A Review of Disney’s Highly Anticipated Live Action Mulan

The first Mulan movie made in the 90s depicted a girl in Ancient China who could not find her place among people even though it was laid out for her. There was no background for why she felt this way. The musical did very well and was nominated for a few different awards when it was released in 1998. 

Now Disney has gone and done a complete make-over of the movie and released it on Disney+ for a $30 fee. This version of Mulan cannot be compared to the original because it only has the same baseline plot, but otherwise is a completely different movie. While we cannot know how well it did yet since it is still new, I have a feeling it will do very well. 

Mulan has very accurate depictions of what Ancient China was truly like. The different cultural ideals were portrayed more accurately. For example, the mother and sister were present for the matchmaking scene along with the mother of the man Mulan was being matched with. These different accuracies can be credited to the fact that Disney ran the movie by Chinese test audiences first to ensure that it would do well in China and would in fact be released there. Mulan (1998) was banned in China for eight months before releasing it to the audiences for a few reasons. 

Mulan (2020) is not a musical and this betters the storyline than leaving it as a musical. The story can be focused on all the different parts that are important to the whole storyline. However, they did not cut music entirely. The score incorporates the original songs as well as the dialogue. If you listen closely to the dialogue, you can catch lines of the songs you love spoke aloud.

 Not only did Disney focus on Mulan’s journey, but they also focused on the Northern Invaders and how they were planning on attacking. It was more than just an occasional shot to the Invaders, but instead a showing of their attacks on different villages. They also added a character referred to mostly as Witch named Xian Lang. She is the hawk depicted in the original Mulan but instead of being just a bird, she is a woman who is very in touch qi (pronounced chi). Qi, in Chinese tradition, is the energy and power in one’s body. To be in touch with your qi makes amazing warriors because they are in tune with the energy and power in their body, allowing them to move and react quickly. This woman fights for the Invaders in hopes to find a place where she can belong in harmony with others because it is unnatural for women to be in touch with their qi because women are not meant to be warriors. 

Mulan also has a backstory as a child to explain why she is how she is. Mulan, at a young age, discovered she was very in touch with her qi and was asked by her father to hide it since it was unnatural for women to be in touch with qi at all since they are not warriors. This addition to the movie betters the rest of the plotline because it explains Mulan’s hesitance and fears further than just the dishonor of her family. 

The symbolism in this movie was incredible. The phoenix, who replaced the dragon as the family crest, appears in the moments most important to the movie. The change from dragon to phoenix is one that I praise highly. The phoenix is known for rising from the ashes, and Mulan does this in her own way. She dies as the woman she is supposed to be and rises as the woman she is. This is best shown in the scene when she is fighting Bori Khan; the phoenix flys behind Mulan to give the illusions of phoenix wings attached to her, showing the Mulan is the phoenix.

While this movie is absolutely amazing, there is some controversy surrounding the way it was created and the main character choice. In 2019, the actress Liu Yifei who portrayed Mulan posted on Weibo, a Chinese form of Twitter, “I support the Hong Kong police. You can all attack me now.” (Victor). This is despite the awful forms of police brutality happening in Hong Kong against protestors who are trying to push for a democratic government. This grabbed a lot of attention and led to the hashtag #boycottmulan because of the actress’s remarks. 

This statement was made after a reporter for a Chinese state-run paper was tied up and attacked at an airport by protestors who were doing a demonstration. The protestors later apologized and explained that they were fearful that it was a policeman trying to infiltrate, something they have had to deal with for a long time. While the protestors made this mistake, the police have been brutal using rubber bullets, tear gas, batons, and pepper spray against innocent protestors because it is illegal to assemble in Hong Kong. 

Disney has also received a ton of backlash for a host of different things. While they were filming in Xinjiang, the news of all of the detention camps in Xinjiang was being projected all over the news. There is also the fact that some government entities were being thanked in the credits despite the issues presented. While this is necessary because they used footage from that area, they could have chosen a completely different area to avoid conflict and backlash. 

There were some very poor choices made by Disney about this movie, but this movie was intense, inspiring, and an incredible watch. I think it might be worth the $30 extra dollars if you have Disney+! It put a whole new spin on Mulan that opens up different ideas that were not presented in the first one. Something that should be understood is that this version is NOT the first, so watch it with fresh eyes. Keep an ear out for the music and dialogue that mimic the songs of the first! While there are major differences, I actually prefer this Mulan to the original, though the original will always have a big place in my heart!