Disney has released the teaser for Mufasa: The Lion King. The film will be a prequel to the 2019 remake, telling the story of the titular king. Ever since Disney first announced the film, critics expressed suspicion towards the project. As it turns out, these suspicions are not without merit. Here are three reasons why Mufasa: The Lion King is doomed to fail. At the very least, Disney hopefully listened to their critics so they can be prepared.
The First Film’s Failure
The most obvious problem with a prequel to 2019’s The Lion King is that the remake failed in the first place. Financially it succeeded, breaking the record for the highest-grossing animated film. However, critics panned the movie upon its release. They did so as the film added virtually nothing to the original story as a pointless retelling. Furthermore, the film’s animation heavily restricted the emotional range of the characters and took away the vibrant art from the original’s art direction.
The first trailer revealed that the same style would be used for the characters and the environments. Because of this, the prequel leaves no room for improvement in either department. This is especially egregious given that 2006’s The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe did a far better job with a CGI lion character.
The Lion King Doesn’t Need a Prequel
The next biggest problem with the film is that Mufasa does not need a prequel. Mufasa was a fairly simple character in both versions of the film. He was a wise king with a scheming younger brother, and the film gave no hints that he had any complicated story behind him. This is not to say Mufasa was ever a one-dimensional character, only that he was easy to understand. Therefore, a prequel story following him offers very little interest to audiences.
For an example, look at 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story. In the original trilogy, Han Solo was easy to understand as a jaded, criminal smuggler. However, the 2018 film gave him a cluttered, rushed backstory with many elements that added little to his perfectly functional character. Similarly, this film seemingly adds unneeded lore to the characters’ story. Additionally, the remake was released five whole years ago. Since then, audiences have all but forgotten about the film.
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An Odd Choice of Directors
Finally, a major hurdle for the film is the odd choice of director, Barry Jenkins. Jenkins himself proved his talent as a director with the Best Picture Winner Moonlight in 2016. However, films like Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk succeeded as intimate dramas with real people. Mufasa sets itself up as a grandiose animated adventure, which is nothing like Jenkins’ earlier work.
This is not to say that Jenkins is a bad director, only that he is working out of his element. The first film had talented creators behind it, yet even The Mandalorian director Jon Favreau could not show the film the way. As for why Jenkins chose to work for the project, he said to Good Morning America that he was “drawn to the “powerful” script written by Jeff Nathanson and the chance to tackle something as culturally resonant as “The Lion King” universe.” Audiences will have to see if his passion will translate into quality.
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