Mulan 4 stars
Disney gives its live treatment to another of their classic animated films in Mulan, with director Niko Caro of Whale Rider and The Zookeeper’s Wife, bringing us the story of Mulan, the young Chinese girl (played by Yifei Liu) who feels called to join the emperor’s army as a man to help fight off an invader determined to kill the emperor (a royal looking Jet Li). The story, based on a Chinese legend, is much the same as the 1998 animated movie but there are no musical numbers nor is there the small comical dragon, Mushu to provide comic relief. But we do get very colorful scenes showing Mulan’s village, the emperor’s palace and the natural expanse of China. There are plenty of action sequences featuring Mulan, the soldiers and the battles with the enemy and Bori Khan, the rebel leader (Jason Scott Lee). Khan is aided by a shape shifting sorceress (Gong Li) who can transform into an animal or impersonate another human with dire consequences. Since the movie is done with live actors it asks a lot of the viewer to believe that Mulan looks like a boy to the other characters, unlike the animated version. The strength of the movie is the story and the action sequences that are almost but not quite at the level of a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Liu’s acting also aids the personal moments of her character, though that is not the main focus of the movie. The violent battle scenes may make it not so suitable for very young viewers, but it is mostly bloodless battles that do leave quite a few casualties. Some of the soldiers of Mulan’s unit provide the comedic moments of the movie. I definitely liked the movie better than most of the audience reviewers seemed to. Some people must have wanted the musical animated version again. Mulan earned Academy Award nominations in Visual Effects and Costume Design. It was released during the height of the pandemic so it never got a theatrical release and could only be seen on streaming services. I recommend it for action fans and for fans of artistic movies.