This is kinda out of pocket for me but I have thoughts and want to share.
So the Mufasa movie annoys me. I'm going to attempt to explain why to some degree of sense.
It feels like the writers/directors wanted to do their own thing and make a cool coming off age/found family movie with a lion whilst also using the safety net of preestablished characters and a franchise. And just why??
I think if this was a standalone movie just made as is with its own characters, it would be a fantastic movie. It's kinda jungle booky, it mostly calls to mind the movie Two Brothers (2004), which is a great movie about 2 tiger cubs taken from the wild who find each other and return home, it's live action it's great. I think it could stand up next to movies like A Dog's Way Home, Eight Below, War Horse. These realistic styled animal led stories regardless whether they're based in truth or not. I think it would have been a really good movie like this.
And personally I quite like the live action CGI, I think it looks good, they definitely did it better with this movie than the last one. I think it is a fantastic alternative to using real animals whilst being different from animation which is its own category in itself. (This being said, if your movie needs a dog just use a fucking dog stop putting men in green suits to play a dog!)
It feels like it's only a Lion King movie to have the safety net of preestablished fans and character to guarantee some monetary success rather than taking the risk at something new and standalone. But then they just cut a bunch of holes in the safety net by disregarding the already built up lore and characterisation, it doesn't make sense in the world of Lion King, the characters don't match their future counterparts that have already been laid down and accepted by fans. It's not a Lion King movie, it just pretends to be.
And I'm so disappointed in how good a movie it could have been if it had been its own thing without the need of a franchise.