In recent years, Disney made a big push towards nostalgic properties. While there have been some successes, much of the material they released has been met with increasing criticism, especially with their live-action remakes. When I saw the trailer for "Mulan", I was enthusiastic given that the original is an old favorite of mine. Sadly, circumstances were not in its favor: critics and fans alike tore into it, the socio-political climate surrounding its release in the US and China was terrible, misleading promoting, and the absurd Disney+ price at the time. Hearing this negativity made me reluctant to see this remake, but as a fan and a film enthusiast I felt obligated to do so. Is it as bad as everyone says it is?
Positives: Visuals are lovely, some striking color and environments from Mulan's circular home to an icy sulfur lake. The action scenes are okay, mixing martial arts with chi this time, allowing stunts straight out of classic kung fu films, this time with more blatant, albeit bloodless, deaths (though the editing could be better). A new character I like is Mulan's quasi love interest Chen Honghui, who brought a lot of positivity and was very accepting even before her gender reveal. Mulan's relationship with her father is serviceable, a must if she was to head out to be a soldier in his place. The soundtrack is a pleasure to hear, especially the musical rendition of "Reflection". There's also a wonderful cameo by Ming-Na Wen, the OG Mulan, which did get me little giddy.
Negatives: I had trouble connecting with this Mulan. She lacks expressions much of the time and her line delivery is off. She doesn't struggle nearly as much being already so talented and powerful due to her chi and she's accepted by her underdeveloped peers almost right away. Her conflict is more about dealing with repressing herself to avoid suspicion than earning her skills and respect while maintaining cover. This might work with a little tweaking, but her lack of flaws and real challenges make her not as compelling as her old incarnation, who relied more on wit and ingenuity. She never really builds a bond with the soldiers and often trains alone, not that she needs to given that she's better than them. Also, there are stunts she does that just look ridiculous like her habit of kicking objects/weapons with uncanny proficiency. In place of the intimidating Shan Yu is Bori Khan, who, while motivated by revenge rather than conquest and is shown to be cunning at times, is fairly bland as a villain. The witch serving him is meant to parallel Mulan, but, despite a nice backstory, she's poorly done as her methods/motivation made little sense. She also brings to question the nature of chi; it's basically life energy, but the witch shape-shifts and possesses people, not something it does in philosophy and other depictions. Might as well be magic. The way chi is explained is inconsistent as multiple characters give conflicting descriptions. Replacing Mushu is a phoenix aka fenghuang, which has no personality nor does it truly interact with Mulan (could've been cut out). Jet Li as the emperor is cool yet he seems to be dubbed over with a terrible voice. There's some bad writing like how the witch reveals the villain's plot to Mulan while on opposite sides, the matchmaking incident being more everyone else's fault than Mulan's, and how the rescue in the avalanche is handled. This extends to the film's messages, which go against everything the animated version and the legend stood for. Don't expect songs this time around because there are none, only half-hearted references to them.
Mulan 2020 isn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. There were things I liked that made it a bit more uplifting to watch. It's certainly a better remake than the 2019 Lion King, which is just a lifeless copy-and-paste. That said, the problems really do hold it back much like Mulan did to herself. Maybe it's nostalgia or public opinion influencing me, but there's a reason why the first movie is so iconic and this one so despised.
Positives: Visuals are lovely, some striking color and environments from Mulan's circular home to an icy sulfur lake. The action scenes are okay, mixing martial arts with chi this time, allowing stunts straight out of classic kung fu films, this time with more blatant, albeit bloodless, deaths (though the editing could be better). A new character I like is Mulan's quasi love interest Chen Honghui, who brought a lot of positivity and was very accepting even before her gender reveal. Mulan's relationship with her father is serviceable, a must if she was to head out to be a soldier in his place. The soundtrack is a pleasure to hear, especially the musical rendition of "Reflection". There's also a wonderful cameo by Ming-Na Wen, the OG Mulan, which did get me little giddy.
Negatives: I had trouble connecting with this Mulan. She lacks expressions much of the time and her line delivery is off. She doesn't struggle nearly as much being already so talented and powerful due to her chi and she's accepted by her underdeveloped peers almost right away. Her conflict is more about dealing with repressing herself to avoid suspicion than earning her skills and respect while maintaining cover. This might work with a little tweaking, but her lack of flaws and real challenges make her not as compelling as her old incarnation, who relied more on wit and ingenuity. She never really builds a bond with the soldiers and often trains alone, not that she needs to given that she's better than them. Also, there are stunts she does that just look ridiculous like her habit of kicking objects/weapons with uncanny proficiency. In place of the intimidating Shan Yu is Bori Khan, who, while motivated by revenge rather than conquest and is shown to be cunning at times, is fairly bland as a villain. The witch serving him is meant to parallel Mulan, but, despite a nice backstory, she's poorly done as her methods/motivation made little sense. She also brings to question the nature of chi; it's basically life energy, but the witch shape-shifts and possesses people, not something it does in philosophy and other depictions. Might as well be magic. The way chi is explained is inconsistent as multiple characters give conflicting descriptions. Replacing Mushu is a phoenix aka fenghuang, which has no personality nor does it truly interact with Mulan (could've been cut out). Jet Li as the emperor is cool yet he seems to be dubbed over with a terrible voice. There's some bad writing like how the witch reveals the villain's plot to Mulan while on opposite sides, the matchmaking incident being more everyone else's fault than Mulan's, and how the rescue in the avalanche is handled. This extends to the film's messages, which go against everything the animated version and the legend stood for. Don't expect songs this time around because there are none, only half-hearted references to them.
Mulan 2020 isn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. There were things I liked that made it a bit more uplifting to watch. It's certainly a better remake than the 2019 Lion King, which is just a lifeless copy-and-paste. That said, the problems really do hold it back much like Mulan did to herself. Maybe it's nostalgia or public opinion influencing me, but there's a reason why the first movie is so iconic and this one so despised.