Whenever I see one of these Lion King films, I think of a passage from Isaiah 11:6-9, “Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat; The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall graze, together their young shall lie down; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the viper’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair. They shall not harm or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea.”  These lines are often used to describe Heaven, which is the only place where apex predators would not be devouring those lower on the food chain.  As I watched Mufasa: The Lion King, aside from seeing similar behavior, they kept talking about something called “Milele.”  I am no expert on this franchise, so I am clueless as to whether this has been discussed in previous installments.  In any case, its perpetually green fields, plenteous water, and where lions and gazelles can co-exist without bloodshed is too idyllic to be on Earth.  Hence, Disney is telling us about Heaven whether or not they acknowledge it.  That is not how I would describe the movie, but that is for the rest of the review.

After there was Mufasa: The Lion King, there is Kiara (voiced by Blue Ivy Carter).  She is the daughter of Simba (voiced by Donald Glover) and Nala (voiced by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter), who are the current occupants of Pride Rock, overlooking the Pride Lands, because they are a pride of lions.  They are so proud. . . .  Sorry, I could not resist.  One day, Simba and Nala have to leave the area because in this fantasy world lions have to give birth somewhere else.  With a thunderstorm approaching, Simba’s longtime companions, warthog Pumbaa (voiced by Seth Rogen) and meerkat Timon (voiced by Billy Eichner), are assigned to watch over the princess.  They are trying to calm her down with stories, but it is the wise (one might say insane) mandrill Rafiki (voiced by John Kani) who regales Kiara of her grandfather, Mufasa (voiced by Aaron Pierre).  As a young cub (voiced by Braelyn and Brielle Rankins), the land in which he lives is undergoing drought.  Hence, he, along with Afia (voiced by Anika Noni Rose) and Masego (voiced by Keith David), Mufasa’s parents, are in search of the aforementioned Milele.  Unfortunately, along the way with rain suddenly falling, Mufasa is caught in a flash flood and washed down river and separated from them.  Once Mufasa finds calmer water, but before he can be attacked by crocodiles, he is rescued by young Taka (voiced by Theo Somolu).  Technically, it is Taka’s mother, Eshe (voiced by Thandiwe Newton), who saves both of them.  At first, Mufasa is rejected as a stray, but Taka’s insistence on wanting a brother and Eshe’s maternal instincts take over and Mufasa is taken before Obasi (voiced by Lennie James), Taka’s father and king of the local pride.  Obasi, too, wants nothing to do with Mufasa, but reluctantly allows the stranger to stay after Mufasa triumphs in a foot (paw?) race, though it is suggested that Taka allows the newcomer to win to avoid being eaten losing.  Mufasa and Taka grow up together, causing trouble whenever they can, and Mufasa learning the skills of hunting by being forced to bide his time with the lionesses.  It is while out with Eshe that she and Mufasa encounter a group of pale lions known as the “Outsiders.”  In defending Eshe, Mufasa kills the son of their leader, Kiros (voiced by Mads Mikkelsen).  Aware of the danger, Obasi sends Mufasa and Taka away so they can live while Eshe and Obasi stay to face the Outsiders.  Kiros wants revenge for the death of his heir, and takes the rest of the pride to go after the escapees.  As they flee, they encounter Sarabi (voiced by Tiffany Boone), a lioness who has lost her pride.  She is not alone, however, being accompanied by the hornbill Zazu (voiced by Preston Nyman).  The bird is one of two animals the lions are not allowed to eat, the other being Rafiki, who joins them to point the way, Obi-Wan Kenobi-style, to Milele.  In their travels, Taka finds that he is developing feelings for Sarabi, and Mufasa does his best to encourage a romance between his two companions.  Yet, it is Mufasa who saves Sarabi from stampeding elephants.  Though he tries to say it was Taka who acted on her behalf, she eventually figures out that it was Mufasa who was responsible.  In his usual mode of watching from afar, Taka sees Mufasa and Sarabi falling for each other and decides to betray them.  Blaming Mufasa for all his troubles, Taka goes to the chasing Kiros and pledges loyalty to the Outsiders.  In his new role, Taka leads his new co-conspirators to Milele shortly after they reach their destination.  Mufasa delivers a Churchill-esque speech to the animals collected in the area, who, with some encouragement from Rafiki, band together to stop the Outsiders.  All this comes down to the inevitable clash between Mufasa and Kiros.  The older and stronger lion is about to prevail when the last shreds of Taka’s loyalty to his adopted brother compel him to step in front of the blow that would have killed Mufasa.  The strike is how Taka becomes Scar (and I am guessing the point of the movie), and the two erstwhile brothers team up to defeat Kiros.  Though Taka does somewhat redeem himself, Mufasa vows to refer to his sibling as Scar, and you can watch The Lion King (1994 or 2019) for the rest of that story.  This one closes with Kiara greeting a new baby brother upon Nala and Simba’s return.

As Nala and Simba proudly present their offspring at the end of Mufasa: The Lion King, all the other animals show their excitement for the new addition.  Again, my mind goes back to the Scripture verse quoted in the introduction.  Only in a Disney production can we have such a scenario where three lions can befriend a bird and a monkey without it ending in tears.  To be fair, there is talk of the lions eating, and at one point Mufasa and Sarabi seem to be on the verge of snatching a small rodent to put something in their admittedly empty stomachs.  I am not saying that I want to see carnage.  What I am pointing to is the unrealistic nature of the proceedings.  It makes a little more sense when this is all purely animation, which is more fantastical anyway, but this has the look of being realistic.  What the Catholic Church teaches on such matters is on the side of reality.  God created nature as it is, with predator and prey, and it is His infinite wisdom that guides it all.  It is beautiful and natural.  Films like this, and Disney is particularly guilty of this on a repeated basis, anthropomorphize animals.  Hence, with the lions, and I guess all the animals, they are imbued with human traits.  Because humans are taught not to eat one another, we are spared from seeing this in a movie.  Incidentally, cannibalism is frowned upon by the Church, too.  All the same, while this might be a silly thing to ask, am I alone in worrying that such a film might encourage children to head into the wild and try to be friendly with potentially dangerous creatures?  One would hope this does not happen, but then we might remember Harambe the gorilla?

The tragic death of a child aside, there was one moment in Mufasa: The Lion King on which I would like to focus more specifically with my Catholic analysis.  It comes when Mufasa meets Eshe for the first time, and he proclaims himself to be lost.  She comes back with a line that has a lot of wisdom for us in this sinful world.  She says that to be lost is to learn the way.  The word “lost” is a bit of an oxymoron by itself.  In following God, one can lose their way, but with prayer, you can always be found.  To a certain degree, this idea can be applied in a physical sense.  You can find yourself in an unfamiliar location, but God is always there with you.  That might not help you find yourself location-wise, but His presence can always offer some kind of comfort.  We can also get turned around in speech.  People will sometimes say one thing but mean another, which is frustrating.  Prayer is a common language, and the Catholic Church refers to itself as universal.  No matter where you are in the world, you can usually find a Catholic Church in that area and be in a location that has at least some familiarity.  In all these situations, it is God that shows us the Way.  He truly is the “Way, the truth, and the life.”  That is far more real than the make-believe Milele, or anything else you might see in the Disney movie.

I am sure by now that you realize that Mufasa: The Lion King is like anything else Disney is doing these days: taking their animated material and making it into live action.  I suppose this one is a little different since it is an origin story, though for all I know, this, too might have a cartoon version.  Anyway, it is a pass for me.