My Thoughts On Mulan (2020)

 

Movie Review: Mulan (2020)

(no spoilers)

This movie, as any Disney live-action remake has done in the past 5 years, has divided the opinions of both audience and movie critics. Obviously, being a Disney movie, there is a much higher pressure and expectation, whether that expectation be bad or good, that might or might not be met once the movie is released. The truth is, as much as we, the fans, criticize Disney and its (clearly financial oriented) questionable choices, Disney will always be Disney and that means that, even as we criticise, we still end up enjoying the movies.

Throughout this last year, I’ve spoken to friends who have told me that “this version was not going to be a copy of the animation” and that we “shouldn’t compare the live-action to the animation”. Well, then don’t call it a live-action remake nor let Disney make it. This is obviously a live-action remake, said by Disney itself, so why shouldn’t I compare the live-action with the animation if they are literally doing a remake of the animation? Obviously, things will be different. I won’t watch the remake expecting to be like the animation; otherwise I won’t even watch it and I would just go watch the animation instead. But we do have to compare it because it’s a remake of the animation and it should be held to the same standards.

That being said, I do have my issues with Mulan (2020). It wouldn’t be a Disney live-action if Disney didn’t make completely avoidable mistakes and questionable choices. But, I don’t think that completely trashing the movie is the right move. Ignoring the political issues that this movie has risen (I will not enter into those), this movie is actually a fine movie – it can be even a really good movie if we just ignore the fact that it’s a live-action remake and not a stand alone with no animation predecessor. The story is there, Yifei makes a great Mulan, action scenes are there and MOST of its elements are there. I say most because there was one thing lacking and even purposely changed in this version: women empowerment.

 (spoilers)

MULAN’S KEY ELEMENT

Mulan (1998) is about a girl who goes to war disguised as a man in order to save her father of certain death. I won’t explain the movie since most of us have seen it countless times, especially if you’re a girl, when we were younger. The 1998 version shows that, in ancient times, if you were a girl, you could only bring honour to your family through marriage and being “lady like”. The 2020 version follows the same premise, it follows it well, but there is one thing that it irritated me throughout the movie. In the movie, Mulan is already a warrior, she just has to hide it – she already knows how to wield a sword, she knows how to fight, she knows how to climb, damn, the girl even knows how to fucking fly as a kid. In the 1998, Mulan is as clumsy as bull with porcelain china and it is when she starts the military training that we can see her evolution. The animation shows that you don’t have to be a warrior or strong already, you just have to work hard to be who you want to be. The 2020 version completely ruins that premise that makes Mulan so appealing to young girls – finding yourself. Here, Mulan already knows herself, she just hides it. In the 1998 version, we see a journey of self-discovery and of bravery. This is the KEY element of the Mulan version of Disney and Disney completely smashed it into the ground and basically said that you can only be a warrior if you are already born as one. Warriors are not born, they are made and this is what Disney missed in the whole movie.

MULAN’S QI

Intertwining with the previous concept, Mulan’s will and hard work is substituted by the Qi (pronounced “chi”) which is the vital energy that lives within every human being. But even Disney got that wrong. From my research and Chinese culture experts, the QI lives within all of us. However, Disney incorporates in the movie the idea that only men, only warriors can actually possess it but apparently Mulan was blessed by the Phoenix and it has a Qi more powerful than anyone else. Basically, Disney transforms the Qi into the Force, like Star Wars.

ACTION SCENES – TOO MANY SLOW MOTION

The action scenes are very good – well, almost all of them. The action scene that made me cringe the most – and the worst of all – is right in the beginning when we see kid Mulan. She follows a goddamn chicken all the way to the roof and the way she gets there and comes down afterwards is just complete invention. It is visibly seen that it wasn’t real and it was just too much for a, what, 8 year-old Mulan. There is also a lot of action scenes where the it feels false and you can tell that it was modified by special effects. Obviously, we all know that the movies have special effects, we just don’t want to notice them when we are watching.

There is also one scene where the new villain – more like the antiheroine of the movie – is fighting with a bunch of soldiers alone. The whole scene could’ve been fantastic if the camera didn’t. cut. angles. at. every. single. second. What could’ve been an amazing action scene was turned into a headache.

Also, what is up with this movie and all its slow motion scenes? One day I will watch the movie again just to count how many slow motion scenes exist in the movie. There are simply too many. Some of them are very well integrated, giving the scene more impact. Others are just unnecessary, making the scene weird and kinda boring to watch.

SCRIPT + ACTING

Taking away the script that came from the animation and the introduction of the new anti-heroine, the script was weak. The supposedly funny scenes weren’t funny at all, the emotional scenes weren’t emotional. The dialogues felt mostly cheap (with some exceptions) and it felt like there wasn’t much of a connection between most of the characters. There was overall good acting. The actors chosen are good actors, however, because of the script and what I feel like it was lack of flexibility, some of the scenes that could’ve shown so much more emotion – whether sadness, anger, disappointment – were reduced to just a hint of those emotions.

DIRECTING/EDITING

Before I start with the issues that I had with this, let’s just say one thing that Disney is completely good at and there is not denying it: visuals. We saw it in Aladdin, we saw it in The Lion King and we see it again in Mulan. The visuals, both of the background and of the surrounding elements, are just completely stunning and really what makes this movie really easy and nice to look at. You fall in love with the background.

Now, the issues. The directing is good, however some of its choices are questionable. The movie does, especially in the beginning, a lot of movements where the camera actually moves with the actor and we see it spin in the screen. It looks amazing the first time they do it, it looks just weird in the second time because they CUT IT. Which leads me to editing. *sighs* I didn’t like much of the editing. Honestly, it felt sloppy most of the times. Perfect action scenes were reduced to mediocre because of cuts and editing. Emotional scenes that could’ve brought us to emotional state were reduced to normal scenes. Some of the shots of the movie are fantastic but the editing is just not there, which is a shame because this movie would’ve benefited much better with actually good editing.

BETTER AS A MUSICAL?

Friends have told me that they were excited to see the movie with no songs. I was not. I was right. It was a fucking disaster. Alongside the editing, the lack of the songs was a catastrophe because it lacked so much emotion, so much built-up moments that just didn’t happen.

Mulan’s scene when she is preparing for the matchmaker is reduced to a minute and half with no actually evidence that Mulan is hating it until the scene almost ends, taking away all the importance of the “sacrifice” Mulan is about to do and how its importance for the family. In the 1998 version, Mulan’s evolution in the military camp is seen through the song “Make A Man Out Of You” and that song shows, through its lyrics and visuals, how much Mulan had to endure to disguise herself as a man and how she must work harder than everyone else. In the 2020 version, we got almost nothing: a few stunts with a stick/sword - not even a whole minute. It does show a particular task that all soldiers must do, mimicking the arrow in the top of the poll, but it loses importance when you realise that Mulan doesn’t really have to work hard to become a good soldier – a warrior – because she has already been one since she was little.

Intertwining with the editing issue, there is a scene in the 1998 version which is given to us through a song “A Girl Worth Fighting For” in which there is a two minute or so sequence of scenes where the Mulan’s group is singing a very cheerful song and then the song is abruptly interrupted by the glimpse of the devastation of a camp. This scene is edited in a way that is just a mess and ignores the complete point of that scene in the 1998 version – the soldier’s first step into the reality of war. Instead, we have a bunch of scenes stitched together in which none of them have anything to do with the other.

MUSHU

My dear Mushu... *sigh* I wish you could’ve been in this movie to make it more likeable. The claim for taking Mushu out of the movie was because of “cultural accuracy”, well, Disney messed at the first moment they decided to change the meaning of Qi in order to fit in with the struggles of women in Ancient China. Instead, they sort of replaced Mushu with a anti-heroine that transforms herself into a eagle. Needless to say that, even with Xianniang’s good performance, I didn’t like how dirty Disney treated the most awesome animal side-kick in the whole Disney animation repertoire. Mushu is not just a comic relief but also Mulan’s friend and helper. He aids her whenever she feels down, supports her and helped her when she was fighting the Huns at the Emperor’s palace.

LI SHANG + HONGHUI

I really cannot understand how substituting Li Shang and replacing him with Honghui was an idea that Disney actually approved. I knew, from the moment Honghui appeared in the movie, that he would be her love interest – which would’ve been completely fine if Honghui wasn’t so basic and tasteless. It seems like Disney tried to create a more Chinese Li Shang but just got a dude with no personality traits except try to talk to Mulan. Their development, both as friends and as a potential couple, was so awkward and weird to see. One of Disney excuses for taking Li Shang out of the movie was because of the #MeTooMovement in which Disney didn’t want Mulan to have a superior officer as her love interest – as if people don’t fall in love with people in higher positions than them. Instead, what we got a man which only good deed was supporting Mulan when she returned to warn her battalion of the danger. There was way too much effort in the movie into showing that Honghui was the substitute for Li Shang with awkward stares and emotionless faces with no hint of tension between them.

BORI KHAN + XIANNIANG

The change of the Huns for the Rourans was a right choice because of the timeline of the original tale. I didn’t mind and Jason Scott Lee was the right choice for the villain. Before I knew they changed to a different tribe, I could’ve totally believed that Jason Scott Lee’s performance was a direct interpretation of the Hun leader in the 1998 version.

I didn’t like the introduction of the anti-heroine, Xianniang, because of the simple fact that Disney explained that she was the reason Mushu left. Now I like her character a lot, I just now think that Disney loves to ruin its own movies. The story behind her character’s motives and Böri Khan’s plan to take down the Emperor was a well establishment, already seen but believable story. It is also established how much Xianniang and Mulan are alike – they could’ve explored that idea more in the movie instead of doing fast paced scenes between the two of them where Xianniang clearly steals the spotlight.