Trailer release for 'Mufasa: The Lion King' stirs online debate

Source: Walt Disney Studios

Disney released the trailer for ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’, directed by Barry Jenkins. The announcement was made during Disney’s D23 event on August 9, along with the release date of the movie, December 20. The film is supposed to be a prequel to the 2019 live-action adaptation of ‘The Lion King’, which dives into the backstory of Mufasa and Scar (Taka). The trailer has since received mixed reactions from the public. 

The trailer depicts the story of how Mufasa, who is an orphaned cub, encounters Taka’s pride. Despite initially facing rejection from Taka’s pride, he is eventually welcomed by Taka and the story follows how the two grow together forming a strong bond and becoming brothers. 

Upon the trailer's release, audiences have had mixed reactions to the new untold storyline. One user on ‘X’ wrote, “Can’t wait to see ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ , I want to see where the story is going”. They further added that Disney has also seemed to have improved the animation, highlighting the fact that the characters look like they have emotions and expressions now, when compared to the 2019 live-action. 

Another user on ‘X’ wrote, “I was very excited for the new Lion King movie, until the trailer was released. Disney is pulling another classic Hollywood move again, where they change the original story to have the audience sympathise with the villain. Why must we always sympathise with evil?”. She further compares the storytelling technique with that of ‘Joker’. She added that in most versions of the story Joker is a mad man who wants to destroy the world because it's fun, but the character that is shown today is someone that one should sympathise with. 

The 2019 live-action remake of ‘The Lion King’, directed by Jon Favreau, also received significant criticism from audiences. Many people felt like the characters were emotionless when compared to the original animated film.