Disney’s “Mulan”: The Reviews Are In
The long-awaited live action remake of Disney’s Mulan finally gets its release today after months of delays.
While the film actually had its premiere all the way back in March in Los Angeles, it has been faced with multiple delays since then as a result of the global outbreak of Covid-19. Disney decided in August to show the movie through their video-streaming platform Disney+ starting from September 4. It was also recently announced that the film will get a Chinese theatrical release on September 11.
The build-up to the film has been beset with miscues and controversies, with many criticizing the casting of Liu Yifei in the starring role as the warrior princess, while others lambasted Disney’s choice of “Loyal Brave True” for key phrasing in the movie's marketing campaign. Similarly, the awkward translation of that phrase into Chinese as 忠勇真 [zhong yong zhen] has caused befuddlement among Chinese communities, with Helen Hsu, a clinical psychologist based in LA writing on Twitter, “Disney couldn’t hire a consultant to tell them this graphic is hella wrong? ‘The awkward, bad tattoo’ vibe strong here.” (For more on such controversies, hit Read More at the bottom of this message for an article examining these issues by Frankie Huang.)
Contrary to some expectations that the film would inevitably be a critical flop, at time of writing it currently holds an 81% score on Rotten Tomatoes. As it stands, the film has exceeded critical scores on the same site for other Disney live action remakes, such as The Lion King (52%), Aladdin (57%) and Beauty and the Beast (71%).
Critics have commended the movie for its visuals, both in terms of the geographical landscape that we see Mulan traverse, as well as the high-octane fight sequences that take place throughout the film.
Chinese netizens on Weibo have reacted with excitement to the positive reviews coming in from international media. One user wrote, “I am very happy that they like the Mulan story, and very happy to see such a start. I hope they open presale tickets soon, I want to buy IMAX.”
Criticisms of Mulan focus around the comparison with its Disney predecessor, the 1998 animated version starring iconic characters like Mushu the dragon and bisexual icon and Mulan’s love interest Li Shang. Writing for the Hollywood Reporter, Inkoo Kang admires the visual qualities of the film, but goes on to say, “The result is a creatively squeamish, pokily paced movie by committee that has four credited screenwriters, a slew of hackneyed Disney tropes and an enervating lack of emotional resonance.”
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