Producers: Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak   Director: Barry Jenkins   Screenplay: Jeff Nathanson   Cast: Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr. Tiffany Boone, Kagiso Lediga, Preston Nyman, Mads Mikkelsen, Thandiwe Newton, Lennie James, Anika Noni Rose, Keith David, John Kani, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, Donald Glover, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Blue Ivy Carter, Braelyn Rankin, Theo Somolu, Folake Olowofoyeku, Joanna Jones, Thuso Mbedu, Sheila Atim, Abdul Salis, Dominique Jennings, Derrick L. McMillon, Maestro Harrell, A.J. Beckles and David S. Lee  Distributor: Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures

Grade: C

If “The Lion King” weren’t still such a massive phenomenon in various formats, one might suggest that doing a prequel to the 1994 movie that started it all after three decades had passed was akin to beating a dead horse.  But the Disney franchise has proven such a juggernaut over the years—even Jon Favreau’s technically proficient but totally unnecessary photorealistic 2019 remake was a global smash—that it was inevitable, if not forgivable, that the Mouse House, always on the lookout for more box office cheese to gobble up, would embrace the opportunity to again cannibalize its treasury of past triumphs, especially one as lucrative as “King” has proven to be  (Next up: a live-action “Snow White.”)  So, Jeff Nathanson script has been cunningly crafted both to answer questions the original movie didn’t explicitly address or fully explain—it’s rather like the second “Star Wars” trilogy in that respect—and to point the way to further possible explorations of byways in this African animal universe.

“Mufasa” describes how the big fellow became king of the Pride Lands, and how he met not only Sarabi, the lioness who was his wife and queen, but also the wise shaman Rafiki and his future majordomo, the hornbill Zazu.  And, of course, it reveals the origin of the tense, ultimately fatal, relationship between Mufasa and his half-brother Scar.

It takes the form of an odyssey story recounted by the aged Rafiki (voiced by John Kani, a returnee from the 2019 film) to Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter), the daughter of Simba (Donald Glover, another returnee) and Nala (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, ditto) to distract the cub while her mother is in the throes of labor.  His narration periodically interrupts the visual recreation of the journey and is itself interrupted by comic commentary from warthog Pumbaa (Seth Rogen, also from Favreau’s picture) and meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner, ditto) that often veers into self-referential mode.

Mufasa (voiced as a kid by Braelyn and Brielle Rankins) was orphaned, Rafiki explains, when his father Masego (Keith David) and mother Afia (Anika Noni Rose) both perished trying to save him from drowning in a flash flood.  Swept downstream, he was rescued from alligators by Taka (Theo Somolu), a lion cub who took him to his parents Obasi (Lennie James), the leader of their pride, and his mate Eshe (Thandiwe Newton). 

Obasi is hostile to the outsider, but Eshe insists on adopting him, and Mufasa and Taka become brothers who do everything together, though Obasi insists on his adoptive son learning the ways of hunting from the females of the pride rather than hanging out with him and the other males.

All is peaceful until a larger pride of white lions appear, led by the imperialist Kiros (Mads Mikkelson).  As a ferocious battle rages Obasi orders the now-grown Mufasa (Aaron Pierre) and Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) to flee.  Kiros, blaming them for the death of his son in the battle, relentlessly pursues them with vengeance on his mind. 

The half-brothers aim to find a legendary paradise called Milele, which requires a prolonged trek over varied terrain, from desert to snow-swept mountains.  Along the way they have the good fortune to meet not only the younger but already wise Rafiki (Kagiso Lediga), but also Sarabi (Tiffany Boone), a confident, knowledgeable lioness, and Zazu (Preston Nyman), who serves as her scout.  Sarabi’s increasing closeness with Mufasa exacerbates an already growing rift between him and Taka, which induces the latter to betray his half-brother as Kiros closes in on the little band.  But Mufasa still remains true to his pledge to Obasi always to protect Taka.

In narrative terms “Mufasa” does what it sets out to do—create a bridge to “The Lion King” that will satisfy those wanting fuller background to what happens in the two versions of that movie.  But though it’s a visual feast, thanks to the efforts of animation supervisor Daniel Fotheringham, the effects team headed by Adam Valdez, Audrey Ferrara and Barry St. John, production designer Mark Friedberg and cinematographer James Laxton, as a story it’s not imaginative or captivating enough to live up to the 1994 original. 

Though the voice cast is certainly adequate, their contributions pale beside those in that film (Mikkelson, for example, is no Jeremy Irons), and director Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight,” “If Beale Street Could Talk”) hasn’t found a way to put much of a personal stamp on a script that comes across as episodic, structurally cumbersome (with the persistent intrusions featuring the ever-popular Rafiki, Pumbaa and Timon particularly disruptive) and surprisingly violent; while he and editor Joi McMillon tone the mayhem down as much as possible, the result might still be too strong for very young viewers.  The movie is, like the earlier ones, a musical, but although the songs are by Lin-Manuel Miranda, they’re hardly likely to achieve the classic status that Elton John’s for the 1994 picture have attained, not least on Broadway.  Dave Metzger’s background score adds generic energy to the action sequences.

There’s little reason to doubt that “Mufasa” will be a roaring success, yet another bonanza in a franchise that’s kept audiences engaged for thirty years.  But the 1994 “Lion King” was, despite its now-iconic status, the real beginning of the decline in Disney’s Second Golden Age of animation, a rather saccharine drop-off from the nimble, witty movies that preceded it, and this prequel is a distinct step down from even its level.