I plead guilty | MULAN Review
No movie, no matter how bad, should ever make one feel guilty, yet here we are in the midst of a pandemic, with studios trying every unconventional idea they can come up with and leaving us with the ability to watch would-be blockbusters from the comfort of home. And I feel guilty.
After months of delays, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney opted to offer their latest live-action remake, Mulan, as a PVOD release through their platform Disney+. This means that you must already be paying for a Disney+ subscription in order to pay an additional $30 to own Mulan. Granted, the film was inevitably going to end up on Disney+ without the additional charges. In fact, reports have come out within the last few days of this writing to announce that it will be streaming for no additional cost in December.
So where does the guilt come in?
My spouse has been dying to see the latest in Disney’s onslaught of remakes to their animated classics. I made sure to sign up for Disney+ on day one (for The Mandalorian). This collision course was set long before we even fathomed this day. So we watched Mulan, Niki Caro’s live action take of the 1998 animated film. Caro is perhaps best known for 2002’s critically acclaimed Whale Rider, which also explores how gender determines roles within a culture though with a much smaller scale.
The premise and themes are all the same as they were in the animated film. Army of bad guys, the fate of China, women bring honor through marriage, honor of family, honor of country and something else about honor. Unlike the original film, there are no musical numbers, no Mushu, no ancestor spirits and no grandmother. These omissions are hardly a surprise, especially Mushu, as Disney has stated they were looking to have a better reception from the Chinese audience. This perspective should not be dismissed.
China currently accounts for the second largest film market in the world and it’s become a vital life line for tentpole releases. So for Disney to have a property tailor made for that audience and one that North American audiences remember fondly, it made for a no-brainer among their current trend of remakes. We can laugh at blue Will Smith all we want, but Aladdin is his highest grossing film. We can make fun of Beyoncé’s voice acting until the end of time, but the 2019 remake of The Lion King is the highest grossing animated film in history. It’s simply good business. Critical reviews aside, the release of a live action Mulan just makes sense.
But no amount of smart business is going forgive what these films are starting to gain a reputation for: bad filmmaking. No amount of visual effects can substitute for the heart and character that made these films resonate for a generation of moviegoers. Mulan is the latest casualty. A weak script, an uninspired lead performance and hardly any character to be found, make this one of the hardest Disney remakes to sit through.
It’s established at the beginning of the film that Mulan (Liu Yifei) has special abilities, or Chi. So in moments when Mulan needs to accomplish something or prove herself, the Chi helps her do that. I suppose it was too much to ask for a protagonist that earns something? It’s hard to be sure since Mulan doesn’t really feel like a character in this story. In fact, no one does. There is so little personality to be found here. Also, it’s much harder to buy that nobody suspects Mulan of being a woman in live action. Just wanted to put that out there.
But the film isn’t without some highlights. Caro handles the battle scenes fairly well. There’s an overdone aesthetic to some of the movements and editing, but the staging and choreography are mostly impressive. For a film with such a tremendous scale, this was a critical aspect to get right. Similarly, the one on one action also works well. The film attempts to gain some momentum despite lacking engagement. Quality action doesn’t save the film, but it gives a strong indicator of how well this would have played in a theater. We don’t really have theaters at the moment, so here we are.
How can a premise this strong result in something this boring?
What does Disney think we like about these movies?
At this point, it probably doesn’t matter. Disney dominates at the box office, they dominate on television and pretty soon they’ll be the standard for streaming services. This bring me back to the part about feeling guilty. I do it to myself. Every Star Wars release. Every Marvel release. Every faint bit of hope that one of these live action remakes will actually be worth my time. A subscription to Disney+ (and Hulu). My wallet has voted in favor of Disney more times than not. There was precedent for them to believe they could do this remake and succeed. Guilty your honor.
This review might leave you with questions of how they navigate scenes that Mushu originally played a significant role in. You may ask how the romance works in live action. You may even wonder how many iconic scenes are replicated here. If you already have Disney+, I’d say just wait til December so that you don’t have to pay an additional fee.
All I really care to say is that I don’t want to watch another one of these again. I almost don’t even want Disney+ anymore. I would like to plead guilty, your Honor. Just please have mercy.
