Mufasa: The Lion King

critic Reviews

, 58% Rotten Tomatometer Score
  • Barry Jenkins' deft hand and Lin-Manuel Miranda's music go some way towards squaring the Circle of Life in Mufasa, but this fitfully soulful story is ill-served by its impersonal, photorealistic animation style.
  • , Fresh Tomatometer Score
    Christy LemireFilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
    It swings back and forth tonally very awkwardly, but there are some thrilling moments and it is Barry Jenkins' usual cinematographer, James Laxton, so it is quite lovely at times. But I wish Jenkins would take his artistry where it is his.
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  • , Fresh Tomatometer Score
    Udita JhunjhunwalaLivemint
    The script is safe and unoriginal, the voice talent is passable and while the scenes of the creatures racing through fields and prancing through canyons are fine, the drama peaks in the water bodies and on snow-capped mountains.
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  • , Fresh Tomatometer Score
    Mark KermodeKermode and Mayo's Take (YouTube)
    Barry Jenkins took this behemoth and it didn't entirely defeat him.
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  • , Fresh Tomatometer Score
    Dwight BrownDwightBrownInk.com
    Young audiences will have fun following the likable characters and their perilous adventures.
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  • , Rotten Tomatometer Score
    Stephen RomeiThe Australian
    The director keeps a firm if predictable hand on the tiller – the action scenes, such as lions trapped in that flooded river and an elephant stampede – are impressive but the script is limp.
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  • , Fresh Tomatometer Score
    David JenkinsLittle White Lies
    Maybe this reads like we’re making excuses, but it feels like the main issues with the film fall beyond Jenkins’ purview as a director...
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  • , Rotten Tomatometer Score
    Wade MajorFilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
    Uninspired and unnecessary.
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  • , Rotten Tomatometer Score
    Robert StinnerIn Review Online
    Jenkins’ treatment of this story, though he cannot rescue it from middling songs and segments that read as obvious IP management, is alternately sweeping and meditative.
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  • , Rotten Tomatometer Score
    Bob ChipmanMoviebob Central
    Please, PLEASE stop making entire sequels, prequels, remakes and reboots to 'address' things that only YouTube video essayists ever (sort-of) cared about a decade ago.
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  • , Fresh Tomatometer Score
    Pablo O. ScholzClarín
    ...a welcoming tribute to Disney's very own animation roots, now with digitally generated photorealistic images. [Full review in Spanish]
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