WHAT’S IT ABOUT
To save her ailing father from serving in the Imperial Army, a fearless young woman disguises herself as a man to battle northern invaders in China.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
Mulan is a very drawn out boring, and unnecessary entry into the Disney library of films. With all the hype Disney gave this movie, I was expecting something epic. Well, that’s still true but not in a good way. The film opens with the standard introduction from the father as he says “there have been many tales of the great warrior Mulan, but ancestors, this one is mine”. From there we see a very young Mulan in a field, then we see her “rustling” a chicken within her confined village. This is supposed to show us her rambunctious spirit and give an insight into the thought process of that time regarding everyone’s role, especially that of females. Six minutes later, the title is shown and now we are ready to be thoroughly entertained. And to be honest, the next 4 minutes was very entertaining. Unfortunately, that is how this movie plays out for the remaining one-hundred minutes. A lot of talk, a lot of unexplained history, and battles that made little to no sense in the given context. As I stated, there was a lot of talk. Talks of the battles that were to take place, the persistent narration from the father when scenes changed. Talks about Mulan’s family, and the constant reminder of a woman’s place. The latter is what bothered me the most as this was said over and over again. “I am the father! It is my place to bring honor to our family on the battlefield! You are the daughter! Learn your place!” Those words were spoken during dinner by a very distraught father aimed at an equally upset Mulan because her father had to fight in the coming war. Most people know this is the moment Mulan took it upon herself to disguise herself as a man and take her father’s place in the army. As the story goes, you know she fooled everyone and trained with troops. Watching her fool her fellow soldiers was rather hard to watch and completely unbelievable in the way it was presented. The dialog was horrible for several reasons. There was no singing, unlike the animated version. So, instead of writing the script to fit the film, they wrote the script trying to copy the animated film by inserting certain phrases or titles from the songs. They would say things like “I don’t care what she looks like, I care what she cooks like” while sitting around eating or their captain saying “We’re going to make men out of every single one of you” while addressing the soldiers. It only gets worse from there. Throughout the film, you’re never sure if a scene is supposed to take seriously or just something to lighten the overall mood of this very obviously uneven movie. For the story they wanted or should have told, this movie is considerably too short and edited too heavily. Mulan could have been an excellent mini-series for Disney+ but they chose to produce a 2-hour snorefrest.
OUR RATING – A $200 MILLION DOLLAR 4
MEDIA
- Genre – Adventure
- Street date
- Digital – October 6th 2020
- DVD/Blu-Ray/4K – November 10th 2020
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 2:39.1
- Sound – English: Dolby Atmos, French: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, English: Descriptive Audio
- Subtitles – English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras
Featurettes:
- Updating A Classic – Explore how filmmakers honored the original animated classic while creating an epic live-action adventure for a new generation.
- Mulan by Another Name – Meet talented actor Yifei Liu and trace her journey to becoming Mulan, from audition screen test to on-screen warrior.
- Being Bad – See actors Jason Scott Lee and Li Gong transform into the film’s evil duo through intense training, spectacular costumes and more.
- Reflections of Mulan – Enter the studio and hear what inspired the film’s music and sound, then listen as Yifei Liu records Mulan’s most iconic song.
- The Original Mulan – Ming-Na Wen, who voiced Mulan in the original animated classic, reflects on that experience and her cameo in this film.
- Deleted Scenes (some with commentary by Director Niki Caro):
- Little Sister Sewing
- Young to Old Mulan Sewing
- Hawk and Mulan Meet in Forest
- Mulan Underwater Rescued by Phoenix
- Mulan Runs Over Rourans
- Chancellor Turns Back to Witch
- Music Videos:
- “Reflection (2020)” Concept Video Performed by Christina Aguilera
- “Reflection (2020)” Lyric Video Performed by Christina Aguilera
- “Reflection” Music Video (Mandarin) Performed by Yifei Liu
- “Reflection” Music Video (English) Performed by Yifei Liu
- “Loyal Brave True” Concept Video (English) Performed by Christina Aguilera
- “Loyal Brave True” Concept Video (Spanish) Performed by Christina Aguilera
- “Loyal Brave True” Lyric Video (English) Performed by Christina Aguilera
- “Loyal Brave True” Lyric Video (Spanish) Performed by Christina Aguilera