Movie Review: Mulan (2020) 🥋⚔️

Loyal, brave and true is what the live-action Mulan teaches audiences.

Yifei Liu stars as the titular character in Mulan (2020). CREDIT: Disney

This post for Mulan (2020) is spoiler-free.

Filmed in the backdrop of New Zealand and China, Mulan (2020, directed by Niki Caro) is a stunning live-action remake of the beloved animated film Mulan (1998). Following the story of the Hua family, Mulan (Yifei Liu) sets out to represent her father in the imperial army under the disguise of a man.

The premise of Mulan centres around the idea that women are natural born housewives and men are natural born warriors. The film repeatedly reminds audiences that it’s a crime for women to fight the war alongside men, but in the real world, much has changed since the historical days of Bori Khan (perhaps a fictional nod to real-world ruler Genghis Khan) (Jason Scott Lee), which is when the film is set in.

The parts where Mulan truly shine is when Liu is battling evil warlords with her skillful flips, or as the movie calls it her Qi 气. Liu is swift in her fight scenes and she apparently did 90% of it herself, which is impressive. The beautiful cinematography mixed with her fight scenes are captivating to watch and that’s where Mulan truly shines.

Mulan’s script is cheesy and most of the dialogue that we see on-screen are oddly unnatural, but perhaps it might be acceptable during that time period.

Even though big named stars like Jet Li and Gong Li are in this. The supporting character who truly stood out is Donnie Yen’s Commander Tung. Mulan’s presumed love interest Hong Hui (Yoson An) is charming, but he is just another background character added in this film to support Liu’s Mulan.

Mulan is worth to watch in theatres—albeit not in the United States as it’s released on Disney+—but for a live-action remake, I much preferred 2019’s Aladdin.

Rating: 4/5