Mulan (2020) [Film Review]

Mulan; or, A Love Letter to the PRC
Your Chi is strong, Mulan. The Chi is for warriors, not daughters. Soon you will be a young woman and it is time for you to hide your gift away.
The second week of September, 2020 is the Mulan week! After months of postponing the release due to the outbreak, the live-action adaptation of a legend about everybody’s favorite princess finally saw the light of day on Disney+. In spite of mixed opinions and the drama war concerning fake reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, I was very much hopeful about Mulan, and I checked it out with an open heart… Well, the movie turned out to be painfully mediocre.

Release Info

Directed by: Niki Caro Starring: Liu Yifei, Yoson An, Donnie Yen, Gong Li

Language: English Runtime: 120 min

Synopsis
The Rouran tribes under the leadership of Böri Khan (Jason Scott Lee) are attacking the Northern parts of China. The Emperor (Jet Li) orders a nationwide draft into the army that will ward off the Rourans. Soon after, the recruitment instructions arrive to a village where the Hua family lives. Hua Zhou (Tzi Ma) is a proud father of two daughters but he is too sick to participate in the war, yet he obediently accepts the royal order. His daughter, Hua Mulan (Liu Yifei), steals his armour, sword, and horse under the cover of the night. Pretending to be a man, she joins the division led by Commander Tung (Donnie Yen). During her quest, Mulan will have to face not only the Rourans but also struggle with her feelings to Honghui (Yoson An) and battle a mysterious witch known as Xianniang (Gong Li).

#NotMyMulan
I saw Mulan a couple of days ago and wrote my original thoughts about the film on MDL feeds. Initially, I had no intention of writing a review (because even though the film has an all-Asian cast, it was not made by Asians at all), but the more I kept thinking about the film, the more I wanted to elaborate upon my first impressions.

So, I wrote at the beginning of this text that I find Mulan to be painfully mediocre. By saying this, I do not mean that the movie is technically bad, but the executions of many aspects left me pretty underwhelmed. For instance, the opening scenes already establish the fact that Mulan is already a perfect warrior while being a child; therefore, there is no progression of her character. In addition, the screenplay cuts corners at the most important plot-points of the narrative: Mulan has no sidekick (where’s my Mushu!), there is no dramatic reveal of her identity, and she does not single-handedly save the day in the film’s finale. In consequence, where the 1998 animation was pouring heart and passion into each scene, the live-action movie just tries get through the plot without any aim of providing entertainment.

The best example of the film’s blandness is the Matchmaker scene. The sequence in the animation is so much fun, but in the film, everything feels forced and awkward. But hey, at least I recognised Cheng Pei-Pei through heavy make-up (To be honest, she would have been the perfect choice for the grandma character who, similarly to Mushu, was also removed from this version).

That being said, I am not saying that there is not anything I liked about the film. Liu Yifei did not convince me as Mulan, but I was full on board with her performance when she was pretending to be guy. The actress did a good job as Mulan undercover, but as Mulan Mulan… so-so. I also welcomed the presence of Donnie Yen in golden armour. Though he does not do much fighting, his character just loves talking about honour.

Another thing I noticed is shoddy CGI. I do not consider myself to be a demanding viewer, so if I could spot that the background of many outdoors scenes is fake, then you can as well. For a big budget production from Disney, the special effects seem to have been made without an effort.

Recommendations
All things considered, Mulan is yet another Hollywood’s attempt (after the Star Wars sequels) to buy their way into the Chinese market. The best thing about making these movies in accordance with PRC’s rulebook is that China does not care at all about blockbusters from the West. In 2020, they commissioned not one, not two, but three of their own live-action Mulan movies, plus an animation, and two dramas. In addition, the controversy surrounding Disney's Mulan also has to be addressed, especially the disputable remarks of the main actress and more than questionable shooting locations. So… if you want to experience Mulan at her glory, then I suggest coming back to the 1998 animation or checking out the 2009 movie.Overall score: 5/10

Note: All the images come from the official trailer.

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