Mulan

I wasn't really sure if I was actually going to watch this film because I'm not a fan of the Disney live action remakes but since it was released on Disney plus, I figured why not and I really really liked this one. Now before I go on, I just want to clarify something; I have never seen any adaptation of Mulan. This is the first time i have watched a Mulan film, I am aware of certain aspects of the original Mulan but I've never watched it so I basing this review on my watch right here.

Onto the positives and the best thing about this film is the production. Now I don't know if this was filmed in a studio but it really looks like it was filmed in actual locations. You believe this is a Chinese community at war and it all looks brilliantly realistic. It even looks like they used practical stunts rather than CGI and they did not waste their budget. I thought this film just looked brilliant and beautiful at times.

Speaking of how it looks, the cinematography captures the action scenes perfectly, particularly that war sequence in the middle of the film. It reminded me of a PG-13 battle version of game of thrones and for Mulan, it actually worked. There's other places in the film where the cinematography just looks really impressive but that war sequence was just incredible.

Speaking of the action sequences, the action is also handled pretty well. Especially for the actress who plays Mulan, it doesn't look like they used stunt actors. (although they may have done) From what I saw, the actors actually used hand to hand combat which I always love when actors do that and the final battle between Mulan and Bori Khan is staged and handled really well.

The lead actress who plays Mulan gives a very impressive performance. With everything Mulan has to go through to prove herself and how she develops along the way, I thought she handled the role really really well. The rest of the cast are also really good and some of them have very good development arcs which surprised me a little.

And finally there's quite an emotional weight to this film. I won't reveal where but there are places in this film where you really feel the emotion between certain characters. Also this may be an unpopular opinion but there's certain changes that I'm aware of from the original version that I think worked really well. Again I won't reveal what the changes are but for the type of film this is, for the genre and how realistic it looks and is, the changes made I feel were the right ones.

Onto the mixed aspect of the film and it's the main plot for me. Again I am aware of the main story in the original version and it worried me. The story of Mulan changing her appearance to look like a boy just sounded so dated and watching it, I still felt the same way. Now I appreciate the film for sticking to its source material but with all the changes it made, I felt that's the one change I would have liked to have seen. I just don't like the idea or story of a woman having to change her appearance to fit in.

Onto the negatives and I'll be honest, there's not a lot. I really enjoyed this film but there were some things holding it back. First, I didn't care much for the love story for Mulan and Honghui. For the film I was watching, it just didn't seem necessary adding the love story in it and I just didn't think there was much chemistry between them.

Finally and this is a nitpick but with how beautiful this film looks, there's one scene where it looks really bad. It looks overlyprocessed and CGI heavy and looks out of place with the rest of the film.

Besides those two, this is a brilliantly made remake of a beloved Disney remake and this is how these remakes should be made. I really enjoyed this film.

⭐⭐⭐⭐