Mulan
2020
**½
Director: Niki Caro
Cast: Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen, Tzi Ma, Jason Scott Lee, Yoson An, Ron Yuan, Gong Li, Jet Li
When Rouran warriors, assisted by a powerful witch, attack the forces in the north, the Emperor of China orders every family to contribute one man to the fight. Hua Mulan is a young free spirited woman who runs away from home and disguises herself as a man in order to join the imperial army. Much like her breakthrough feature Whale Rider, Niki Caro's live-action remake of the 1998 Disney animation tells a story of a young woman who has to be better than anyone else just to be accepted as she is. This is a well-staged and visually rich but oddly lifeless and joyless spectacle, which lacks the required sense of wonder to lift is above passable entertainment. The flat performances and clunky dialogue do not help.
