Mulan (2020)

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, Brn2bwild said:

Also, you don't think real faces could convey the expressions in this sequence?

No I don’t. They can convey the same emotions but not those expressions. Real eyebrows just don’t move this way. What appears normal on animated face would be cartoonish on a real human. 
 

[Brn2bwild]

1 hour ago, Dani said:

No I don’t. They can convey the same emotions but not those expressions. Real eyebrows just don’t move this way. What appears normal on animated face would be cartoonish on a real human. 
 

Emilia Clarke's perhaps. /s

While I acknowledge her brows are more animated than real brows, I don't think it takes much for a human brow to furrow.  I was more focused on the rest of her face, tbh.  Besides, even if regular humans can't emote well through their face, good actors generally can, which is why they're considered to be good actors.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Brn2bwild said:

Emilia Clarke's perhaps. /s

While I acknowledge her brows are more animated than real brows, I don't think it takes much for a human brow to furrow.  I was more focused on the rest of her face, tbh.  Besides, even if regular humans can't emote well through their face, good actors generally can, which is why they're considered to be good actors.

But I’m not arguing that actors can’t emote and I don’t think that was @Spartan Girl’s point. My point is that what appears subtle in a cartoon would look cartoonish on a human. 

Personally I don’t think the issue is that the actress can’t emote but that the director chose  to keep Mulan tense and stiff throughout most of the movie. The movie really kept the tension of what would happen if she got caught in the forefront throughout and Liu Yifei played that. To me she played exactly what she was supposed to play. I didn’t always like it but that reflects more on the director than the actor. 

I feel that is one of things that was impacted by it not going on the big screen. The movie was made to be seen larger than life with a focused audience. Subtle plays better in that setting. 

I also think that a lot of the criticism on social media about her being emotionless is sexist and wouldn’t happen in a male-led war movie. That’s not to say that everyone who found her emotionless is sexist. When I first watched I had some of the same criticism of the acting. When I re-watched I realized that I missed a lot of very subtle moments. 

Edited September 7, 2020 by Guest

[Spartan Girl]

That was exactly my point. Thank you. Moving on...

I kept wondering where I had seen the actor who played Mulan's dad before, because he looked so familiar...then I found out he was the ambassador in Rush Hour! 

Edited September 7, 2020 by Spartan Girl

[nilyank]

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I kept wondering where I had seen the actor who played Mulan's dad before, because he looked so familiar...then I found out he was the ambassador in Rush Hour! 

I always remember him as the pushy dad of one the spellers in Akeelah and the Bee.

[MaggieG]

I went to a friend's house this weekend to watch it. I would have waited but she didn't mind paying for it. I enjoyed the movie. The parts in the camp were definitely my favorite. Cricket was the best. At the end when he was laying against the wall with his eyes open and it looked like he was dead, my friend and I jumped up and screamed. Then he moved and we were relieved.

The best part for me was her shedding her armor, letting her hair down and riding back into battle. Great scene. 

[Cranberry]

I thought this was okay. Visually, it was beautiful; I liked looking at it. Sometimes I felt like the story lagged, while other times I felt like too much happened too fast. The fifth battalion immediately went from not caring if Mulan died to letting her lead them. Xianniang sacrificed herself for Mulan after speaking to her only twice. I thought Mulan's relationships with her father and Chen were well-developed, though, and the fight scenes were great. Overall I don't regret watching it, but probably won't ever rewatch.

[BetterButter]

 

[Cranberry]

This is a good analysis from someone to whom The Ballad of Mulan means a lot.

 

[Cranberry]

This person hated the movie so much they made a YouTube channel just to rant about it. They're super knowledgeable and this is an interesting, fun watch.

 

[Meushell]

Overall, it was entertaining, but I didn’t feel for most of the characters.

I accepted that they replaced Shang, but he had crappy replacements.

Honghui had potential, but I think they needed to do more with him. He didn’t even feel like a love interest, but just someone who became friends with Mulan. That would be fine if that’s all he was meant to be, but he wasn’t.

Then there was Yong, who was just sort of...there. Shang was both commanding and inspiring to his troops. Yong was...meh.

They kind of did the same with Shan Yu. He was absolutely brutal, strong, smart, bold, had a cruel sense of humor, and the only Disney Villain I ever found to be terrifying. Yet he didn’t care that Mulan was a woman. As soon as he realized who she was, he wanted her dead.

They started in a different direction with Böri Khan. He wanted vengeance. His story seemed more sympathetic. I liked that, but then they sort of dropped the ball. For the sake of Xianniang’s development (I think), he just sort of became a generic sexist bad guy.

One bit I did like though was the matchmaker’s reaction to Mulan being honored. 

Edited December 6, 2020 by Meushell

[jah1986]

Now that Disney has released this to its regular catalog, I had a chance to see this.  I had such low expectations that I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this.  I thought the actress did a good job with showing different emotions for Mulan. I always love Donnie Yen and I did let out a squee when Ming Na Wen showed up at the end. Loved hearing CA sing Reflections again.  It was a darker, more serious movie than the animated feature but I went in thinking "this isn't a remake, this isn't a remake" and it helped. Still, I was glad I didn't spend $30 to see it.

[Meushell]

On 12/7/2020 at 8:38 AM, jah1986 said:

Now that Disney has released this to its regular catalog, I had a chance to see this.  I had such low expectations that I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this.  I thought the actress did a good job with showing different emotions for Mulan. I always love Donnie Yen and I did let out a squee when Ming Na Wen showed up at the end. Loved hearing CA sing Reflections again.  It was a darker, more serious movie than the animated feature but I went in thinking "this isn't a remake, this isn't a remake" and it helped. Still, I was glad I didn't spend $30 to see it.

I think that was part of my problem. I knew it wasn’t a remake of the cartoon, but I did go in thinking that it would follow more closely to the original ballad.

[Trini]

I'll have to watch this again to really gather my thoughts; but I was kind of disappointed with this, even though I was really looking forward to it. There was something missing from Mulan herself; both with acting and writing. I assume they gave the actress less lines because English wasn't her first language? But I think we needed to actually hear more of Mulan's thoughts, etc. Didn't like that the most powerful character, the Witch, died essentially because she lost her self-confidence. I mean, I guess...; since she wasn't going to lose in a fight.

I did like the action scenes, which justified doing this in live-action. And it was amusing to me that the Emperor got to be in some action scenes -- no way were they letting Jet Li sit this one out! All the nods to the animated film were cool too.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SAG Award nomination!

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Critics' Choice Award nominations!

Best Costume Design - Bina Daigeler

Best Visual Effects

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oscar nominations!

Best Costume Design
“Emma”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Mank”
“Mulan”
“Pinocchio”

Best Visual Effects
“Love and Monsters”
“The Midnight Sky”
“Mulan”
“The One and Only Ivan”
“Tenet”

[Camera One]

The movie wasn't as bad I had expected.  As a live-action remake, it wasn't great or inspired, but that is on par with the pattern thus far with Disney re-doing everything.  But it also wasn't horrible.  The narrative was reasonably engaging and the setting and costumes were visually pleasant to look at.

I was actually looking forward to a more serious take.  I liked the more serious aspects of the animated Mulan movie, but I thought the tone with Mushu and some of the comedy was uneven (though funny).  So I had no problem with a Mushu-free movie that could have delved more into the original source poem and Ancient Chinese history or culture.  But right off the bat, there was no Grandma, and not much on ancestor worship.

While I understand this was a war movie, they could have added more human moments.  I can see why some people felt Mulan was flat (unfortunately, I too thought she didn't have much of a personality), but I wonder if that was because we never really got to see her as a normal human being pre-war.  They needed more conversations with her family.  What did she prefer over dressing up and finding a husband?  It could have worked if she loved riding and was especially skilled in that.  The magical "chi" stuff just didn't work plot-wise or character-wise.  Mulan was more understated in this movie, but they need to show us that was because she was introspective or something, instead of making it so ambiguous that it's unclear what (if anything) was going on in her mind.

I would almost have preferred a straight-up remake with all the songs and a lighter atmosphere in lieu of this movie.  The way they incorporated lyrics from the songs were very clunky, and the "jokes" in the camp about smells from not bathing was just not funny.

I actually liked the new character of Honghui.  The other fellow soldiers weren't fleshed out enough, but they had potential.

I also didn't mind the falcon being a witch.  That was sort of a clever way to make that into a character.  

The movie began to unravel more towards the midpoint.  Mulan and the tiny "flank" charging the enemy was ridiculous.  Mulan throwing off her armor and letting out her hair riding into battle was a cool visual but it was laughable, which was not good in a serious war movie.  

The worst aspect was how Mulan cleverly started the avalanche and saved everyone, but NO ONE SAW IT.  Which makes it even less likely why everyone would support Mulan when she later warned them about the emperor.  The whole climax in the Imperial City was lacklustre, unrealistic and bordered on boring.  

After watching the movie, I watched a lot of the negative review videos, and their criticisms were very valid, but they did make me like the movie less in hindsight.  But I did rewatch it with a friend who hadn't seen it after, and again, I thought it really wasn't *that* bad.

Edited April 6, 2021 by Camera One

[Zuleikha]

I enjoyed it but only for the visuals. The story wasn't that great. I didn't think Mulan was flat, though. I felt I saw a lot of her conflict between fear of outing herself but feeling dishonorable lying about who she was.

The "chi" stuff was just weird. I don't know how the scriptwriters and director got it so wrong when they clearly did research into wuxia dramas. I also don't know why none of the actors in the cast suggested changes. Nothing substantive needed to change... they just needed to tweak the lines to be less chi = Force. If anything, they could have amped up the wuxia aspects and have Mulan have stronger martial arts powers. I'm watching a wuxia series now, and people can basically fly.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Costume Designers Guild Award nomination!

Excellence in Sci-Fi / Fantasy Film
Dolittle – Jenny Beavan
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey – Michael Wilkinson
Mulan – Bina Daigeler
Pinocchio – Massimo Cantini Parrini
Wonder Woman 1984 – Lindy Hemming

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Costume Designers Guild Award win!

Excellence in Sci-Fi / Fantasy Film

Mulan – Bina Daigeler