A Review of “Mulan (2020)”

 

I am still waiting for that all Asian cast American movie that will be the “Black Panther” for the Asian community. So far the only proper all Asian cast American movie is Crazy Rich Asian and that was a rom-com about rich people which isn’t what I am looking for. The Disney live-action remake of Mulan (1998) is a proper big-budget all Asian cast movie that aligns with what I am looking for. However, Disney live-action remakes have been mostly a miss apart from “The Jungle Book” and “Cinderella”. Mulan (2020) is directed by Niki Caro who won lots of awards for her movie Whale Rider(2002) but it does make me wonder if they couldn’t have just hired an Asian director but whatever.  The trailers though seem to suggest that this remake was actually attempting to do things differently from the original which intrigued my interest. Unfortunately, due to coronavirus, this movie got delayed and then shoved to streaming with a hefty price instead of going to cinemas. I actually avoided watching the original Mulan recently just to make myself go into this movie with a more open mind and to have a sort of first time watching experience again. Therefore, I am going to avoid comparison with the original in this review. So after watching this, did the movie live up to the expectations?
Note: unlike my previous reviews there is going to be a fair amount of minor spoilers here so be warned.

Firstly, visually the movie is quite beautiful. There are some gorgeous shots in this movie such as the martial art practice by the lake, Mulan running on the rooftops and even the war itself was quite visually pleasing. The cinematography isn’t “Roger Deakins” level of stunning but it is definitely really good looking. This is also elevated by the really good set design and costumes. The set design allows for great scenery and the costumes feel authentic. These really help pull the audience into the movie and the era that Mulan is set in.

Secondly, the score by Harry Gregson-Williams who has done the score for movies like Shrek and The Martian does a pretty good job here as well with Mulan. They use a lot of wind instruments that are heard from a lot of Chinese movies and pretty much use them here. The score generally works and it really helps create the atmosphere for each scene really well. Also, the orchestral cover of Reflection from the original Mulan is used in this movie and is just really awesome,

Now my gripes with this movie. Firstly, is the lack of emphasis on emotional moments. It feels like the movie brushes over a lot of what I would consider quite important. The scene where Mulan makes the decision to go to war is one of the important decision she makes. However, the movie just has her pick up a sword and then the next scene she is in armor and off to war. We don’t get any emphasis on how important this decision was and the sacrifices she had to make until halfway through the movie for some reason. This happens a couple of times as well such as when there is a destroyed town which shows the horror of war but they only spend a couple of seconds here with minimal reaction from the characters and it’s then just off to the next scene. Another being a character dying and it’s just whatever. The movie feels really lacking in a lot of humanity but there are a couple of banter moments between Mulan and “friends” that have some fun in it.

On that note of characters, the supporting characters are rather bland. Honghui (Yoson An) acts as a love interest, rival and ally for Mulan which is all there is about him.  Commander Tung (Donnie Yen) sort of mentors Mulan and knew Mulan’s dad but that’s really it. The Emperor (Jet-li) is a badass and wise emperor who barely appears in the movie. Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee) who is the main villain also barely appears in the movie despite being the bad guy who started the war. The Witch (Gong Li) who is probably the worst character in this entire movie is like Mulan but bad. These are all the relevant supporting characters but there are others who are so forgettable I don’t remember if they even had names.

The character arc which is part of the story is not great either. Mulan’s decision to finally be true to herself and not hide that she is a woman just sort of happens because she got beaten up. Instead of it happening in a dramatic way it just feels rather random. Also, Mulan is special because she got lots of chi which ruins the message of the movie. Instead of feeling like she earned her place in the army and gaining the recognition of her comrades through her efforts it instead feels like she only got it because she is the chosen one. So the message is now “be true to yourself only if you’re the special one”. The Witch also goes through a character arc as well but it is extremely rushed and dumb. She makes choices that don’t even make any sense such as divulging the main villain plans or sparing Mulan constantly or the really dumb choice at the end of the movie. Her addition to Mulan is pointless and if anything took away all the screentime from the main villain instead.

The action scenes are also mediocre which is such a shame. Asian movies have always nail action scenes with their amazing choreography but in Mulan it is BORING. The trailers made it seem like it might be in the veins of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” withs it floaty yet elegant style of fighting. However, it instead really plain and overly edited with many cuts.

On that note of edits, there are some weird edits in this movie that make it feel like there were important scenes that were cut. Minor spoilers but there is a scene where Mulan is riding a horse towards the enemies army in an open field but then the next scene suddenly has her behind the enemy hiding behind a rock with no explanation whatsoever. There is also a scene where after Mulan has decided to be true to herself in which she saves an ally but makes a choice to disappear into the fog. The next scene is then showing her dramatically coming back to her allies seconds later. It is so weird and took me out of the movie for sure.

I also have to talk about our main lead actress Liu Yifei who plays Mulan. She sucks. She plays Mulan with no charm or charisma or even a personality. The tone in her voice is always the same and the only real change in her voice is when she is pretending to be a male with a deep voice. She also makes no expression whatsoever, it always feels like she has the same neutral expression in every moment even when someone died its the same expression. At least Donnie Yen and Jet Li are good in their roles though.

Overall, the movie is not the all Asian cast American movie I am waiting for. It is just another inferior remake from Disney. It has none of the fun that was in the original so the movie just ends up being boring. There are some things you can enjoy in the movie with some pretty good moments sprinkled in there. Additionally, it is still pretty much a retelling of the original Mulan so the overall story is still there. It just isn’t as good it could have been. Such a shame…