The movie Mufasa is a photorealistically animated prequel (and sequel) to the photorealistically animated Lion King (2019), and both are based on the animated film Lion King, which was released in 1994.

I myself am a big fan of The Lion King movies and have kept up with every movie since the 1994 cartoon. Hearing that a new Lion King movie was being released I was very eager to watch this movie, also with returning voice actors from the last live-action movie such as Donald Glover (Simba), Beyonce (Nala), Billy Eichner (Timon), Seth Rogen (Pumba), and John Kani (Rafiki) and some new members such as Blue Ivy Carter (Kiara), Aaron Pierre(Mufasa), and Mads Mikkelsen (Kiros) amplified my excitement.

To compare this movie with the Disney cartoon version of Lion King, I prefer the cartoon mostly because it is the original and it doesn’t give me the same feeling as when I watched the cartoon but, it is a close competitor. 

In this movie, we start with Timon, Pumba, and Kiara being told the story of Mufasa. We begin to learn about Mufasa’s backstory and how he becomes king of the Pride lands with no royal blood starting as a little brave cub. We also know more about his brother Scar and how he had his villain arc. We see why Scar is so resentful towards Mufasa and how Scar gains his nickname instead of the lions calling him by his real name, Taka. Throughout the movie, Mufasa, Scar, Rafiki, Sarabi, and Zazu travel to escape the antagonist lion Kiros. They seek refuge at Milele, otherwise known as the Pride Lands. 

This movie is fantastic since it speaks about how Mufasa had to fight for his title of king; the journey he goes through to save all animals in the Pride lands, and why he is such a respectable king. That’s why I was thrilled with the release of this movie because it is something new and we get to see how everything falls into place with the timeline of The Lion King.

I prefer the original because I believe the original always beats remakes or other movie versions. I also like the original because of the original voice actors and how the songs sounded with them so the remakes wouldn’t be able to win me over unless they somehow got the original voice actors. The plot with the 2019 version was the same as the cartoon version in 1994 with everything pretty much being the same; it was just re-made photorealistically. Although I did enjoy the 2019 version as well because it was a great throwback to the cartoon version it didn’t have anything new since it was just a remake. In Mufasa, there was a lot of action and a couple of fights, also, with the new antagonist, Kiros, the white-colored lion it was almost the same plot as the original; the power-hungry lion who wants to be king and rule everything, and fails but, we are introduced to a variety of songs and different characters. A reference that kept coming back in the movie was the dramatic iconic “Long Live the King,” move that Scar does when he drops Mufasa in the original film. 

The musical part of the movie ties in with the original with songs about being king, a song given by the antagonist, and also another love song between Mufasa and Sarabi. A lot of the songs used in the movie are very catchy, one particular song in the movie that became popular quickly on TikTok is the song “I Always Wanted a Brother.” This song is catchy and I believe it shows the initial connection between Mufasa and Scar before they resented each other. With there being 8 musical numbers, “I Always Wanted a Brother,” stood out the most to me to the point where I remember a lot of the song. 

While Mufasa basically recycled the plot of The Lion King, I still enjoyed it. It was a great movie to watch with the family and we all enjoyed it. I also believe we may see more photorealistic Lion King movies in the future since Mufasa leaves us on a cliffhanger. 

I would give it a 9/10. The 1 point I took off from this movie being a 10 is because the plot is almost the same as the original movie. Overall, this is a great addition to all Lion King lovers.