Niki Caro‘s ‘Mulan‘ is a film that strives to please as large an audience as possible. The investment of over 200 million dollars makes this production fall into the category of the most expensive films in Hollywood and because it is also a film with a strong feminist message it is worth mentioning that it is currently the most expensive production in the history of cinema. directed by a woman. The producers, of course, dream to recoup their investment, which is not an easy task given that the premiere takes place in the year of the COVID-19 pandemic when most cinemas in North America are closed. The challenge of looking for success on alternative streaming channels and in international markets, but especially in China, in parallel with trying to make the film attractive to the traditional audiences of the Disney Studios (children plus one or two generations of company) but also to art martial arts lovers or historical dramas fans have led to the creation of a mixture in which quite a few compromises have inherently been made. The result is a carefully choreographed film, and I’m not just talking about action scenes, and a visually appealing one, but lacking depth and avoiding controversy.
The script takes on the legend of Mulan already addressed in a Disney cartoon film made in 1998 and emphasizes both the feminist and patriotic messages. The daughter of the warior who takes the place of her sick father in the army recruited by the emperor to fight against foreign invasions is endowed with vital forces (the legendary Chinese ‘qi’) specific to the great fighters. The problem in a male-dominated society was at that time that women with such qualities could be nothing but witches. These prejudices, of course, existed not only in the Far East but also in Catholic Europe or in the colonies of Puritan and Protestant North America. Vital forces are strengthened by moral qualities – courage, loyalty to friends, and faith in the truth, and Mulan will only be able to achieve her destiny by revealing her true identity. The screenwriters managed to navigate skillfully in the politically-correct and ideological labyrinths, and to add to the basic moral qualities the family values that work well on any meridian. The result is a little too rose-watered, but not more so than in other Disney movies, and I think it will be quite appealing to the children generations of today and in the future.
From a cinematographic point of view, Niki Caro‘s film is very well done, combining the landscapes filmed on location in China and New Zealand, the stunts and the effects of computer graphics. The lovers of martial arts in movies can also enjoy a copious and well-executed ,even if not very original, feast of acrobatics, flights and running on vertical walls. Yifei Liu plays the lead model role well, but the most interesting character in the film is her enemy, the evil witch Xianniang, played by Li Gong. Xianniang is what Mulan could become if she doesn’t pursue the truth and good causes, and the dialogue between the two women with extraordinary ‘qi’ forces is perhaps the best moment of the film, and the one in which the feminist message seems truer and less didactic. I believe that the commercial success of ‘Mulan‘ is guaranteed, and even if it will not make as much money as the producers had originally planned. The investments will be recovered and the profit will increase over time. But I don’t think it will become a reference film, one of those that will enter the ranks of the immortal classics of the Disney Studios.