You know what the writers and director of the new Mulan movie failed to understand from Disney’s original Mulan movie AND the original legend of Mulan? That Mulan was an ordinary girl.
Niki Caro (director of this 2020 movie) gave her this special “chi” magic and advanced martial arts skills in the beginning, stripping the character of all development that the original Mulan went through. That’s what bugged me about this movie - besides the lack of mushu, Shang, and the bopping music. They tried so hard to make her “special” that they lost what made her character relatable.
Mulan didn’t need to possess special magic to make her special.
In Disney’s animated movie, she started out just plain and clumsy and relatable before she LEARNED her martial arts skills yet what made her special above everyone was how she utilized her brain and wits to outsmart an entire army of men and the Huns.
THATS what I love most about the animated movie bc it showed how an ordinary girl, with her brain and love of her family, can lead an army and save China.
(Also they fucked up on the fact that Yifei Liu supports police brutality and the lack of PROPER Asian representation in director and behind the cameras)
