Review: Mufasa: The Lion King Home Video Release
Mufasa: The Lion King arrives on various disc formats Tuesday. This 2024 live action film is the origins story of Mufasa. Rafiki shares the story of Mufasa with Kiara (Simba and Nala daughter) along with Timon and Pumbaa. The story follows Mufasa from a young cub through his coming of age and rise to become the Lion King. You also learn about Scar’s story and how he and Mufasa became “brothers”. Sarabi and Zazu’s backstory is also revealed along the way.
I was given the opportunity to review the Blu-ray/DVD/Digital version of the film. This includes the film, a full length sing-along option, song selection options and just over 30 minutes of bonus features. There are a number of disc formats and packaging options available. For more details on the home video release here is the initial press release for Mufasa: The Lion King.
Bonus Features:
- Finding Milele: The Making of Mufasa: The Lion King (13:53) – A traditional featurette with Director Barry Jenkins and members of the cast talking about the creation of the film.
- Songs of the Savanna (8:40) – Directory Barry Jenkins and Lin-Manuel Miranda discuss the music of the film.
- Ostrich Eggs with Timon & Pumbaa (4:31) – A look at some of the easter eggs in the film.
- Outtakes (2:15) – A brief look at some of the recording sessions.
- Music Video: “I Always Wanted a Brother” IRL (1:17) – The cast and Lin-Manuel Miranda performing the song.
- Protect the Pride (1:34) – A brief look at some of the conservation efforts that were funded by previous films.
- Deleted Scenes (5:15) – Four deleted scenes presented in rough animation with no effects or introduction.
I found the variety and the depth of the bonus material to be on the light side. Clocking in at just over 30 minutes the pieces felt rushed for the most part and lacking. The first featurette Finding Milele is what you would expect from a traditional making of featurette but at just under 14 minutes it does not have enough time to really explore any element deeply. The music discussion felt better in terms of time but again seemed shorter than it needed to be. The easter egg featurette felt like a Disney Channel piece. The outtakes are about what you would expect from that type of piece. The music video and deleted scenes could have benefited with introductions and some more context. I thought there were missed opportunities to discuss in further depth the techniques that were used to make this film.
If you are looking to expand or complete you Disney library buying this release fulfills that. If you are looking for an in depth making of or some really interesting bonus features you may find the offerings on this release to come up short. They are not bad, there just are not that many and the ones that are there are short feeling.
Mufasa: The Lion King started streaming March 26th on Disney+, that version of the film includes no bonus material as of the writing of this post.
