Mulan (2020) Disney Plus - Review

I finally watched the live action Mulan (2020) on Disney Plus. I liked the live actions remakes like Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin that came out so I had high expectations of this one. Also, Mulan (1998) was one of my favorite Disney movies.

image from IMDB

Starring Liu Yi Fei who I am not so familiar with but supported by well known actors in Chinese cinema Gong Li, Donnie Yen and Jet Li! I am a big fan of kung fu movies so a bit excited with this movie.

Mulan was one of my favorite animated movies because it shows how the character worked hard and used her brains to succeed. What she lacked in physical strength she made up with wits like when she used the cannon to cause an avalanche or when she used the weights to help her climb the pole. The training montage was also a great scene as we saw a weak Mulan fail at first but she persevered. The song in the scene "I'll Make a Man Out of You" was epic.

Mulan (2020) however lacked the charm of the original Mulan. In this version, she has superpowers that she hides. She no longer needs to work hard since she is already strong ever since she was a child. If she were this strong already then she didn't have to disguise.

The original Mulan hid herself because as a girl, she was physically weaker than others making her a liability. She had to work hard to earn her place in the army and also the respect of her peers. Mulan (2020) hid herself because she was a girl and her arc was to be herself and accept being a girl, nothing further to do to improve herself.

This was disappointing for me. This is a kung fu movie, not the Mulan that I knew. This version veered so much differently from the original that the main character is no longer relatable. I used to root for the original Mulan. This version is a superhero that I cannot relate to.