Mulan (2020)
Loyal, Brave, True.
I honestly had no intent on doing a review on this. Really, I even commented on how it’s something I could have done last time - but the fact that I don’t monetize this hobby of mine at all makes it silly at best to capitalize on what’s new at the time - and in my opinion “new” is best relegated to the quick section, where it’s to-the-point what I liked and as far away as possible from spoilers as you can get without a three word “go see it” or “stay way away.” Yes, over time I’ve developed a knack for not getting too into spoilers with the plot synopsis and other comments in these full reviews, but the point stands that I hadn’t intended to do this - and then I saw it, and then I saw the general reaction to it from people I watch online and headlines - and I noticed something. In fact, I noticed something so much that I had to flop on my decision to not do this movie, because quite frankly it’s a rare occasion where I think I know what’s going on. Tonight, we talk about Mulan.
Before we get into my theory-crafting and general logic behind things, let’s start with tradition. The plot of Mulan might seem foreign in concepts to some, but at it’s simplest it’s pretty graspable. In ancient China, and renegade group that opposed the Emperor and threatens the peace of the kingdom is attack everything that stands in their way on the Silk Road. To help defend his people, the emperor instates what is essentially a draft - every family must provide one man to gear up, train up, and step up to defend his country and emperor against the threat rampaging across the land. In small-town somewhere lives Mulan and her family. She is a bit too free spirited for her time, being born in an era of roles and traditions that carry impactful superstition and belief rooted behind them - yet still her father see’s in her a fighting spirit that he can’t help but support. This fighting spirit only complicates things when it comes time for her to be a woman and fall into the role of the time period and get married off, which brings shame to her family - but it doesn’t have long to sit in or have anyone dwell on it, for almost immediately after the shame would be handed out, in comes the emperor’s messengers, delivering the draft edict. Having no sons, Mulan’s father decides to step up despite being injured. In the night however, Mulan takes his armor and sword and carries off in his place under the guise of being a man - a dangerous prediciment that could get her killed not only from the enemy but her own side, who shuns female warriors as witches and best banishes them from the kingdom.
The plot feels like it’s all adequately in place. It provides for a bonding experience amongst it’s character through training, and a few jokes here and there - usually at the expense of Mulan’s having to hide being a woman. The villains (yes, both of the main ones) have a decent enough reason for things - one for acceptance and both for revenge. Admittedly, you’ll find more of the focus on some form of development between the two on the female witch - but there’s no way it’s not intentional, and in my opinion heavily falls into the Chinese concept of Yin and Yang - maybe not as heavily as something like Shadow did, but it’s there regardless. Even the emperor himself doesn’t feel like just some generic rich dude - he feels as though he actually cares about the people of his empire, despite him getting very little screen time. The characters themselves mostly aren’t all that worked on as far as development and building outside of Mulan and her family, and the aforementioned witch. It’s enough that it makes it feel like not everyone is a cardboard cutout, but also doesn’t overload you with the dozens of characters who get a at least some screen time during the process.
The actors do a good job. There’s some genuine emotion that comes out of the lot of them - with perhaps the exception of the emperor, whose role essentially calls for him to be this big stoic figure who isn’t overly emotional - seasoned and wise you could say. I feel that some have a heavier accent then others, albeit all of them understandable, and if anything I enjoy it more for it. See, as much as I appreciate the fact it’s in english so I don’t have to read (I’m just not always in the mood to read a movie), it somehow stupidly feels more authentic to the experience when people at least have a regional accent when they speak. Body language is done decent enough, and although some of the actors could be a bit more expressive then they are, I don’t entirely fault them for it as much as either the script or directing.
All dressed up and nowhere to go.
Sets look good in that period way. Outfits are also great fun, ranging from traditional and very colorful dress-wear to layered chinese-brand lamellar armor. It’s not all straight historic though - we get plenty of fantasy elements added in there as well, included the witch outfit complete with a bone headband. The action scenes make good use of all this, often managing to look chaotic but also still have that classic martial arts feel that puts it right at home with a lot of the other Chinese filmography I’ve seen recently set in period times. Admittedly, it can be a bit cut-heavy at times, but it’s at least not consistently hard cutting all over like a person holding scissors on a bumpy road. There’s also some visual effects in there that aren’t practical - morphing into birds, a phoenix that crops up a few times, even a some environmental-tie ins. You even get some moments that feel pretty wire-fu. When it comes to the effects department, I’m not disappointed here at all - outside a moment where I think they might have forgotten to add blood, but then again it is Disney so who knows if that’s actually a “forgot”.
Audio is also good here. You can hear actors lines fine. Foley work is great, The soundtrack has some good moments to it, and a few callbacks to the animated one - but largely it falls into that “professionally scored orchestral style soundtrack that does it’s job but fades into the background where it belongs and I forget by the time the movie is over.” Now, this is underselling it a little bit - it did do that one thing that I really love the most about foreign movies, which is work in native instruments that you normally wouldn’t get access to being the the middle-of-nowhere States. This lends a very Chinese quality to the soundtrack, down to a point where I even recognized some Throat Singing (yeah, I know what that is, I’ve listened to The Hu before). It does a very good job, and it’s not the soundtracks fault that most of it slips out of my cluttered brain when the movie ends - you could actually probably enjoy this one pretty good as a background listening when your just killing some time.
So you probably want to ask - if all you have to say is good things about this movie, why does everyone hate it? You might actually already know the answer without even realizing it - I didn’t go into this movie expecting nor wanting “A Disney Movie.” Everything, and I mean everything about the trailer to this movie told me that what I was going to get was more akin to a traditional historical-fantasy Chinese movie, such as the numerous ones I’ve seen like the Detective Dee franchise, 14 Blades, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, or Crouching Tiger. My expectations going in where just that - I’m going to get some fantastical elements like witches and magic, I’m going to get some sweet big battles and probably wire work, and I’m going to see Mulan characters in all of it. The worst thing this movie could have done for me personally was just be a live action shot for shot of the animated one like Beauty and the Beast basically was. I don’t generally like musical numbers, even though I really enjoy Bollywood movies I’d rather skip most the musical bits in those as well and that’s an entire network of movies where it’s engrained into the very cultural fabric of the movie to exist so if it’s going to be good anywhere you would think that’s where it’d be. It also serves a very solid and to me more interesting purpose of remaking the movie in live action - find a way to tell essentially the same story in a different way. It’s something that bears repeating, but if the intent is to just remake the exact same thing, then regardless of how much people attached nostalgically to the old one are it’s nothing more than a cash grab that adds nothing new. Yes, in some cases the simple unfaltering march of technology can allow it to be spruced up in such a manner that it really becomes more approachable from a modern audience standpoint - but if we want to release the exact same thing, just up-rez or re-scan the original prints and release it that way to make your money. That is why I think everyone is hating on this movie more than anything else - it’s a bunch of people who went in expecting and wanting songs and dances and goofy talking dragons, and instead they got a more serious movie that could fit in with most the films of it’s ilk that came out of China complete with a cast that only four years ago people would have to clean their pants about from their total excitement over the lack of whitewashing.
With yin, yang.
Should you see this movie? Depends what you want I suppose. If you want the old animated movie, go watch that instead. If you are willing to see a different movie with a decidedly more Chinese film feel to it, a strong leading lady, an understanding or usage of Yin and Yang at a conceptual level (even if it’s simplistic as heck), and some good scale then yes. I had friends who watched along with me (from their own car, got to obey them pandemic rules after all) and seemed to thoroughly enjoy it despite one definitely being more of a classic Disney animated kind of person. I had one buddy who wasn’t interested in it at all, but when he showed up a good portion of the way through the movie suddenly thought “I might need to check the rest of that out.” And, of course, I have a ton of people I follow online that seem to think it’s just the worst. Take it how you will, your owed your own opinion - but I think you’ll enjoy the experience much more if you don’t expect the song and dance and jollies of the animated movie.