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.

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.

In medieval China, Mulan (Yifei Liu) grew up as a rambunctious daughter with vast reserves of qi. Her father is secretly proud but her mother is concerned with her marriage potential. In the north along the silk road, Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee) leads the Rouran warriors on a revenge mission for his late father with the help of the witch Xianniang (Gong Li) who uses her qi for evil. She is able to shapeshift and convinces the Emperor of China to conscript one male from each family. Mulan's father prepares to join the Army despite his old injuries. Mulan steals his armor and takes his place. She pretends to be a man while training under Commander Tung (Donnie Yen).

This is a live action remake of the 1998 animated movie. There are choices being made that I understand but about which I'm uncertain. First and foremost, it's the lost of Mushu. While I completely understand the ridiculous problem of Mushu, this version is missing the comedy that Eddie Murphy delivered in the animated version. Somehow, Mulan needs a traveling companion to give comedic relief. It can't be a ghost due to government dictates. My only possible solution is a horse with an inner voice. That may be controversial but the movie needs comedy badly. Another issue is the use of qi which struck me as bringing Star Wars Force into Mulan. I am uncertain with this choice. I'm also confused with Xianniang's motivations. I don't understand her pushing the Emperor into instituting the draft. I don't understand her character during much of the third act. I don't understand her ultimate goals and her actions in driving the story. There are some bad action premise like when the soldiers turtled to hide from the attacking birds. I don't understand that they would be huddling together to give the trebuchet perfect targets. Also, trebuchets are not that accurate. Quite frankly, they really only need to be pinned down by arrow barrages. Mulan should be at the top of the mountain after chasing the mounted soldiers and confronting Xianniang. That way she would be in a position to start the avalanche by pushing a boulder down the mountain. Time and time again, the action scenes feel wrongly constructed like having too many cooks in the kitchen. This movie has various issues but non of them are deal-breakers.