Mulan 2020 Initial Thoughts · 4:56pm Sep 10th, 2020
Now, the best way to describe Mulan is Swords and Sorcery, but Wuxia. This is not a martial arts musical, and it's not aiming to be. This is meant to be a dead-serious film.
Okay, the thing you need to know about the new Mulan film?
Don't take it as a remake, unlike what some people are saying.
Take it as a different telling of an old story.
This is a martial arts epic. It runs with that.
Now, our lead herself. This is meant to be a more true to the text version, so before you all go and cry Mary Sue, let me enlighten you. The thing is, with the original legend? She was cited as having trained with weapons from a young age, sooooo...
Now, maybe there's an agenda being pushed by Disney, maybe not. I lean towards not myself, as Disney is not some single overwhelming force. The producers, directors, screenwriters and such? All very different people. So if there are any similarities to Rey or the like it's pure and utter coincidence. Now, this version of Mulan? Yeah, she's flawed. She's good with weapons and such, but social cues are kinda a new thing for her. She's very visibly uncomfortable with social graces. The best way I could describe it is if someone was good at making blueprints but was forced to paint natural scenary to paraphrase someone else on the matter. They might be able to do it, but it's not what makes them happy.
Yeah, sure she's subdued but she's not exactly allowed to announce her feelings in song and dance. That being said, I do take issue with how the film handles Chi and the like, it's not some rare thing. It's something everyone has in Chinese belief. However, the base story is the same, it's just the journey is different. In this version, Mulan is forced to hide her talents and conform. Compare and contrast to the animated version, who strived to impress everyone. In the end, the moral of staying true to yourself is still here, but how we get there is very different.
There are a few other minor quibbles, like it being anachronistic as all hell but this is a problem Disney's run into before with the Pirates films and well this is a movie and historical fiction, not a documentary so... (Also, I'm pretty sure phoenixes don't exist in real life so being anachronistic is the least of the film's issues if it's trying to be real.)
Also, yes Ming-Na Wen does appear. However, this is where we get to the elephant in the room. Unfortunately, I will now have to talk about politics.
Bori Khan, yes he no longer looks like a propaganda piece but... Uh, yeah, he's clearly coded as Muslim and leads a group of assassins coded as such. They're dark-skinned, wear turbans, and dress like a certain terrorist group. I... er... yeah. I was going to say this film was harmless but I'm getting Frank Miller levels of Islamophobia here. Look at Ghosts of Tsushima, which yes had the Huns but bothered to be accurate in their depiction. Yes, I know, both Muslims and Huns are middle eastern, but it's clear the design of Bori Khan's army was meant to be 'relevant'.
It's also not really well versed in Chinese culture as it'd like to be. Compare and contrast to Kung Fu Panda which took a bit of liberty but was clearly artistic license. Like, well... everything with the Phoenix which should have had more research applied to it. It's very Western, compared to the Chinese Fenghuang. I... yeah. Maybe I'm reading too much into this but it's hard to ignore.
Side note, I will be deleting comments if this gets too out of hand. So please behave yourselves.
Update. Someone informed me that the villains are supposed to be this.
http://dragonsarmory.blogspot.com/2019/05/rouran-warrior.html
so tldr. is it worth the 60 bucks? And are you aware of the darker aspects of the making of the film?
5352513
Oh, I'm aware, and the 60 bucks thing is probably a necessary evil given the whole COVID thing making it nearly impossible to have a traditional theatre run.
5352515
ah. Well. I'm just gonna wait a bit. My dad prolly won't pay that money. Both because of the darker aspects and since money is tight. Shame. If it weren't for all the bad stuff I bet I would've liked it......
What I’d like to know is how people are going to see movies when there is this virus thing going around
5352522
You can order movies on your tv
5352525
Can you order movies that are showing in the theatres like.... that Halloween movie sequel with Curtis coming out ? You can do that with digital TVs we have cineplex in Canada so I don’t know how it works
Seems like a pretty fair and rational take to me. I was never too invested with giving this movie a shot to begin with (I like the Disney animated Mulan "fine" but it's by no means a favorite of mine, so I was never worked up over the news)... I thought when I saw the trailers that adding a sorceress to the enemy army was a needless complication and so decided to stay clear of it unless I *really* heard high praise for it.
Then came the more political stuff about the movie. Ooh boy... I'm not gonna pretend I have a singular good answer for any of what went on or what's been said or the like. I just find it a real head-shaker.
You make a good point about it being kind of muddled on its Chinese culture. One criticism I've seen has said that the movie is uncertain about what audience it's catering to - a Western one or a Chinese one, and since those two audiences have different expectations from the story, it ultimately pleases neither because it cannot fully commit to one or the other.
Like, the movie is...alright. Not bad, but not the greatest. I've seen at least one other live action Mulan before. I may check it out one day to see if my views have chanced. I did like how they stuck a bit more to the legend
Are you aware that in the credits of this movie they thank the government of the province in China they shot in and that province has been accused of some very serious things against the local Muslim population. I am a fan of the original animated feature and do not like how they keep doing all these live action remakes because they just seem to loose the magic that they originally had.
Huns are from Mongolia right? That is between Russia and China...
5352585
Oh, I'm... aware. I was trying to avoid talking about it if I could largely due to how I wanted to keep this comment section relatively civil.
Eh, I consider this less of a remake and more a different telling of the tale. The basic elements are there yes, but it's really a completely different film in a lot of aspects.
5352528
I believe so. I've seen movie commercials that say you can watch the movie at home. I've never done it so I can't really tell you how it works.
5352548
Yeah, you can't do both, depending on the content you're making.
Honestly? Wanna do a musical, fine, do that. Wanna keep make it a realistic (kind of ) action based retelling, then do that, but Disney, PICK ONE AND GO WITH IT.
... sorry about that
5352548
Yeah, I was never a huge fan of the original movie either, like it doesn't have any real place in my heart.
Yeah, I... really got nothing. I wanted to like this movie, I really did, but there's that ugly elephant in the room about them getting the Rouran Warriors completely wrong.
And then there's this. Take Kung Fu Panda for example, yes some things were done for artistic license purposes which is fine but the filmmakers made multiple trips to China, apparently, just so they could get everything right.
I can see your point
but the audience needs a how? Athe problem isn't she wins. the problem is the enemies aren't a problem. And who taught all the things she knows. She learns by herself how, where? Where there books, did she had a sensai?Martial arts is something that has be taught. How would she know what stances to stand, or where to hit for more power.
Take a loved badass female character like the Bride from Kill Bill. She is a good fighter from the start, but her opponents do give her trouble and they are not an easy fight. It makes her more of a badass. And in Kill Bill Vol 2 we see how she was trained, and her M.O.