Critique: Mulan (2020)

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Some things steal your attention straight away.

The martial arts choreographer was epic: exciting, strong and graceful flowed into one. The concept of beautiful fighting makes the pacifist in me uncomfortable, yet seeing as martial arts are primarily an art form, this concept isn’t entirely unpleasant.

My favourite character was the witch Xian Lang. her costume and make-up were breath-taking. Her connection with Mulan made for interesting and, at times, gripping viewing. I almost thought Mulan would side with Xian Lang but in the end Xian Lang sided with Mulan, providing the film with urgency.

The original Mulan films were musicals. I love a good musical. (I’ll be honest: I like a bad musical, too.) But having songs wouldn’t have added anything necessary to this version. It would have taken away the atmosphere and diluted the serious tone. (Serious musicals exist but not every kind of seriousness can be accompanied with song.)

In this film, there is an emperor and imperial armies, cities and edicts. Emperors rule over empires and ‘imperial’ is used to describe things in empires. Yet the characters keep on referring to a kingdom. If it was a kingdom, they would have a king and ‘royal’ would be the descriptive term. For such an obvious mistake to be missed is baffling.

 

The animation for the phoenix was simply stunning. The colours were perfect and the way its peacock train flowed in the wind was thought out really well.

This phoenix (fenghuang) represented Mulan’s Ancestors. In the animated version, a dragon filled this role. The change is a clever one, considering phoenixes are female creatures and dragons are male. The phoenix was

But there is a problem: Mulan’s father says phoenixes are reborn in fire. Chinese phoenixes don’t do this. At all. ‘Phoenix’ isn’t really the best translation. If more background research was done, such an embarrassing mistake would not have been made.

 

Mulan and Chen’s relationship was ambiguous. They could easily be friends and they could easily be romantic.

They show affection and sacrifice towards each other, something I view as close friendship. Nothing in the film gives concrete evidence of their romance. So I’m of the former camp.

There is a double expectation of their romance, however. In the animated version, Mulan and Shang (Chen) were romantically involved. Also, on a more general basis, lead characters of opposite genders are often depicted as romantic. So I think it would be more natural to view Mulan and Chen as being partners.

 

Overall, this was an enjoyable film. The scenery was dramatic enough to provide an epic vibe. If more research had been done, silly mistakes would have been avoided and the integrity of the film wouldn’t be in question. Yet I can easily say the positives outweighed the negatives.