[Review] Mulan(2020) {6/10}

Directed by Niki Caro with a screenplay by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin ; the film stars Liu Yifei (Hua Mulan), Jet Li (Emperor), Donnie Yen (Commander Tung), Tzi Ma (Zhou), Jason Scott Lee (Bori Khan) and Gong Li (Xianniang). It is a live-action adaptation of Disney's 1998 animated film of the same name.

Mulan is a dramatic re-telling of the original ancient chinese ballad. The film opens in a small village where a young Hua Mulan causes trouble by doing acrobatics to chase after a chicken which alarms her mother who does not want to see her "acting like a boy". Mulan's father, Zhou (Tzi Ma) tells her that he has indulged her and that she must hide her chi/warrior spirit. Years later, all hope seems lost for the now adolescent Mulan (Yifei Liu) as her match-making appointment goes wrong. But then the imperial army scouts ride into the village and demand one male conscript from each family to fight in an upcoming war against Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee) and the warrior witch Xianniang (Gong Li). Zhou, a proud but wounded war hero volunteers as he has no sons but Mulan saves him by taking his armour and family sword and fleeing her village at night. Mulan joins the army pretending to be a young man. Under Commander Tung (Donnie Yen), Mulan and the rest of her regiment train to save the emperor's (Jet Li) kingdom from the invaders .

Uninspiring character development is one of the major flaws of the movie. In Disney's 1998 animated film, Mulan faced internal conflicts. The Mulan that was put forth in 1998 wasn't the strongest but she worked with what she had and got help from her friends. In this live-action remake, Mulan has "unmatched Chi" from the beginning and the innate ability to bicycle kick an arrow shot-caught and then thrown into the air by a bound emperor. to kill a man who should have died when he fell from what seemed like 50 feet to the ground. Who needs character development when you've got the "chi". Most of the characters are inconsistent. Those who know the source material and have watched the 1998 animated movie might not like the live action remake as several changes to the source material have been made. But the epic action sequences and tantalizing drama saved the movie from being a total disaster.

Mulan is now available on VOD and Disney Plus.