Live action Disney movies have been mostly mediocre cash grabs. The last great one was Pete’s Dragon in 2016, and that’s in part because that film fixed all the errors of the original. So I would say I was more excited for live action Mulan than live action Lion King because Mulan for as fun as the animated version is, has some stuff that could be modernized and fixed. Live action Mulan is closer to Pete’s Dragon than it is to the live action Lion King, but in the end it doesn’t matter, cause people are gonna see it, and Disney PLUS is gonna get its subscription moola.
For the 5 and under and 40+ crowd that has no idea what this movie’s about, Mulan (Yifei Liu) is a teenage warrior wanna be in Medieval China, taking more after her father Zhou (Tzi Ma) than her mother Li (Rosalind Chao). With Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee), Xianniang (Gong Li), and the Rouran army attacking imperial outposts, the emperor (Jet Li) asks each family to send one man to fight for the country. With no daughters, Zhou volunteers, but Mulan, hungry to prove herself to her family, goes secretly in his place to the 5th regiment, run by Commander Tung (Donnie Yen), presenting herself as Zhou’s male child.
Live action Mulan fares better than some of the lesser remakes because it actually makes some significant changes to the animated version. To the chagrin, and sometimes fury, of the cartoon’s fans, Niki Caro and the creative team made the movie a straight action film akin to something like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. So that means no Eddie Murphy’s Mushu the luck dragon, no “Make a Man Out of You” sing a longs. Also suffering is some of the character complexity, specifically on the villain and Mulan’s soldier friends. But not all changes are bad; an engaged creative team also means good modifications too, like some MeToo updating of the story and a shift of story themes to focus more on “being true to one self” instead of “a woman doing man things surprisingly” which keeps the story focused on Mulan, who’s worthy of that attention. The famous Chinese actress Gong Li (PLEASE seek out Raise the Red Lantern which she’s in) brings super interesting energy and character development Xianniang, probably the best addition the movie makes, since I wanted to spend more screentime with her.
But the main goal of this 2020 Mulan is to kick butt and do so in the most beautiful, majestic way possible. Picture every environment imaginable: plains, desert, valleys, snowcovered mountains. Mulan has some sort of gorgeous, epic tracking shot showing the spectacular nature of China’s landscape. The fight sequences are influenced by Crouching Tiger and Yimou Zhang’s films, which turn martial arts fighting into the most badass ballet possible. It’s never not fun when soldiers soar through the air, kicking spears at their enemies, catching arrows, or engaging in minor trapeze artistry and parkour. Director Niki Caro makes sure that no matter where the story goes, you’ll be cheering along with everyone when Mulan goes swooping through the air to avoid attacks and deliver some of her own.
I hope Mulan gets some sort of movie theater rerelease when the covid vaccine makes the world go back to some sort of normal. This movie was directed to be seen as big as possible. Maybe that’s why Disney Plus charged $30 for people to see it. Go big or go home Disney: I chose to go home and wait.