Movie Review — Mulan (2020)
Although it lacks the catchy music and Eddie Murphy’s witty dragon character, Mulan (2020) is full of the same charm and inspiration as the original. What Disney took out in culturally insensitive stereotypes, they replaced with strong female characters, magic, and beautiful cinematography. Although Mulan (2020) is not as faithful to the original as other live action remakes Disney has released in the last few years (Beauty and the Beast (2017) for example), fans will still recognize the plot, and Disney beefs up a lot of the major themes like honesty, honoring your family, and women’s empowerment. I found the film to be just as good as the original, although not as charming and kid friendly.
The basic plot remains the same: Mulan is a young girl living in China and her parents want nothing more than for her to marry well, but Mulan lacks the charms that local men are looking for. China is going to war and each family must send one man. Mulan pretends to be a boy and goes in the place of her crippled father, since he has no sons. She quickly proves herself a capable fighter and is sent to battle. After uncovering a plot to assassinate the emperor she must risk dishonor and fight as a woman to save her country.
Something this film added was witch Xain Lang, who fights for Bori Kahn. She is initially presented as a villain because she uses her magic to aid the enemy, but is revealed later in the film that she only fights for him because no other man would respect her as an equal. When she and Mulan fight each other, Xain Lang begins to view Mulan as the equal she has never had, and eventually grows to respect her so much that she sacrifices herself to save Mulan from Bori Kahn. I thought this was a great addition because it aided the movie’s female empowerment theme. Additionally, Xain Lang’s magic is beautifully depicted in the movie.
This movie was made in an attempt to modernize the original 1998 film, and it definitely succeeds. Not only is the film much more respectful of Chinese culture, it is also a visually stunning film that showcases the natural and diverse beauty of China. The movie features sweeping landscape shots over lush mountains, dry deserts, and snowy hills. As an ode to the original, much of the backing music to this movie is instrumental versions of songs from the animated musical.
The film’s main takeaway is that sometimes we are faced with a crisis of conscience, and we need to decide which of our values is most important to us. Mulan struggles in the film with lying about her identity, as she values honesty. This conflicts with her value of family, as she must lie to protect their honor. She almost reveals herself several times, but decides that protecting her family is most important. This is an important message for young audiences to see. It is possible to have values that conflict each other, and deciding which one is more important can be challenging.
Mulan (2020) is packed full of great lessons for kids, and it is visually stunning enough to keep adults just as engaged. Although Disney did omit a lot of elements of the original, they replaced them with characters like Xain Lang, which in my opinion only enhanced the film. This movie is a must watch for fans and haters of the original alike. It keeps just enough of the source material to be the same movie, but adds enough new things to feel fresh and exciting. I would give Mulan (2020) 4.5/5 stars.
Watch Mulan (2020) on Disney + here: https://www.disneyplus.com/movies/mulan/2jlgPK4K0ilR
