Kherz’den Humphrey
Reporter
The 2020 live action remake of Disney’s Mulan follows closer to the Chinese legend and strays from the cartoon comedy and singing of the 1998 animated version. If you’re looking for a “close to original” version similar to how The Lion King and other live action remakes were done, like I was, this isn’t the movie for you. If you’re looking for an action packed legend recreation, definitely give it a watch.
As it follows the Chinese legend, there were a lot of noticeable changes made throughout the movie, specifically names. Mulan’s family name changed from Fa to Hua, and she also used the name Hua Jun instead of Ping. There are also changes to the other characters such as; Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po (the trio Mulan befriends), Li Shang (Mulan’s love interest), and even Shan Yu (leader of the Hun army).
Apparently according to legend, Mulan and the others didn’t burst into song while training, or anytime an event happened, because in this movie… there is no singing. Besides the removal of the beloved songs, Mushu the dragon is also nowhere to be found, which was particularly saddening for my family. Although there are some character additions to the story of Mulan, who turned out to be pretty cool, we still miss out on the original characters created.
In my opinion, Disney did a fantastic job casting and making sure each person portrayed their character perfectly. Yifei Liu as Mulan and Jason Lee as Bori Khan were fantastic in their roles. Almost everyone could be compared to the cartoon character base, and would be a well made match.
While the 2020 version is different from the 1998 version in many ways, there are still plenty of events that are similar. Mulan taking her aging father’s place in the war, training to turn them into men, the snow avalanche, and saving the emperor are still included in the movie. With this being the live action version we get to see these things happen with much more definition and emotion being shown.
One thing I really enjoyed about Mulan was the filming locations they chose: of breathtaking landscapes and scenery of New Zealand and China. There are certain scenes of the movie where the audience gets up-close views of nature that fits really well with the story line.
Mulan is full of action, and you can really tell the differences between the cartoon that didn’t really follow Chinese legend and then the live action which does. The battle scenes are action packed and mildly violent, but they are also censored to where there is no blood and gore shown. However, these scenes are still very realistic.
While watching, I noticed myself trying to predict the next scene by comparing it to the 1998 version and was pleasantly surprised when the storyline was different. With there being new characters and new details added in, I wasn’t sure what would happen in the upcoming scene.
Mulan overall was a well done movie from the casting to the filming. As its own movie I feel as though there would be a larger number of people looking forward to it, but with so much pressure to live up to the animation there aren’t as many who want to see the film.
As long as you aren’t looking to watch an exact remake, Mulan was worth the watch. With a good storyline following a Chinese legend, I enjoyed the movie and would definitely recommend watching it when you get the chance.
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