September 7, 2020
This version of 'Mulan" is another one of Disney's recent series of converting their 2D animated classics into live action films. In the last five years, we've seen "Cinderella" (2015), "The Jungle Book" (2016), "Beauty and the Beast" (2017), and the trifecta it offered last year 2019, namely "Dumbo," "Aladdin" and "The Lion King." So far, these live-action versions, technically advanced as they may be, generally did not really do much to improve the animated originals.
When it was revealed that this new adaptation of "Mulan" will have no Mushu, no Shang, no three friends, and no singing, fans of the original 1998 film became very concerned about how this could be done to their satisfaction. They would have to wait a little longer since the original wide opening date set in March 2020 had been deferred because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It formally premiered last September 4, 2020 via Disney+.
Fa Mulan (Liu Yifei) was the spirited daughter of Fa Zhou (Tzi Ma) and Li (Rosalind Chao), whom local matchmaker (Pei Pei Cheng) thought was impossible to marry off. When China was attacked by northern invaders led by Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee), the Emperor (an unrecognizable Jet Li) issued an edict requiring all families to send a man to be part of the army. Mulan secretly went in her crippled father's name, bringing with her his sword and armor. To keep her family's honor intact, she tried her best to keep her gender a secret from her commanding officer Tung (Donnie Yen) and her fellow recruits, which included a charming fellow named Chen (Yoson An).
The main theme of "Mulan" was about honor. During her time, a man's honor is to go to war for the country, while a woman's honor is to find a husband and get married. Mulan challenged both these traditional beliefs, which made the original animated film an early introduction to feminism for a generation of young girls. This live action version further emphasized the virtues of being loyal, brave and true (as inscribed on the family sword and as sung in the new theme song played over the closing credits). Filial devotion was also a strong theme.
When I first read about the decision to remove the Mushu character, I thought it was to make this version of Mulan more grounded in reality. It turned out that Mushu was only replaced by a plastic-looking CG "Phoenix" which helped Mulan without the Eddie Murphy wisecracks. Another bothersome concern was the corruption of the concept of "Qi" as some sort of rare magical super-power only Mulan (and a special few) possessed. My biggest beef was the inclusion of black magic in the narrative in the person of the shape-shifting witch Xianniang (Gong Li) whose powers were exploited by Bori Khan in his attack of China. She would be used to further push the film's feministic envelope some more, but that is another matter.
In that climactic battle scene, when Mulan ran into battle as a female, her Qi literally transfigured her into a glorious warrior figure with perfect hair and radiant makeup -- yet none of her comrades seemed to see her. Then, there was that odd directorial decision of not having anyone witness how she started the avalanche that was critical in their battle against the enemy. This resulted in an awkward subsequent scene when her fellow trainees, for no apparent reason, suddenly dared to speak up on her behalf against their commanding officer who wanted to expel her from his unit out for dishonesty and lack of honor.
I appreciated the fact that this film gathered together the very big cast of purely Chinese/ Chinese-American actors for a Hollywood film (including a cameo by original Mulan voice actor Ming-Na Wen), this film was rather a disappointment. I feel that if the director (Niki Caro) and the writers (Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Lauren Hynek, Elizabeth Martin) been more genuinely knowledgeable and immersed in the Chinese culture, it could have been better. Despite advances in computer effects, or maybe because of its over-use, the fight scenes still cannot hold a candle to the iconic fights in "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" (2000). The script only contained a hollow Western interpretation of Chinese precepts, but not their authentic spirit. Stick to the animated original. 5/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment