Mulan

Joining the catalogue of Disney's unnecessary live action remakes of its critically acclaimed animated masterpieces is 2020 Mulan. Let's dissect this one, shall we?

It's important to give credit where it's due. Firstly, the team who made this adaptation didn't go for a shot-after-shot remake. Instead, they've extracted material from Ballad of Mulan while attempting to stay faithful to the original 1998 movie. This is clear from the get-go when the narrator aka Mulan's father (Tzi Ma) states that there are many versions of Hua Mulan's story, and this is his. Second of all, the filmmakers managed to alleviate some of the issues that would not translate well from animation to live action, such as providing Hua Mulan an edge in terms of advanced chi so that her possibility to participate in warfare becomes believable and removing a comically exuberant character like Mushu who would stand out like a sore thumb if done here. Finally, in addition to installing a Negation physical embodiment character for Mulan's arc to grow beyond temptation, there's now a vivid motivation behind why the antagonist is hell bent on killing The Emperor of China (Jet Li).

Even though the makers granting Mulan; a seemingly regular person like you and me a special ability might seem off-putting at first, it gradually renders itself acceptable after a while, especially considering they were looking to pour a new wine in this old glass, on top of said ability allowing Mulan to strive and survive in the battlefield. It is something we'd have to mentally forgo in order to let this version of Mulan enter our hearts. The problem eventually shows its ugly head the moment Mulan chooses to be herself and let the chi flow through her without restrictions. This ultimately transformed her into a superhero towards the second half of the picture! Nothing could hurt her. Nothing could injure her. Nothing could obstruct her. Taking out enemies was peanuts. Any little tension, care and/or vulnerability associated with this character up until this point… is forever lost. Coupled with our prior knowledge from the original knowing that no harm will come by her in the end too, brings back the question of why Disney chooses to remake these beloved and established classics other than it being the simplest way to milk money out of people's pockets.

Performances wise, Tzi Ma is excellent. Donnie Yen the actor being a part of this show or any show is anytime awesome, although his character as the Commander of the Imperial Army didn't bring much weight. Liu Yifei did well as Hua Mulan and Hua Jun for the most parts, albeit having lots of room for improvement in terms of the range of emotions she could show. It was quite worrying initially on how the filmmakers were going to convince us that nobody in the army would see through her disguise, but thanks to the actress' looks and performance, it's no longer an issue! Her struggle involving sleeping in a tent full of man is truly pitiful. So glad that the river bathing scene was retained as well! Yoson An as Honghui is likeable and the conversation he has with Mulan about female's interest while she's dressed up as a male is one of the better scenes the feature has to offer. Nothing much could be said about the homage paid to Cri-Kee, other than maybe a similar homage could have been done for the most iconic character in the animation - Mushu. Speaking of homage, the cameo from Ming-Na Wen; voice-actor of the 1998 Mulan is a sweet surprise.

The bridal dress-up sequence is elaborate, thus fantastic. We could only wish for something similar when it comes to Mulan donning her father's uniform for the first time - one of the most pivotal moments for the character, as displayed in the animation. Matchmaker screwup scene can't be emulated or bettered. Mulan embracing her chi as she successfully climbs the hill with pails of water, Commander suggesting Hua Jun to take up his daughter and the climactic dialogue exchange between Hua Mulan and her dad are memorable episodes for sure. However, it must be mentioned that Mulan catching the dead eagle (Gong Li) falling from above is unintentionally hilarious!

Action sequences are below average at best. It's worse if you've seen some of the best wuxia flicks like many of Zhang Yimou's work. It's choppy with too many cuts. The way it's filmed is too fake-looking and borderline childish. The flips and air tricks in the beginning is horrendous! Some of the shots canned by Mandy Walker, namely the paddy field terrace shown at the start is absolutely gorgeous! Visual effects is premature at many instances, though Harry Gregson-Williams theme score is brilliant.

Sure, the production design is majestic, but Disney is too focused on giving you a glossy, fantastical, fairy-tale like eye-candy no matter the content or type of story at hand, that they forget how to actually (re)tell their (own) stories! No matter the scene's context, brim or delight, the shot is always well-lit, colorful and 'nice'. There's literally no wear-and-tear treatment for the costumes or anything in fact, a similar problem we saw in 2019 Aladdin. All of the scenes expose that they are shot in a studio. It's plastic, fake and sucks away any form of immersion. Where's the grittiness and realism, particularly pertaining to Mulan, a tale that deals with action warfare? Everybody is safe at the end of the day, with nobody experiencing any loss, the least of all, the protagonist. With all this at play, it goes without saying the emotional impact isn't there. Quite simply put, there isn't a vision to retell any of these stories, other than (again), to make easy money off of fans and theatergoers alike. It's so sad, really.