The trend isn鈥檛 over 鈥 鈥淟ilo & Stitch鈥 is coming 鈥 but the 鈥渓ive-action鈥 remake of animated films has got to stop.
In 鈥淢ufasa: The Lion King,鈥 realistic-looking lions, warthogs, meerkats and whatever break into song repeatedly. It鈥檚 like a curious fever dream that doesn鈥檛 want to go away.
Because we first encountered the characters in two-dimensional animated form, it鈥檚 difficult to embrace them as photorealistic National Geographic staples singing and dancing. Sure, there was the 2019 鈥渓ive-action鈥 鈥淟ion King鈥 but, for some reason, those animals didn鈥檛 rankle. Here, they鈥檙e almost frightening.
"Mufasa: The Lion King" follows Simba's dad during the early years.聽
Realism isn鈥檛 necessarily the best route for something like this. Using Rafiki as the storyteller and keeping the others silent might have avoided the disconnect.
Instead, director Barry Jenkins re-introduces us to Timon and Pumbaa, hears them whine about being cut out of the film, then gets the details on Mufasa, 鈥淭he Lion King鈥檚鈥 dad. Separated from his family, he鈥檚 taken in by a friend鈥檚 family and treated like one of their own. Taka, the friend, resents the attention he gets but doesn鈥檛 say anything until he feels threatened. Then, it鈥檚 every lion for himself.
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Jenkins includes one too many natural disasters and has so many voices (and characters who look alike), it鈥檚 hard to tell one predator from another.
Naturally, the goal is to make you feel like this is a relative to the earlier films. The realistic 鈥淟ion King,鈥 however, had James Earl Jones鈥 voice as Mufasa. Here, Aaron Pierre gets the honor and doesn鈥檛 come close to Jones. Kelvin Harrison Jr. voices Scar (called Taka, until an attack) and doesn鈥檛 quite have the style of his predecessor. While Beyonc茅 returns (as Nala), her participation is limited. That means someone else has to fill in the gaps and that鈥檚 where we get white lions, elephants, giraffes, you name it.
None of the songs (written by folks involved in the first film) comes close to the originals. So, you get music 鈥渋n the vein of鈥 but nothing coursing with excitement.
Because it looks so real, 鈥淢ufasa鈥 makes you doubt the authenticity of genuine nature films.
Disney鈥檚 desire to turn animated films into 鈥渓ive-action鈥 ones should come with a caveat 鈥 if characters don鈥檛 normally sing and dance, they shouldn鈥檛 in remakes, either.
Jenkins manages realistic settings and stampeding animals quite well. But when Mufasa tries to make sense of his life, the film falls flat. 鈥淢ufasa鈥 could have been 30 minutes shorter had some of the angst given way to something other than a cat fight.
