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Reviews
Mulan (2020)
Tweaking a Winning Formula is Never a Good Thing
When I first heard that a live action remake of Mulan was not going to have all the things that made the animated version so likeable (e.g. no Mushu, none of those nostalgic catchy music aside from the boring overrated 'Reflections', and getting rid of the fun comedy aspect of the original film), I immediately felt a big letdown by the big Mouse House. Needless to say, I knew this movie was going to flop. A serious mature version of Mulan has been made many times by Chinese filmmakers (and ALL have been forgettable) so if Disney had done their research they would know this.
A mature Mulan movie has never succeeded financially so Disney was indeed full of themselves for thinking that their mature version of Mulan would be any different. I feared that this film would become another Hong Kong martial arts film and sure enough, it did. The dumb wireworks, running up walls and defying gravity just made this film even more stupid to watch. They were not executed as well as wuxia films made in Hong Kong/China. Sure the visuals (sets and backdrops) are nice to look at but nothing that other Hollywood big budget films haven't provided before. Disney should have kept this live Mulan like the animated version.
This film's biggest mistake was hiring the wrong director to helm this project. It's evident that Niki Caro is not a true fan of the animated Mulan for if she was, she would have never considered this awful script (especially the idea of a Mulan gifted with Chi from birth) and excluded the best scenes from the cartoon version (the scene where Mulan stayed awake at night to contemplate about her decision to take her father's place in the army and the build up to her putting on the armor and riding off into the night or how she was outted at the end involuntarily). Here Mulan willingly exposes her identity all the while risk getting executed with nothing at all to gain from doing so. There's also a Wonder Woman moment in this version where Mulan took off her armor and let down her hair - it's a wonderful scene to look at but seriously - Earth to Mulan! What were the writers thinking?! You need those armor to protect you, especially in a battle where you are already outnumbered! I'd blame the Director for allowing this ridiculous script to come to life on screen.
Another major mistake was leaving out Shang. The romance between Mulan and General Li Shang was not controversial like Disney had stated due to the #MeToo movement. It is quite the contrary because Shang never harassed Mulan or made any inappropriate moves on her even after finding out that she's a girl. There was rumor that Shang might have been perceived as gay/bisexual for falling for Mulan. But in the animated version, Shang never even thought of Mulan in that way while she kept her identity hidden. It was only because he found out that she was a girl that he started to realize what a wonderful woman she is and therefore she became a potential romantic prospect for him. Like most single young men of the time, marriage is most likely important to Shang and to find a suitable girl is challenging, especially for military men who have very few if any options. So there was nothing homo or bi about Shang - and if that was the reason his character was excluded from this live action - then all the more proof that Disney chose the wrong people to make this film - or worse, that the creative team behind this project is a tad too closeminded.
Despite what others have said, if Disney wants to remake their hit animated classic films, they need to stick to the same winning formula that made the original version worked. Ignore the critics and keep it simple! The box office revenues of the live action Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Cinderella and The Lion King are all the proofs you need to know that this is true. Stray from the winning formula like this awful Mulan and Dumbo did and the films will suffer.
Jiang Ziya (2020)
Great Storytelling Accompanied by Top Notch Animation
This is China's attempt to set up a film universe like what Disney's done with Marvel. Last year we were introduced to Nezha, a popular character inspired by the 16th century Chinese classic novel "Feng Shen Yan Yi" (loosely translated as Investiture of the Gods). This year a quasi sequel to Nezha is brought to us in the form of another important character from the Investiture of the Gods universe - Jiang Ziya. Based on a real historical figure who helped overthrow the mad emperor of the Shang dynasty (King Zhou), Jiang Ziya is fictionalized here, yet true to the novel, as a deity-in-the-making who's already gifted with supernatural abilities and magical skills to help him rid the world of demonic beings.
Jiang Ziya is an intelligent take on the fictional tale from the Feng Shen fantastical universe. The movie remains somewhat loyal to the Feng Shen story in that it sets Jiang Ziya up as a divine celestial god from Heaven who was sent down to the mortal realm here on Earth to capture an evil fox spirit, Nine Tail, who possessed a young innocent but allegedly extremely beautiful maiden named Su Daji on the day she was heading off to become King Zhou's consort. Nine Tail and Daji shared an unbreakable bond (bound together by an ankle bracelet) since that fateful day as this pair of fox and human spirits became intertwined and destined to be together for eternity.
This film follows Jiang Ziya's journey to capture Nine Tail all the while attempting to release Daji from her unfortunate fate. Along the way, viewers are treated to beautiful rendering of colorful depictions of ancient China and cutesy character designs with top notch animations featuring fast paced kung fu fighting.
The storyline features elements and plots from the novel with added bonuses like the adorably cute heavenly fawn that acts like a puppy called Four Alike (whose Chinese name, "Si Bu Xiang", actually means the exact opposite - "Four Not Alike"). As in the novel, after the fall of the Shang dynasty, here too King Zhou is deified as a deity who manages the marriage affairs of mortals. And like the novel, the promise of deification to the nine tailed fox spirit for successfully completing her mission to seduce and overthrow King Zhou was not fulfilled as promised, thereby causing Nine Tail a lot of resentments and a desire for vengeance on the perpetrator.
I really enjoyed this film and that's maybe because I'm a big fan of "Investiture of the Gods". I find this much more enjoyable than last year's Nezha. I can't wait for it to release in 4k so that I can watch it again and certainly looking forward to next year's entry in this glorified Fengshen Cinematic Universe, "ErLang Shen" (God with Three Eyes). Until then, we still have the the live action version of this epic tale to look forward to (Director Wuershan's "Fengshen Trilogy")