DisneysMufasa, the latest installment in its enduringly popularLion King franchise, is headed to streaming.The new movie is both a sequel and a prequel to 2019sThe Lion King, a live-action remake of the venerable 1994 cartoon. The 2019 Lion King, directed by Jon Favreau, retold much the same story as the first film, but with photorealistic animals in the place of hand-drawn characters.Mufasa, directed byMoonlights Barry Jenkins, features a frame story set after the events ofThe Lion King, in which Simbas daughter (voiced by Blue Ivy Carter) learns the story of her grandfather Mufasa, and how he came to be theruler of the Pride Lands.The young versions of Mufasa and Scar arevoiced inMufasa by Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr. The frame story features Donald Glover, John Kani, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, and Beyonce, all reprising their roles fromThe Lion Kingas Simba, Rafiki, Pumbaa, Timon, and Nala, respectively. (Dont go in expecting much from Beyonce, though; she barely has a handful of lines in this one.)Mufasa: The Lion KingDisneyloading...READ MORE: The Worst Disney Sequels EverAlthoughMufasa only received so-so reviews (its currently rated rotten on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 57 percent), and opened in theaters with an underwhelming $35 million opening weekend gross, itstuck around in multiplexes long enough to become a hit. It ultimately earned $712 million worldwide, a respectable number for a prequel althoughthats still less than half of the $1.66 billion 2019s Lion King made.I thoughtMufasa was a marginal improvement over the first live-actionLion King movie. But the fundamental issue with that film still persists here. As I wrote in myreviewhere at ScreenCrush...This fictional universe was designed to be inhabited by hand-drawn, highly stylized Disney characters with exaggerated emotions and gestures. When you populate it with quasi-realistic animals, theycant do anything too obviously anthropomorphic, the way Disney animated heroes so often can and do in their classic films, lest you break the illusion.Instead, the characters inMufasajust walk around constantly,and Jenkins camera swoops and circles around them in this perpetual state of manic motion.Still if you missedMufasain theaters but were curious to check it out, streaming is probably the way to go, especially if you already have a Disney+ subscription. The movie is set to premiere on Disney+ on March 26.Sign up for Disney+ here.Get our free mobile appThe 10 Best Movies of the Last 10 Years (2015-2024)Our film critic picks the ten best films of the last ten years.