Mulan
It was perhaps inevitable that, when Disney decided to adapt “Mulan” for live-action, the action sequences would take on a more wuxia quality than a traditional war epic style. (I immediately thought of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “House of Falling Leaves” as it was playing.) The choice doesn’t always work, in this case, but it’s how the film adapts the legend of a girl who fights in her father’s stead against the Hun invaders that matters most in such a translation, and here, Niki Caro’s film works fairly well, in fact. It’s not one of the better live-action adaptations the studio has done, but it goes off the well-worn path of what the original did in a way that works, which already sets it apart from “Aladdin” or “The Lion King.”
Gone is Mushu the Dragon and the Lucky Bug, replaced by a phoenix that will watch over Mulan and guide her. Gone are the musical numbers and Jerry Goldsmith score, replaced by a more traditional action soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams. You will not miss Mushu and the Bug, and you won’t miss the songs, either; the Goldsmith you’ll miss, but sadly, the great composer is no longer around to provide music for such an adaptation. That’s a detriment to the film, but there’s enough else it has to offer you instead in terms of story and character.
Take Xianniang. She is an advisor, of sorts, for the Hun army, as well as a fierce warrior that can transmogrify into a hawk. She is also played by the great Gong Li (who was in a great many of director Zhang Yimou’s classics, as well as his wuxia film, “Curse of the Golden Flowers”), who instantly adds a seductive, powerful presence to any film. This character was not in the animated film, and she would have been too dark a character for a G-rated kids movie, but in this film, she is an outcast woman whom embraces her abilities with pride, and is utilizing them in the only way she can. She is a dark reflection of Mulan (Yifei Liu), whom is hiding her identity, but utilizing her chi in the best way she can by taking her father’s place in the army to defend the country against the Hun invasion. Xianniang is the most interesting character in the movie, and part of the reason for that is because Gong Li is such a force of nature in anything she is in. The scene about midway in between her and Mulan is the highlight of the film because it is in that moment when Mulan must make a choice about who she is going to be throughout the remainder of the story. Once that happens, Liu’s performance comes alive.
If you’ve seen the original animated film, you’ll recognize a lot of the beats in the story outside of that. The avalanche. The training of the soldiers. Mulan’s revelation. The attack on the Emperor (played by Jet Li). The early scenes with her family. They will feel a bit different, because Caro’s film is able to go to a more dramatic place than the animated movie did, and how you feel about the tone of the film will determine whether it works for you. For me, it did, although I will admit- the animated film is better at delineating the complex nature of Mulan’s story than Caro’s film does. I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy this film, though; I think it lands enough of the important story and emotional elements to make it stand apart as its own thing, rather than just a big-budget remake of a movie that probably didn’t need to be redone in the first place.
