AC11: Random Movie Review - Mulan (2020)

 

You know ever since Disney bought all these different studios and production companies, they now seem to be releasing films practically every month. But this year they could not do that and so most of what was due for release in cinemas this year, has had to change course. Most films were able to find a place on Disney+ where it's available while others had to be delayed to next year and thus put a lot of cinemas under immense pressure to keep going during the pandemic. In the case of Mulan, Disney decided to give it a Disney+ release, but not like how they did with Artemis Fowl. What's different this time is that if people wanted to give it a watch on or after its new release date which was September 4th, they would need to pay a premium fee and it's then theirs to keep as long as they use Disney+. Now as someone who is trying very hard to save money, I felt that waiting till it was free on the service would be better given how other remakes have done in the past. With Mulan, there seems to be a lot of wins for the film industry such as a lack of whitewashing in the cast and further diversity in film making. I love the original film a lot and I hope that this one manages to stand on its own but still follow some of the same stuff from the original animated film. So let's see if this brings honour or dishonour to the Disney remakes:

The story unlike other remakes, is sort of different but if you have seen the original, you will get some familiarity with elements in this film. Like the first film, Mulan (played by Yifei Liu) is a rebellious child who isn't too keen on the whole idea of being wed to a man. As she grows up she meets a matchmaker like in the original and screws it up when a spider causes panic. Just as she and her family are declared a disgrace, Imperial solders arrive who have been sent out to recruit any males from all families to help in the fight not against the Huns this time, but against Rouran warriors led by Bori Khan (played by Jason Scott Lee) who instead of an eagle, is accompanied by a shape shifting witch called Xianniang (played by Gong Li). Refusing to believe that her father (played by Tzi Ma) is able to fight, Mulan secretly leaves her village to enlist into the Imperial army as a male. And you pretty much know the rest of the story from there.

As a remake, it does a lot to be very different to the original film, but retaining some elements such as the same plot (with some differences) and non-vocal parts of "Reflection" which was one of the many songs from the original film. So I give it credit for doing what the other remakes didn't do which was to change more than just a few things. But then there is some lingering problems when changing too much. I had hoped to hear more non-vocal versions of the songs from the original such as "I'll Make a Man Out of You" which would've been perfect for the training scenes and it does lose a lot of the comedy that made the original so good. Of course there is comedy there, but without Mushu or the cricket (though the latter does appear in some scenes), it feels more serious than funny which is as expected when I heard about this remake. So overall it loses a lot of things that made the original great, but credit to the people involved for doing a remake that feels like a remake and not just a rehash of the original minus the traditional animation. Disney still have a long way to go before reaching perfection with their remakes, but this one is a good step in the right direction even if it still has problems like the ones that came before it. Neither honour nor dishonour has been received this time. It's just in the OK or meh area. 8/10