Mulan, is a young girl living with her parents and younger sister Xiu in her village in China. Chasing a rogue chicken through the common space, when it flies onto the roof, Mulan thinks nothing of following the bird to the shock of their neighbours. As the chicken flies off the roof and back into its coop, Mulan's father, Zhou along with their neighbours, watches as she slips on the tiles. However, Mulan easily saves herself, her strange display causing people to shake their heads.
That night Mulan's parents argue with her father saying Mulan is young while her mother reminds him a daughter's place is to bring honour to a family through marriage. While Mulan's sister Xiu will have no problems, they will have trouble making a match for an unconventional daughter like Mulan. Mulan's mother is concerned she will be considered a witch.
Meanwhile, on the Silk Road in northwest China, a lone caravan driver encounters a strange woman, dressed in black. This woman, Xianniang takes on the man's form and travels to an outpost, easily walking inside. The outpost is then attacked by Rourans, who overrun the defenses. Xianniang, the black witch, emerges from her disguise, helping the Rourans to destroy the outpost. She assumes a soldier's form and now travels to the Imperial City in Central China where she appears before the emperor as the soldier.
The Chancellor tells the Emperor that to date six outposts along the Silk Road have fallen in coordinated attacks. This has disrupted all trade and could lead to the collapse of the kingdom. The surviving soldier (really Xianniang) states that the attackers are Rourans, led by Bori Khan who fights alongside a woman whose chi is "beyond imagining". When the emperor states that he killed Bori Khan, the soldier reveals that it is Bori Khan's son who has taken his father's name and who leads the attacks. When the Chancellor reminds him that it is illegal to use chi for evil, the soldier tells the court that she has trained elite shadow warriors to aid Bori Khan. The emperor decrees that every family in the kingdom will supply a warrior to create a vast army to protect the people.
After delivering her message the black witch returns to the Rouran camp and confronts Bori Khan. But he stands his ground, warning her she needs him to get what she wants. Meanwhile at this time, Mulan is now a young teenager who returns one day from riding to learn her family has used the matchmaker to find her a husband. At the matchmaker's home, things do not go as planned when Mulan attempts to hide a spider to calm her sister Xiu who is deathly afraid of spiders. As her family leaves in shame from the matchmakers home, soldiers from the Emperor arrive announcing the edict. As each family's name is read out to receive their scroll, Mulan's family realize that Zhou, partially disabled will be enlisting.
That night Li attempts to convince her husband to stay behind but he angrily refuses. Later on Mulan watches her father prepare his armour and sword. He tells Mulan that the phoenix has followed him into battle before and will protect him again. The phoenix will tell their ancestors he has been loyal, brave and true. Mulan laments that if she were son, he would not have to fight. When everyone is asleep, Mulan, dressed in her father's armour, leaves to fight in her father's place. In the morning Zhou's missing armour, sword and scroll indicate that Mulan has left to fight. Unable to pursue Mulan as this would expose her and mean her death, Zhou appeals to the phoenix to watch over her.
With the phoenix's protection and her determination to be loyal, brave, and true, Mulan becomes a formidable warrior, strong enough to challenge the black witch and Bori Khan and change the fate of the kingdom, while bringing honour to her family and her village.
Discussion
Mulan was the much anticipated live-action retelling of the famous Chinese legend about a woman warrior. While the film is very appealing visually, with its exotic costuming, rich cinematography, and exciting action scenes, its weak storyline is the major drawback.
In this retelling, the two main female characters, Mulan and a black witch called Xianniang possess extraordinary "chi" or "life energy". With such a strong chi, they are physically able to do feats that are impossible for other humans. It is the classic battle between good and evil; Mulan who is young and virtuous with her life before her and Xianniang who has been shunned because of her abilities and has turned to evil.
In ancient China, as Mulan's father Hua Zhou warns her, chi is for warriors, not women and that only a son can wield chi. Using her chi will bring shame on their family and she will be considered a witch, so he tells her she must "silence its voice". This shame and banishment has already been experienced by Xianniang who we learn, was driven out of her home "like a dog", her abilities scorned.
When the two meet, during Mulan's first battle, it is a young Mulan facing defeat at the hands of a more experienced and powerful adversary. Xianniang tells Mulan that her lie - posing as a male warrior, has violated the virtue of being "true" and has poisoned her chi. Mulan is not true to who she is - a young woman with a powerful chi, but instead has chosen to hide her powers as a man. This has already caused Mulan internal conflict but she is afraid to reveal her true self because she knows this will bring about disgrace to herself, her family and her village. Her motivation, to protect her father, while noble, has broken the warrior code of "loyal, brave and true." The black witch defeats Mulan in this first encounter, but the protection of the phoenix saves her from death. Mulan now makes the crucial decision to return to the Imperial army and reveal herself as a woman warrior, to be true to who she is. This being true to oneself is a popular message that resonates with many but does have consequences.
Fortunately, things go differently for Mulan than they did for the black witch. Although she is initially rejected by Commander Tung, her fellow warriors, Po, Honghui, Yao, Cricket and Ling stick by her. Mulan is allowed to lead a crack force of warriors to aid the Imperial city and save the Emperor.
Where the plot goes awry, occurs during the battle for the Imperial City. Xianniang, seeing that Mulan has been accepted for who she is, brings about an unexpected plot twist in the movie - she changes sides, and saves Mulan's life by sacrificing her own. This action seems out of character, as she has been portrayed as a ruthless, cruel witch who kills at will and who is determined to overthrow the Emperor for her own power - although that's never been quite explained either. Her sudden reversal comes about, as the Imperial City is being attacked, her goal almost achieved. It's one of several weak spots in the story line involving this character.
What does work in Mulan are the thrilling action scenes with plenty of wire work by the stunt actors, to achieve the gravity-defying moves of scaling vertical walls and flying horizontally through the air. The movie is also exceptionally well cast; Yifei Liu is a sensitive, courageous Mulan, Donnie Yeo is tough and wise Commander Tung, Li Gong is the evil Xianniang, Jason Scott Lee is a deliciously wicked Bori Khan, and Yoson An plays Mulan's admirer, Honghui. Well known American actress, Rosalind Chao is Mulan's mother Hua Li, while veteran Asian American actor Tzi Ma plays Mulan's father Hua Zhou.
Sadly Mulan never made it into theatres due to the Covid-19 pandemic and it's probably just as well. China with its crackdown on Hong Kong protestors and human rights abuses involving the Uighurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities should give pause to everyone. The film was shot predominantly in Xinjiang, where there are concentration camps for Uighur Muslims. In addition, actress Yifei Liu has come out in support of the suppression of demonstrations in Hong Kong.
For this reason, viewers are advised to forgo watching this move and instead enjoy a far better retelling of this legend by reading the novel, Mulan by Sherry Thomas. The storyline is superb and there is just a hint of romance in the story, something the live-action Mulan stayed away from until the very end.
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