benjaminarthursmith

Mufasa: The Lion King has a number of exciting and even thrilling moments. The action is well done, and there are some fine scenes of danger and adventurous tension. Unfortunately, the film is heavily burdened by bad songs and incessant interruptions from Timon and Pumba trying to be cute and funny every time the story is starting to get good. As a big fan of Lin Manuel Miranda from his legendary musical Hamilton, I am sad to report that Mufasa is a new career low for him. The song "Bye bye" will have you cringing out of your skin and "I Always Wanted A Brother" will make you want to gouge out your eardrums every time you hear the word "brother." "Milele" is decent, but none of the original songs or score remotely approach the levels of Elton John's and Hans Zimmer's music from 1994's Lion King.

Finally, the villain arc is really thinly developed and I didn't find it credible at all. The abruptness and irrationality of the turn reminded me of Anakin Skywalker's quick spin to the dark side in Revenge of the Sith. All this said, it's not a bad movie but it could have and should have been much better.

Moana 2 was originally supposed to be a TV show; the resulting story is so tightly compressed that there is little time or space for drama and character development. What the filmmakers substituted for these crucial elements is a heavy handed slathering of magic that comes across as the movie equivalent of a 100 minute Disney park parade - oppressive in its relentless exuberance. Don't get me wrong- magic is key to Disney storytelling, but those moments have to be earned and they aren't in Moana 2. When the premise is always apocalyptic (as it is with recent Marvel movies), nothing real is at stake and the outcome is never in doubt...and we stop caring about the human consequences. When everything is magic, it ends up that nothing is magical. This is very much the same malady that doomed Encanto, and something Disney will have to reckon with if they want their brand to continue to be viable in the long term.

This may be one of the best examples of a film ending up much less than the sum of its parts. Paul Mescal gives a passionate and compelling performance, and Denzel Washington is fascinating to watch, as usual. Pedro Pascal continues to be one of the most likable male leads in more intellectual action productions. So how did things go so wrong? The screenplay was poorly done, focusing on the hairbrained idea of trying to force a tenuous connection to the great original Gladiator film. An opportunity for a fantastic battle in Africa is squandered, and the plot generally comes across as a collection of warmed over, lesser scenes that would have been rejected from the 2000 film. Connie Nielsen's and Derek Jacobi's considerable talents are wasted.