mulan (2020) Review

*SPOILERS*

Doesn’t Donnie Yen (guy on the left with a man bun) look like Kourtney Kardashian in this image?

There is a slight resemblance…

Let me know what you think by commenting below!

Many people have had a negative perception of Disney movies in recent years.

“Princess always needs a prince”, “A man always has to come to save the day”, “No diversity”.

I think people are ignoring the time that the movies were first made and released.

Social changes, equality are still new concepts…changes have been made but more needs to be done for sure.

We can’t expect old Disney movies/series to portray things that are more acceptable now.

We can still appreciate the different stories and leave it as history.

Mulan on the other hand, has always been an incredible Disney movie.

I watched the original version of Mulan for the first-time last year (I know I’m late) and then when the 2020 remake came out, I watched it again.

I loved how different this movie is to other Disney movies.

A strong woman role (although, I don’t think the typical fairy tale stories portray women as weak) motivated to achieve something that is supposed to be impossible for a female.

Synopsis

Mulan is a movie about a brave young girl called Mulan (duh) who disguises as a man to take her father’s place in the army.

She feels absolutely devastated seeing that her weak and old father has to go and fight the Huns because he’s the only man in her family.

Mulan always had great talent from a very young age; she possessed something called ‘chi’ an energy that only warriors (men) should have.

But because she’s a girl she was only encouraged by her family to get married which brings honour to the family.

A woman with chi gets called a witch so she was told to hide her chi and let her powers die.

The theme of spirituality runs through the movie such as, ancestors guiding her.

Interestingly, another woman called Xianniang that also possesses chi was left abandoned, labelled as a witch and was made an outcast.

She was referred to as the witch throughout the movie.

Bori Khan (the villain of the movie and leader of the opposition in battle) saw how she could be valuable for his own cause.

She was full of vengeance and wanted revenge, so she joined Bori Khan’s army and used her chi for destructive reasons.

During training, Mulan exceeds every man’s achievement, and the boys discover her chi.

She becomes a valuable asset in the army, but she feels immense guilt for being dishonest about her identity.

During the first battle, Mulan encounters the witch. The witch sees Mulan for who she is and tells her that by lying about who she is will only weaken her chi.

Mulan goes back to battle but not disguised. She returns as herself and saves everyone’s lives.

She gets expelled from the army for her betrayal. The witch comes to her again and tries to persuade her to join her to take revenge on everyone that does not accept them.

Mulan decides to stick to her noble path.

She goes back to warn the army about an attack on the emperor and after persistent pleading, they finally listen to her.

The witch takes the chancellors form and continues to manipulate situations in Bori Khan’s favour.

Mulan fights her way to get to the emperor, but she stumbles upon the witch once again.

The witch sees that Mulan led the army – a journey that was seemingly impossible. Mulan takes this chance to ask the witch to join the noble path.

She says it’s too late for her to become noble and accepted, but she guides Mulan to the emperor.

The witch confronts Bori Khan and tells him that Mulan - a woman - has made the impossible possible.

Bori Khan shoots an arrow to kill Mulan but the witch flies in front of the arrow and sacrifices her life for Mulan.

Mulan has a feud with Bori Khan, kills him and rescues the emperor.

Mulan gets recognised as an amazing warrior but turns down the emperors invite to be a guard and returns to her family to make amends – which were successful.

The emperor gifts her a sword and asks her to rethink her decision.

My Thoughts

I am aware of the controversy around the remake of Mulan. It was definitely the wrong place and time to release this movie.

My review and thoughts will be based just on the actual movie itself.

What I love about Mulan is how a strong woman empowerment role is portrayed. It also includes the emphasis of marriage which is often what women are encouraged to seek.

It shows the strength and bravery of women – usually overlooked.

Interestingly, this movie goes further to show how not only can a woman be powerful but also how she can be more valuable than a man.

I also like the wonderful contrast between the witch and Mulan.

The movie shows how they are both very similar and how they have been treated.

However, how they end up was solely because of the path they chose.

One followed the path of truth and loyalty whereas, the other completely fell apart and took a destructive path to try and be accepted in society.

I believe this reflects real life. It’s always up to you to make a moral or hateful choice regardless of the “sad” stuff you have gone through.

Are you going to let how others treat you destroy you or fuel you to become a better person and move on?

What I dislike is how the comical factor is missing in the remake of Mulan.

The granny in the original movie and dragon called Mushu (Mulan’s companion) are both missing.

Mushu had many enjoyable moments in Mulan, and the remake of Mulan is very serious.

Besides that, I will recommend watching Mulan. I think this movie was ahead of its time, it’s different and enjoyable.

Read, share, comment and let me know what you think!