Barry Jenkins is too good a director to disappear altogether inside the creative limitations of “Mufasa: The Lion King.” This hectic Disney musical prequel origin story will do the job for families looking to avoid a second or third viewing of “Moana 2” or “Wicked” this month.
Here’s my main beef: Is the chosen visual style of whatever you want to call this film (live action? digital animation? photorealist fakery? showtunes sung through gritted teeth in the barely open mouths of distractingly believable lions?) truly the best way to go?
The movie features a seven-song setlist from composer and lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda. The songwriter has (in so many words) characterized his work here as periodic relief from a storyline he aptly calls “harrowing.” The framework device finds the character of Rifiki the mandrill comforting a frightened young lioness named Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, granddaughter of Mufasa, the beneficent late ruler of the Pride Lands. The telling of how an orphaned young Mufasa was adopted by another lion pride’s ruling family is interrupted by questions, comments and minimally amusing patter from Kiara and her nominal guardians, Pumbaa (a warthog) and Timon (meerkat).
“Mufasa: The Lion King” is 90% mayhem, peril and distress, and 10% reflection, which means it’s a two-hour exercise in cliffhangers, death threats, and (skipping over some plot here) Mufasa’s search for his missing-presumed-dead parents.
Much of the tale is weirdly akin to “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” with Mufasa and his newfound brother Taka (aka Scar) chased by bloodthristy snow-white lions from a vicious pride. Mufasa’s searching for the golden Tanzanian Pride Lands he left behind. He’s joined in his mountainous trek by Taka, along with Rifiki, leading the way; the lioness Sarabi, intrigued by Mufasa’s natural leadership qualities and charisma and less so by Taka’s lack thereof; and young Zazu, the red-billed hornbill.
It’s a double-header origin story, as we learn how Mufasa became king and how Scar became scar. In that regard it’s pretty depressing, as is the general quality of the musical material. That second point is truly a surprise, coming from a craftsman like Miranda, who isn’t slumming or phoning it in. But the screenplay doesn’t sing easily, and on first listen, only the traveling song titled “We Go Together” (not to be confused with the “Grease” favorite) lands a nifty, compact notion of traveling alone vs. traveling together, joined to a steadily building rhythmic melody.
The movie rarely rests. The camera eye does not quit with the swiveling, rotoscoping bobs and weaves around lions, fighting or singing duets. Director Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton can do anything, theoretically, with that camera and they choses to do nearly everything: GoPro approximations, drone shot approximations, aerial spins. Some of it’s effective, some of it isn’t. And all of it — the clinical realism, the brutal immediacy of the violence, the nearly unmeasurable distance between this style and more interesting, poetic and expressive animation techniques — keeps us watching only because of the sheer busyness afoot.
It’s solid craft, but it’s craft wedded to a style of filmmaking that feels wholly impersonal, even with a top-flight director at the helm. The voice work is fine, for the record, though credit for the movie’s one truly endearing character, vocally anyway, goes to John Kani as Rifiki. “Mufasa: The Lion King” is his origin story, too.
Here’s hoping Disney makes room in its near future for stories that look forward, not back.
“Mufasa: The Lion King” — 2 stars (out of 4)
MPA rating: PG (for action/violence, peril and some thematic elements)
Running time: 1:58
How to watch: Premieres in theaters Dec. 18
Phillips is a Tribune critic.
