Movies: Mulan (2020)

[Jussi]

If they didn't want it to be compared to the original, then they shouldn't have remade it. I didn't follow the production, but some quick googling says Mushu isn't in their because Chinese audiences don't like him (same reason they removed a kiss between Mulan and her love interest). I'm not sure if "pandering to the Chinese market" is a more legitimate excuse when telling a Chinese folk tale vs some Transformers movie, but I guess it could be.

I thought the movie was fine, but I actually would have preferred it without any mysticism at all. No mushu, no pheonix, no witch, no chi. Remove the extremely Disney stuff like when she is chasing the chicken at the start and just have it be a grounded movie about a young women risking her life for her family.

Chinese hated Mushu in the animation, they considered it an insult to the legend of Mulan. That legend is highly revered in China. This could have broken the box office records in China and become the first billion dollar movie there, IF they like it.

 

[Osprey]

80% on Rotten Tomatoes

Mulan (2020)

55% from audiences is pretty underwhelming. I wonder if the rental price has a lot to do with that. When you pay $30 to watch a movie in your living room, you expect to get your money's worth and it's easy to be underwhelmed. Of course, the professional reviewers got to see it for free. Perhaps that 55% from audiences will climb once the movie is free for Disney+ subscribers in December.

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

55% from audiences is pretty underwhelming. I wonder if the rental price has a lot to do with that. When you pay $30 to watch a movie in your living room, you expect to get your money's worth and it's easy to be underwhelmed. Of course, the professional reviewers got to see it for free. Perhaps that 55% from audiences will climb once the movie is free for Disney+ subscribers in December.

Might have something to do with it. I really don’t know, but seems likely.

Reviews are kinda mixed. Most of the outrage is about trying to cancel Mulan because the main actress and Donnie Yen expressed pro-HK police sentiment.

 

[discostu]

I saw this tonight. We had another family over and set it up on our backyard for social distancing.

The film works for what it is, as a light family drama. It's a lot of the typical tropes you'd expect to find about honour. It's gorgeously shot though, and had decent fight choreography.

My 7 year old loved it, while my 5 year old was bored silly. The other family's kids are both older (9 and 13) and also enjoyed.

This worked for us to purchase because we were looking for something to build and evening around and have a little get together before school starts. Without that element though, it's not something that I would have a driving need to watch at home.

 

[Jussi]

55% from audiences is pretty underwhelming. I wonder if the rental price has a lot to do with that. When you pay $30 to watch a movie in your living room, you expect to get your money's worth and it's easy to be underwhelmed. Of course, the professional reviewers got to see it for free. Perhaps that 55% from audiences will climb once the movie is free for Disney+ subscribers in December.

It was review bombed before it was even released on Disney+. On Thursday there were at least a hundred Audience scores listed.

 

[Jussi]

Just watched it. Disclaimer, I've never seen the animated movie but have read the Wikipedia on the actual legend of Mulan. I liked this a lot, almost loved it. 8.9/10 Beautifully shot, great action scenes and great acting. Liu Yifei was far better than I expected. Surprisingly I was more impressed with her during combat training when she got pissed off and showed what she could really do. That look! The only negatives are the somewhat lacking background or moments with her friends. Could've used more of those. Some dialogue was a bit cheesy but not enough to bother me. I shockingly agree with Grace Randolph's review that this was a love letter to Chinese culture and people. I honestly think this might make a lot of money in Chinese theaters. Oh, that cameo at the end...

 

[Osprey]

It was review bombed before it was even released on Disney+. On Thursday there were at least a hundred Audience scores listed.

That appears to be true. At imdb.com, where the score is almost identical (5.6/10) and the ratings are broken down, almost 21% of the ratings are 1/10 . In comparison, the live action Aladdin and The Lion King had only 3% of their ratings be 1/10. On the other hand, almost 18% of reviews for Mulan are 10/10, while it's 11% for Aladdin and The Lion King, so it would seem that there's been a decent amount of effort to cancel out the review bombing.

I just did a little calculating and threw out both the 1/10 scores and the 10/10 scores. I ended up with an average of 6.0/10, so a little bit better than the existing 5.6, but not a substantial difference. In comparison, Dumbo has a 6.3, The Lion King has a 6.9, Aladdin has a 7.0, Beauty and the Beast has a 7.1 and The Jungle Book has a 7.4. In other words, Mulan looks like it's the least well received of the live action remakes. Of course, as I said, that could be partly because of what I said earlier about people scoring it lower because the high rental cost sets a higher bar for satisfaction.

Mulan (2020) - User ratings - IMDb

 

[Osprey]

Just watched it. Disclaimer, I've never seen the animated movie but have read the Wikipedia on the actual legend of Mulan. I liked this a lot, almost loved it. 8.9/10 Beautifully shot, great action scenes and great acting. Liu Yifei was far better than I expected. Surprisingly I was more impressed with her during combat training when she got pissed off and showed what she could really do. That look! The only negatives are the somewhat lacking background or moments with her friends. Could've used more of those. Some dialogue was a bit cheesy but not enough to bother me. I shockingly agree with Grace Randolph's review that this was a love letter to Chinese culture and people. I honestly think this might make a lot of money in Chinese theaters. Oh, that cameo at the end...

It seems more like it was a love letter to Chinese people's wallets.

The Mulan team cast popular Chinese actors, tested the film with Chinese audiences, and made sure to get the script approved by Chinese authorities in a bid for a slice of mainland China's $9 billion in box-office revenues.

Calls to boycott 'Mulan' are gaining steam as the new movie lands on Disney Plus

I imagine that that has something to do with why they're willing to take a chance offering the movie via streaming elsewhere and undermining that revenue by announcing that it'll be free on Disney+ only 3 months from now. They're seemingly confident that they'll rake in money in China and what they get from this streaming experimentation will just be gravy.

 

[LarKing]

It wasn’t a bad movie. I enjoyed it but I wouldn’t pay the $30 if it weren’t for few new movies coming out and my boredom this weekend. The kicking/catching the arrow obsession was strange.

I think I’m going to put down Disney movies for a bit after this. Always so cheesy and they never take any risks.

 

[qwerty]

55% from audiences is pretty underwhelming. I wonder if the rental price has a lot to do with that. When you pay $30 to watch a movie in your living room, you expect to get your money's worth and it's easy to be underwhelmed. Of course, the professional reviewers got to see it for free. Perhaps that 55% from audiences will climb once the movie is free for Disney+ subscribers in December.

I never trust audience scores especially for Disney based films. I thought the live action remakes of Aladdin and Lion King were absolutely atrocious yet somehow scored in the 90's with the audiences while the critics scored it in the 50's which for the record, I completely agree with.

If the critics give Mulan an 80, then I'd be inclined to go with the critics. They're usually closer to the truth than audiences who are easily influenced by perception or outside forces.

 

[Osprey]

I never trust audience scores especially for Disney based films. I thought the live action remakes of Aladdin and Lion King were absolutely atrocious yet somehow scored in the 90's with the audiences while the critics scored it in the 50's which for the record, I completely agree with.

If the critics give Mulan an 80, then I'd be inclined to go with the critics. They're usually closer to the truth than audiences who are easily influenced by perception or outside forces.

Critics are easily influenced, too, just by different things. We've all hated films that the critics loved and loved films that the critics hated. I don't think that the critics are necessarily any more "right" than audiences, but I look at films more subjectively than it sounds like you do. If you care about how objectively good a movie is, then you should probably care more about the critics ratings, whereas, if you care more about whether a film is enjoyable for the average person, you should probably care more about the audience ratings.

I'm more in the latter camp, so I give a little more weight to the audience score, but I don't ignore the critics. I find it helpful to weigh both scores. For example, a movie like Aladdin with 57%/94% critics to audience tells me that it may not be a very good movie, but I may enjoy it, anyways... and the reverse tells me the reverse. Considering both is helpful to get a bit of an idea of what kind of film it is so that I can decide if I'm in the mood for it. Of course, it's always best to read the reviews and see how people actually graded and described the films, especially due to how RT generates their scores. Hopefully, no one decides to see or skip a movie based solely on one score or the other .

 

[qwerty]

Critics are easily influenced, too, just by different things. We've all hated films that the critics loved and loved films that the critics hated. I don't think that the critics are necessarily any more "right" than audiences, but I look at films more subjectively than it sounds like you do. If you care about how objectively good a movie is, then you should probably care more about the critics ratings, whereas, if you care more about whether a film is enjoyable for the average person, you should probably care more about the audience ratings.

I'm more in the latter camp, so I give a little more weight to the audience score, but I don't ignore the critics. I find it helpful to weigh both scores. For example, a movie like Aladdin with 57%/94% critics to audience tells me that it may not be a very good movie, but I may enjoy it, anyways... and the reverse tells me the reverse. Considering both is helpful to get a bit of an idea of what kind of film it is so that I can decide if I'm in the mood for it. Of course, it's always best to read the reviews and see how people actually graded and described the films, especially due to how RT generates their scores. Hopefully, no one decides to see or skip a movie based solely on one score or the other .

One of the things I'm actually wondering is if the Mulan score is being weighed down heavily by high expectations and boycotters. If that's at all the case, then the audience score could ultimately be worthless.

 

[Jussi]

One of the things I'm actually wondering is if the Mulan score is being weighed down heavily by high expectations and boycotters. If that's at all the case, then the audience score could ultimately be worthless.

The thing with Mulans audience score is also that unlike with the theater release, it's not verified. I mean just look at the number of audience scores for Tenet and Mulan. Totally getting review bombed and it's no surprise the hate channels are active in it.

 

[Fandlauer]

Just watched it. Kinda sucked tbh.

 

[Jussi]

'Mulan' release leads to 68% spike in Disney+ app downloads

 

[discostu]

'Mulan' release leads to 68% spike in Disney+ app downloads

For a premium purchase movie, that's a pretty good spike.

Outside of Mulan, can't see any other reason to get a subscription now, as school gets back in session.

 

[Jussi]

For a premium purchase movie, that's a pretty good spike.

Outside of Mulan, can't see any other reason to get a subscription now, as school gets back in session.

Hey, it's opening here on the 15th and we have an offer of 60 euros for 12 months (10 euros off normal price) if you subscribe before the 15th and I'm definitely taking it. Even though we can't buy Mulan, it will be on Disney+ here on December 4th. Simple reason: Disney+ has 6300 titles. Netflix has 3700. Almost twice the content for far less money.

 

[John Price]

Disney criticised for filming Mulan in Xinjiang

 

[x Tame Impala]

I love this guy

 

[bleedblue1223]

Disney criticised for filming Mulan in Xinjiang

While personal politics of actors should mostly be left out of it IMO, this is the real issue, and it has less to do with Mulan or even Disney, and more of the industry as a whole. Leaving the actual politics aside, this is why people view Hollywood as they do, one minute they'll boycott Georgia over politics or at least threaten to, and the next they'll film in and credit what is going on in China.

 

[discostu]

My initial take was a fairly middle of the road movie, but, as I read different thought pieces on it, I'm really surprised at how little involvement there is on this film of anyone with Chinese heritage, and I've seen a number of valid criticisms of this.

It's the second Disney animated remake in a row designed to showcase a specific culture that doesn't actively involve people of that heritage. With Aladdin, I always got the impression that the intention was marketing primarily towards the US market as the reason. For this though, where there appears to be a desire to court the Chinese market, not having the people to give it a more culturally appropriate lens seems like a bad decision.

It's additionally puzzling as the Marvel side of Disney has had no issues finding directors of Asian heritage, with two of their big films in the pipeline helmed by directors of that background.

In fact, one off the people I've seen criticize the film on Twitter is Simu Liu, who has been cast as Shang Chi in the MCU.

 

[discostu]

Unsure how reliable this data is, but this is estimate of sales figures for Mulan



Disney keeps 100% of revenue on this as opposed to theatrical, so it's a decent haul for them. They'll probably make a bit more on the US market than Tenet will which went theatrical, but probably still less than what they'd male pre covid times.

I don't think if its enough money for Disney to trying again with a film like Black Widow, but, you never know.

 

[Jussi]

While personal politics of actors should mostly be left out of it IMO, this is the real issue, and it has less to do with Mulan or even Disney, and more of the industry as a whole. Leaving the actual politics aside, this is why people view Hollywood as they do, one minute they'll boycott Georgia over politics or at least threaten to, and the next they'll film in and credit what is going on in China.

If this is a reference to Yifei Liu, then there's this:



If anyone thinks Chinese actors and actresses have any chance of saying something against the government without repercussions, then I have a bridge to sell you.

 

[bleedblue1223]

If this is a reference to Yifei Liu, then there's this:



If anyone thinks Chinese actors and actresses have any chance of saying something against the government without repercussions, then I have a bridge to sell you.

Only referring to it in the sense that the backlash to her specific comments was silly. I don't really care about an individual's political views the vast majority of the time, 99.9% of the time. I can disagree with their political take and still enjoy their performance as an actor, artist, athlete, etc.

And yes, in this specific case, people don't realize how if you are from a certain area, you pretty much have to tow the party line. Even if Liu Yifei wasn't forced to say that, the entire thing was blown out of proportion IMO, the real issue is what Disney did.

 

[StreetHawk]

One of the things I'm actually wondering is if the Mulan score is being weighed down heavily by high expectations and boycotters. If that's at all the case, then the audience score could ultimately be worthless.

Did people want a carbon copy like the Lion King was? Aladdin I didn’t see but I’m sure it probably closer to the animated film than Milan is.

Beauty and the Beast with Emma Watson stayed pretty close to the animated version.