I’ve just watched Mulan on Disney+.
I’d already been aware that it was not following the beats of the animated film of the same name from 1998, and that was just fine with me. I’ve seen a few of the Disney live-action remakes, and I found them, at best, rather unnecessary. For example, no disrespect to the actors and crew, but Beauty and the Beast live-action was very nearly a beat-for-beat remake of the previous animated film - it was fine, but seemed to me rather superfluous. Mulan follows a similar path to the previous film, obviously, but it is not a musical, nor does it have the designated comedy relief characters like Mushu and Grandma. Instead, the levity is more character-based, interaction-based, rather than jokey sidekicks.
Again, to me, all to the good.
I’m not one to try and judge the actors’ performances; all I can say is that I was drawn into those performances, and they rang true to me.
Overall, I found it worth watching on it’s own merits; well acted, well produced, with believable dialogue. So far as the cost, I reckon it was less than what we’d spend at the theaters - not to mention the fact that the theaters are closed around here anyway! I’ll probably be watching it again, and when the theaters are open again we’ll probably take it in there.
General score: 7.5 out of 10, mainly for the familiarity of the story, rather than any problem of its own.
And there’s a nice little cameo for Ming-Na Wen in there too
Watched it as a family last night. I thought it was OK, but really more of an action movie than anything. My daughter loved it, but commented it was not very much like the cartoon. My wife thought it was dull. My son had little to say about it.
The anticipation was high. Amazing trailers, the delay due to Covid. In the end, just an OK movie.
I thought it was good but not as good as the original, which is one of my favorite Disney animations. The problem for me is that some of my favorite scenes in the original are either different or ignored in the live-action, which isn’t really fair. It would be interesting to hear from people who have never seen the original.
I also thought it was a little predictable; as soon as the witch is introduced I knew what her final confrontation would be.
It did have some good acting; there were some tough scenes to pull off and they mostly nailed it. I liked the occasional musical call-backs to the original. The new Mulan is a bit stronger than the original, too.
Watched it last night. I enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as the original. The tl,dr is this is Fisher Price’s My First Kung-Fu Movie.
The cinematography, sets, costumes, and music were gorgeous. Unfortunately, the acting and story fell flat for me. Making Mulan a Force user (sorry, Chi), took away from the original’s theme of personal struggle and overcoming adversity. I did like that in this one, she had more inner conflict about her disguise.
Removing the songs was the biggest mistake. I heard that the songs were removed because people in today’s climate wouldn’t understand the central irony of songs like “I’ll Make A Man Out Of You” and take them literally at face-value and claim the songs were sexist.
To me, yes. As I said in the OP, it’s less than we would have spent going to the movies, and the theaters are closed in this area anyway. My wife and I enjoyed it, and I don’t feel cheated of my money.
To others? Maybe. It’s a solid movie, good but not great.
Think of it this way - both this and the animated movie are based on the same legend, but told by different storytellers. The details are different, the style is different, but the general drift of the plot is the same.
My family watched it. Half the price of taking everyone to the theater, which aren’t open anyway.
I was disappointed it wasn’t a musical. But I love wuxia movies, so I was still happy. This new Mulan is paint-by-the-numbers, following the tropes well. The pacing was good, the characters were interesting, and the action was fun. It’s a good intro for those unfamiliar with the genre.
I like that Disney experimented with a film style outside their comfort zone; they’ve proven they can do musicals. Their remake of Aladdin doubled down on it, and they surpassed the original. They wanted to go a different way this time and that’s should be encouraged. I just hope the new Little Mermaid doesn’t go grimdark.
Aladdin surpassed the original? I thought it was worse(better than Mulan, though) However, my whole family thinks the live-action Beauty and the Beast is even better than the animated one.
Absolutely! The original Aladdin was my favorite Disney movie. Now it’s only my favorite Disney animated movie, because the remake did everything the original did, but better. We’ve watched it once in the theater, three or more streaming. Play the soundtrack in the car (it’s got superb orchestration).
The Mulan movies are on orthogonal axes and can’t be directly compared. Is Mulan 1998 a better musical than Mulan 2020 is a wuxia? I think so, maybe?
The live Beauty and the Beast didn’t do anything for me. Maybe some sort of uncanny valley effect. It probably deserves a rewatch.
Wow. You liked it so much. I used to pretty negative reactions on any remakes, especially if we are talking about Disney cartoons.
Anyway, after your review I’d like to watch this.
Reading a few reviews by actual Chinese-born reviewers it seems that Disney completely messed up the script, apparently it wasn’t accurate at all especially to the people’s and regions depicted and was just generic CHINA, the review I read compared it to if in Goodfellas the mobsters spoke in Californian Surfer accents and drove Harley’s around.