When the Emperor of China issues a decree that one man per family must serve in the Imperial Army to defend the country from Northern invaders, Hua Mulan (Yifei Liu), the oldest daughter of an honoured warrior, steps in to take the place of her father. Pretending to be a man, Hua Jun, she is tested every step of the way and must harness her inner-strength and embrace her true potential. It is an epic journey that will transform her into an honored warrior and earn her the respect of a grateful nation and a proud father.
So far so good, the plot is good. Let’s talk about a few more positive stuff before we get to some bad ones. I thought the decision to make this movie focus on battles/war was actually really good. If you want to do a hyper-realistic and serious approach to the movie, that is the best way to do it. The battles are entertaining and fly by really quickly. The epic Chinese music throughout this whole movie, especially through the battle scenes is beautiful to hear. I also quite love the movie’s messages. This movie is also super gorgeous to look at. Very colorful, beautiful scenery and landscapes. Yifei Liu is gorgeous as well. I think I might have a crush on her 
Now, onto the bad stuff… If you’re doing a hyper-realistic approach to the movie, why not change ALL the supernatural elements in this? There’s no talking dragon like in the animated movie, yet, you have a phoenix that keeps showing up and a witch who can turn herself into an owl or an army of bats… Also, everybody in this movie, especially Mulan herself, is a superhero. She’s Superman, she’s Wonder Woman throughout the whole movie. The things she does in this movie are literally god-like. You don’t fear for her survival at all, because there’s never a moment where she isn’t completely on top of things. Also, the action is too well choreographed. That makes action scenes look cool and entertaining, but, they lack tension, this is why you don’t care for the survival of any of the characters, because you know they’re all going to be ok, not even a scratch on them. I also had an issue with much of the acting. I would say the only consistently good actress was Li Gong as the witch…
I’m going to give this movie an overall of 6/10*…
Director: Niki Caro
Written by: Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Elizabeth Martin, Lauren Hynek
Starring: Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, Tzi Ma, Li Gong, Jason Scott Lee, Yoson An
Runtime: 112 minutes
