Disney’s prequel to a live-action remake of an animated classic might not live up to the fans’ expectations if the opinion of critics is to be trusted. In fact, it debuted to numbers akin to Nightbitch, which isn’t the worst thing in the world, but it’s not exactly good either.
Mufasa: The Lion King may be related to the OG Lion King but in terms of quality, it’s pretty far off. The film debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a critics’ score — now known as the “Tomatometer,”apparently — of 57%, which just so happens to be the exact same critics’ score/Tomatometer for the slow and kind of underwhelming Nightbitch. So does that mean we can expect a slow and underwhelming Lion King movie? Who knows, at the time of writing there are only 54 reviews for Mufasa, whereas Nightbitch has 178. It’s possible that number could go up in time, but it’s equally possible that it could go down.
If critics are to be believed then the story is boring, the visuals are ugly, and the songs forgettable. Of course, not everyone will agree but it seems, just like the 2019 Lion King, this film won’t be anything to write home about. NightBitch might have its flaws, but at least it has Amy Adams, who’s a good enough actor to make anything watchable.
Over on X, it seems as though fans are getting sick of the constant live-action remakes and general lack of originality with modern Disney movies. Some wanted to know who even asked for this unnecessary prequel, while others pointed out that the Lion King remake from 2019 received similar reviews yet still managed to rake in an impressive 1.6 billion at the box office.
the first one was rated similar by critics and still made like $2 billion.
— Jay (@YngJackieAprile) December 17, 2024
It’s true, the 2019 film has a 51% on RT but made enough money to recreate Pride Rock with dollar bills. But high box office numbers don’t necessarily mean a film will be good. In the years since the 2019 film, many have not been as kind to The Lion King remake. The soulless look of the animals and the fact it’s basically a shot-for-shot remake of the 1994 animated film have all been common points of criticism.
Mufasa might have learned from the mistakes of its predecessor but many online just don’t seem surprised at the possibility that the film could be a disappointment, which shows that the good faith Disney has built up over the years is slowly being eroded away by sub-par movies.
I mean is anyone genuinely surprised about this lol pic.twitter.com/nxIdlC5mNC
— LuckyPuyo (@LuckyPuyo) December 17, 2024
Audiences are also annoyed at the lore of The Lion King being changed for the worse.
Most seem more excited about the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog sequel and are prematurely celebrating a win over Mufasa.
Told yall Sonic will be 10x better pic.twitter.com/iNyK7SxtQB
— MIGHTYON3 (@mightyon35) December 17, 2024
Of course, Audience scores tend to differ dramatically from the critic scores, so maybe Mufasa will prove everyone wrong by surprising audiences and making billions at the box office again. This is The Lion King we’re talking about here, one of the most beloved movies of all time, but still, as Scar would say: be prepared… for this film to disappoint.
Published: Dec 17, 2024 03:14 pm