12/19/2023 0 Comments Jun yu in mulanHowever, this is Liu Yifei’s film, and she carries it with warmth, grace, and assurance. Gong Li makes for a formidable antagonist, but the great Jason Scott Lee is underused, despite giving good bad. The battle scenes are tamer (and seem truncated!) compared to similar themed Chinese period blockbusters, with the likes of Donnie Yen and Jet Li getting the briefest of scraps and the final battle somewhat anti climatic. Character is first and foremost, meaning action takes somewhat of a backseat in this adaptation. Niki Caro (‘Whale Rider’) directs with an assured hand creating fantastic period detail and, while the comedy hi-jinks and characters of the animated version are absent she never descends proceedings into deep dourness. While proceedings do get a little dry and flat on occasion, for the most part this version of ‘Mulan’ is a well-made and entertaining epic that never resorts to heavy-handed storytelling. Jettisoning all songs and talking animal characters, this version of ‘Mulan’ is a much more serious affair as it details Mulan’s struggle to buck the patriarchal approach to the idea of what a warrior and leader should be. Thus, Mulan disguises herself as a man and works her way through training and the ranks proving herself to be just as capable a fighter, and born leader, in the battle against Bori Khan. Needing a bigger army, the Emperor is recruiting fighters from across the land but only male. The Emperor (Jet Li) and his kingdom are under threat from invaders led by the ruthless warrior Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee) and the deadly witch Xianniang (Gong Li). While her family plan a more traditional life for her that they believe would befit a woman of the time (match made into marriage, while men go off to war to fight!), Mulan (Liu Yifei) has other plans when she leaves her family home to take her father’s place in the Emperor’s army when he can’t due to ill health. I really do believe that this would have looked fantastic on the big screen, I am pretty sure that I would watch it again though as it was engaging enough.As Disney seems determined to remake all their classic animations into some form of live action film or CGI behemoth, 90s hit ‘Mulan’ was destined to get the treatment also but alas this is not a straight up shot-for-shot remake, mercifully eschews CGI for live action, and is an enjoyable and well-made tale featuring a host of Chinese movie talent. I feel that deserves even more credit for fully being engaged within the role and film. Even more so when finding out that she performs 90% of her own stunts which include horse riding, sword fighting, martial arts and the battle scenes. That casting was essential to get right and I felt as though she carried the film in the best possible manner. She was engaging and believable in the role and certainly something to be happy about. I thought they handled it all in the best possible way and the leading performance from Yifei Liu was a particular highlight. On the whole though I felt it was decent enough, already knowing the story is sometimes a little bit of a downer. Anyway the reason I am mentioning this as the delay of cinema release then straight to VOD is something that I feel has influenced my build up towards the film. Mulan fell victim to the Covid pandemic and then became the first film to be offered as a premium purchase on Disney+ this meant that I have not watched it until now as the extra cost issue was not something I was willing to do. We have lost the talking dragon, although how that would have worked within this film is something that I could not really work out so can fully understand why he had to be omitted. Mainly because that is what really sets it aside from the other live action remakes that we have had from Disney (so far) with many differences from the animated version. Filmed within New Zealand with one a small amount in mainland China. Visually the film looks outstanding that has to be highlighted from the start of this review. Mulan is a young Chinese maiden who disguises herself as a male warrior in order to save her ageing father from war.
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