Walt Disney Pictures’ Mufasa: The Lion King (animation; dubbed from the Hollywood film of the same name) is the story of how lion Mufasa gets separated from his parents, Masego and Afia. He is saved by lion Taka and becomes his adoptive brother after he is adopted by Taka’s parents, Obasi and Eshe. Mufasa grows up to be a bold and brave lion but he yearns to be with his parents. Rafiki, a wise mandrill, helps Mufasa reunite with his family and others in his kingdom, Milele. Sarabi is a lioness who befriends Mufasa and helps him in his fight against Kiros, the formidable leader of a pride of white lions known as ‘The Outsiders’.
The drama traces the growth of Mufasa from being a cub to becoming a daring lion and ultimately the ruler of his kingdom. The story unfolds when Rafiki narrates Mufasa’s life story to his grand-daughter, Kiara.
Based on Disney’s The Lion King (1994), Jeff Nathanson has written a fairly engaging screenplay but it suffers on two main counts — it lacks emotions, and it gets repetitive after a point of time. Also, the comedy (mainly by Pumbaa and Timon) doesn’t evoke much laughter. Despite the two drawbacks, the screenplay keeps the viewers’ interest alive to an extent. The Hindi dialogues are interesting as well as entertaining.
The voice acting is good. Shah Rukh Khan is very good as the voice of Mufasa. Aryan Khan (as Simba) does a fine job. AbRam Khan (as voice of young Mufasa) is cute. Sanjay Mishra adds humour as the voice of Pumbaa and so does Shreyas Talpade as the voice of Timon. Makarand Deshpande is effective as the voice of Rafiki. Meiyang Chang does justice to the voice of Taka. Other voice acting by other voice artistes is also of a very good standard.
Barry Jenkins’ direction is quite nice, but it must be added that he has not been able to make a film that would make it a memorable experience for the viewers. The animation and computer graphics are outstanding. James Laxton’s cinematography is superb. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s music is below the mark because the songs ought to have been nothing short of super-hits. Dave Metzger and Nicholas Britell’s background music is very appealing. Joi McMillion’s editing is quite sharp. Dubbing is excellent.
On the whole, Mufasa: The Lion King is a fair entertainer and will do average to good-average business at the ticket windows. But it can’t be expected to have a dream run at the box-office.
Released on 20-12-’24 at Metro Inox (3D; in daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay by Star India Pvt. Ltd. Publicity: extraordinary. Opening: so-so. …….Also released all over. Opening was ordinary at places and below the mark at others. The original English version has also opened simultaneously.
