Mulan, the live action remake of a classic Disney movie, was supposed to be released in theaters this spring. However due to the pandemic, the Walt Disney Company presented the feature film on their streaming service, Disney+, with premier access for an extra $29.99.
Going into this film, I didn’t want to expect much because Disney has a reputation of taking shot by shot scenes from their animated movies and translating them to live action without any changes. However, Mulan is quite different from its musical counterpart. The movie took its time to develop Hua Mulan as a character and really focused on the expectations of her culture and how it ties in with her story as an individual going against those expectations.
The expectation was that a woman should get married to a good family and have a good husband to bring honor to her family — this doesn’t sit well with Mulan. However, she agrees to go through with it to make her family happy. A predicament arises when her father is recruited to fight in war against the northern invaders, even though he had become impaired from the previous war. The Hua family is fearful because they know that this might be the last time they see their father.
Mulan goes against her culture, her family, her people and her country to save her father from his fate of near certain death. She’s off on a journey to use her skills and fight for her father’s name with no guidance but her own. She chooses to fight for China and bring honor to herself through the devotion of her family.
Mulan’s personality is quite different in this film. She seems more sheltered and has developed a natural gift by being quite nimble, diligent and courageous. She exceeds her fellow male soldiers in training and battle, proving to her peers that she can do anything a man can do — and more.
The humor is lessened to a great degree, opting towards a more culturally accurate character study. While the supernatural elements remain, it’s not used for comic relief like the character of Mushu. The film uses its run time to explore its characters, even giving personality and motivation to the main villain of the film.
The film itself is beautifully shot and quite intense for a Disney film. There was a lot more action than the animation and more details about how the war came to be. It truly is a Mulan film for an older generation in both its structure and tone.
