Movie Review: Mulan

 Michael's Movie Grade: B

If this review seems quite late there is a reason for that. If last year was a normal year, I would have seen it in a movie theatre soon after it came out. However last year wasn't a normal year and the only way I could see it was by streaming. Even as a Disney fan, I have found many of the recent slew of Disney remakes rather poor films. I am often much more picky about what I watch at home than I am what I watch in theatres. Because of this and my dislike for the previous Disney remakes, I simply skipped this film. However when I got this as part of a two movie Blu-Ray set with the animated version (which I love but I didn't have on Blu-Ray), it felt like about time I finally sat down and watched this. I didn't except much but imagine my surprise when I finally saw the movie and really liked it.

Unlike the previous Disney remakes, Mulan does what a good remake is supposed to do. It takes the basic story of the movie it is remaking, but gives a quite different take on it. In return this does not feel like an inferior copy, but rather a brand new movie based off the Mulan legend. Because of this, Mulan is one of the rare Disney remakes I can picture myself actually re-watching.  

On top of this the movie is quite good in its own right. Yifei Liu was perfect as the title character (the only problem I can think of with her is that she didn't quite look like a guy, when dressed as one). She perfectly captures the courageous and daring side to this character as well as the inner insecurities. The character herself is very well written. She is always completely relatable and human, as well as a kick-butt action hero. Speaking of action the action scenes in this film are fantastic. I found myself wishing I could have been able to see them on a big screen. In fact this whole movie was a complete visual treat. The basic storyline is still a great one and it is told quite well here. This movie even corrected one of the faults of the earlier film, by making the villains more interesting. 

I will admit there are some moments in this film that felt quite rushed here and this can briefly take you out of the movie. The humor in this film also isn't very good, but since there is not too much of it, this does not become a problem. 

This is my favorite of the Disney remakes so far, and I hope that future Disney remakes (because let's be honest there are going to be a lot of them), follow the example of this film.