Disney’s live action movie, Mufasa: The Lion King, is a new addition to Disney’s collection of their trending real-life movies. Straying away from Disney’s usual animations, new and old audiences are taking over theaters to see the marvelous creations.

Mufasa ended the 2024 year by being the seventh highest grossing film globally. When viewing the 2024 Worldwide Box Office, it is visibly shown that Mufasa has passed Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Kung Fu Panda 4, and Venom: The Last Dance, by over $100,000, while also coming up somewhat close on the leaderboard to Dune: Part Two. Leading into the new year, Mufasa was ranked first by the Worldwide Box Office from January 3 to January 5, 2025.

Disney has been changing everything up with their movies and it seems to be working well on the crowd. Live action movies are coming into theaters rapidly, but they originally started 30 years ago in 1994, with Disney’s first attempt at creating a live action Jungle Book. Recently, the remakes have been flourishing, with 17 being made since 2014, and eight in pre-production.

To bring in more fans, the old and the new, Disney has been casting actors, fixing up the scripts, coming up with new songs, and doing enough editing for movies to look realistic in hopes of gaining more money. With movie lovers coming into theaters to see these new versions and continuations of their favorites, Disney has easily achieved this hope; reaching $627 million by January 26, 2025, according to Deadline.

When looking at top critic reviews of Mufasa on Rotten Tomatoes, the reviews are quite negative towards the movie. With a 57% on the Tomatometer, the movie is considered “rotten.” However, the reviews from “top critics” were mixed, rating the movie overall “fresh.”

Top critic on Rotten Tomatoes Christy Lemire wrote, “It swings back and forth tonally very awkwardly, but there are thrilling moments.” Additional critics like Udita Jhunjhunwala have said that “the script is safe and unoriginal, … and while the scenes of the creatures racing through fields and prancing through canyons are fine, the drama peaks in the water bodies and snow capped mountains.” However, some critics held were not impressed at all, saying the movie was unnecessary, super predictable, and is just a way to bring in more money to the Disney name, while others like Top Critic on Rotten Tomatoes, Dwight Brown, actually enjoyed the movie saying that “young audiences will have fun following the likeable characters and their perilous adventures.”

Outside of the realm of serious reviews, there are more personal preferences that have given Mufasa: The Lion King outstanding reviews compared to professional critics.

From Lakeland Regional High School, two students weighed in and gave their own overall very positive reviews. Sophomore Sienna Cusmano said, “My favorite part of the movie was that we got to see how Scar got his name.” Cusmano also mentioned that she would watch the movie again once it comes out on streaming services. Furthermore, sophomore Kyle Allison has said that “the story was very good [along with] the animation,” continuing with saying that his personal favorite parts of the movie ended up being the animations and that “the plot was a typical good guy vs. bad guy fight.”

When both were asked about whether they preferred the new Mufasa movie or the original Lion King movie, they had opposing views. Cusmano said, “I like the live action Mufasa better because it has better visuals.” While Allison said, “I would personally choose Lion King because it’s nostalgic for me …it reminds me of my childhood.”

Overall, Cusmano and Allison agreed on the idea of live-action movies being more satisfactory for viewers rather than regular animations because, like Allison said, there are “better graphics and details [that] bring the characters to life.”

This fun and family-friendly prequel is a wonderful way to spend time this weekend, whether it’s by yourself or with a companion. With well made animations, fun and enticing songs, and a fascinating plot, Mufasa: The Lion King is an outstanding movie that is great for anyone and everyone.