Mufasa: The Lion King Movie Review
So, I went to go see the new Lion King movie (obviously because I have an obsession with anything to do with one of my favorite Disney villains, ya'll simps can't judge me) and boy do I have a lot to say about. Please be nice in the comments! This is just my opinion and views and I needed to rant about it for a moment.
First of all, the music was okay. Not the best of Lin-Manuel Miranda's work but it was decent. The best song in the whole movie was probably the Villain's song or Rafiki's song. I personally liked the Villain's song better but that's just me being biased towards all villains in general. However, I did appreciate the fact that they recycled some of the original music from The Lion King at the end of the movie, it was really nostalgic for me. That being said, the song they played for Mufasa when he roared at pride rock was the same song played for Simba and was associated with Simba first. So, in my opinion, to use that song as a way to connect Kiara to Mufasa was a big copout (you'll be seeing this a lot in the movie) and a poor way to make that type of connection. It honestly would've been better to just use the background music from the Milele song or the Circle of Life song to help drive home that connection between Kiara and Mufasa rather than using a song originally meant for Simba and his rise to power. Now, I know you could argue that the song is be interpreted as a song played for every 'Becoming King' moment in the Lion King but that wasn't its original purpose. Not to mention that song was designed for a more somber experience than the one Mufasa faced. The song was originally, in my opinion, made out to create a mix of feeling of sadness for the fire and loss of the Pride Lands after Sumba's return but as well as the hope for the future of rebuilding it all. But that's not what Mufasa was facing. There was nothing to rebuild or be somber about as 'Milele' or the 'Pride Lands' were flourishing and had won a victory. In other words, it made no sense to play that specific song during Mufasa's and Kiara's "bonding scene" as the music had nothing to do with what Mufasa was feeling or the state of 'Milele' at the time.
There's probably a lot more that could be said about the music but those are just the things that I noticed. Moving on to the next thing for my bored ass to complain about, the character development of Mufasa. Or, more accurately, the lack thereof. You see, throughout the entire movie, except for when he is a kid, Mufasa is portrayed as a smart, noble, kind, and kingly person. There was no 'becoming king' in his personality, he just always was king. There was no lesson to learn for him to become the perfect king and the sad excuse of a "lesson" provided in the movie was simply provided as filler almost to keep people from asking questions about what character development Mufasa actually had in the movie. As for Scar's (or Taka's) character development, it was all sudden and rushed almost. One moment he was a loving brother and super brave, trying to save a lion cub his own age from a crocodile, the next he was a coward and being manipulated into a lazy king by his dad, and the next he was a manipulative person. What?! They really did Scar dirty with his backstory. I mean, Disney literally said "Guys fight over girls, right? Let's just have Scar turn evil because of a girl." and that was it. Not to mention, has Disney even seen their own movies!! One of Scar's most iconic lines claims/points out that Scar has/had always been smarter than Mufasa whereas Mufasa had always been the stronger of the two. But Disney just threw that line out the window and decided "Nope! We're going to do whatever fits our agenda best." That's not how this works Disney!! Watch your own fucking movies for once and learn a thing or two, would you?! Please! For the sanity of the children who grew up watching only Disney movies on repeat. Scar was always supposed to be clever and smart, and you can't just throw in a half-assed scene with a half-assed reason for Scar to suddenly go evil and grow a brain. It's just shitty and lazy character development writing.
As for my next complaint, we will be focusing on the grand idea of PROPERLY EXPLAINING SHIT! Disney could have explained so much in this movie but they chose not to. For example, they didn't explain how 'Milele' gained the Elephant Graveyard or how the hyenas were cast out of the Pride Lands (because if you notice in the background at the end of the movie there are still hyenas living in 'Milele'). They also didn't explain how Scar became so close with the Hyenas. All of these things are key background mysteries that Lion King fans (speaking for myself here) have been wondering about for years! But Disney just ignored these questions and chose to just add on to the shit they had already created rather than explain the shit they already had. And what was even more disappointing was the fact that when they did make a reference to The Lion King movie it was either overplayed or barely noticeable. For example, they overplayed the reference to Mufasa's death in the Lion King with all the "Scar grabbing onto Mufasa" scenes. There were so many of them, in my opinion, and it really dampened the effect it was probably supposed to have on the audience. As for the barely noticeable details, the part where Scar made marks in the rocks (in my eyes) was a small reference to the claw marks he left on the stone wall during his first scene in the original Lione King movie (you may not think it was, but I noticed that Scar was the only one who ever scratched at stones or rocks in, I believe, in both the original Lion King movie and the Mufasa movie. Let me know if I'm wrong though.)
Anyways, this is my review for the new Mufasa: The Lion King movie. Hope it made sense and please be nice in the comments. Opinions are subjective but not always right (I don't say this in a bad way, I'm just saying that opinions can be both valid and wrong including my own). Bye guys!