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.  

Disney Movie Challenge Bonus: Dumbo (2019)

Originally this project was only going to focus on the Disney Animated films, but after watching Dumbo (1941) I decided to watch the new live action remake from 2019.  I figured since I watched it I might as well do a short review.

The movie starts off very similarly to the original Dumbo. An elephant gives birth to a baby with big ears.  Dumbo goes on to star in a circus routine that ends up getting ruined because he trips over his big ears.  Because he gets big laughs he is sent to be part of the clown routine.  It is during the clown routine that he shows he can fly.  The biggest difference is that the updated film also introduces us to a host of human characters that were mostly absent in the original film.  Colin Farrell plays a veteran who lost an arm in the war. He returns to the circus and finds that his cowboy act has been eliminated from the show. Danny Devito plays the ringmaster who is trying to keep the circus alive and thriving during difficult times.  He tells Farrell’s character that the only position he has available is as the elephant handler.  Farrell’s kids take a liking to Dumbo and are the ones that teach Dumbo to fly.  Similar to the first movie they convince him that to fly he needs to have a feather.  This is where the original movie ends but this one takes the story further.  Once news gets out that the circus has a flying elephant a big city promoter (Michael Keaton) takes a keen eye on Dumbo and wants to make him the centerpiece to his show.  

Since the original movie was so short it is easy to see where a lot can be done to expand the film.  I think they took the idea of the main parts of the original and built an interesting story around it. Since I was kind of expecting a more direct adaptation it was a bit shocking when the film moved to the city.  I usually love Michael Keaton but just didn’t think he worked for the character he was playing.  On the flip side Danny Devito was awesome and loved every minute he was on screen.  I think Colin Farrell did fine but I think his character could have been written better.  

It was great to see a lot of nods to the original film in the adaptation. There are storks flying away after Dumbo is born, and while the train doesn’t sing we get Danny Devito humming the tune. While Timothy the mouse was a big part of the original film there is a mouse character in this film but it doesn’t play a very big role.  They did eliminate all of the outdated racist stereotypes that were in the original which was a good decision.  

OVERALL: Takes the original story and expands it in a way I didn’t expect but once I got over the initial shock I was able to go with it.  It also keeps the same themes about bullying and believing in yourself that the original had, but also added an anti animal cruelty theme to it.  

A fun adaptation of the original, nothing earth shattering but great to see Danny Devito having a fun time.