Verdict: 4/5
Movie-goers are in a for a real treat this summer, with several big-name flicks landing in theatres before and after Christmas.
While ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ and Robbie Williams’ biopic ‘Better Man’ will service two very different generations of audiences, there’s one movie destined to grab everyone’s attention.
Walt Disney’s ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’.
‘Mufasa’ is directed by Academy Award winner Barry Jenkins and is both a prequel and sequel to the 2019 remake of the legendary 1994 animated classic ‘The Lion King’.
Set in the Pride Lands of Tanzania after the events of the 2019 film, Rafiki the mandrill tells the origin story of two lions, Mufasa and Taka, to Kiara – the granddaughter of Mufasa and daughter of Simba and Nala.
With the fabulous Timon and Pumbaa adding some cheeky colour commentary along the way, the story follows the orphan Mufasa, who is befriended by the young prince Taka and adopted by Taka’s family.
Across the film’s two-hour duration, the pair become as close as brothers before their journey takes a dark – and expected – path.
So, this isn’t necessarily a ‘spoiler alert’ because it’s mentioned in the first 30 seconds of the trailer, but Taka eventually becomes the lion known as Scar, the main antagonist of ‘The Lion King’ franchise and well, we all know what happens from there.
I was lucky enough to watch ‘Mufasa’ at its Sydney premiere on Tuesday night at the State Theatre and, I must say, the entire audience was enthralled by this King-sized epic adventure.
A lot of people were a bit iffy about the 2019 remake – and I can sort of understand why – but ‘Mufasa’ is a definite improvement on that and being an original story, it was exciting to see something fresh from these well-established and much-loved Disney characters.
Once again, the supremely talented animators at Disney have delivered with stunning and realistic visuals of both the characters and the African environment. It’s almost hard to fathom that none of it is real!
Also, ‘The Lion King’ is synonymous with its incredible soundtrack and score – and ‘Mufasa’ is no different. While the great Elton John isn’t involved on this occasion, highly acclaimed ‘Hamilton’ creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has done a wonderful job with the music in this one!
30 years ago the original ‘The Lion King’ took the world by storm, lasting the test of time. While ‘Mufasa’ obviously won’t have the same profound effect on people (because sequels/prequels often don’t), I can still see it easily becoming the film of the summer.
See this movie at Hoyts Penrith.
Nathan Taylor
Nathan Taylor is the Weekender's Deputy Editor and Senior Sports Writer. He also compiles the weekly Chatter on the Box TV column. Nathan is an award-winning journalist, who has worked at the Weekender for a decade.