A serious Mulan Quests for Honor on Disney+ Streaming
Written By Matthew Sadowski
The Mulan of 2020 has essentially the same story as the 1998 animated version, but with a few differences: Mulan (Yifei Liu) is a spirited and athletic young woman in ancient China who struggles to fit into her culture’s ideas of “womanhood.” Declared unfit for marriage by the village matchmaker (Pei-Pei Cheng), Mulan brings dishonor to her family, especially her father, Zhou (Tzi Ma).
When China is invaded by the evil Böri Khan (Jason Scott Lee) and sorceress Xianning (Li Gong), the Emperor (Jet Li) decrees that one man from every family in the realm shall be called into the army. Knowing her elderly father would certainly be killed, Mulan disguises herself as a man to take his place. Mulan arrives at the military camp and must prove herself to Commander Tung (Donnie Yen) and her comrades-in-arms all while pretending to be someone that she is not.
In case you didn’t notice, there is no mention of an Eddie Murphy-voiced dragon or a friendly little cricket. This Mulan attempts to be a more serious take on the legend, actually showing people getting stabbed and dying rather than just implying it. However, this is still a PG-13 movie, and an adaptation of a “Disney Princess” film at that.
The violence is cut liberally, never lingering too long on a shot once a blade makes contact with somebody. This normally would not be an issue, but there are several fight scenes in the movie that go on for a significant amount of time, all with pretty complex martial arts choreography. The quick cutting sadly dulls much of the impressive stunts as well as the emotional impact of the action.
Mulan also tries to approach its heroine’s psychology a bit more in detail, but can’t quite follow through on its ideas. Mulan is now given a younger sister, Xiu (Xana Tang), who is more traditional than she. However, Xiu’s inclusion as a contrasting figure does little to the plot or even Mulan’s character. Xiu is nothing but supportive of Mulan, but only passively, never becoming a true confidant to make her inclusion more practical as an audience stand-in for the heroine to give her asides to. The new antagonist, Xianning, presented as a sort of mirror image of Mulan, is similarly underdeveloped. Overall, 2020’s Mulan could have used more of 1998 Mulan’s fun.
Mulan
Directed by: Niki Caro
Starring: Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen, Li Gong, Jet Li, Jason Scott Lee
2020
115 min
Streaming on: Disney+
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