Dishonor On You, Dishonor On Your Cow: ‘Mulan’ Misses The Mark

If there’s one thing I want from Disney’s live-action remakes is for them to make the film different from the original animated movie. If it’s a straight shot-for-shot remake, then what’s the point? I liked the Aladdin remake because it did just that and Mulan was set to do the same. Based on the beloved 1998 animated classic, this is a more serious and “true to the original lore” take on the iconic character. However, different doesn’t automatically mean better… With a pandemic going on, Disney decided to gamble and see how well a straight to streaming in the U.S. (for a price!) release would fare. Mulan may very well determine the new trend of large scale movie releases. So how does this movie hold up? Unfortunately, not so great.  Yifei Liu as Mulan, Image Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Directed by Niki Caro, Mulan (played by actress Yifei Liu) is about a young Chinese woman trying to find her place in the world. When an army led by Böri Khan (Jason Scott Lee) and his sorceress Xianniang (Li Gong) attack mainland China, Mulan disguises herself as a man to take the place of her father, played by film veteran Tzi Ma. I have to say, the start of this movie was not a great one. The characters seemed bland and stiff and the editing was choppy. If you have a character talking over themselves, it’s not a good sign. Mulan also had trouble finding the tone it wanted. After being touted as a more serious and action-packed take, it starts off surprisingly goofy. The sisterly re…