Arch Dornan
Oh, lovely. They've sent me a mo-ron.
Yeah no I'd rather rewatch Blade than see that poor fight scene.
Movies Disney's Mulan Live Action Remake
- Thread starter Arch Dornan
- Start date
Yeah no I'd rather rewatch Blade than see that poor fight scene.
KilroywasNOTHere
"BEEP!"
how is it that an animated film with a talking dragon and an anthropmorphic cricket give somehow feels more grounded and realistic than a live action movie with based on "real" martial arts
CarlManvers2019
Writers Blocked Douchebag
Honestly THIS is WAY more "realistic" than that scene and with FAR more impact for fight scenes
Yeah they seemed to miss the point that Mulan in the Disney film wasn't supposed to be a generic action hero(ine) but she still managed to save China thanks to being smart and clever.
Mulan killed ten times more people in the animated film then the entire Hun horde. Whose the real Hun?
Well I actually watched the new movie Mulan (so YOU don't have to! 
)
A group of friends and I had a holiday planned for April which never happened due to silly restrictions and on it we were going to watch Mulan at the cinemas one night. So a couple nights ago we got together at my place, ordered Chinese food, drank lots of alcohol and watched Mulan on Disney Plus.
As a standalone movie? its medicore pap.
In comparison to the cartoon? it is inferior in so many ways and that fact in itself is appalling.
I'd normally get started with the 'good' but to be honest, considering its a Disney production, things like 'good cinematography and camera work' are to be bloody EXPECTED. Tabulating them up as 'good' would be like congratulating an Olympic sprinter for not tripping over in a race. We KNOW that the quality of the camerawork and production values is probably going to be top notch and it was.
Now onto the bad.
Mulan is a Mary Sue. She is born with special superpowers ('Chi') that her father tells her to hide early in the movie after she is seen running across rooftops Spiderman like and making impossible leaps and acrobatic moves whilst trying to catch a chicken.
ergo, that whole military camp training stuff? All fucking pointless because Mulan NEVER NEEDED IT, in fact it is outright shown that Mulan is in fact hiding her true strength and abilities the whole time. "But wait!" I hear you say, "Surely she has some weakness?!" to which I shall reply, that YES she does...
Mulans weakness is that she is hiding her identity as a girl and as soon as she casts off her male guise by undoing her hair, taking off her breast bindings (and throwing away all of her ARMOUR) she rides back into the battle and curbstomps all her opponents. Believe it or not she could still get away with hiding her identity at this point as no one clearly sees this but NOPE, she has to make a stand and reveals to all her unit that she is a WOMAN! (nevermind the fact that she along with her father could be executed if this is revealed).
Her commander (who is her fathers age and not a love interest in this movie) shows mercy and instantly tells her to go away and if he ever sees her again he will execute her.
Less than a day later after the murderous, shapeshifting, body possessing super witch who respects and wants Mulan to join her tells Mulan her bosses plan Mulan rides back into the camp and says "The whole battle you all just barely survived was a feint and the bad guys are actually going to the capital!" The men in her unit all one by one start proclaiming "I believe Mulan", "I believe Mulan", "I believe Mulan" in some 'I am Spartacus-me-too' moment and her officer immediately declares that they will ride to the capital and that Mulan will lead them...
Anyway, to shorten the Mary Sue factor bit, they ride to the capital. All the imperial guard are sent elsewhere by the flying shapeshifting witch impersonating the Prime Minister and Mulans commander tells her unit to distract the attacking ninja-Arab-Rouran dudes because Mulan MUST get through! The Emperor is captured and about to be overly dramatically killed but Mulan saves him after defeating the main bad guy in a straight up fight (but not before the flying shapeshifting witch dies by flying in front of an arrow meant for Mulan... because that was the only way she could save her apparently).
So Mulan is awesome, Mulan was always awesome, she only had to realise how awesome she was to reach her peak awesomeness, everyone acknowledges how awesome she is, even her most powerful opponent switches sides and dies to protect her because Mulan is so awesome. Mulan rides home and then accepts her dads apology for holding her back from being super awesome and we end the film with Mulan being offered an awesome job as an officer in the imperial guard.
.... yeah. The original cartoon had so much more heart and better characterisation than this shit, it told a story well and kept the storyline tight and focussed it had humour and some genuine emotional moments. This live action version had almost NONE of that.
The whole character of the super witch was uneccessary bullshit. She detracted time from the main characters development and raised so many plotholes and problems and her complete absence in the movie would not have been missed. The most burning question would be that they got rid of Mushu and put this character in?
The whole 'chi' power thing? Not only uneccessary it actively detracted from the quality of the story as it nullified almost half of the movie into pointless territory and robbed the main character of real achievements that in the cartoon led to some of the best parts of the movie. Is 'chi' power a stand-in for female empowerment? Nope because in the movie it is implied that its mostly men who have it and that you're born with it.
Mulans motivations for going off to war are pointed out in a hamfisted way that stands in inferior contrast to the cartoon. One minute we see Mulans father stumbling on his gimp leg in front of everyone as he accepts his summons and his Mum actively telling Mulan and her sister (a character who adds two jokes in the film) that their father won't come home. The next Mulan is in full armour and riding the horse out of the weird donut house thingy, strangely unnoticed by anyone.
In the cartoon it was done far more powerfully with nuance and subtlety that conveyed the unexpressed emotions boiling beneath the surface. Mulans father stoicism and dedication to duty, Mulans love for her father and her mothers heartache as the impending loss of her husband. Then Mulans decision! the cutting of her hair, the strapping on of the armour and the sword even the fucking horse being surprised and not recognising Mulan at first when she approaches it. In the live action version we're apparently too stupid to get all this and have to be told everything straight up.
Instead of Mushu we get a guardian pheonix sent by her fathers prayer to look over Mulan... when it first appears to Mulan she exclaims "A pheonix!" with no one nearby to hear...the bird does pretty much nothing throughout the movie except fly around and... I dunno... be inspirational I guess. It doesn't even catch fire at any point.
This movie taken on its own is more current day hamfisted messaging Hollywood pap that can be forgotten about by everyone.
As a supposed remake of an animated classic it stands in abject inferiority to the story telling and character building qualities of the original animated film.
It doesn't even give us any decent songs.
In short, there is more character building and storytelling in this ONE song then there is in this entire 2hr live action movie remake.
)A group of friends and I had a holiday planned for April which never happened due to silly restrictions and on it we were going to watch Mulan at the cinemas one night. So a couple nights ago we got together at my place, ordered Chinese food, drank lots of alcohol and watched Mulan on Disney Plus.
As a standalone movie? its medicore pap.
In comparison to the cartoon? it is inferior in so many ways and that fact in itself is appalling.
I'd normally get started with the 'good' but to be honest, considering its a Disney production, things like 'good cinematography and camera work' are to be bloody EXPECTED. Tabulating them up as 'good' would be like congratulating an Olympic sprinter for not tripping over in a race. We KNOW that the quality of the camerawork and production values is probably going to be top notch and it was.
Now onto the bad.
Mulan is a Mary Sue. She is born with special superpowers ('Chi') that her father tells her to hide early in the movie after she is seen running across rooftops Spiderman like and making impossible leaps and acrobatic moves whilst trying to catch a chicken.
ergo, that whole military camp training stuff? All fucking pointless because Mulan NEVER NEEDED IT, in fact it is outright shown that Mulan is in fact hiding her true strength and abilities the whole time. "But wait!" I hear you say, "Surely she has some weakness?!" to which I shall reply, that YES she does...
Mulans weakness is that she is hiding her identity as a girl and as soon as she casts off her male guise by undoing her hair, taking off her breast bindings (and throwing away all of her ARMOUR) she rides back into the battle and curbstomps all her opponents. Believe it or not she could still get away with hiding her identity at this point as no one clearly sees this but NOPE, she has to make a stand and reveals to all her unit that she is a WOMAN! (nevermind the fact that she along with her father could be executed if this is revealed).
Her commander (who is her fathers age and not a love interest in this movie) shows mercy and instantly tells her to go away and if he ever sees her again he will execute her.
Less than a day later after the murderous, shapeshifting, body possessing super witch who respects and wants Mulan to join her tells Mulan her bosses plan Mulan rides back into the camp and says "The whole battle you all just barely survived was a feint and the bad guys are actually going to the capital!" The men in her unit all one by one start proclaiming "I believe Mulan", "I believe Mulan", "I believe Mulan" in some 'I am Spartacus-me-too' moment and her officer immediately declares that they will ride to the capital and that Mulan will lead them...
Anyway, to shorten the Mary Sue factor bit, they ride to the capital. All the imperial guard are sent elsewhere by the flying shapeshifting witch impersonating the Prime Minister and Mulans commander tells her unit to distract the attacking ninja-Arab-Rouran dudes because Mulan MUST get through! The Emperor is captured and about to be overly dramatically killed but Mulan saves him after defeating the main bad guy in a straight up fight (but not before the flying shapeshifting witch dies by flying in front of an arrow meant for Mulan... because that was the only way she could save her apparently).
So Mulan is awesome, Mulan was always awesome, she only had to realise how awesome she was to reach her peak awesomeness, everyone acknowledges how awesome she is, even her most powerful opponent switches sides and dies to protect her because Mulan is so awesome. Mulan rides home and then accepts her dads apology for holding her back from being super awesome and we end the film with Mulan being offered an awesome job as an officer in the imperial guard.
.... yeah. The original cartoon had so much more heart and better characterisation than this shit, it told a story well and kept the storyline tight and focussed it had humour and some genuine emotional moments. This live action version had almost NONE of that.
The whole character of the super witch was uneccessary bullshit. She detracted time from the main characters development and raised so many plotholes and problems and her complete absence in the movie would not have been missed. The most burning question would be that they got rid of Mushu and put this character in?
The whole 'chi' power thing? Not only uneccessary it actively detracted from the quality of the story as it nullified almost half of the movie into pointless territory and robbed the main character of real achievements that in the cartoon led to some of the best parts of the movie. Is 'chi' power a stand-in for female empowerment? Nope because in the movie it is implied that its mostly men who have it and that you're born with it.
Mulans motivations for going off to war are pointed out in a hamfisted way that stands in inferior contrast to the cartoon. One minute we see Mulans father stumbling on his gimp leg in front of everyone as he accepts his summons and his Mum actively telling Mulan and her sister (a character who adds two jokes in the film) that their father won't come home. The next Mulan is in full armour and riding the horse out of the weird donut house thingy, strangely unnoticed by anyone.
In the cartoon it was done far more powerfully with nuance and subtlety that conveyed the unexpressed emotions boiling beneath the surface. Mulans father stoicism and dedication to duty, Mulans love for her father and her mothers heartache as the impending loss of her husband. Then Mulans decision! the cutting of her hair, the strapping on of the armour and the sword even the fucking horse being surprised and not recognising Mulan at first when she approaches it. In the live action version we're apparently too stupid to get all this and have to be told everything straight up.
Instead of Mushu we get a guardian pheonix sent by her fathers prayer to look over Mulan... when it first appears to Mulan she exclaims "A pheonix!" with no one nearby to hear...the bird does pretty much nothing throughout the movie except fly around and... I dunno... be inspirational I guess. It doesn't even catch fire at any point.
This movie taken on its own is more current day hamfisted messaging Hollywood pap that can be forgotten about by everyone.
As a supposed remake of an animated classic it stands in abject inferiority to the story telling and character building qualities of the original animated film.
It doesn't even give us any decent songs.
In short, there is more character building and storytelling in this ONE song then there is in this entire 2hr live action movie remake.
Last edited:
Arch Dornan
Oh, lovely. They've sent me a mo-ron.
If they're going to make a mess of it make it a kung fluxploitation film and maybe there's something to salvage.
CarlManvers2019
Writers Blocked Douchebag
Honestly, I think Robert E. Howard writes female characters WAY better than whoever made this insult to the original Mulan
en.wikipedia.org
Even WITHOUT being the MC, he still makes more legitimately Badass female characters
en.wikipedia.org
Without even remotely denigrating their male counterparts or making em sort of subservient either
Dark Agnes de Chastillon - Wikipedia
Even WITHOUT being the MC, he still makes more legitimately Badass female characters
The Shadow of the Vulture - Wikipedia
Without even remotely denigrating their male counterparts or making em sort of subservient either
I just saw the Screen Rant Pitch Meeting on Mulan. Usually don't watch them but since I wasn't planning on seeing this for thirty bucks on Disney Plus anyways I figured it'd be a good substitute way to watch the film.
Quite hilarious. They certainly didn't imitate the other life action remakes and make it a near total scene for scene adaption lol.
But Yeah skit basically touched and expanded on what Es stated in their humorous skit. Sounds very bad indeed. Maybe it was saved from being panned in a wide theatrical release.
Quite hilarious. They certainly didn't imitate the other life action remakes and make it a near total scene for scene adaption lol.
But Yeah skit basically touched and expanded on what Es stated in their humorous skit. Sounds very bad indeed. Maybe it was saved from being panned in a wide theatrical release.
Arch Dornan
Oh, lovely. They've sent me a mo-ron.
Tryglaw
Well-known member
Hey, movies by Shaw Brothers studio were awesome (in a completely cheesy way). So was "early" Jackie Chan before he became famous. (Though he continued to be awesome...)
KilroywasNOTHere
"BEEP!"
I'm pretty sure the REAL Disney would have a stroke if he were to see what has happened to his creation.
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
He'd also probably buy an AA-12 and go Rambo on the executives
CarlManvers2019
Writers Blocked Douchebag
CCP is the modern National Socialist Party, complete with concentration camps that turn the people they murder into products
Soap and Wigs from China maybe human
Don't joke about that.
CarlManvers2019
Writers Blocked Douchebag
Not a joke
These past two years I sorta realized how increasingly horrible China was
I'm no fan of the CCP but that video is a bit misleading.
Offering thanks in the credits to the regional security bureau in the area where you filmed your movie is hardly 'this means it was filmed in a concentration camp'. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that in that province the security bureau ALSO provides security! Such as a sprawling film shoot may require in a remote region with a history of terrorist attacks.
To that guy in the video if you're going to get upset over something, at least think it through a bit beforehand. Going off like this on something as inane as it is undercuts your credibility.
Offering thanks in the credits to the regional security bureau in the area where you filmed your movie is hardly 'this means it was filmed in a concentration camp'. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that in that province the security bureau ALSO provides security! Such as a sprawling film shoot may require in a remote region with a history of terrorist attacks.
To that guy in the video if you're going to get upset over something, at least think it through a bit beforehand. Going off like this on something as inane as it is undercuts your credibility.
Terthna
Professional Lurker
Still, you'd think that whoever is in charge of PR over at Disney would realize that openly associating with foreign government organizations, that are also involved in running concentration camps, in the credits of their film is a bad look. Then again, western media seems to have mostly decided that how China treats their Uighur population is unimportant (especially when compared to how much money they can make in the Chinese market), so I suppose it's possible it just never occurred to them that this wasn't a good idea.
Anyways, this video does a better job I think of examining the information that has come out about the film. without making too many wild assumptions about what it means (which TheQuartering often does; to the detriment of his credibility):
Arch Dornan
Oh, lovely. They've sent me a mo-ron.
Nooooooo! My China bucks!