm from the early scenes is lost with the addition of each new plot point.” – Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter
“Despite Jenkins’ track record and clear artistic touch, the light of Favreau’s semi-success taints everything all it touches here.” – Alison Foreman, Indiewire
“To bring up an issue that arose when Joaquin Phoenix flaked on Todd Haynes’ latest project — is this any way to spend two years of an artist’s prime period?” – Alonso Duralde, The Film Verdict
“We tell ourselves stories in order to live. Corporate movie studios tell you stories in order to keep their board happy and make their bottom line. Find the Venn diagram center between the two, and that’s where this Hakuna Matata 2.0 lies.” – David Fear, Rolling Stone
“Do the ultimate results of Mufasa: The Lion King justify the fact that one of film’s great talents was taken out of the game for almost half a decade? Not especially, no.” – Barry Hertz, Globe and Mail
“The CG images still impress, and there are gripping moments during the film’s second half as the insecure Mufasa embraces his destiny. But like too many origin stories, Mufasa often rehashes what was once stirring about this material.” – Tim Grierson, Screen
“While Mufasa is never as actively depressing as 2019’s Dumbo or 2022’s Pinocchio, the exercise has perhaps never felt as craven or pointless as it does here.” – Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph
The film explores the rise of the beloved king of the Pride Lands, Mufasa. The orphaned cub is lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka – the heir to a royal bloodline.
The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny – their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe.
“Mufasa: The Lion King” releases in cinemas on December 20th.
