Talk about a circle of lifeless! It’s tough to detect evidence of the artisan touch of acclaimed director Barry Jenkins in a CGI animated prequel that could have actually been improved with AI. Mufasa: The Lion King (C-) tells some backstory of the Simba-verse with an extraneous framing device to ensure all members of the intellectual property can participate, including Timon and Pumbaa. The story follows young Mufasa (voice of Aaron Pierre) who is displaced by flood from his family and adopted into a rival pride with a surrogate brother (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) taking him under his mane. The only improvement on the film’s all-CGI predecessor is more expressive faces on the animals as brotherly rivalry ensues. The production patches together some rousing elements of past Lion King scores and doesn’t showcase Lin-Manuel Miranda’s new songs very well except one romantic ballad. Most of the movie is a tedious and far-fetched adventure including into inexplicably snow-capped parts of the African setting versus a villainous white lion (Mads Mikkelsen). This origin story doesn’t successfully open up or illuminate any special elements of the legend. Some of the nature settings are pretty. Mostly this installment is forgettable. 

My “FilmThirst” TikTok review: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTY3wxFYa/