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| Metzger |
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| Britell |
Mufasa: The Lion King: (Dave Metzger/Lin-Manuel
Miranda) Backstory films had proven their financial worth by the time
Disney decided to create a live-action prequel to its 1994 hit
The
Lion King after that film had been adapted in similar fashion in
2019. While animators still haven't quite solved the puzzle of making
animal expressions, and particularly their eyes, convincingly real,
Mufasa: The Lion King performed reasonably well as a tale of
Mufasa and Scar (formerly known as Taka) in their friendly youth. The
former loses his parents and is adopted into the royal family of the
latter, establishing that Mufasa's ascension and successful courting of
Simba's mother caused Scar his animosity. The movie is also a migration
story, the lions together searching for a new promised land and wrapping
the entire journey back to the present to show Simba's own daughter
taking her place in the Pride Lands. There are the usual humorous
sideshows along the way, and there is, of course, a villain leading a
breed of white lions that must be defeated. The soundtrack for the 1994
movie has become legendary in pop culture, spawning a stage production
that is among the most popular of all-time. While the 2019 remake film's
music was something of a perfunctory shadow of its inspiration, the more
modern orchestrations and recording techniques offered some appeal for
another generation. For
Mufasa: The Lion King, director Barry
Jenkins insisted upon retaining the legacy sound of Hans Zimmer and
South African musician Lebohang Morake (Lebo M) while dropping most of
the Elton John references and charting a new musical path forward using
generally the same style. Jenkins brought regular collaborator Nicholas
Britell on board to join Zimmer, and the two weren't unfamiliar
collaborators themselves. Over the course of the production, however,
both Britell and Zimmer dropped out from the project, the former
providing several compelling cues with Lebo M that ultimately made the
film. Only one brief cue featuring Zimmer's contribution to a Lebo M
performance survived.
Zimmer has stated that he's not the type to revisit his
old scores, and the 2019 remake of
The Lion King wasn't as
rewarding an experience for him as one might expect. His departure from
Mufasa: The Lion King was therefore no surprise, but the
ecosystem of the franchise has plenty of backup support to carry his
ideas forward. Two veterans of the prior films and stage production,
Mark Mancina and Dave Metzger, stepped forward to help arrange new songs
by Lin-Manuel Miranda and guide the score in new directions,
respectively. Miranda had a proven track record of penning fantastic
songs for Disney in the prior decade, though his work here is mixed with
more extensive contributions from Lebo M and even Britell. The
collective result is certainly adequate for the film, but listeners will
have to be forgiven if they get the impression that there were too many
cooks in the kitchen. Reports also indicate that Zimmer and Britell's
departures came rather late in the process, possibly complicating
schedules. The resulting soundtrack for
Mufasa: The Lion King
doesn't have the desired level of memorable song and score coordination
for this franchise, though there is still much to like at individual
moments, and the score is generally strong on its own. The instrumental
and vocal stylings are exactly as needed, Lebo M providing his own flair
and guiding the 24 singers of the South African Cultural Gospel Choir to
appropriate accompaniment. The orchestra is aided by a variety of exotic
woodwinds and, just as importantly, a marimba to extend the first
score's sound, though the flute and/or recorder work isn't as prominent
as it could have been. A 40-member Western choir is employed for the
fantasy element, and Metzger applies brass layers particularly well in
the score, yielding some outstanding individual action moments. His
handling of the ensemble is an improvement over the somewhat more
conservative
Wish. Like that flop from the prior year, though,
Metzger was tasked with adapting a rather disappointing set of song
melodies into his score. The song situation in
Mufasa: The Lion
King isn't as bad as
Wish, certainly, but it is nowhere near
the expected level for Miranda.
Without catchy themes, this franchise would have gone
nowhere, and Miranda sadly does not add any tunes to the concept that
can compete with those coined by John and Lebo M previously. This
muddiness causes the thematic interpolations in the score to range from
unsatisfactorily minimal to outright messy, with some attributions left
without needed clarity. Since Metzger retains Zimmer's main themes and
adds several of his own, not to mention two new themes from Britell and
Lebo M that remain in the picture, the overall narrative is thematically
wayward to a fault. These issues start with the songs, however, and one
of their fatal aspects is their brevity; aside from the pivotal song for
the two bothers, "I Always Wanted a Brother," Miranda's work
repeatedly clocks in at times too short for the melodies of those
entries to be reasonably established, with few interludes or chorus
sections of impactful satisfaction. Also a detriment to the soundtrack
is that the songs without Lebo M's influence have a modern stage
aesthetic that would have sounded at home in a
Moana movie, with
too little connection to the African elements mixed into the pop
atmosphere. Opening the songs is a purely Lebo M product, "Ngomso" a
likeable establishment song for the setting with the African chorus and
increasing orchestral resonance. Miranda's best song ironically comes as
a singular early moment separated from the remaining narrative. In
"Milele," Mufasa's parents' song establishes the far-away promised
land. Featuring the only vocals from those actors due to their
characters' quick demise, their superb performances are woven together
with outstanding counterpoint. This song was co-written by Lebo M and
was perhaps Miranda's toughest nut to crack, but the result is tender
and wholesome, pairs of descending three notes holding the phrasing
together well. Unfortunately, these descending pairs don't translate to
the score when it needs to the most (when Milele is later discovered)
and is especially missed in "The King of Milele" and Britell's "We Made
It" cue. While it may inform in fragments during "Listen to My Voice,"
Metzger does allow the melody a very light celeste and choir moment at
0:42 into "Jamaa," the score's only obvious reprise of the idea.
The most important song in
Mufasa: The Lion King by
far is "I Always Wanted a Brother," which reinforces the Mufasa and
Taka narrative and is the most frequently accessed song melody on the
score. A penny whistle very nicely opens the song with its main phrase,
and marimba rhythms carry the first score's personality well here, too.
The phrasing descends frequently to key and repeats that note, giving it
a distinctive sense of authority for Taka, who is brash and confident at
this point. The younger vocalists tend to be annoying in tone,
especially in the song's interlude sequence and how they express the
word "brother," but Miranda once again handles their counterpoint lines
with expertise. When the song shifts in time and Mufasa performs lines
about remembering his mother at 2:45, the melody at this juncture
matures into a brotherly family theme that factors heavily in Metzger's
score. In fact, this idea essentially becomes the score's main new
identity for not just the relationship between Mufasa and Taka/Scar but
extending to Simba's family at the end of the picture. This theme debuts
as a major force right after the "I Always Wanted a Brother" song in
"The Race," dominating the rest of the adventurous score cue. The idea
is softly pretty in the second half of "My Love," beautiful for a brief
moment in the middle of "Follow the Fireflies," playful at 0:32 into
"Smell a Duck," and dies out appropriately on low strings at the end of
"The Earth Will Shake" as the brothers' bond is shattered. Metzger then
adapts the theme for Kiara at the end in "A Story of a Great King" for a
resounding close to the score, by which time the melody is definitely
confirmed as one for family generally rather than just the two leads.
The "Bye Bye" song for the villain is comparatively singular and, as a
late addition at Miranda's insistence, was reverse engineered from the
score as the final song. Mads Mikkelsen's performances are decent except
for the actual "Bye Bye" line, which is repeatedly obnoxious. Expect the
underlying instrumentation, especially with the marimba and percussion,
to remind heavily of "Be Prepared" from the 1994 film. This song doesn't
form the basis of an obvious score melody for his Kiros character,
though it does inform the chasing of "Run Mufasa!" (Kiros receives a
shrill brass wail effect as his identity instead.)
The remaining three songs in
Mufasa: The Lion King
fail to make much of an impression, "We Go Together" a generic bonding
and friendship song with a totally non-descript melody that is nearly
impossible to discern in a meaningful way. It's a largely pointless song
with no memorable progressions whatsoever for Metzger's score, though it
does playfully open "Destiny Reigns" at the very start of the
soundtrack. A bit more alluring is "Tell Me It's You," the love song for
Simba's parents with generic chord progressions under repeated two- and
four-note phrases. This entry also lacks a chorus section or any
interlude to fully develop the melody. A fleeting recorder performance
in the background remind of first film's romance. The repeated "say it
again" counterpoint phrase becomes irritating by the end, and the reverb
that Miranda touts for the cave setting of the song doesn't translate to
the album. The melody offers a moment of assurance late in "Elephant
Stampede" but is otherwise not clearly delineated in the score,
potentially building intensity throughout "The King Within" but letting
up without satisfaction. The extremely short "Brother Betrayed" song for
Scar extends from the descending lines of "I Always Wanted a Brother"
and uses bassoons like the Scar material in the first film. Its first
half-minute is a blatant lifting of the closing lines from the first act
of the stage production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's
The Phantom of the
Opera, from the strained and pained vocals to the exact lyrics. The
falling, three note-figures fit the character well, but the song is way
too short to suffice. In the score, it is barely alluded to in the
latter half of "The King of Milele." You'll find it difficult to hum the
melodies from any of these songs after you walk out of the theater,
leaving you with Zimmer's themes as the only ones you'll still recall
from the experience. For average listeners, the employment of Zimmer's
two main themes for Simba's ascension and Mufasa's kingdom will continue
to reign. Metzger is at a disadvantage when attempting to sculpt a new
narrative per the director's instructions, not only because of Zimmer's
immense shadow but due to the fact that the Britell and Lebo M tracks
are truly distinct in style. Sometimes source-like vocal interludes with
percussion only and at other times fully orchestral with impressive
results, the Britell/Lebo M cues "Find the Way" and "We Made It" are
singular highlights of the score.
Metzger's score cues do intersect the melodies at times
with those by Britell and Lebo M but not often enough. The one, short
Zimmer cue with Lebo M in the score, "And So It's Time," is a rowdy and
obnoxious party burst that has no connection to anything else. Film
score collectors will be able to parse out enough strong score material
to stand alone as a noteworthy suite of highlights, however, led by
Metzger's action material and brothers/family theme usage, along with
the aforementioned highlights from Britell and Lebo M, albeit brief. The
general recording quality is good but not fantastic, the score rather
dry in ambience during sequences when resounding majesty is called for.
This trait especially applies to the wholesale reprises of Zimmer
themes, which Metzger pegged at about 18 minutes in a 100-minute work
overall. Concept enthusiasts will recall that the three most major
themes in
The Lion King were all expressed in Zimmer's popular
"We Are All Connected" cue. Simba's ascension theme is the sentimental
favorite, ending with resemblances to the "Can You Feel the Love
Tonight?" melody's similar closing melodic bars. In the 2024 film, this
idea is embedded in the action at 0:25 into "The Race" and guides
several passages during that important cue. It builds out of the
brothers/family theme at the end of "My Love," enjoys a brief flute
fragment at the end of "Follow the Fireflies," and extends out of the
battle at the climax of "Clash of Kings," continuing to factor into the
action of "The Earth Will Shake." The ascension theme is bubbly on
marimba at the outset of "The King of Milele" and is reprised in full
for the massive finale at 1:56 into "A Story of a Great King" with great
brass layers in the orchestration. Meanwhile, Mufasa's kingdom theme for
the ancestral lines of the Pride Lands emerges in the middle of "Destiny
Reigns," reprising "The Kings of the Past" wholesale from the 1994 score
in a significant connection with appropriate grandeur. The theme is
smartly intertwined with the ascension theme at 0:33 into "The Race,"
stews in the second minute of "Burden of Pride," and is translated into
an action setting at the end of "Run Mufasa!" It recurs at 0:26 and 0:54
into "Elephant Stampede" against the cue's action rhythms, explodes with
charging bravado at 2:06 into "The Earth Will Shake," and assumes a
reverent role on woodwinds and choir for present times at 0:55 into "A
Story of a Great King." The third theme of Zimmer's main set for
The
Lion King, the often joyous and playful kingdom fanfare, doesn't
return in complete form, but a variant closes "Beneath the Scars" with
sudden jubilance.
Zimmer's original family theme seems needlessly
abandoned, though Metzger makes more of an attempt to dance around the
edges of the original Scar material. Highlighted by sleazy bassoons and
saxophone, this tone is previewed in the middle of "Burden of Pride,"
figures in the background of the early fright of "Elephant Stampede,"
factors late in "The King of Milele," and closes with a slight cameo
near the start of "A Story of a Great King." The all-new themes oriented
mainly at the score for
Mufasa: The Lion King are somewhat
elusive, especially when inspired by specific sequences in the songs.
Definitely unique, however, is a new theme for the returning Rafik
character, who receives a melody as the narrator that is rather simple
but likeable and easily shortened. Heard at 0:22 into "Destiny Reigns"
on woodwinds and then strings, this theme is slower and mystical at 0:22
into "All That Was Lost" on the same exotic winds, carrying the whole
cue beautifully. It returns once more in the humorous plucking in the
first half of "Jamaa." Metzger heavily promoted the fact that he wrote a
new theme for Simba's daughter, Kiara, though this idea seems like more
of an offshoot of the descending pairs from the "Tell Me It's You" song
and the brothers/family theme. This identity as a standalone entity
doesn't seem to figure prominently until Kiara's ascension at the end of
this film, though at that placement is a really good compliment to
Zimmer's material, yielding a definite highlight. After the ascension
theme at 2:29 into "A Story of a Great King" with Lebo M, this idea
melds together with the brothers/family theme for an all-new purpose,
followed by a compelling string version building up to the "Circle of
Life" finale. Metzger also mentioned a new theme for Taka, but it's not
well defined and difficult to distinguish from the "I Always Wanted a
Brother" and Kiros material. It does not does not figure effectively
into "Beneath the Scars" and cannot sustain an identity in "The King of
Milele." The Britell cues spearhead a pair of recurring motifs, one a
new promised land motif with two descending pairs unfortunately not
connected to "Ngomso" of "Milele." Developed in "Kuqondile" and eerily
distant at 0:26 into "Burden of Pride," this motif is previewed in the
chords and choir at the start of "My Love" and culminates in Britell's
"We Made It." The other Britell and Lebo M idea also represents the
promised land in "Find the Way" and "Home," the latter offering the
chords of "Circle of Life" at 0:18. Overall, the score has enough robust
highlights to recommend, but the songs are closer to made-for-video
sequel quality than hoped. The majesty of
The Lion King remains
intact, and it will be tough to ever feel that love again.
@Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- Songs as Written for the Film: ***
- Score as Written for the Film: ****
- Overall: ***
There exists no official packaging for the "Deluxe Edition" or score album. The song
album includes no extra information about the soundtrack or film.
