Steven Nguyen

TLDR: The only difference between this movie and a mosquito is that a mosquito stops sucking once you slap it. Let me preface by saying I don't care about the original legend of Mulan or however "historically accurate" these films may be. Film making should be about convey good stories, historically accurate films are called documentaries, and this is neither a good film or an accurate documentary. It only serves as trash virtue signaling, and even fails in that aspect. With that said, you are better off reading bad Chinese manhua than watching this movie. All these positive reviews really make me question if we watched the same movie and they didn't accidentally click on the 1998 Mulan that embodied all the themes we should be supporting like, equality, feminism, freedom/self expression, and family. Not sick twisted versions of said themes that only serve as propaganda for the Chinese government enforcing the "culture" of the people. An example of this can be seen in Liu Yifei's (Mulan) acting, I see all these people saying that Liu Yifei's stoic acting represents the role of women in the context very well, and yes it does, it completely conforms to and enforces what is expected of women by society in China, or in other words, it submits to oppression. So for much for feminism and freedom from societal expectations. Even the most important theme of family is foreshadowed by this "honor". Like wow, the film's one saving grace, the reunion with Mulan's father which was mean to show how much family mattered above all else was cut short by the imperial troops, presenting Mulan with a stupid sword. What is the stupid sword supposed to represent? oh yeah, honor. You screwed up but your family still loves you? nahhhh they only accept you because of the honor you brought back. Mind you the aspect of honor in this film is completely dependent on the emperor, an entitled dick with no character development that really made me sympathize with the villain more than I should have. So yeah, summary, your family will only accept you if the society accepts you, that's the main message. And I cant imagine why any country (except China) would want to endorse that message from a moral and ethical standpoint (rare cases like mass genocide excluded). I would have given this movie a better score if the villain was the main protagonist because his questionable "sad backstory" has more depth than the entirety of Mulan's character (in this film) and that's helped by Liu Yifei's horrendous acting of course. I feel ashamed that this film shares the same name as the 1998 adaptation, and I feel ashamed to have watched it both as a member of the Asian community and as a human being. (no difference between Asians and humans, just trying to make a point that this movie sucked) Also the "Asian" soundtrack of this movie was so disappointed and often left me wondering "what the hell am I supposed to feel in these scenes?" "how does this add to the movie in any way?". Literally the music in James Cameron's Pocahontas remake with blue people was better even though he screwed over some of the best film score composers and forced scores that had no significance to the context. Also I will not start on that "chi" tomfoolery because I would swear a lot. Gave it 1 star cause the love interest was acting mad sus towards Hua Jun (the male persona of Mulan). Otherwise treat this movie as a 0.