Alex Bowden

Let’s start with what worked well: The backdrops and filmography of this movie are stunning. The last 30minutes might be the most satisfying of the 120 as we finally feel the build-up and semblance of plot continuity. There’s also some great action/fight scenes toward the end, but as I will mention further in- they didn’t feel fully explored. Lastly, I did like that they used some musical elements from the original movie in the background. What did not go well for this movie: I did not go in with the expectation that this would be the 1998 movie remade...I was prepared to watch it stand on its own and take liberties. What we got, however, was an identity crisis between the two. The character development was almost non existent. It felt like a choppy, compilation of scenes that tried to mirror the timeline of the original but didn’t flow at all. It was definitely a drama, lacking any comedic relief that the original had brilliantly woven throughout. Instead, they tried to awkwardly plop in little bits of humor out of nowhere that didn’t coincide with the moment or the vibe- almost like they felt forced to include it for fear of straying from the complex range of emotions that made Mulan such an epic movie original. I couldn’t connect to the characters outside of the superficial action scenes and knowing who I should and shouldn’t be rooting for. And the lack of character development made the end moment where *spoilet alert* the falcon warrior turns sides and saves Mulan seem all too predictable and underwhelming. All in all, Mulan 1998 is my favorite Disney movie of all time. This was....disappointing.