Jonathan Tsai

The movie definitely exceeded what was expected based on the blan and flat trailer, but still had flaws. The move itself was pretty good, and had some really funny and wonderful moments. It was funny, action-packed, and heartfelt in many ways. Some acting and scenes fell flat, however, and the lack of meaningful or impactful exposition made it feel rushed, especially in the beginning. I wish they developed some of the side characters more and placed more emphasis on clarity, but the movie was overall pleasing and a good prelude to Endgame. Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendholson, and Goose the cat stole the show and did a fantastic job, and I definitely hope to see more of them. Aside from the controversy, Brie Larson did a pretty good job as Captain Marvel, but still had very spotty moments where the character’s dialogue didn’t feel in line with the mood and pacing of the movie. She definitely was more funny and unexpectedly cooler than the trailers show, and I can really see her place in the Marvel universe. However, I really wish there were more memorable and exciting moments in the movie, and hopefully that is developed more if we see more of Carol Danvers.

There are so many things that are wrong with this film, and I urge you to please read if you're considering watching this movie-- I want to preface this by saying I really wanted to love this movie walking into it. 1. First, the entirely of the people working behind-the-scenes of this film are not even Asian, from the screenwriters and producers to the costume designers and set designers. If Disney truly wanted an "authentic" tribute to the original story of Hua Mulan, hire ASIANS to portray accurate settings and visuals. There would be an uproar for Black Panther had it been directed, written, produced, and made by white people, so why is nobody bringing this up? This destroys the entire "Asian representation" cause that Disney was going for with this film. 2. Secondly, this film sucked everything about the original animated film that was great. Mushu's humor, Mulan's wittiness, etc. All the characters were poorly written and emotionless, and therefore I didn't really have an emotional attachment to any of the characters. 3. The dialogue in this film was broken, clunky, and moved WAY too fast, while scenes without dialogue were dragged on way too long. This made the pacing painful to watch and the exposition/characterization shallow. 4. Why omit Mushu, Cricket (the actual Cricket, not a human character in place of him with the same name), and the original musical numbers but throw in villains running on walls and witches that can turn into birds> 5. What made Mulan as a character so great is she persevered through her hardships and thought outside-the-box in order to defeat her enemies. For instance, in the 1998 version, Mulan uses her fan to defensively take Shan-Yu's sword. But in the 2020 version, Mulan is born with qi that therefore makes her a hero from the get-go. There is no growth and no defining characteristics for Mulan in the live-action. 6. The way this film was shot made it hard to follow along or focus on characters, as the quick cuts and choppy editing made the flow of thie song choppy. The film jumped back and forth randomly between the villains and Mulan's story, and it feels rushed. 7. In the original 1998 film, the final battle takes place at the Imperial palace during a celebration of the defeat of the Huns. The red, yellow, and blue colors are vivid/stunning, and it adds to the storytelling. In the 2020 version, the final battle takes place in a fortress made of bamboo. The color palette is drab, as it consists of brown, yellow, and black. This film literally sucked the life out of a lot of the visual storytelling in the original film. 8. This movie will not shut up about qi, "loyal, brave, and true", and throwing that phoenix in every five minutes. It gets tiring after the first quarter of the movie. 9. This film is almost 30 minutes longer than the original animated film, but it is so poorly written that I still don't feel satisfied upon watching it. Save yourself that 30 minutes and just watch the original for a much better time. To cut this short-- don't watch this film. At least don't spend $30 on this dumpster fire. Bootleg it if you want a good laugh, but please don't waste your money on this.