It’s interesting that the week Cinderella arrives on Disney+ another iconic female character from the canon arrives to the app. That film has widely come to be known as the best of the live action adaptations Disney has made, channeling the magic of the original while managing to update certain elements to the present day. Nearly every film after that has found the burden of being anything close to the quality of the original to be stifling. Mulan, the live action adaptation of the sterling animated musical, does quite care about the burden, eschewing many of hallmarks of the movie (notably the songs and Mushu) and try and anchor the film more in legend.
There’s the somewhat familiar plot: a young girl decides to take up the emperor’s summons given to her father and join the army, forcing her to hide her gender. There’s newer elements: Mulan has extraordinary Chi, which gives her powers and strength beyond what normal humans possess and the invaders are now assisted by a shape shifting sorceress. As you can probably gather, these elements don’t quite blend sensibly.
Chief among them is moving Mulan’s power from her hard work to a more mystical plane. In the days since seeing the film, that has been the toughest part of the movie to wrestle with. In this new version, the message is that you have power and should not hide it, no matter the structure. In the original, it was that hard work, determination, and inner strength can help you overcome tall odds. Both messages are compelling ones and extremely valid for young women to hear, but the former is the only thing working against the narrative. By focusing on the fairytale elements, Mulan’s character arc is brought down. She is able to form dedicated friendships and belief but in a much less dramatically interesting way. When she carries water up a mountain after struggling, it’s not as impressive because she only does so after being told she has powers beyond measure.
The true issue is that the movie wants your favorable nostalgia from the original film, but in changing so much of what made Mulan work, it comes off as pandering, or at worse narrative detracting. There are so many scenes in this movie that remind of the original animated production, but lack the urgency or sensibility of that story. It’s unnecessary for them to be there or for the score of the songs you are not including to be present here. It just distracts from the new story attempting to be told. Consider the new matchmaker scene when Mulan valiantly attempts to remove a spider from her terrified sister’s view which leads to some minor chaos that Mulan is blamed entirely for. In fact, Mulan is utterly blameless because the matchmaker has witnessed just what is happening. This scene felt like cinematic gaslighting and had me questioning what I was seeing.
Ultimately, the problem with this is that the movie because stuck in a battle of wills between an American sensibility, the Chinese legend, and the spectre of a previous film. This battle extends to every arena of the film with the exception of the acting and gorgeous costume work. You’d be hard-pressed to find a movie that feels both too quick and monumentally slow at the same time, but the direction by Niki Caro and editing of the movie just can not find a symbiotic rhythm. The action feels like it could be shot well but contains so many cuts, you can’t luxuriate in those moments. Consequently, despite quite good performances all around, the more dramatic scenes don’t quite hold the attention needed. Mulan is a frustrating experience as a film with elements that could have cohered into a picture that was much more interesting and entertaining.