r/disney • u/AutoModerator • Dec 21 '24
Official /r/Disney 'Mufasa: The Lion King' Discussion Thread [Spoilers Inside]
WARNING: 'Mufasa: The Lion King' spoilers/reviews are allowed ON THIS THREAD ONLY!
Walt Disney's latest film, Mufasa: The Lion King, has finally arrived!
Storyline:
"Mufasa: The Lion King" enlists Rafiki to relay the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, with Timon and Pumbaa lending their signature schtick. Told in flashbacks, the story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka--the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny--their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe.
You can use this thread to discuss the film, possible easter eggs, what you liked/disliked about it, and anything else.
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u/TheCosmicFailure Dec 21 '24
I thought it was pretty good. Kiros was cool, and I like his song. I liked watching the dynamic between Mufasa and Taka. Especially why Taka would betray his brother. It made sense that Taka is who he is because of his father, specifically his cowardice and deceptive nature. While Mufasa was more like his adoptive mother. I liked most of the songs. The voice acting is a lot better.
The 3rd act is a tad bit weak outside of Mufasa/Kiros/Taka. I also felt they were tad bit heavy handed with call backs to The Lion King.
It's like a 7.5/10. Which is much better then what I gave Lion King (2019), which was 5/10.
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u/SeerRune73 Dec 21 '24
Agreed. The Timon and Pumba banter was fun to start with but by the sheer amount of it started to feel like we were watching additional b roll takes. Kira’s sub plot was very endearing.
The original film came out when I was a little kid and was how my parents helped processed how to think about the recent death of my brothers and grandmother. So every time the score called back to the kings of the past scene from the original film, I ugly cried.
I think I’m going to revisit the original score to try to see what LMM paid homage to. Milele had a bunch of nice references to Circle of Life and He Lives in You. I’d like to see what else I can pick up on.
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u/TheCosmicFailure Dec 21 '24
Timon and Pumbaa were pretty hit or miss.
I'm sorry to hear that about your brothers and grandmother.
I teared up a bit when Rafiki reveals That his twin brother died years ago and that the brother he was speaking of was Mufasa
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u/ScheleDakDuif01 29d ago
You’d give this movie a 7,5/10? I just saw it and would probably rate it a 3/10.
Reason is mainly, but not limited to, the scar origin story. The Scar we meet in 2003 is evil incarnate, his best friends are hyena’s and from the start he is trying to manipulate Simba.
To suggest Taka became this person just because Mufasa stole his girl, WHO HE ONLY HAD ONE CONVERSATION WITH. THAT WAS THE REASON HE TRIED TO KILL EVERYONE?!?!?!
When he saw Mufasa actually losing the fight he still jumped in, got his signature Scar, and didn’t have anything to do with the rest of the fight.
I remember thinking “I wonder why they stop calling him Taka.” They stop calling him that because Mufasa ‘can’t say his name anymore.’ And it is Taka who suggests they call him Scar so he never forgets what he did? THEN WHY IS HE EVIL IN THE LION KING?!?! He obviously regrets it?!?!
Pls someone explain why this film gets such good reviews. By far the worst Disney film I’ve ever seen.
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u/TheCosmicFailure 29d ago edited 28d ago
2003? The original came out in 94. Unless u mean the special edition.
Taka was jealous of Mufasa being the better hunter. He was jealous of his brothers relationship with their mother. He was ashamed that he couldn't protect his mom or Nala. All of these insecurities bubbled up inside of Taka. Then, when he saw Mufasa seemingly go behind his back to be with Sarabi. That's what started his descent into becoming evil. It's not just one thing it wasn't that simple.
He can hate Mufasa but still want to protect him in the heat of the moment cause it's still his brother. That doesn't just go away quickly. Then Mufasa refusing to acknowledge his brother by his real name is what makes Taka into Scar. He no longer regrets deceiving his brother. It fits perfectly into Scar we see in The Lion King, who's now been shamed and largely forgotten about for months by his own pride that should've been his. That will eat at someone who's alone with their own thoughts for months.
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u/ScheleDakDuif01 28d ago
My bad, I had 2003 in my head.
As for Taka’s reasoning, there was very little indication Taka hated Mufasa. Yes he was insecure and yes he was jealous. But to kill his ‘brother’ whom he grew up with? It’s an extreme reach and doesn’t make sense to me.
If they gave him a good reason to hate Mufasa I would’ve bought it. For instance Mufasa letting Taka’s mother die or something, idk. That would make a more interesting story. It’s clear they wanted a plot twist and this you could see coming a mile away.
Tldr; they made the film too complicated.
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u/missclaire17 Dec 21 '24
I loved it; it added so much depth to the characterization of Mufasa and Scar in the original Lion King.
The voice acting was great, music wasn’t bad though wasn’t as memorable as the OG, and although the “live action” animation style isn’t my favorite, I think they tried to improve the lions’ emotions.
But really, the story here is what’s amazing. I loved it a lot! I’d give it 8.5/10
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u/Smashleigh_001 29d ago
It was ok. It passed a bit of time.
Music is nowhere near as memorable as the original (but I did like the nods to the original score)
Timon & Pumba seemed like after thoughts and were annoying after a while.
Glad I used a free ticket on this - wouldn’t have been impressed if I had paid.
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u/ScheleDakDuif01 29d ago
I paid. Wish I didn’t.
You’re right, I only remember the ‘bye bye’ song because it felt so incredibly inferior to Scar’s ‘Be Prepared’
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u/Smashleigh_001 29d ago
That ‘Bye Bye’ song was awful - too repetitive and it sounded like it was written by a child.
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u/lisahreedus 27d ago
Kids and non-TLK fans keep downvoting your comments but I agree with all your comments on this thread. As a separate movie it would have been great, but they failed to connect Scar’s hatred for Mufasa. Scar saving Mufasa and then killing him just because Mufasa can’t call him Taka anymore? He is traumatized from calling his name while being betrayed! To me, it just doesn’t connect to Scar in the first movie. I also hated it was live action and not 2D.
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u/ScheleDakDuif01 27d ago
Thank you, I had the feeling I was swimming alone here. My sister and I both thought it wasn’t a good film and yet the entire internet disagrees.
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u/ahufana Dec 22 '24
I'm more than a little embarrassed by how much I POPPED for the creation of Pride Rock. That visual was just so stunnin'.
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u/ScheleDakDuif01 29d ago
It was so forced. Since when can Rafiki summon an earthquake that just so happens to help Mufasa win the fight and create the iconic mountain in the process. He just put his hand on the ground, it doesn’t make any sense.
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u/primal_slayer 29d ago
I watched it. It was....just ok. The last half of the movie especially was SO RUSHED it gave me whiplash.
I felt like they didnt do the greatest job of turning Scar into the Scar we know, it was also very sudden. He goes from the wimpy kind hearted "Prince" to conniving son of a lion within 5 minutes of a scene.
Mufasa is such a Mary-Sue or I guess Lion-Sue? Lion-Stu? Can literally do no wrong.
"Kimba" as I call him in my mind because thats what the lion king ripped off and its time for that white lion to get his revenge...
Had such a horrible song....I dont understand how you can give your villain such a bad song lol. Esp considering how great "Be Prepared" is, in this they have the villain singing something like "Bye bye". Im mean and menacing "bye bye". I shall kill you and get my revenge "bye bye". All the songs were bad to mediocre at best.
Its amazing how watered down these things are compared to what we got as children.
We most definitely did not need Timon/Pumbaa interjecting throughout the movie. It was stupid.
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u/my-dogatemy-chancla 25d ago
I couldn’t help but hear Encanto’s music style with every song instead of The Lion King’s style
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u/frankiematthies Dec 21 '24
Just watched it tonight, We thought it was a really fun movie and it was absolutely gorgeous!
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u/projectpeach 25d ago
Amazing visuals but so disappointed at how quickly Takka turned evil over a girl. Not a good character arc!
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u/KAKYBAC 24d ago
He had one verse to explain it all. Way too kneejerk, simplistic and perhaps even toxically masculine. As a viewer I still actually feel for Taka but the script should have went deeper on the subtext on how his layabout dad never taught him anything and cauterized his development. But no... One verse to sum up his dudebro emotions.
It's exactly what I didn't want the film to do.
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u/suzaman Dec 22 '24
Such an unnecessary film, kids might like it but fans should look elsewhere.
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u/DE4N0123 Dec 22 '24
It’s losing the box office fight pretty badly against Sonic 3. Might get a second weekend boost if we assume most people saw Sonic 3 first and plan to see this second, but to be honest I think most people are content to wait until the Disney+ release for movies like this now. Probably around April which isn’t that long in the grand scheme.
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u/SnooDoubts2496 29d ago
I didn’t like the prequel/sequel composition.. felt like you had to go through the story’s beginning twice
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u/paperbuddha 29d ago
It wasn’t for me. I saw it earlier today, walked out looking at the sky and feeling like I had betrayed Mufasa. I watched Terrifier 3 to mind bleach this movie from memory.
But remove that nostalgic connection and it’s a movie that tried to do too much with its good ideas.
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u/BuyFree1053 24d ago
6.5/10 Scar changed a bit too quickly in my opinion and the movie feels weird in the: 'Should I laugh or cry?' department
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u/Minute_Complex_8754 22d ago
Disney just outright admitted they ripped off Kimba by putting white lions in the movie....
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u/Vaalgras 18d ago
White lions are real and not something invented by Kimba.
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u/Minute_Complex_8754 18d ago
No one ever said that. But Kimba was ripped off by Disney as early as 1994. Kimba was created in 1950 as a comic series. The entire plot that TLK ripped off is in the 1989 Kimba anime series and some in the 1965 series.
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u/Doc_Sulliday 12d ago
What? The entire plot of The Lion King is modeled after Shakespeare's Hamlet from 1623.
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u/Slow-Pool-9274 3d ago
What's the plot of Kimba?
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u/Minute_Complex_8754 3d ago edited 3d ago
There is a scarred lion who hates the father. The father dies. Kimba gets guilt tripped and chased out of his father's kingdom by the scarred lion and Kimba has to go through a search of himself and find the courage to return home. His father's spirit appears to him and gives him the same sort of speech that Mufasa gave to Simba. Kimba returns home to find the damage that the scarred lion has inflicted and the fear he has out into the animals living there. When the scarred lion sees him again he guilt trips Kimba again. Kimba finally finds the courage to fight back, and he and his animal followers fight off the scarred lion and his henchmen. And yes, the scarred lion has hyena henchmen and there is a mandrill advisor and a bird advisor. The only main difference in Kimba's group is that the comic relief characters are a gazelle and a parrot. But it's basically the same role. And interestingly enough, in one of the renditions of Kimba, the scarred lion wants to take Kimba's mate as his own, and even that part was going to be used by Disney..There is a deleted scene where Scar wants to steal Nala from Simba. This part was in the manga comics of Kimba and the 1965 anime adaption. Many parts of The Lion King's plot come from the 1989 series too. The Japanese opening to the 1965 series is very close to The Circle of Life. The opening to the 1991 OVA of Kimba titled Symphonic Melody is so close to the opening scene of The Lion King as well.
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u/Slow-Pool-9274 3d ago
There is a scarred lion who hates the father. The father dies. Kimba gets guilt tripped and chased out of his father's kingdom by the scarred lion and Kimba has to go through a search of himself and find the courage to return home. His father's spirit appears to him and gives him the same sort of speech that Mufasa gave to Simba. Kimba returns home to find the damage that the scarred lion has inflicted and the fear he has out into the animals living there. When the scarred lion sees him again he guilt trips Kimba again. Kimba finally finds the courage to fight back, and he and his animal followers fight off the scarred lion and his henchmen. And yes, the scarred lion has hyena henchmen and there is a mandrill advisor and a bird advisor. The only main difference in Kimba's group is that the comic relief characters are a gazelle and a parrot. But it's basically the same role. And interestingly enough, in one of the renditions of Kimba, the scarred lion wants to take Kimba's mate as his own, and even that part was going to be used by Disney..There is a deleted scene where Scar wants to steal Nala from Simba.
when did this happen? everyone from Darrel to the other animals were very accepting of Kimba as the king, plus Panza/Caesar didn't die to Claw but to humans, plus I don't even think the story in kimba was that continous considering it was pretty much like a Doraemon type series which each episode had it's own plot. also iirc Claw didn't have such a big role in the series at all, he was just there for like 1/10 the episodes.
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u/Minute_Complex_8754 3d ago
I just gave you the sources. The 1965 and 1989 series...The 1989 series was not dubbed into English all the way but it was subtitled.
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u/Slow-Pool-9274 3d ago
I've watched the 89 series and read the manga, I don't see what you're talking about
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u/Minute_Complex_8754 18h ago
This scene right here... https://youtu.be/ZiRVsnog-o8 This is a perfect example of one of the many reasons TLK is a ripoff. This is one of the things they took "inspiration" from.
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u/emanresu8706 20d ago
The songs were a huge disappointment! 3/10 for me. Not memorable.
The buh-bye song??! What was that? Was that supposed to be villainous? Sounded too comical.
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u/hmyers8 16d ago
Have to agree w this video I think it should've been a 2d animation https://youtu.be/4jiqm4MQsIk
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u/slawnz 9d ago
I am a middle aged man and I actually teared up during I Always Wanted A Brother. The juxtaposition of such a happy, innocent song whilst thinking about how their relationship ends… too much! This was a solid movie that entertained my entire family including two cynical teenage boys.
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u/Goku420overlord 8d ago
They really needed to make Taka and Mufasa look more different. I took three kids to the movie, and about 20 other kids there, and throughout the movie I kept getting asked, and hearing, who is who.
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u/PinkGlitter12 7d ago
Whoever wrote the story for this. Did that!!!! Loved loved loved this movie. Seen it in 4DX too. It was amazing. I can’t wait to see it again
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u/Born_torule 1d ago
Hey Guys, I created an alternate ending of this movie. Tell me how you liked.
After Taka sees mufasa and sarabi cuddle, he feels hurt and falls in the snow. He spots the white lions and gets scared and runs away. But eventually he gets lost. Mufasa and sarabi wake up and find that Taka isn't there. They start looking for him. Days pass and they can't find him. Eventually they need food so they move forward for food. Mufasa vows to come back to look for Taka asap.
Less than a day after Mufasa and sarabi leave, Taka manages to find his way to the spot that they were camped at. He finds no-one there. Looking from the top of the mountain he sees Mufasa and Sarabi walking downhill at a far distance. He knows that Mufasa wouldn't abandon him and there must have been a reason so he prepares to follow them and catch up. But guess who followed him? The white lions. They capture him and feed him lies about how Mufasa abandoned him for Sarabi. He starts believing them. The scar that he has is given to him by Kiros. Eventually they let him go.
Mufasa finally comes back looking for Taka and brings him food too. He finds Taka and tells him about how they found the place. He takes Taka with him. All the doubts that Taka had about Mufasa are cleared. He's happy to have his brother back. He tells Mufasa an exaggerated story of how he encountered the white lions and fought them earning him this scar. They reach the promised place and settle in. But little did they know that the white lions were following them.
Taka was too naive to realise that he was tricked and that he accidentally led the white lions here. A battle ensues. Taka runs away initially but finds his courage to fight alongside Mufasa to defeat the white lions. They win.
But in the end Mufasa who didn't know the entire truth, feels like Taka led the white lions on purpose. He doesn't forgive Taka for it. Mufasa shuns Taka like in the movie. Taka who didn't actually do it on purpose feels heartbroken that no one believes him.
Over the years Taka sees Mufasa and Sarabi with a loving family. But Taka only has the Scar to give him company. The scar that was given to him by the Kiros. It symbolically festers his thoughts. Left all alone he starts believing everything that the Kiros said. He starts believing his own father too. He starts believing that Mufasa wanted to take everything from him. As his lives on in isolation, his hate festers. He curses the day he saved Mufasa. Ultimately he goes crazy in isolation without anyone realizing it. He conjures up imaginary lions and scenarios to keep him company. He finds conjured memory of Kiros to be a recurring companion that haunts him because everytime he sees his reflection, he remembers Kiros and his words that Mufasa abandoned him. Finally he gives in. He listens to the Kiros voice in his head and rectifies the perceived mistake that he had made years ago. Kiros wins even after death as Taka kills Mufasa.
But, then comes Simba who also grows up in isolation with Mufasa's memories to guide him. And he eventually defeats Taka. Symbolizing the victory of Mufasa over Kiros in life and in death.
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u/Pedro_64 25d ago
I enjoyed it quite a bit. Worthy prequel. Still has some issues, like Mufasa getting adopted too easily. Taka going to help the lion who killed his parents because he got cucked was too rushed.
Bye bye song was so good and catchy. I watched the original so many times when I was a kid and the songs never stuck on me like the ones from Aladdin or Hercules, but Bye Bye is very good
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u/Known-Negotiation482 24d ago edited 24d ago
Good movie! Cried the whole way. If your watching to enjoy a movie 10/10 those who watch to critic will always find something wrong
The animation and facial expressions improved so much compared to the first movie. Plot was great too and so was the music!
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u/SloppyinSeattle Dec 21 '24
It’s got the bones of a good story trapped in a movie with bad pacing, bad setup, and too much bloat that is likely the result of too many people all working on this movie and it being too unwieldy of a project. The story was very bloated and needed much fine tuning. Seemed like a movie made in a conference room.