Could ‘Mufasa’ end Disney’s run of average films?
As the inevitable prequel to The Lion King, Mufasa, keeps making its trailer rounds our throats, I can’t help but go back to July 2019, the day I told my husband that our family would have to watch The Lion King.
The husband’s eyebrows shot upward in their customary dismay. “I don’t get it,” he murmured. We have had to see the new Aladdin, which you insisted we watch, and we rated it a three. which you stated was an extremely forgiving grade. Why do you think things will be any different this time?
You see, my darling husband’s early years were not spent immersed in Disney. He is not familiar with the tunes from a soap bar. He hasn’t memorized hours and hours of talk over decades. He is not qualified in the slightest to understand the irresistible tug of nostalgia.
Disney’s creative masters do not lack such a quality. Disney has been relying almost solely on the overwhelming power of memory to draw otherwise sophisticated adults into theaters to watch a shot-by-shot remake for the past few years. The corporation has made billions of dollars churning out mediocre prequels, sequels, and remakes that appeal to nostalgia by reimagining legendary villains, removing color, and creating bog-standard music. Betrayed millennials everywhere know that, instead of parents taking their kids to the movies when a Disney picture is out, kids now go with their parents.
Obsolete from the beginning
The 2019 film The Lion King had a rough beginning.
I told my confused husband, “I’m giving this minus three,” but he pointed out that the movie was only four seconds in, so it hadn’t had time to drop to minus three.
I clarified, “That sunrise is off-center.” “This is a catastrophe.”
The terrible dawn reached such a low point that the only direction the movie could have taken was upward. Nevertheless, this highly acclaimed remake of the century managed to spiral progressively further into oppressive levels of mediocrity. In the Lion King remake, a staggering amount of screen time was given to a dung beetle going about its business, whereas every scene in the original film propelled the plot along. The lions had a single confused expression, as was extensively joked about on the internet. Scenes set at night lacked color. It was impossible to deny that James Earl Jones had become older in the twenty-five years since he returned as Mufasa.More shockingly, Scar, the antagonist who ought to teach his contemporaries a lot about villainy, sounded like an elderly man who was bored and worn out. A weary old man who, quite certainly, did not give his group of hyenas a complete song and dance routine on how to “be prepared,” which brings us right up to the second major problem with Disney remakes.
We were frequently informed prior to the 2019 film The Lion King that Beyoncé would be playing Nala, which was a fairly solid hint as to the heartbreaking letdown that lay ahead. Beyoncé may be the number one artist on the charts, but she lacks the theatrically trained singer aura that the performers who have recorded Disney songs have always emitted. Her halting performance of Can You Feel the Love Tonight is stereotypically Beyoncé and falls short of the original (as seasoned, unforgiving Redditers point out, it takes place in broad daylight). Its vocals are not even close to being as powerful as, example, Idina Menzel’s in Frozen. In terms of storytelling, neither Frozen nor Frozen 2 have the most captivating narratives, but what unites both movies is music that captures your heart and won’t let go, along with an outstanding vocal ensemble that sings without the need for autotune.
With so many other incredibly awful movies, it would be a mistake to focus all of this harsh criticism on The Lion King alone. The year also saw the debut of a remake of Aladdin, which broke at least a million hearts while grossing over a billion dollars in ticket sales. Surprisingly, the music was more important than Will Smith as the late, great Robin William.
It’s amazing how someone could topple the original Aladdin score, which was bursting at the seams with energetic numbers, but the 2019 version did just that. The 2019 version of A Whole New World chose a slower-paced arrangement of the song, driven by what sounds suspiciously like a synthetic percussion kit, while the original version launched right into the song with a soaring string orchestra. The images are unbelievably dark, and the sound is equally horribly boring. You must squint almost entirely.
The original A Whole New World segment positively vibrates with color; squinting was not necessary. Brilliant turquoise, deep purple, blue, and blazing gold hues pop off the screen. It would be like ordering two-minute noodles at a Chinese restaurant if you watched the new version right away. It would be reasonable to think that a Disney remake would at the very least have visuals that matched the original, given the film’s over $1 billion in ticket sales. However, this assumption turns out to be incorrect.However, the Disney elites forget, or at the very least, choose to ignore, the truth that there is enchantment in animation in their greedy nostalgia cash grab. As many ardent enthusiasts are aware, computer-generated imagery (CGI) can only go so far when it comes to integrating a blue shape-shifting genie, a flying carpet, a semi-vocal monkey, an opinionated parrot, and, of course, a murdering lion and a distraught lion cub who discovers his father’s dead.
This is, of course, the analysis of a cynical millennial who still hopes for big things from Mufasa and will never learn from his mistakes in the past. My kids, who obviously lack the taste gene, will watch all of the remakes I’ve discussed in detail and tell me they’re “wonderful.” However, I will still find them wanting and continue to judge them until the day I die.
I am a dedicated student currently in my seventh semester, pursuing a degree in International Relations. Alongside my academic pursuits, I am actively engaged in the professional field as a content writer at the Rangeinn website.
