Disney's live-action "Mulan"

[Dave McFly]

I just watched it tonight I really wish I could have seen this on the big screen but alas it was not meant to be. I really liked it, was it as good as the 98 film no, but it did it's own thing. I thought the girl who played Mulan was fantastic (bonus points for her singing Reflections in Mandarin over the credits). I liked how they used music queues from the missing songs as part of the score, especially when she canned her male disguise and charged into battle. Oh and really loved how they included original Mulan Ming-Na Wen in this, well done.

 

[InvisibleWoman]

I really wanted to like this as the animated Mulan is probably my favourite Disney animation but it was a miss for me. Some really baffling decisions IMO...

Spoiler

1. Mulan being like a mini Wonder Woman from the beginning. I loved that animated Mulan was clumsy and you saw her progress into the warrior she became at the end. Live action Mulan seemed to have all the skills from the start. Reminded me of Rey from Star Wars and was conveniently good at everything.
2. The red phoenix. If they were going down that route, I would have made it a red dragon as a nod to Mushu.
3. The witch and Mulan's sister. Two absolutely pointless characters. The movie would have been exactly the same without them.
4. No Shang. I don't think I'll ever get over that one. He is one of the best Disney Male characters.

I thought the actress who played Mulan was good... she put her all into it. Just a shame she was let down by the rest of the movie.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I tried watching it yesterday, but I got bored. I may try again at some point, but just so blah. Nothing burger

 

[Dave McFly]

re watched the 98 film last night still as awesome as ever the sequel, eh not so much lol but at least they kept a lot of the cast (except for Eddie but his sound alike was pretty good).

 

[Closerframe]

Easily the worst live action Disney film to date. It’s almost as if we were saved by not seeing this released in theaters.

 

[CB Fan]

Ummm I didn’t mind it. It felt rushed, they could’ve shot things a different way/let some scenes play out and breathe more. I never loved any of the characters like I did the animated version.

 

[samsnee]

This was so boring.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

As someone who never watched the animated movie is this worth seeing?

 

[samsnee]

It’s not really like the animated movie except for main story points. It’s pretty generic and uninspiring.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Other message boards I attend aren't as fun as this one for discussing movies, so I broke my attempt at retirement just to share my thoughts here now that I watched it....

I enjoyed 47 Ronin, that bad Keanu Reeves movie from 2013, it's a fun bad action supernatural sword fighting movie in ancient setting, and this is the same.

Problems this movie has (do I need to show concern over spoilers at this point? It's nearly a year old):

1. Child Mulan is in a fatal accident, but she magnificently survives, and instead of people showing concern for the child's safety they just shrug it off and walk away from her, with some even showing dismay.
2. Why can the Rurans run on wall like Spider-Man? No ropes like the original, they just jump off their horses and run straight up the wall to kill the Chinese guards and then just return to the desert. This power did not serve them well later when now evil Bruce Lee was falling in the climax.
3. The witch can consume people, she's a cannibal that takes over a man's body and then it just disappears once she appears again. Why doesn't she just shape shift and walk in normally? Does she need to disguise as something in the same mass?
4. I thought chi was spiritual energy martial artist use to add power to their physical motion, and fiction used it for small energy projectiles shot by hand or for healing. I did not expect to watch someone using ninja techniques from Naruto using this energy.
5. Mulan aimed her sword at the guy who gave her a hand to help her stand? What am I supposed to get from this? It's insulting and not courteous to give your hand to someone that just fell on his/her seating?
6. "Pretending you are something you are not reduces your Chi". Why though? How does this work? Why is there a frozen lake of piss for their conversation?
7. Why did the witch save Mulan by letting the arrow pierce her own body? She observed the girl long enough to recognize her power at catching a fast flying arrow with her bare hand.

I liked the conversation the Rurans had as bad guy motivation:
"Gold is not enough"
"Then we shall have their blood"

Between animagus Ladyhawke from this film and dragon lady from 47 Ronin though; Dragon Witch is easily more impressive.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Watched this last night, never saw the original and it had some good moments but overall was very meh. The main actress was a stunner though. 6/10

 

[Deck Rickard]

I watched this a week or so ago. My partner, who is a HUGE fan of the original, HATED it. I’m a bit less of a Mulan stan but I also wasn’t impressed. The scenery, sets and costumes all looked great, and the bird sorceress character was cool. But other than that? So many of the scenes that tried to be epic just felt... cheesy? The Honest Trailer comment about how all Mulan seems to do is kick spears and swords out of the air and into guys’ chests was pretty spot on. A lot of the gravity defying action sequences seemed like they were trying to be Crouching Tiger or Hero but lacked the elegance of those films and reminded me of other Disney crap like John Carter. All in all; they had a chance to make a truly epic film here and they dropped the ball, IMO. They couldn’t seem to decide whether they wanted to lean into the silliness of the cartoon or make a serious film. I’m glad I didn’t pay $30 to rent this at home.

 

[psylockolussus]

I just finished. It was ....fine? I enjoyed parts of it but the movie just felt so...sterile. The actress who played Mulan lacked charisma and personality but it probably wasnt her fault since the overall tone of the film was very grounded and straight faced. The type of film that washes right over you as soon as your done.

Not a bad movie by any means but much like the Lion King remake last year, its...fine?

To me, it was definitely better than the live action films like Aladdin, Christopher Robin, Dumbo, Beauty and the Beast, Maleficent 1/2, Alice in Wonderland 1/2 and the Lion Kong.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Curious, what’s the general consensus on the best film in these live action Disney remakes? I’ve only seen this one, and about half of Beauty and the Beast, which I also wasn’t impressed with. Are any of the others worth watching? I’ve heard mostly bad things.

 

[TheVileOne]

Curious, what’s the general consensus on the best film in these live action Disney remakes? I’ve only seen this one, and about half of Beauty and the Beast, which I also wasn’t impressed with. Are any of the others worth watching? I’ve heard mostly bad things.

I think Jungle Book is a decent 7/10. All the other ones are either forgettable or trash.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I think Jungle Book is a decent 7/10. All the other ones are either forgettable or trash.

Ah yeah. I have to watch that one. It’s the only one that I’ve heard is really good.

They better not touch Robin Hood!

(Suddenly remembers that Hollywood cranks out another Robin Hood adaptation every 3.5 years and realizes that a “live action” CGI remake featuring a horrific-looking Robin that resembles the talking fox in Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist is a forgone conclusion.)

 

[TheVileOne]

IMHO a lot of Disney animated features don't even lend themselves to live-action remakes, so the novelty is kind of lost on me.

 

[flickchick85]

Curious, what’s the general consensus on the best film in these live action Disney remakes? I’ve only seen this one, and about half of Beauty and the Beast, which I also wasn’t impressed with. Are any of the others worth watching? I’ve heard mostly bad things.

Cinderella and The Jungle Book.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Cinderella and The Jungle Book.

Ah yeah I forgot they did Cinderella too. That one had Richard Madden so I definitely need to check it out.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

Cinderella 2015 is definitely one of the better Disney live action remakes IMO. Lily James really made that movie enjoyable for me plus she's just stunning to look at throughout the entire film.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yeah Lily James is eye candy and I’ve liked her in everything I’ve seen her in. Definitely need to watch that one.

 

[:eek:]

They better not touch Robin Hood!

It's Disney we're talking about, so...
'Robin Hood' Remake in the Works at Disney+ With 'Blindspotting' Director (Exclusive)

 

[Deck Rickard]

It's Disney we're talking about, so...
'Robin Hood' Remake in the Works at Disney+ With 'Blindspotting' Director (Exclusive)

Of course. Blindspotting was an amazing film though, so maybe this will be good? I guess it depends on whether they try to make the animals look realistic (which would be a mistake IMO).

 

[DarkKnight88]

A realistic anthropomorphic animal? The mind explodes.

 

[psylockolussus]

Curious, what’s the general consensus on the best film in these live action Disney remakes? I’ve only seen this one, and about half of Beauty and the Beast, which I also wasn’t impressed with. Are any of the others worth watching? I’ve heard mostly bad things.

Cinderella and The Jungle Book are good.