Mulan (2009)
The story of Mulan whilst unbelievable was somehow made believable in the Disney movie, yet sadly very little attempt of believability is made for this live action movie., directed by Jingle Ma. In the space of around 20 minutes we are led to believe that Mulan was able to escape her father, enlist in the army, excel at training and win the respect of Wentai. The sequence of events is so rushed and badly framed that it truly damages the rest of the film. The battles were uninspiring and poorly-paced. Fast-motion fight scenes intended to conceal the fact that most of the actors were physical inadequate for their roles, coupled with too many slow-motion sequences of people getting impaled or killed, made for lousy, lousy battles. Thankfully the performances all round provided that lift to the film, and made it bearable. Zhao Wei is no rookie to period war dramas and her performance as Mulan is pretty decent. Chen Kun also held his own against the veteran actress, although one can feel that since this is a Mulan film then he's playing second fiddle. Unfortunately, there is no chemistry between Wei Zhao and Kun Chen to make us believe that they are truly star-struck lovers who would sacrifice life and limb for each other. Supporting roles range from Jaycee Chan to Hu Jun, who seem rather functional than to add any emotional depth to the film. Production design is top-notch and the acting is good. Otherwise, there is nothing special about "Mulan" that hasn't already been done before. Jingle Ma's version is a decent version... nothing less, nothing more.
- My Rating: 6.00/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
- IMDb: 6.5/10
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