Film review: Mulan

Mulan
On: Disney+ Hotstar
Dir: Niki Caro
Runtime: 113 mins
Cast: Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen, Gong Li, Tzi Ma, Jet Li
Rating: Three

Mulan's Chinese historical/folk-lore origin dates back centuries but Disney first brought it to the audience in the '90s through its much beloved animated musical effort - so this current film under review is the live-action version fashioned with a sort of spirited relevance to the current times.

Director Niki Caro, having experienced success with Whale Rider (2002), gives Mulan a contemporary rootedness without undermining its ancient underpinnings. Her narrative spiel is of course derived from the script by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek, and interweaves ancient Chinese lyricism with Easter eggs and western concepts. Mulan doesn't have a dragon sidekick Mushu, the cricket or the funny souls of ancestors (as shown in the 1998 animated version). Instead she has to make do with a Phoenix that takes its own sweet time rising from the ashes (so-to-speak).

Caro's live-action take on the classic story of a young Chinese woman, who disguises herself as a man to become a warrior, takes us on a culturally rich adventure, emboldened by impressive special effects and stunning action sequences. From wuxia-inspired aerial stunts to gravity defying martial arts, the action and visual effects have a range and an effect that keeps your eyes glued to the screens. The narrative flags in momentum when it comes to the storytelling, but eventually rises out of that morass in the inspired representation of Mulan's ultimate acceptance of her inner strength. Caro's adaptation of the Chinese legend, The Ballad of Mulan, may not have the integrity of realism to placate the discerning, but it rakes in an enjoyment that is equal to its two-dimensional animated predecessor, even without the songs to aid it!

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