Loyal, Brave, and True.
**Note** the first half of this post does not contain spoilers, but the second half does. Make sure you don’t read past the “Spoiler Alert” unless you want to!
I know there’s a lot of controversy around the release of the live action Mulan, but to be honest, I had only heard about some of it, specifically around the main actress and her statements about the Hong Kong police. I don’t get into politics much and don’t necessarily agree with her opinion, but as a whole, I still wanted to support the release of Mulan. Any chance to have Asians in the mainstream media is still a positive thing to me and I was also just super excited to see a new movie! And so with a big bucket of popcorn, I spent Friday night watching Mulan on Disney Plus.
This film brought me to tears in so many ways. Not that I grew up in rural China or anything, but there were so many themes I identified with – the role of women in Chinese families, your duty to your family, and being true to yourself, just to name a few. As a kid, I was exposed to movies about ancient China, some kung fu movies, and some Chinese dramas. Mulan seemed to capture bits and pieces of those movies I remember, but with a wholesome Disney twist. Plus these type of movies always seem to bring up a lot of pent up emotions growing up in a Chinese family where we weren’t very expressive showing love towards each other. With my parents being from Taiwan and Singapore, I not only had a generation gap, but also some culture clash (however, I can’t complain too much since I still ate tons of fast food and watched a lot – I mean, A LOT of TV and movies). And with a lot of Asian families, there are many times some unsaid feelings and emotions hidden away, which I could feel while watching exchanges between Mulan and her family. Sometimes the most powerful moments are the silent ones, am I right?
*****************SPOILERS AHEAD*****************
I know a lot of people will give Mulan a hard time because they left out the comedy, the songs, and the sort of “Disney magic”. And even though I also missed these parts of the original classic, I can see why those things were left out since the tone of the live action Mulan was so much more serious. I loved how this movie provided a lot more insight into Mulan as a character and you were really rooting for her the whole time as she struggled to find her true self. Disney always finds a way to show strength in women and speaking of strong female characters, I loved Gong Li’s character of the witch! Her costumes and her whole appearance were just so bad ass and I found myself wanted to see more of her on the screen. Her relationship with Mulan added a nice twist to things in the end as well. Jason Scott Lee also made an amazingly scary villain and can we all agree that Ming-Na Wen at the end was just the best cameo every!? OMG, that moment just meant so much to me and just made me burst out into tears! I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that when I finished Mulan, I went back and rewatched the original cartoon just to feel nostalgic again.
Did you watch Mulan and what did you think? I would love to know!
2 Comments
Kg
I really liked the take. It was the first live action that carved its own path that I’d want to rewatch as it’s own work.
It’s a fine line really. Make the same movies over again but “live action” or add some new threads to connect to the original tapestry. Going in a whole new direction will lose the audience who is watching for nostalgia.
Beauty in the beast added depth with the cinematography but I never think I’d rather watch then the original. Aladdin added the same depth with the Agrabah and I liked the wrinkles they added. Nobody can be Robin, but in its own vain nobody is Will. They leaned into his swagger and made it a bit different. But really I enjoyed the character development of jasmine. She was already strong and I liked what they added. I still prefer the cartoon but have rewatched it a few times. It’s just fun.
With Mulan while I miss the things that weren’t there I felt they told a more complete story of strength in a mystical reality. As opposed to a cartoon for families/kids. The OG actors had their space but didn’t overshadow the new blood. The pace also seemed good , a balance of story, humor, and action. It was a more serious story and I’m not sure this is what I want to say because it wouldn’t be the same without the cartoon version, but it had a more classic tale vibe.
I know a lot is being made of stuff by the actress, the director, and production staff. But I felt they did a good job and am hopeful there will be more live action that can grab these similar ideas and make it their own.
I didn’t mention all the earlier live action because they just aren’t in the same realm as the more recent releases, including lion king, I ain’t got no time for those lol . Except dumbo how could I forget that. I felt the same emotion and loved the artistry of it.
Thanks as always for sharing your honest takes with us Emily.
emilyo
Have you seen cinderella? That actually ranks as one of my top live action! Considering the cartoon has like zero depth, this one actually gave the characters more chemistry which I really liked. Agree with Aladdin – that was pretty fun and I ended up watching that a couple times. Jasmine’s character was way more interesting in the live action. I didn’t care so much for Emma Watson as Belle and the cartoon version will always be my favorite. I really hope they do not remake Pocahontas bc I think that would be a disaster. Thanks for sharing your thoughts though! I haven’t had a chance to talk to many people about the movie so I was curious what other people had to say!