Mufasa: The Lion King 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Mufasa: The Lion King 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 24, 2025

It may well be grudgingly, but even stalwart curmudgeons might have to hand it to the folks at Disney, because even when the hard hearted know they're being unabashedly manipulated on an emotional level, that very manipulation is often so expertly achieved that they may well be too verklempt to do anything other than to try to soothe welling tear ducts and/or severely tugged heart strings. There are bountiful opportunities for both of those aforementioned physical phenomena throughout Mufasa: The Lion King, a kinda sorta prequel / sequel to 2019's The Lion King remake, though it's perhaps no mere coincidence that some of the making of material included as supplementary content here actually focuses more on the original 1994 The Lion King, which may be a tacit recognition that the CGI fest of a few years ago may have perhaps ironically missed the emotional bullseye that Disney regularly hits without much faltering. The kind of interesting thing in that regard, at least insofar as traditional animation would seem to be less tethered to actual experience than photorealistic CGI, is that the first Lion King film really seems to have touched people more than the remake.

Mufasa: The Lion King may be echoing a certain cultural zeitgeist in detailing the story of a forefather (and/or grandfather, as the case may be), in the big screen feature film version of one of those commercials for companies like Ancestry that frequently dot the airwaves. In this case, Simba (Donald Glover) and Nala (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter) have departed to a legendary birthing place in the forest to await the arrival of their latest cub. That leaves young daughter Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter) in the questionable care of Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) and Timon (Billy Eichner), until the much wiser Rafiki (John Kani) shows up to take Kiara's worried mind off of a loud thunderstorm by telling her the "origin story" of her famous grandfather. Yep, circle of life stuff in other words.

Mufasa is then introduced as a cub himself, one who rather quickly is separated from his loving parents during a flash flood and who ends up being more or less adopted by another pride when he washes ashore. He forms a quick bond with a "local" cub named Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr. for the bulk of the voice work), who of course is later "christened" with a somewhat more troubling nickname. Suffice it to say that soon Mufasa is not the only ostensible orphan, and a kind of Incredible Journey ensues that ultimately includes Sarabi (Tiffany Boone). The story does a good job of detailing the nascent relationship between Mufasa and Taka, depicting Taka's steady turn to the "dark side". Speaking of shades of color, kind of interestingly the "villains" in this piece are a pride of mutant lions with white fur, which has made them outcasts.

Mufasa: The Lion King builds to an appropriately emotional finale that sees not just Mufasa's story ending on a basically happy if bittersweet note, but also the continuing saga of the entire family wrapping things up with a wide eyed Kiara imagining her famous grandfather looking down on her from the vast African skies above. Again, yep, circle of life stuff.

Mufasa: The Lion King 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080 disc in this package.

Mufasa: The Lion King is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Disney / Buena Vista with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 1.85:1. I found it somewhat curious that several people I know actually didn't like the look of the 2019 remake of The Lion King, and I'll simply say for anyone reading this who's in that same demographic, they're probably not going to like this presentation, either. That said, I did like and rather admire the excellence of the 2019's animation, and that same photorealistic style is probably only more prevalent here, presented pretty ravishingly in 4K resolution. Fine detail throughout the story is frequently astounding. You can literally freeze frame any scene with a close-up of a lion and count the hairs on their hide. More bristly fur like that on Timon and Pumbaa also looks fantastically precise throughout. The landscapes, which were based on photos sent to the design crew by people in Africa (Covid hobbled actual location scouting), are more often than not absolutely gobsmacking in detail levels. HDR / Dolby Vision helps to elevate a palette that was already virtually bursting at the seams in SDR and in 1080 resolution. I was especially struck by some of the teal to cobalt blue tones in some of the nighttime material in this 4K version. You may have qualms about the story on tap here, but I can't imagine anyone being too concerned about actual video quality.

Mufasa: The Lion King 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Disney once again offers different audio codecs on its 1080 and 4K discs. The 1080 disc has a wonderfully immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track, while this disc has an equally immersive Dolby Atmos track. I have to say that I personally didn't notice a huge difference between these two, though it's arguable that the Atmos track provides even more spacious accountings of the fun score and especially ambient environmental sounds out on the savanna. Surround activity is especially noticeable in what might be termed "weather events", as in the thunderstorm that frightens Kiara, or probably even more noticeably the flash flood that strands Mufasa as a cub. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional subtitles in several languages are available.

Mufasa: The Lion King 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K UHD Disc

• Song Selection offers direct access to the film's tunes. A Sing Along Version is also accessible under the Play Menu.

1080 Disc

• Finding Milele: The Making of Mufasa: The Lion King (HD; 13:53) is a sweet piece featuring various cast and crew members talking about what the original Lion King meant to them.


• Songs of the Savanna (HD; 8:40) features Barry Jenkins and Lin-Manuel Miranda discussing the score. Kudos to whomever added little snippets of the actual notated score over vignettes from the movie.


• Ostrich Eggs with Timon & Pumbaa (HD; 4:31) gives away a few of the film's "hidden" references.


• Outtakes (HD; 2:15) has footage from the voice recording sessions.


• I Always Wanted a Brother IRL (HD; 1:17) is a music video of sorts.


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 5:13)


• Protect the Pride (HD; 1:34) is a PSA for lion conservation efforts.


• Song Selection offers direct access to the film's tunes. A Sing Along Version is also accessible under the Play Menu.

As of the writing of this review, the only 4K release of the film is packaged in a nicely designed SteelBook. The front and rear panel offers two views of adult and cub versions of lions, with the front in a nice burnished gold and the rear in a cooler blue. The inside panels offer a "group portrait" featuring the main supporting characters. A digital copy is also included.

Mufasa: The Lion King 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While I, too, would no doubt put the original Lion King on a higher pedestal than the 2019 remake, I was actually rather struck with the more recent version at least from a technical perspective, as I found the CGI absolutely amazing a lot of the time. That same sense of wonder at the sheer virtuosity of the visuals suffused my viewing experience of this film, even if I, one of those aforementioned stalwart curmudgeons, knew without a doubt how completely I was being manipulated emotionally by a frankly hoary and trope laden tale. Audio excellence matches the video side of things, and some appealing supplements and handsome SteelBook packaging add to the overall allure of this release. Recommended.