In “Mufasa” music is no longer the protagonist
In the transformation from stand-alone film to cross-media franchise, “The Lion King” was subjected to many stresses, even of a different nature, which ended up partially changing its nature. It seems to be above all the musical component that is defeated.
We all remember the starting point: in 1994, Disney brought the animated film that follows the story of Prince Hamlet into theaters, transferring it to the savannah. Internally “The Lion King” was thought to be a second rate project, in a blessed creative moment known as the “Disney Renaissance” in which the animated canon had revived artistically and commercially. Films like “Aladdin” and “Beauty and the Beast” had convinced producers and creative staff that the future was made up of human characters and not animals.
The music in “The Lion King” was inseparable from the narrative
However, a group of young creatives were working on a project whose pitch was summarized as “Bambi in the savannah”, considered at the time a dated approach due to the presence of animals as protagonists of the story. Furthermore, the story of little Simba itself didn’t work well, at least initially, at least until the screenwriters noticed the similarities with Shakespeare’s Hamlet and, instead of moving away from the comparison, they rode it.
On the musical front of that team working on the less prestigious film currently being worked on at Disney, they included the duo Elton John (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics) and Hans Zimmer for the film’s instrumental tracks, supported by a long series of artists, from Los Angeles to the African continent, where part of the backing vocals of the sung tracks were recorded. John, Rice and Zimmer got an Oscar for itthe soundtrack went diamond, scoring incredible sales numbers.
The success was such that George Michael years later complained that memorable songs from Elton John’s repertoire such as “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and “Circle of Life” would be “forever connected to fucking lions” in the collective memory.
The original “The Lion King” sung songs and instrumentals were inseparable part from the rest of the traditional plot and in fact the film’s music is an integral part of what remains in the collective memory. As for the Italian edition, just think about how central the song “Il Cerchio della Vita” is in Ivana Spagna’s career.
Elton John was right about “Mufasa”.
In 2019 Disney decides to include “The Lion King” in its broader strategy which aims to modernize the Disney animated classics by re-proposing them in a live action version, updating them by themes and tones where necessary. He is directing the digitally animated and photorealistic version of the Leonine epic Jon Favreau, who makes something that is more than a remake: it remakes the 1994 film scene by scene, translating the 2D classic into a three-dimensional version. An operation which, at least from a qualitative point of view, proves to have little cultural impact.
The magic is also largely lost from a musical point of view, despite the many important names involved in the soundtrack (primarily Beyoncé, as Nala’s voice actress in the 2019 version). Called back along with Tim Rice to review and update the ’90s soundtrack, Elton John soon withdraws from the operation, complaining precisely that music has lost its central and narrative role in the film, which relies much more on action sequences and the documentary realism of digitally created lions. “Mufasa: The Lion King” proves John right, who had foreseen ahead of time the direction that “The Lion King” would take as a franchise.
Even though it lasts half an hour longer than the animated film, the film loses five songs compared to the 1994 film. The soundtrack is signed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who had already collaborated with Disney on the songs for the live action of “The Little Mermaid”, but this time also appears in the role of composer. Its seven tracks act as a narrative complement to the story, often paying homage to and quoting the original film. The most memorable song in the Italian edition is “We’ll go together,” which tells of the falling in love between Mufasa and Sarabi, which predictably takes up the duet of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”. Miranda knows what she’s doing, Elodie and Marinelli are very pleasant to listen to in this sentimental search, but the music is no longer central, it becomes something more, a lingering on things already shown, already said.
The only song that if removed from the final cut would make the story incomprehensible is “Milele”, song in which little Mufasa’s mother and father tell the little lion about this Eden where they are heading and which he will search for throughout the film.
Between songs that are derivative in style and content compared to the original, inevitable quotes and songs that are still listenable but far from iconic, we have to agree with Elton John: the musical component in “Mufasa” seems little more than a token of presence, perhaps also due to the complexity of making photorealism and “lion” singing go hand in hand.
It will be interesting to understand whether in the next live action films (and possibly in the next, perhaps inevitable films of the “The Lion King” galaxy) music will continue to lose ground and relevance or not.
The songs of “Mufasa the Lion King in the Italian edition:
1. “Ngomso” sung by Lebo M
2. “Milele” sung by Karima Ammar, Eugenio Marinelli
3. “I have always wanted a brother” sung by Adriano Trio, Edoardo Veroni, Luca Marinelli & Alberto Boubakar Malanchino.
4. “Addio” sung by Dario Oppido, Alessandra Gentile, Franco Finto.
5. “We will go together” sung by Elodie, Luca Marinelli, Alberto Boubakar Malanchino, Riccardo Suarez Puertas & Edoardo Stoppacciaro.
6. “Lo so, sei tu” sung by Elodie & Luca Marinelli
7. “Fratello betrayed” sung by Alberto Boubakar Malanchino.
“Mufasa: The Lion King” is in theaters from December 19, 2024.
