david-sarkies It is probably not all that strange that there is a Joan of Arc legend coming out of China, and when one considers it, there are probably a few stories floating around where somebody rose above their disabilities to become great. I say that because in these times women were supposed to stay at home in the villages while the men went to war, this was the case in 16th Century France as it was here in China. Okay, Joan was considered touched by God as it was a vision that made her take the fight to the English, where as Mulan did it out of a sense of honour.The period in China in which this story is set is quite vague. China has, for most of her history, pretty much dominated the region that it dominates now. China was never a collection of countries fighting against each other because once the Chin' reached dominance, despite the empire waxing and waning, it has always mostly been China. However, at the time of this movie, the Wei people were under attack from roaming bandits, but these bandits had decided that raiding wasn't as good because when winter comes they always had to return home, so they decided to invade and stay.The people of Wai thus had to go to war, and as was expected every family was to put up a male to join the army. With Mulan's family, a family with a long tradition of warriors, this was not possible as there was no males. So, instead of her elderly father going to war, Mulan disguises herself as a man and goes in his place. Though a lot of fortune, Mulan finds herself at the head of the army and she goes down in history as a great warrior.This movie isn't so much about how she hides among the men. It seems that it wasn't all that difficult. Chinese people don't grow facial hair like we do, and their hair was long, so as long as she remained clothed, she was safe. However she is caught out, but the person who catches her is on his way up anyway and decides to protect her, but as he goes up the ranks he brings Mulan with him.One of the things that made me think while watching this film is whether there is any incidence of grace or self-sacrifice outside of the Christian sphere. That is a very debatable point. Now, we see examples of this in this film, such as when the prince offers himself up to save his troops, or when Mulan takes her father's place, or even when she claims to be the thief of the prince's Jade card. However, this is a modern rendition of the story, so it is difficult to pull these ideas out of a modern mind set. In those days it was all about honour. If one's family is dishonoured, then you go an deal with it, violently or not. There is discipline, but this is something that is enforced to make a good army, not to show the graciousness of the human heart.Anyway, this film was okay. Not strictly an autobiography since Mulan seems lost in the mists of legend (unlike Joan of Arc) and her story comes down to us through a Chinese poem that has survived. However it is interesting to see a similar theme playing out through human history, and that of the person overcoming prejudices to succeed.

Boba_Fett1138 Thanks to Disney basically everyone already knows the story of Mulan. It's actually amazing how much better that movie is still, when compared to this one. It does a superior job at basically every department, most notably with its storytelling.This movie has absolutely got some of the worst pacing I have ever seen in any type of film. I just couldn't believe how bad it was! The pacing is totally off and there is absolutely no build up to anything! Not to its romance, not to its drama, not to any of characters, not to any of its action. Things just happen and often way too fast of each other. The one moment they are sitting in a tent, 20 seconds later they are training, 10 second later again their bathing and 15 seconds after that they are fighting an epic battle suddenly. And no, I'm not even making this up. How are you ever supposed to feel or care for anything that is happening in this movie, or for any of its characters. To be frank, I liked- and was interested far more in the movie its cartoonish villain.But you just can't simply blame only the pacing for this movie its failure. Credit for that also needs to go to Jingle Ma & Wei Dong very lifeless and unimaginative directing and the script, written by Ting Zhang. Just when you think that the movie is starting to get interesting and somewhat remotely epic, it has to make room for some soap-opera developments. This becomes especially disturbing at its end, which is just such a big anti-climax and totally not something that you would want and expect from a movie that presents itself as an epic.But it's already very distracting to begin with how flawed its main premise is. It of course builds on the fact that the main character is a woman, who tries to pass herself off as a man, in order to serve in the Chinese army, instead of her fragile, old father. Problem is that at no time Wei Zhao ever looks or even acts like a guy. She talks, walks and behaves like a woman, as if she isn't even doing an attempt to hide her gender. highly annoying, unlikely and distracting that no one in this movie seems to notice that 'he' is actually a she.The story has some soap opera type of developments to it but also has the look of it. This movie looks like it was a got made for TV production, while the movie still tries to present itself like its a grand, expensive movie of epic proportions. Granted that some of the battles are pretty good looking but the movie really doesn't put enough focus on them.Also annoying how patriotic this movie tried to be. It's a Chinse movie about a well known and inspirational Chinese figure, so it's understandable that they are proud of it and want to show this but the script is totally not suitable for a patriotic and nationalistic approach. It just isn't solid enough and has some really poor dialog, which lets the patriotic moments come across as weak, as well as misplaced.No, this never looked like a solid movie to me but I was at least expecting some entertainment and a good story to follow, since the tale of Hua Mulan in itself is of course a really great and fascinating one. This movie however just never surpasses the level of a straight to DVD or made for TV drama-production, with cardboard characters and bad dialog, disappointing acting and soap like developments with its story.4/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

estelgrace I was moved by this movie. It was a real good watch. Words escape me at the moment, but this review can say it all for me: http://yingweitan.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/movie-review-mulan-2009/ Also, the comment at the bottom of the article is very insightful.Differing from the usual route of Chinese epic movies, which usually portrays huge battle scenes, extravagant costumes, and such, this movie concentrated more on the character's development and emotions. As such, it is a movie that deserves a closer scrutiny than the passive habit we have of watching movies. I will not give it the 2 points for the 10/10 vote because my overly romantic self was denied something (you'll see). But then that's just me. :) I do not regret that I spent 113 minutes of my time on this. In fact, it made me all the more ready to face my own battle: life.

dvoon-missy-mcmuffin Having just caught it not too long ago, the memories of it is still fresh in my mind. I remembered as the lights to the cinemas brightened as the credits start to roll, it felt breathtaking to had partake in this film as an audience of it.Do NOT, and i repeat, do NOT, go into this film wanting it to be one of those battle-like army type of films one generally associates with the genre of epic at its core. For if you do, you will be disappointed for this is NOT one of those films that had been over-populated due to other greats like Braveheart, Gladiator etc. Those are epic genre all to their own merits......and so is this depiction of the legend of Hua Mulan. I would still classify it as an Epic to some degree, but leaning it more towards the genre of Drama and Romance, more akin to the likes of Tau Ming Chong (aka. Warlords that was released in 2007 starring Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro).There are battlefield scenes, Yes...but they are of minimal depiction based on the context of this film, that are used to carry the characterization of Hua Mulan that was perfectly casted with Vicki Zhao at the helm.There is a plot, and that plot is to drive the main theme of this film that is to showcase to us about how she grew into the character in legends. Whereas the subplot to it is that of her feelings. These feelings are then broken down into different categories, showcasing the main obvious emotional parts of her for the affection that she has for another. While concepts based on being a filial daughter to her father, and loyalty to the fellow troops that she commands and finally patriotism that drives her to do what she does for twelve years are all being explored, minimally but it is enough to drive her overall characterization in just under 2 hours (even though it may seemed longer than that).Having said this, there is no need for me to summarize the film for you readers as that is one of the beauties of storytelling, where it is for the viewers to partake for themselves to let the story be told to you by the story's presentation. And definitely not by me.Overall, if one is into a movie that is emotional (depending on individual's views upon what is regarded as emotional), and does not showcase violence for violence's sake, then i guess one can do themselves the favor of partaking on this trip of 2 hours into another era.Again i must stress, do NOT go into this film hoping to see the likes of battlefield scenes.For me, i would classify this film like the other greats of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; The House of Flying Daggers; Warlords; Musa, and the very recent Red Cliff saga. Jingle Ma's depiction of Mulan has merits all to its own to make it stand among these others.