User reviews

I'm not someone beholden to the songs and characters in the original Mulan. I was excited Disney was steering away from the shot-for-shot remake trend of their live-action retellings. Unfortunately, they went a bit too far in the other direction and made a generic Chinese fantasy martial arts film. The cinematography is great and the colors are often vibrant, but the story is pretty dull. The lead actress is awfully bland as well. The action and music are standouts, but get bogged down by some pacing issues.

My biggest issue with this film though is Mulan herself. Disney has gotten into this awful habit of making their female characters Mary Sues who never struggle or have any character arc (e.g., Rey and Captain Marvel). It's like they don't know how to write female characters, which is insane because it shouldn't be any different than male characters. Mulan in the original was a great character because she used her wits and perseverance to get ahead in a man's world. In this retelling, Mulan is gifted magical powers (?!) from birth and never has to struggle. This movie is almost saying she needs magical powers to be better than men, which is ridiculous. How hard is it to portray female characters that work hard and use ingenuity to advance in society?

This film is ultimately joyless and hollow. There's no Will Smith as Genie or stunning CGI to make this remake stand out. What we end up with is a movie that feels like it was made by committee.

If you have never seen the original then you probably won't be that disappointed. The problems with this movie are the stale acting, the lack of comedy from the original film, the removal of the outstanding soundtrack and the beautiful storytelling through singing, and the lack of care placed into making the characters. Is it weird that I don't really care what happens to the characters in this? If you've never seen the original, you'll probably think of this movie as okay (a lot of reviewers here have obviously never seen the original). If you have, then please skip on this movie cause this is a bitter disappointment like a majority of the live action remakes. PLEASE WATCH THE ORIGINAL IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT!

I came to this fresh. I haven't seen the original. I didn't know the story. Judged solely therfore on its own merits I really enjoyed this movie.

The 2020 film Mulan is a Disney live-action remake of their classic Renaissance animated film of the same name. It's a study on how not to re-tell a story.

First, let's go over the good parts. It's a pretty little film. It has wuxia feel to it and all the different set pieces are well-made and suitably elaborate. I also liked the costuming and the action choreographies. Suffice to say, this film looks very good.

But then comes the story. You've taken one of the most iconic Disney heroines and you've turned her into a deus ex machina. You've taken a girl who chose to rebel against social expectations and triumph despite all her disadvantages, and you've turned her into the chosen one who succeeds because she was born with magical powers. Can you see how that's so much worse? How that's so much more demeaning?

Add in all the other magical bovine manure and senseless directing choices, and you have a film that has none of the charm of the original. None of the uplifting heroics. None of the gender equality. This Mulan doesn't save China while being a girl. She saves China despite being a girl. Because she was destined to do so and because she's more special than you can ever hope to be.

But it's pretty. It has good action scenes. Nevertheless, it's not a good film.

The cartoon is much better. It was entertaining and I liked the different perspective on the story. The mulan actress was excellent and well cast. It wasn't the greatest movie ever but it was engaging to watch. There were scenes that seemed half baked and the acting was periodically dry. Overall, worth at least one watch. Not worth $30 though, glad we got to watch it for free.

I am frustrated with the reviews here that only talk about the fact that this movie was not a comedy or a musical like Mulan (1998). I love the first Mulan movie and in fact Mulan is one of my favorite Disney characters. I still sing songs from that movie to my children each night. But if I wanted to watch Mulan (1998), I would just watch the original.

This movie is not meant to be a re-make, it is meant to be a re-imagining of a deeper story. A legend. A story about a woman who wants to be TRUE to herself but still respectful of her family, her culture, and her country. I think that the comedic relief of the Mushu character would have taken away from the important message that we can all stand to learn from this legend. Mulan learns that what she has within her is NOT something to be hidden away, but a gift that she can share with the world. I also thought the score of this movie was beautiful and the subtle references to the original brought tears to my eyes.

If you want to watch Mulan (1998), then watch that movie and don't pay the $29.99 to watch this movie. But if you want to watch a movie with beautiful cinematography, music, and a story that any person across generations can learn something from, then I suggest you try this one.

Saw 2020's 'Mulan' as a massive Disney fan. Although their recent live action offerings are very mixed and none are as good as the originals, many of their animated films are fine examples of how to do animation right. Looking at the title, the advertising and that seeing it was made by Disney, it is very easy to think that this is another one of the live action remakes and it is easy why it has been critiqued as one. Part of me was really psyched being somebody who loves the 1998 film, but also worried when seeing the hate for the film and for the lead actress.

When seeing 'Mulan', it didn't actually strike me as a live action remake and doesn't have an awful lot of Disney in sight. Other than the title and references to the score of the 1998 film embedded in this one. Instead to me it came over as more another version of the character and her story, and one more serious and less family friendly, so directly comparing the two films didn't strike me as right. While the disappointment that is expressed is understandable, as there are big flaws to be found and it definitely does not have the same amount of charm, heart and thrills as the 1998 film, to me 'Mulan' was not that bad and was not deserving of the extreme backlash before it was even released. Seeing as Yifei Liu's personal views had/have nothing to do with Disney or the film crew.

'Mulan' is not perfect. Do agree with those that say that a lot of the dialogue is pretty bad, with a tendency to sound stilted, especially in the cringe-worthy and very out of place attempts at sporadic humour with the troops, and go too heavy on emphasising the characters' values. Loyal, brave and true agreed did not need to be emphasised so much, the point was made quite quickly. There are things in the plot that sounded oddly intriguing on paper, but done too little with. Especially with the phoenix, which doesn't really add anything.

Both Xianniang and Bori Khan felt like underdeveloped characters. The former comes off better as she is suitably mysterious and alluring, but her motives are pretty confused later on (with it being not clear what side she was on), she is pretty much a come and go plot device and her final scene felt very rushed. Bori Khan has an intimidating look but is underused and his motivation is pretty much the only thing that is learnt about him. Didn't like how easily defeated he was and how clumsy the scene looked. In general the characters could have done with more depth, Mulan and Zhou are the ones that come closest, and the film could have done with more soul.

However, 'Mulan' does look great, especially striking in the truly exquisite historical visuals and the at its best majestic scenery. There is a lot of colour and atmosphere in the photography, which was clearly inspired by the likes of Zhang Yimou, and the costumes do catch the eye. The CGI didn't seem too excessive and didn't look jarringly cheap either. Harry Gregson-Williams' score is stirring and also has a sumptuous emotional core, also enjoyed hearing references to the music from the 1998 film. Niki Caro on the most part directs with confidence.

Personally really was impressed by the beautifully choreographed and dynamically photographed action. When it needed to be tense it was, when it needed to be particularly athletic it was and when it needed to excite it did. Especially the big battle and the avalanche. It was easy to feel the strength, pain and perseverance needed to get through all that training, only the final showdown came over as ridiculous. The story was not perfect but it engaged enough, intrigued with the cultural aspects and inspired thanks to Mulan still being a strong character (though she doesn't grow as much or go on a character journey as much as the animated Mulan, if to briefly compare). Although the father-daughter reunion was more emotionally powerful previously, it is still quite moving in a subtle way here.

Moreover, the acting wasn't bad at all to me. Liu is a confident lead, bringing authority and vulnerability to Mulan that was ideal for this ideal heroine. Donnie Yen and Jet Li are strong authority figures and Jason Scott Lee does inject some menace into his underdeveloped role. Tzi Ma's performance is very telling in its nuance, more than once not even saying a word. Li Gong looks wonderful in the film and is both deceptively alluring and mysterious, despite the character herself is not meaty Gong's acting is quite complex.

In conclusion, prepared myself to hate it but quite liked it while finding it very flawed. 6/10

I never write reviews, this is my first. I created an account just to add this review (simply because so many people gave it a negative review, and the movie deserved a good one!) I've been holding off watching this movie...due to the bad reviews and everything I've read in the media about it. But I can't believe I let the negative reviews keep me from watching it. It's not a musical, like the original, but original songs are included in an instrumental manner. Many people are upset that it isn't like the original, but Disney put a great spin on it. Of course it's not going to be the same! The storyline is very close to the original though. The cinematography and colors are awesome! The fight scenes are very entertaining and it was a great watch!

Firstly, do not think of this movie as a remake of the Disney cartoon movie. It is a retelling of the Mulan legend. Once you get to this realization, the movie is actually quite good. A few details were glossed over and some of the characters could have used more development, but the moral, message, tone, and adventure is still all there. And some of the choices made were definite improvements to the version of the tale we are familiar with.

Well... this is what happens when you give 200 million dollars budget and a great cast to the wrong director! Or probably it was the producer... You could at least give us some nice soundtrack... but noooo, you had to destroy it all at once

Yes it's different from the original. Yes I missed the singing & really wanted to hear Mulan's voice. At the same time, the way this version was crafted it made sense the way they wrote it. I looooved it.

Everything that made Mulan great has been dropped the charming side characters, the humour, the character development all of it in favour of this bland cringey Cliche be yourself girl power lunacy. Just don't waste the 30$ on this believe me you will thank me later.

Our family enjoyed this movie! We didn't have any expectations of it being like the animated version. We watched it as it's own movie.

This is unlike the original animated one from the 90s, but that doesn't make it a bad movie. It's a decent film for what it is, a modern take on a story that is centuries old. It tells the tale of a female warrior in ancient China who concealed her gender.

If you expect a version similar to the original motion picture from the 90s, you will be very disappointed

"Do you believe they are actually picking a Chinese girl to play the role as Mulan in the new real-person Disney remake movie?" I can still remember the question from an ABC girl and the excitement on her face when she was asking the question back in 2017. And after all these years of waiting, it turns out to be a complete disappointment.

A 3-star is probably the best rating that I can give here. Yifei Liu is absolutely the ideal cast for the character of Mulan. It looks astonishing on that reflection of Mulan in the sword poster. And that wins the movie one of the stars. Some of the scenery in the movie are beautiful especially with IMAX 3D. Mountains and skyline of the capital city are breathtaking, which earns the second star. It is probably a half star if not with IMAX. As for the third, since IMDB won't allow me to give a ZERO star for the worst movie of all time, it is basically a buy-2-and-get-1-for-free star.

Mulan's story has been told to all the Chinese of their childhood for over a thousand years. And thanks for Disney, the story is told to all the world with their great cartoon movie in 1998. The spirit of Mulan has been encouraging generations of people, including her bravery, loyalty and most importantly her filial responsibility. (Well, that's true, Chinese people thinks highly of their filial duty.) However, all the spirits above are but of words engraved on the sword, and the director really wants to tell that little story about a girl seeking for her true-self, which could be any other story but Mulan's. Despite of that, the whole story line is not logical, well, at all. * Avoiding to face the true-self as a female? Is that true? * Hiding family Kungfu from the troop? Is that necessary? * Taking off all armor and helmet to run for a war fight? Cannot be more logical. * A troop of well trained soldiers counting the Emperor's life on and only on a little girl? Best strategy ever. * Such an easily provoked Emperor that would rather get himself into a one on one fight to a berserker? Trump wouldn't do that for sure.

If you want to make a good Chinese history based movie, the least thing you have to do is to do some real study on it. But all I can see from this movie is prejudice from westerners to Chinese traditional culture and a soulless Disney drama. * Praying to phoenix for safety and peace? We don't ever do that in China. * Concubines with pale white faces and bloody red cheek makeups? That's what Japanese Geishas do. * A mind-controlling or transforming witch? Okay, Valar Morghulis. * Phoenix Vs Eagle metaphor? What's that for? Basically, not a single culture is presented precisely from where they come in this movie. If you can read Chinese, you can learn more mistakes that are made about the culture, history timelines, etc, where the ratings goes all the way down to 4.9 after 3 days of the release. If you can't, don't bother, and just remember the mistakes are much more than you can even imagine. The director successfully made a contribution to alienate the understanding between the westerners and Chinese. Westerners may think this another movie that is made for Chinese in order to please the Chinese market, while Chinese people are actually feeling INSULTED by all these cultural bias. Niki Caro shows us a great example how to make a movie and offend both side of the audience.

In the original Mulan folklore, there are no characters like Mushu, the cricket, and all the funny souls of ancestors. But who would possibly complain about a cute funny dragon especially when it comes from Disney? But when a silent, helpless and do-not-know-what-to-do phoenix is taking Mushu's place, it just let people doubt if this 2020 remake is actually a Disney movie. Besides, Mulan is made a superhero with great talent when she was very young. And of course, a heroine cannot have a boyfriend, potential one, as a general or something. That adaption sounds not feminist at all.

All in all, this movie is simply a waste of a good legend, passion from Disney fans, 2 hours of your life probably, and above all, 200 million dollars. Good job Niki Caro!

Such a great movies. I dont know why people hate this movies. this movie not really worst. And this movie also has a pretty good storyline, meaningful and warm movie colors make it a comfortable movie to watch

I'm glad this isn't some shot-for-shot remake like 2019's The Lion King. I'm glad they actually stuck with the Ballad of Mulan story rather than it be a remake of the animated movie. I'm glad that most of this movie's budget went around the way the land of ancient China should be presented. The music is great, the cinematography is beautiful, the visuals are incredible, the acting is solid, the editing and sound effects are good... and that's pretty much it.

I'm giving this movie a 7/10 because it's better than most of the other Disney remakes (with Beauty and the Beast being the one that I happened to REALLY like), and because there is a lot to like about it. The only thing not great about this movie is the writing and the way some things are executed. I wish they spent more time developing the characters and used more of that time to develop the villain. The villain in the cartoon movie was so well-crafted and well-written, but the villain in the remake feels like there's a whole lot missing from him.

It's a solid, mildly entertaining movie overall and definitely better than that garbage Artemis Fowl movie!

No music because when charging into war, "you don't press pause and start singing cause it isn't realistic" says Niki. Yet, in one of the most emotional and amazing war scenes in Lord of the Rings Return of the King starts with Pippin singing as Faramir charges towards the Orcs - and that film won 11 Academy Awards.

The beginning is a little rough but I thought the movie was very entertaining, true to the story, and the best live action re-make so far. I am not sure why it gets such bad reviews honestly. It obviously could not follow the animated one completely but they give it a spin with magic in what seemed to follow the tradition of wuxia/ kung fu movies. I enjoyed it and would watch it again.

Warning this movie is simply terrible. So much wasted potential. Having to watch the 90s version to get the bad taste out of my mouth.