Disney Movie Challenge Bonus: Mulan (2020)

 Disney Movie Challenge Bonus

Mulan (2020)

Mulan is the latest of Disney’s live action remakes and the last one I will likely review for this blog.  Notable for many reasons mostly because it was due to come out a few weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic hit and was delayed 6 months.  When it finally came out it premiered in theaters and on Disney+ Premiere Access.  As a guinea pig for the Premiere Access it showed people were willing to spend extra money to get first run films at home.  Whether the experiment was a success or not is still to be determined, but they must have felt pretty confident about it since they released their newest film Raya and the Last Dragon the same way.  

Even prior to the chaos caused by the pandemic the movie had a troubled production.  As with Aladdin Disney felt pressure to have an ethnically correct cast and director.  Starting in 2010 Disney began trying to get a cast and crew together.  Noted director Ang Lee was asked to direct but turned it down.  Eventually Disney went with New Zealand director  Niki Caro who previously directed the acclaimed Whale Rider.  While they failed to find an Asian director the cast was prominently Asian.  Chinese Actress Yifei Liu was cast as Mulan and other notable Asian actors were cast including Donnie Yen, Gong Li, and Jet Li (Ming-Na Wen the voice of Mulan from the animated film also had a small cameo).    

The basic story sticks pretty close to the animated film.  To stop her father from having to go to war she pretends to be a man and enlists herself.  There she must not only learn how to be a warrior but also how to hide she is a girl and her true talents.  The details of the story are a bit different.   It is shown early that Mulan is special and revealed that her Chi allows her to be a powerful warrior.  Also, the invading army uses a witch to help win their battles.  It is in a battle with the witch that Mulan finally unveils exactly how powerful she is.  Once the troops know she is a woman she is kicked out of the army and left alone.  But seeing that the invading army is not defeated she heads to the Impereal City to warn everyone about the invasion.  

The biggest difference from the animated film is the elimination of the songs and Mushu the dragon sidekick.  In an effort to make the movie more realistic it was decided that both of these aspects would take the viewers out of the suspension of disbelief.  Oddly enough the addition of the witch and this story about Chi took away from the realism for me.  They also changed Mulan's love interest to a new character so she wasn’t falling in love with her superior officer but with a fellow enlisted man.  While they took the songs out of the movie they did incorporate the music as part of the score.  

The best part of the film is the action.  There are some really cool action scenes that reminded me of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which is a movie I love.  Unfortunately the film falls flat with the character development.  I think the Chi explanation of Mulan’s powers takes something away from her as a character.  The romance in the film never feels fully earned.  I didn’t realize till almost the end that it was supposed to be a romantic interest and just felt like it was a friendship.  

Overall: Some cool action, timeless story, and good acting. Unfortunately the story doesn’t entirely work and the romance aspect feels forced.  I was happy that there was no Mushu in the movie since I found him pretty annoying.