Xactly.
Three months flashes by so fast that I don’t know what people's problems are in waiting for cinema films to come to home video. It literally flashes past — so often I’m in a store (obv pre-2020) and am surprised that a movie I saw advertised "last week" suddenly has a bunch of copies on the shelves for taking home.
Naturally, I’m talking a slightly different topic, but the point is that three months, or even just two months, whizzes past so quick, especially three days, that it’s hardly any real, time to wait.
Mulan (Live-action remake)
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Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)
Well I finally got around to watching this last night, via old school DVD. And wow, the only way to explain my opinion of the movie is to describe it as a boring hot mess. It was like Disney wanted their cake and to eat it too. They wanted a new version of the story, but also wanted the nostalgia of their original animated classic.
The first red flag for me was the changing of the Disney Studio logo at the start, which I felt was unnecessary. I know they've done it for other movies, but this one just felt like pandering to the Chinese censors for some reason.
Why do these remakes insist on adding extra minutes to the original? All it does is drag out the story and most of the tie it is unnecessary and there was a lot of unnecessary filler in this movie. The biggest issue I have with the movie is that pre-production the creators excuse for removing the songs was that it wasn't realistic to start singing as you go off to war. Which is a fine reason, but if that's the reason you can't have people running up a wall, a person turning into a hawk and the presence of a phoenix. It's one or the other not both. And if you are going to remove the songs, don't recreate the song scenes or incorporate lyrics into the dialogue.
I felt the pacing was way off with this movie. All those scenes with the bad guy and the witch will dragged the story to a halt. The fact it took Mulan over 20 minutes to conquer the mountain with the water pails, when the original did the same thing in 3 1/2 minutes (and more emotionally may I add), shows the lack of the creators understanding of what made the original so good.
I also felt it was wrong for Mulan to embrace the real her BEFORE the avalanche. The impact of her troop discovering who she was, wasn't as powerful in this movie. And the avalanche in general sucked, it was more thrilling in the animated version. I also felt the way society ignored females during that time was also diminished by having Mulan lead her troops to the Imperial city. It was more powerful seeing everyone ignore her warnings during the celebrations that what was presented in this movie. And I don't understand why they removed the emperor to a construction site for the final showdown.
I found myself constantly quoting the original movie as scenes happened and it made me realise just how joyless this version was. It really did come across as Oscar-bait and pretentious. It was too busy trying to be a female empowerment movie (which I don't mind) that they forgot about basic story telling (which I do mind).
I did appreciate the cameo of Ming-Na which bought a smile to my face. And I also found the love interest to lean more into the bisexual spectrum than Shang did in the original, I almost convinced myself that when Mulan revealed herself, he would be heartbroken she was a woman and not a man. The score and cinematography was lovely.
Where would I place this in their remakes. Well it was much more bearable than The Lion King. So I think I would place it just about Beauty and below The Jungle Book. So about 4th on my list of the movies I've seen.
Oh and I also don't need to hear the phrase 'Loyal, Brave an True' for a long time.
The first red flag for me was the changing of the Disney Studio logo at the start, which I felt was unnecessary. I know they've done it for other movies, but this one just felt like pandering to the Chinese censors for some reason.
Why do these remakes insist on adding extra minutes to the original? All it does is drag out the story and most of the tie it is unnecessary and there was a lot of unnecessary filler in this movie. The biggest issue I have with the movie is that pre-production the creators excuse for removing the songs was that it wasn't realistic to start singing as you go off to war. Which is a fine reason, but if that's the reason you can't have people running up a wall, a person turning into a hawk and the presence of a phoenix. It's one or the other not both. And if you are going to remove the songs, don't recreate the song scenes or incorporate lyrics into the dialogue.
I felt the pacing was way off with this movie. All those scenes with the bad guy and the witch will dragged the story to a halt. The fact it took Mulan over 20 minutes to conquer the mountain with the water pails, when the original did the same thing in 3 1/2 minutes (and more emotionally may I add), shows the lack of the creators understanding of what made the original so good.
I also felt it was wrong for Mulan to embrace the real her BEFORE the avalanche. The impact of her troop discovering who she was, wasn't as powerful in this movie. And the avalanche in general sucked, it was more thrilling in the animated version. I also felt the way society ignored females during that time was also diminished by having Mulan lead her troops to the Imperial city. It was more powerful seeing everyone ignore her warnings during the celebrations that what was presented in this movie. And I don't understand why they removed the emperor to a construction site for the final showdown.
I found myself constantly quoting the original movie as scenes happened and it made me realise just how joyless this version was. It really did come across as Oscar-bait and pretentious. It was too busy trying to be a female empowerment movie (which I don't mind) that they forgot about basic story telling (which I do mind).
I did appreciate the cameo of Ming-Na which bought a smile to my face. And I also found the love interest to lean more into the bisexual spectrum than Shang did in the original, I almost convinced myself that when Mulan revealed herself, he would be heartbroken she was a woman and not a man. The score and cinematography was lovely.
Where would I place this in their remakes. Well it was much more bearable than The Lion King. So I think I would place it just about Beauty and below The Jungle Book. So about 4th on my list of the movies I've seen.
Oh and I also don't need to hear the phrase 'Loyal, Brave an True' for a long time.
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Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)
We watched it l last weekend. I was able to enjoy it, and didn't find it boring; but tellingly it mostly reminded me of how much I liked the animated version... .which my wife asked to watch immediately after we viewed the live action one. So we did. And it was the more satisfyingly of the two, for sure.
That said, my wife did actually love the new one as well, somewhat more than I did. While my son was put off by the mystical elements, my wife - who is from Asia - said that it wouldn't be an Asian tale without them.
The director talking about being realistic" was obviously not really the true intention, and it misled us into thinking what we would be getting was different than what we got. What was actually meant was, "I didn't want to do a musical," which is fair enough. I liked the historical epic approach. Those mystical elements, including soldiers being able to run up walls, matches what I've seen in some other Asian cinema. From that perspective, songs sung by cast members may seem less "realistic" to Asian filmmakers than human transformation into birds. It's a matter of what one is accustomed to.
However, the addition of the witch into the plot didn't quite work, blurring the focus of just who the antagonist was. And the backstory of the witch broke the cardinal rule of "show, don't tell." The film may have been better served by contrasting the tale of Mulan and the witch more directly, showing them both growing up and marching towards their destinies from opposite sides. Instead, the witch was just an awkward insertion.
And as Bill (and others) said, this is another one of those weird hybrids that tries to be separate, yet not entirely so, from the animated version. It may have been better to not even use any of the same music (or scenes, for that matter) from the animated version, since it only served as a reminder of what we were NOT getting in any given scene. "Oh, right, this was my favourite part of the original. How come they didn't do it that way?"
I also thought the broad comedy of the matchmaker scene didn't fit the overall tone well (though, again, that is consistent with a lot of Asian cinema as well). I didn't mind the whole "chi" thing, as it's somewhat true to the culture. I thought that it was okay that she "discovered" her power early, as that wasn't (unlike many animated films) the point of her journey this time. The point was allowing herself to show what she was, in more than one way, and to challenge the preconceptions and expectations of her society. The challenge was more external than internal.
One big issue I had, though, was that the goofy boy soldiers should have, by all rights, been absolutely slaughtered in battle. They certainly didn't seem battle-ready to me. So much for realism, again.
I know that Ben found Ming Na's cameo too obvious and "winky," but that's just how such a cameo works. I liked it fine. (But then, I'm always happy to see MIng Na... longtime big crush.)
As for its place in the live action remakes... it was about average. OK, not great. Dumbo is at the top (along with Lady and the Tramp, if we can count that), followed by Aladdin and then Pete's Dragon and Lion King; BATB and Cinderella are at the bottom for me (Cinders was okay, just boring, while BATB was an abomination). Let's face it, it's not exactly an esteemed list.
It was funny seeing Rosalind Chao in this, as her character was just introduced in the episodes of Star Trek: TNG that I've been watching with my son this month.
That said, my wife did actually love the new one as well, somewhat more than I did. While my son was put off by the mystical elements, my wife - who is from Asia - said that it wouldn't be an Asian tale without them.
The director talking about being realistic" was obviously not really the true intention, and it misled us into thinking what we would be getting was different than what we got. What was actually meant was, "I didn't want to do a musical," which is fair enough. I liked the historical epic approach. Those mystical elements, including soldiers being able to run up walls, matches what I've seen in some other Asian cinema. From that perspective, songs sung by cast members may seem less "realistic" to Asian filmmakers than human transformation into birds. It's a matter of what one is accustomed to.
However, the addition of the witch into the plot didn't quite work, blurring the focus of just who the antagonist was. And the backstory of the witch broke the cardinal rule of "show, don't tell." The film may have been better served by contrasting the tale of Mulan and the witch more directly, showing them both growing up and marching towards their destinies from opposite sides. Instead, the witch was just an awkward insertion.
And as Bill (and others) said, this is another one of those weird hybrids that tries to be separate, yet not entirely so, from the animated version. It may have been better to not even use any of the same music (or scenes, for that matter) from the animated version, since it only served as a reminder of what we were NOT getting in any given scene. "Oh, right, this was my favourite part of the original. How come they didn't do it that way?"
I also thought the broad comedy of the matchmaker scene didn't fit the overall tone well (though, again, that is consistent with a lot of Asian cinema as well). I didn't mind the whole "chi" thing, as it's somewhat true to the culture. I thought that it was okay that she "discovered" her power early, as that wasn't (unlike many animated films) the point of her journey this time. The point was allowing herself to show what she was, in more than one way, and to challenge the preconceptions and expectations of her society. The challenge was more external than internal.
One big issue I had, though, was that the goofy boy soldiers should have, by all rights, been absolutely slaughtered in battle. They certainly didn't seem battle-ready to me. So much for realism, again.
I know that Ben found Ming Na's cameo too obvious and "winky," but that's just how such a cameo works. I liked it fine. (But then, I'm always happy to see MIng Na... longtime big crush.)
As for its place in the live action remakes... it was about average. OK, not great. Dumbo is at the top (along with Lady and the Tramp, if we can count that), followed by Aladdin and then Pete's Dragon and Lion King; BATB and Cinderella are at the bottom for me (Cinders was okay, just boring, while BATB was an abomination). Let's face it, it's not exactly an esteemed list.
It was funny seeing Rosalind Chao in this, as her character was just introduced in the episodes of Star Trek: TNG that I've been watching with my son this month.
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