Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour, 55 minutes
Director: Niki Caro
Quick Impressions:
I personally would not have paid the $30 premium to watch Mulan early, but my husband excitedly purchased it during the day Friday, to create a family event for the evening, a nice surprise. And I don’t mind paying to see what should have been a theatrical release. If not for the pandemic, we surely would have eagerly run to the theater to see Mulan, just as we do for all of Disney’s live action cash grabs. (I’m kind of joking when I call them that. I mean, that’s what they are, but they still make very pleasant viewing.)
The 1998 Mulan is a wonderful movie. Maybe it’s flawed, and perhaps a little dated, but Eddie Murphy is so funny as Mushu. (That ludicrous scene with the panda still kills me. “What’s the matter? Never seen a black-and-white before?”) And Ming-Na Wen makes a very sympathetic Mulan. (I knew at the time that she voiced Mulan, but I did not learn until a friend and I browsed the soundtrack notes that Shang’s singing voice was Donnie Osmond! Seems like a weird choice, but he is a good singer.) The movie does lose points for authenticity since so many of the voice actors are American and British. But at least a large number of the characters are voiced by people whose ancestors hailed from somewhere vaguely near China. It was 1998. Apparently Pat Morita, James Shigeta, and George Takei were “Chinese” enough to satisfy audiences at the time. I mean, I was nineteen, old enough to know the difference between Japanese and Chinese, but Mulan has the same Granny as Tweetie and Sylvester (June Foray), so it didn’t occur to me to be upset by that kind of imprecise casting.
I remember in 2005, the film adaptation of Memoirs of a Geisha caused a big scandal by casting a Chinese actress as a Japanese character, but until then, I don’t remember Hollywood movies being very attentive to that kind of thing.
Times have changed, though. And lately Disney has been making a point of casting ethnically appropriate actors in their live action remakes. So when I saw the trailer for this Mulan (in another lifetime when I actually went to the movie theater), I thought, “Ah, well Disney will probably give us a largely Chinese cast this time. And maybe we’ll get a more authentic version of the Mulan story, too” (not that I would know the difference, but I’m pretty sure in the original legend she didn’t have a tiny wisecracking dragon voice by Eddie Murphy).
If you are hoping that this remake will have a principal cast that is actually Chinese, then Mulan (2020) will not disappoint you. If pressed, I would say that the animated Mulan is by far the stronger film. (You wouldn’t have to press very hard or very long.) Look, I’ll just tell you now, Mulan (1998) is way more entertaining and internally consistent. Mulan (2020) is nowhere near as good. But Mulan (2020) does have an ethnically Chinese cast, plus costume design and plot elements intended to highlight actual Chinese culture and history. In its attempt to be more authentic than its predecessor, this Mulan is an unabashed success. It’s not quite as much fun, though.
The Good:
Now I’ll admit to a bit of live-action remake fatigue. Still, when I actually watch these movies, I usually do enjoy them. I haven’t closed myself off to the appeal of live-action remakes. Though not terribly well received, the recent Dumbo is an improvement over its animated predecessor, and some of the novel moments in the recent Beauty and the Beast are genius. (Kevin Kline’s early song almost ripped the beating heart right out of my chest and broke it in half.)
This new Mulan is always entertaining. It’s not a boring movie. And even though it cuts the memorable songs and Eddie Murphy’s lively comedy, it sticks close enough to the basic plot points of the original that we still get to cheer for familiar story beats. It also gives Mulan more agency, more personal credit for her decisions, her victories (and failures) since antic animal sidekicks aren’t a factor here.
Top to bottom, the cast is good.
Yifei Liu is a captivating Mulan. I often missed the comedy of Ming-Na Wen’s performance, but this film is different tonally, and Liu has great poise (and athletic skill if she’s doing her own stunts). I never believed her character was a boy for one second, but I did think she demonstrated fantastic physical prowess during her training exercises.
As Mulan’s father, Tzi Ma gives one of the most touching performances in the movie. I was sorry to be away from him for such a long time when she left home because I enjoyed his performance so much. And my own mother and I spent the entire movie trying to place Mulan’s mother. It’s Rosalind Chao! Mulan has a sister in this one, too. She doesn’t get much to do except be the more traditional daughter.
Jet Li shows up from time to time as The Emperor. I wish he had a larger part, that his character was allowed to show a bit more flare. Then again, the movie is called Mulan, not The Emperor.
I was especially excited to see Jason Scott Lee as this movie’s villain, Böri Khan. I recognized him in the trailer. My grandparents loved him as Mowgli in Disney’s live-action Jungle Book from 1994. (Grandma thought he was “a cutie,” and I agree that he has a lot of screen presence.) He’s also great as David in Lilo and Stitch. Here he plays the film’s new villain, a character with much more onscreen complexity than the original’s Shan-Yu. (I do think Miguel Ferrer’s Shan-Yu was much more menacing since he was there only to inspire fear.) I never questioned that Shan-Yu was a vicious, evil threat. But Böri Khan gives me pause. I’d like to learn more about this character. I’d be curious to get a version of the story from his point of view.
This live-action version handily adjusts a potentially problematic element of the original. Mulan is now spared the awkwardness of falling in love with her commanding officer. Now Donnie Yen plays the seasoned Commander Tung, and a more personal relationship develops between Mulan and a fellow recruit about her own age, Honghui (Yoson An), who may give my favorite performance in the film. Well, it’s not just An’s performance in isolation, but the wonderful interplay between Honghui and Mulan that makes the character great. An and Liu have fantastic chemistry, and they’re given decent lines. The scenes they share are my favorite in the movie.
Yao, Po, and Ling are still around, and this movie makes the lucky Cricket (Jun Yu) one of the guys, too. He’s just nicknamed Cricket because he’s so lucky.
Perhaps the most intriguing character is also the most frustrating, another remarkable, outside-the-box woman named Xianniang. Many of the frustrations I have with the film involve this character. However, she can turn herself into a bird, so there’s that in her favor. I really enjoyed Li Gong’s performance, and I think it was a cool idea to take the villain’s menacing henchbird from the first movie and turn her into another multi-dimensional woman with her own compelling backstory.
Another strength of the movie is the awe-inspiring beauty of its filming locations. (According to imdb, these are Kumeu Film Studios in Auckland, New Zealand and China. That second one seems a little broad, but the gorgeous snow-covered mountain vistas make good, pleasurable viewing no matter where they are.)
Best Scene:
The intimate conversations between Mulan and Honghui make the movie for me. I had just about given up on Mulan when I suddenly realized, “Oh they’re doing a much better job of building the romance in this one. They actually seem to have a meaningful relationship developing at a realistic rate.”
But then I thought, “Wait a minute. Is this a romantic relationship?”
At several moments, I asked myself, “Does Honghui perhaps see this as a budding romance because he’s gay?” (My daughter wondered this, too. As we chatted about the movie later, pretending to be Honghui, she exclaimed, “Dang it! Why are all the good guys girls around here?”)
The conversation that ends with Honghui smelling Mulan is pretty good. (Maybe my favorite thing about this movie is the way she frantically volunteers for guard duty all the time. I’m amazed this continues to work.)
The skinny-dipping scene is good, too. It works very differently here than in the animated Mulan.
Best Scene Visually:
We don’t get to hear Donnie Osmond sing “Be a Man,” though we do get some lyrics from the song spoken at appropriate moments. But we still see the company’s training exercises, and one of my favorite moments is when we watch someone attempt to cheat. Somehow this segment is more satisfying even than seeing Mulan eventually succeed.
Best Action Sequence:
The moment when we realize why the emperor is going to present Mulan with his sword in the future is pretty good. In general, I liked those final moments between Böri Khan and the Emperor, though some aspects of the movie’s ending frustrated me.
The Negatives:
Okay, most of what I have to say about this film is negative. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it. I just that practically every scene included at least one element that made me start yelling out loud at the screen in frustration. And I wasn’t just being an old crank or something because my daughter had similar thoughts.
First of all, the rules of this worlf do not make sense. The story is not consistent within the boundaries that it establishes for itself. Part of the problem is the way Mulan’s skills are presented. As my daughter put it, “This movie seems set in the Star Wars universe, and some people are strong in the force.”
Now being generous to this film, I will admit that it is quite possible that George Lucas was influenced by Chinese folklore. Maybe what we are seeing here is more authentic than it seems.
But the thing is, if some people have what is essentially magic, then why on earth are they not allowed to use it? I can see that we could view Mulan’s skills as the result of meditation and training, but that “evil” woman can turn into a bird–and fly away across the sky shedding feathers! And she’s forced to hang around with the bad guys even though she’s Chinese because only men are allowed to have magical powers, no women turning into a bird in this army! The problem is, none of the men do have magical powers. I mean, the Emperor seems like he could probably force grab a distant light saber on a good day, but otherwise…
The magic element seems unwelcome here. It overcomplicates things. The basic story of the animated film was simple. Mulan could not join the army because she was a woman, and in those days women were not allowed to join the army because a woman’s place was in the home. No, that’s not fair, but it makes sense by its own standards, and many societies all over the world had rules in place like that in the past (I finish optimistically).
The only power 1998 Mulan was denied the exercise of was the magical, door-opening power of being a man. But there’s something mystical and ill-defined going on in this one that keeps tripping over itself and messing up the coherence of the story.
Okay, secondly, the last act of the movie is horribly botched. This Mulan can’t seem to decide if it takes place in its ancient setting or if it’s secretly set right now. I live in 2020. I absolutely believe you should live your truth, be true to yourself, be the person you are. But in this story, there is a terrible penalty for fraud and deceit when it comes to the army. People aren’t supposed to be reporting for duty using a false identity, and women are not supposed to be at the front at all. The penalty will either be disgrace, death, or both. Yet at the end of the movie, Mulan’s father apologizes to her, saying he was wrong. No he wasn’t! Not under those circumstances! He was trying to prevent her from being executed. Imagine if state police came barging into your house, and you said, “I cannot tell a lie! These people are hiding in my attic!” Now, in this time, in 2020, parents should encourage their children to be one-hundred percent true to themselves, but in a different world where the penalty for open diversion from societal norms is death, I think I might make different parenting choices. He was not wrong. She broke the law, stole his sword, and pretended to be a brother who did not exist. She risked her life and her family’s disgrace. It all worked out because she is exceptionally awesome, but I don’t think he owes her an apology.
And then there’s her abrupt decision to be herself and show herself as she is to the army. This is a weird choice. I do value honesty, but in this case, in the middle of a battle, it is not very practical of her to take off the binding garments (that have just saved her life), and glam it up with her hair waving wildly everywhere. To be an effective soldier, she should dress as the others do. She’s on the front. If she had Elsa-level powers, such dramatic self-revelation might make more sense. But the timing and nature of her reveal seems like poor judgment on her part.
And then why do they believe her about the plan to kidnap the Emperor? Yes, she was honest. But the thing she was honest about was lying to them the whole entire time! And in this version, though we do see that she has amazing skills, we really don’t see her do anything astonishingly heroic in battle (that the other soldiers are aware that she did). And the person she has a close friendship with is not the one in charge in this movie. There is really no reason the company should change their plans (in like three seconds) based on evidence Mulan gives.
And then how does she know (for sure) what she knows? Most of this was revealed to her by a very spurious source (that the Chinese army would surely consider even more spurious than Mulan does). And why does that source have such a sudden change of heart? (Everything in the climactic moments of this movie feels so rushed!)
Also, the movie spends all this time building up a realistic, grounded romance between Mulan and Honghui that is based in mutual respect and friendship. It tops the development of the love story in the first movie for sure. But then it turns out not to be a romance!
And then Mulan’s story gets a happy ending, but what about the future Bird Women of China? Is Mulan a trailblazer or an exception?
And there are other things that don’t make sense. Why does she go so berserk with the match-maker? In the animated film, Crickee is actively doing a bunch of crazy stuff that she is frantically trying to get under control. But here she just sees a calm spider and loses her mind.
Also, I miss the part where the guys dress up in traditionally female outfits to gain a tactical advantage.
And I find myself very distrustful of the Emperor. Yes, Böri Khan wants to kill him, but that’s because he murdered Böri Khan’s father. And why wouldn’t he let the Bird Woman be part of his society? I’m not so sure I like this Emperor.
At least we get to hear “Reflection” (in English and Mandarin) during the end credits. And original Mulan, Ming-Na Wen turns up for a late cameo.
Overall:
I liked elements of this Mulan, but I can’t say I was thrilled with the movie overall. The cast is good, and the landscapes in the background are often gorgeous. But I think the story needed a bit more workshopping since most of changes to the plot weakened the overall coherence of the narrative.