'Mufasa: The Lion King' review: Prequel is a well-oiled digital machine

“Mufasa: The Lion King,” Disney’s latest live-looking animated movie, arrives in theaters this weekend as a high-tech Christmas present for moviegoers. A prequel to the studio’s hand-drawn 1994 classic “The Lion King” and its 2019 GCI remake, the film explains how the king of all animals and his archnemesis, Scar, grew up as brothers. The good news is that the movie is a well-oiled digital machine, with eye-popping visuals, strong-enough songs by composer-of-the-moment Lin-Manuel Miranda and skilled direction from Oscar-winner Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”).

The bad news, at least if you’re a traditionalist, is that the photorealistic animation – though remarkably fluid and natural – still can’t replace the expressive line-work of a human artist.

That probably won’t matter to the movie’s young target audience, who will likely be captivated by “Mufasa.” It’s framed as a kind of campfire story, told by our favorite mandrill, Rafiki (a charming John Kani, returning from the 2019 film), to entertain the lost cub Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter). Also listening intently are Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner as Pumbaa the rambunctious warthog and Timon the snippy meerkat, respectively. Their pratfalls and fourth-wall-breaking (“You’ve seen the play? And you didn’t take me?”) might amuse kids more than adults.

Written by Jeff Nathanson (also of the 2019 remake), “Mufasa” works well as an adventure story with mythological undertones. Separated from his family, Mufasa is brought home as a stray by an excited young Taka (“I always wanted a brother!” he squeals). But both must strike out on their own to escape the invader Kiros (Mads Mikkelson), a ghostly white lion. As Mufasa (Aaron Pierre, deep-voiced but somewhat bland) grows into a natural leader, resentment and envy take root in Taka (an appealing Kelvin Harrison Jr.). Finally breaking their bond will be – what else? -- a girl, Sarabi (Tiffany Boone). There’s some real depth in this tale: While Mufasa is who we all dream of being, Taka is who we fear we really are.

Though the specter of AI recently began to make Hollywood nervous about a fully computer-generated future, Disney has been heading that way for years, at least since 2016’s photorealistic “The Jungle Book.” While these productions require thousands of hands and countless man-hours – probably even more than traditionally animated films do -- they nevertheless lack warmth and personality. And if detail is king, then “Mufasa” misses some crucial ones: The facial scar that gives Taka his legendary nickname, for instance, gets a little lost in all that finicky fur. When it comes to storytelling, fine-tuned rendering is no replacement for a good, strong symbol.

Disney knows how to tug a heartstring, of course, and “Mufasa” won’t leave you dry-eyed. (The opening dedication to the late James Earl Jones, voice of the original Mufasa, is a nice touch.) Still, despite the high-resolution visuals, it’s hard to fully embrace these digital animals.

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com@raferguzman