Aaron Peierre, that’s Mufasa!

Mufasa: The Lion King, is the prequel to the original, The Lion King (1994). The film is directed by Barry Jenkins and stars Arron Peierre as Mufasa alongside Kelvin Harrison Jr., who voices Taka (Scar). It was released in theaters on December 20th, 2024. As of this month (January 2025), the movie, so far, has grossed $595.8 million in box office revenue. 

One of the first scenes starts off with young Mufasa and his parents trying to venture into a place called Milele. His parents describe Milele as an alluring magical place with a strong community along with beautiful scenery. The film then goes on to be told by Rafiki (John Kani), who is telling the origins of Mufasa’s upbringing to Simba’s daughter, Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter). 

One of my favorite aspects from the film was the soundtrack it had. Lin-Manuel Miranda is the music producer for the movie. Miranda is a very well-respected person in the music industry because of how many amazing projects he has produced.

 Something that I have noticed when viewing his other projects is that Miranda’s songs are always so in tune and similar, almost like he’s trademarking each one. For example, Encanto, Moana, and Hamilton all give off the same musical vibe that is just too catchy to skip onto the next song. They also have the

When doing an interview for the New York Times, Miranda was asked to share insight on his “inspiration for some of the songs for “Mufasa.”. He stated that, “On ‘Brother Betrayed,” I’d never seen a song like that in a Disney musical before. It’s not a villain song. It’s like a “my whole life is being undone” song. This character is becoming the character we know in real time. So that was really exciting.”. The song he’s referring to is sung by Taka, who is also better known as Scar towards the end of the film, due to the scar he develops across his face when trying to defend Mufasa. 

From my viewer perspective, I really enjoyed the film on a musical level; however, I can’t say the same for it on a storytelling level. The runtime is 2 hours, which I thought was a little unnecessary due to the fact that they could have finished telling the plot in under an hour and a half. Besides that, I’m not going to lie and say there weren’t any engaging parts or comedy jokes in between. I just wish the film didn’t feel as slowed down as it was. I rate this 3.5 out of 5 stars and would watch again for the music. 

You can still catch Mufasa: The Lion King in theaters near you!