Mulan

Mulan
Starring Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen, Jason Scott Lee, Gong Li
Directed by Niki Caro

Disney has been re-making their animated classics into live action films, and the result is easily a mixed bag.  Some ("Beauty and the Beast") have been spectacular, while others ("Dumbo") failed to deliver the magic of the original animated film.  "Mulan" falls somewhere near the middle, as it's easily the most ambitious of the live-action remakes thus far, a film that doesn't rely on the classic Disney songs and characters but rather turns into a semi-accruate historical portrayal of the fierce heroine without the wise-cracking dragon sidekick.

Mulan (Yifei Liu) has always been a rambunctious girl, who doesn't want to fit into the norms of honoring her family by merely being a housewife.  While her mother wishes for her to become more subdued and subjugated, her warrior father Hua Zhou (Tzi Ma) quietly encourages her to be herself - until she makes a mess of the town, and tells her she might have to try to hide who she really is.

Meanwhile, outside her small town, the countryside is being invaded by Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee), his army, and his personal witch Xianniang (Gong Li).  Word reached the Emperor (Jet Li), who decrees that every town send one man from each family to fight.  Having only girls, Hua Zhou volunteers himself, but knowing he won't survive the fight, Mulan leaves under cover of night to fight for him.

She arrives at the camp disguised as a man, and is trained by Commander Tung (Donnie Yen) to be a fierce warrior, all the while maintaining her secrecy.  But when the battle begins, she doubts her own ability due to being a liar, and finally learns to come into her own.

Some of the live-action films have been pretty much a cut-for-cut remake of the animated film, but "Mulan" sets itself apart by being the most unique in the live-action remakes, shedding anything that the original included (such as the songs and Mulan's sidekick, the dragon Mushu) and instead taking on a more historical, practical approach to the story.  Most people don't even know that the Disney film was based on a Chinese folk hero in the 4th-6th Centuries, whose story is pretty much retold in this iteration.  While the film takes a more practical approach, it also includes some magical elements and focuses on classic Chinese traditions and virtues that are mentioned throughout the film and serve as the launchpad for Mulan's transition.

These virtues that are repeated throughout the film are "loyalty," "bravery," and "truth."  Mulan exhibits loyalty and bravery from the onset, setting out to serve and protect the Emperor at all costs, even though she knows if she's found out to be a woman she'll be killed on sight, but the "truth" virtue is what she struggles with the most, since she has to hide who she really is.  This interferes with her ability to be the best warrior she can be, which she struggles with throughout the film. 

When it comes to the performance, Yifei Liu is the perfect choice for Mulan's action prowess, but not so much for her emotional performance.  She carries on a steely resolve throughout but offers little to nothing more in the ways of dramatic performances, yet she excels in the action pieces, where she performs the majority of her own stunts.  This is where "Mulan" shines the brightest - with the action.  It's intense and fast-paced, and enough to garner a PG-13 rating that's rare for Disney, but needed in order to tell the story to its fullest potential.

While the live-action ditches the songs and Mushu, it adds a witch named Xianniang, played by Gong Li, who serves as the female antagonist to Mulan's protagonist, and the two share some interesting scenes together that promote the female empowerment story it tells, which is more timely than ever but also something as important in the past as it is today.  Most importantly is the fact that it didn't feel shoehorned in, but as a natural flow to the story itself.  While her character doesn't have as much to do as you'd expect, Xianniang's addition was something refreshing to the story.

Ultimately, the film relies more on its action than overall story, which was really simplistic and obvious - we all know how it all turns out, and the main action is due to the traditional "man-killed-my-father-must-get-revenge" motif, but its the action, the lavish scenery (which surprisingly was shot mostly in New Zealand), and the female empowerment tale make it something more than something totally unmemorable, and personally, while I enjoyed it, I'm glad I waited until it came free on Disney+ than paying $30 to rent it there.

Differentiating itself from its Disney animated original, "Mulan" is a more grounded, realistic tale of the Chinese folk hero who overcame all obstacles to become the fierce warrior we know, in a film filled with intense action and stunning cinematography.

The Score: A