Ella McNeely

BEFORE I BEGIN, I WANT TO WARN YOU: THIS MOVIE ISN’T THE SAME AS THE 1998 ANIMATED VERSION. WATCH IT WITH AN OPEN MIND, AND DON’T LISTEN TO THE REVIEWS THAT ARE JUST COMPLAINING ABOUT MUSHU NOT BEING IN IT. I truly loved this movie. The landscapes are fantastic, the fight scenes are awesome, and the storyline is very engaging (although there wasn’t much character development) and much more historically accurate and similar to the original Ballad of Mulan than it was in the 1998 animated version, endearing and timeless as it was. The acting was okay; it wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t aggravatingly awful. The only problems I have with it are offstage. For one thing, Disney filmed it in a part of China where Muslim concentration camps are located, and voiced their thanks in the credits to several organizations tied to the mass genocide that is going on there. For another thing, the lead actress was reported to have said she supported the violence against protestors in Hong Kong (although some believe she was forced to say this by Chinese propaganda). And while there are plenty of Asian role models on the screen, there are not enough backstage, which is a problem a lot of big movie-making companies like Disney contribute to. Besides, Disney needs to start coming up with more original content instead of just making remakes and sequels. I mean, there’s the original 1998 Mulan movie, its 2005 sequel (Mulan 2), a less popular 2009 live action remake, and now this 2020 live action. Honestly, though, I think this is the best live action remake I’ve ever seen. All-in-all, I thought it was a really engaging movie, and I would definitely want to watch it again.