The numerous battle scenes are impressive and look realistic so if you are expecting highly choreographed almost balletic action of wuxia films you may be a little disappointed. Like many people my introduction to the legend of Mulan was the Disney animation not surprisingly this is a very different affair more deaths and less singing! The biggest surprise for me was that this legendary characters isn't depicted as an unswerving heroine she has her doubts and questions what she is doing which makes her feel all the more human. Ultimately she must face the brutal Rouran leader and decide just how much she is willing to sacrifice for her country. Her moral and that of her men collapses but her old friend persuades her to return training and once more battles are won. Mulan and Wentai rise to the rank of general after many victories but eventually Mulan has had enough of the killing Wentai tells her she can sit out the next battle and almost inevitable when it is over she hears that he has been killed.
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Surprisingly only two people know her secret a childhood friend from her village and Wentai, the battalion's second in command, who decides to protect her secret. She has trained in martial arts and excels in her first battle this leads to her rapid promotion. Being the only man in his family retired soldier Hua Hu enlists to fight despite being unwell knowing he will die if he fights his daughter Mulan goes in his place. In order to protect the country each military family must send one male to fight. In the fifth century China is constantly being attacked by the marauding Rouran from the north. MULAN should be an instant classic instead it's a crashing bore. The dull-as-dishwater storyline means there's no decent action, the choreography is frankly terrible, and aside from a thirty-second segment at the climax, there's no excitement or suspense to speak of. Although the cinematography makes this film look good, it's far from entertaining. Zhao Wei's acting can't be faulted, but the attempts at character and personality are so poorly conceived that the audience couldn't care less about any of the characters, from Jaycee Chan's irritating attempts at a buffoon to Kun Chen's bawling crybaby. Instead, at least half of the (oh so lengthy) running times chronicles Mulan's descent into an endless depression as she laments a lost love and wishes she were elsewhere.
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Those hoping for spectacle and battle will be sorely disappointed, as Jingle Ma's appalling direction sees the war scenes glossed over and dealt with in a purely defunct way. Unlike recent, rousing fare from China such as RED CLIFF or THREE KINGDOMS, MULAN is a maudlin and pondering exercise in narrative that doesn't really seem to be about anything.
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The blame should be laid at the door of scriptwriter Ting Zhang, whose leaden and obviously obvious attempts at emotion and characterisation drag this one into the mire from the very beginning. By all rights, MULAN should be THE definitive retelling of the story about the famous woman warrior: it's a big-budget Chinese historical war film, made with a huge crew and cast, actors who have previously excelled in other movies, and a thoroughly serious look at a woman out of place in a man's world.