When the Emperor of China issues a decree that one man per family must serve in the Imperial Chinese Army to defend the country from Huns, Hua Mulan, the eldest daughter of an honored warrior, steps in to take the place of her ailing father. She is spirited, determined and quick on her feet. Disguised as a man by the name of Hua Jun, she is tested every step of the way and must harness her innermost strength and embrace her true potential.
Mulan is one of my favorite Disney animated movies. At the time, it was great to see a different culture being portrayed in an animated feature. In this remake, we can see that they kept the best part of the 1998 version. First, the production is excellent. All the costumes, scenery and sets are very well crafted. The scale is excessively grandiose. The cinematography is beautiful. The action sequences are well choreographed. I personally like the camera rotation effect they do during fighting scenes. It gives the movie a martial art style. The music is good also. I liked the fact that they removed all the songs and went for a score soundtrack instead. And finally, the cast does a wonderful job in general. Liu Yifei is spectacular as Mulan. I barely recognize Jason Scott Lee as the villain Böri Khan. Mulan is a good remake from Disney and a good watch. I recommend.
Unfortunately, Mulan is far from a perfect movie. It lacks some grit and authenticity. The production is so good that it harms the movie. The costumes and sets are too clean. It stops us from believing everything that we see. What I mean is that imperfections creates an illusion of realism on characters and the story. Also, I didn’t like the fact that the dialogues are 100% in English. They should’ve added some Chinese dialogues to pay homage to the culture. I feel this movie exhibits an Americanized Chinese culture. I understand that Disney aims for children or a global audience, but people are not stupid. They have no problem reading subtitles. Parasite won the Oscar for best movie last year, and that movie is 100% in Korean. A mix of both language would’ve made the movie much better. Finally, I find “Disney violence” disappointing. No blood is shown in any fighting scenes. Once again, it removes realism and grit. Without these mistakes, Mulan could’ve been a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon quality type of movie.
