Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I just recently found out that the story of Mulan did not originate from the 1998 Disney animation. That being my favourite Disney film, I went in search of other Mulan movies, and found this. While the length of the film made me hesitate, I found it quite enjoyable.The film did not have the Disney/Hollywood touch to it, and as much as I still spend time watching Hollywod movies, it gives a fresh new take on Mulan (or new to me anyway). Quite a lot of the film diverts from the Disney Mulan, but the foundation of the story is still there. Note: The legend of Hua Mulan is actually based on a poem.The film starts off with Mulan caring for her father, and progresses to the familiar calling for soldiers from every family and Mulan running off in her father's place. In this film Mulan already knows how to fight before going to war, so I guess that makes it more believable that she will be able to keep up with the others. However, her voice and appearance are still noticeable that of a woman which annoyed me a little (this isn't an animation after all), but after awhile I got used to it. I still think they could have made her character try more to fit in with the characteristics and the like, even if they couldn't manipulate her voice or appearance much.The fighting scenes, though very elaborate was a bit too bloody for me. It wasn't excessive but I could have done without some of them. The war lasted a long time and I guess this is reminiscent of wars in those times.I wasn't really fond of the character of Modu (Jun Hu), who like the enemy in the Disney film, is very exaggerated in his evilness. The way he acts too is pretty stereotypic. Wei Zhao and Kun Chen as Mulan and Wentai (character of Shang in Disney's Mulan) had pretty good acting, but at times I felt the chemistry between them was too forced, and some parts were also a little cheesy. Jaycee Chan (son of Jackie Chan) did a great job as Mulan's friend and his acting is actually not bad. In addition, I found it very awkward and random that they had to have a white person in the film for no apparent reason. OK he is actually Russian (Vitas who plays the character of Wude), but still he didn't do much and he actually doesn't speak except for one sentence I think. Makes me wonder.The ending I liked, but I also disliked. If you watched it, you probably know what I'm talking about.Read more movie reviews at: championangels.wordpress.com

No, there are no epic war scenes or battle scenes in this film, but nonetheless it is an epic film. I read in one of the review that the story wasn't going anyway and was dragging along. Well, yes, that is the purpose of this film, the absurdity of war and heroism, of true sacrifice and no happy ending in the Hollywood way.Mulan becomes a tactically sound commander of some Chinese army, learns the realities of politics the hard way, learns the Chinese way of sacrificing your own happiness for the greater good of the nation.It is not merely a sacrifice of your life, but a sacrifice of everything you might think will or would define yourself. There is no true glory in war, and Mulans father says so in the very beginning of the movie. Who wins? The nation, the people, not the individual.So the story doesn't really go anyway - and still it goes everywhere, touches upon the absurdities of our quaint notions of self and of glory and of victory.When Mulan finally puts the welfare of the nation above herself and even above her family and her brothers-in-arms for the sake of the greater good, she ends up where she finally understands what her father meant, despite her fears or even because of her fears.It is a brilliant movie. I will Watch it Again, and not because of the battle scenes - they are mostly not there - but for the story that doesn't lead you anywhere, drags you along against your will and you end up the same way of Mulan, with only a fling of hope: there is a greater good, and it is not you!

An uninteresting folk tale...The problem with Mulan is the film itself is not interesting enough to sustain the audience attention. The film is actually decently filmed and filled with decent performances. However for a story like Mulan, one expects far better. One main concern is that I felt nothing for any of the characters, no matter how terrible the situation maybe. Nor do I feel the smartness or freshness in the tactics used. This is especially evident, after the Red Cliff series. Truism tells us all, that director Jingle Ma is not exactly the best director for substance. Coolness is what he is famous for. Think Tokyo Raiders. Unfortunately, Mulan never matches the level of fun within Raiders, but a more like-for-like comparison gives us the disappointing Butterfly Lovers. A bit better than his last venture, but the final output remains largely un-spectacular.The story goes like this: Girl goes to army. Girl falls in love with army general. Girl becomes the general. If you are Chinese, chances are you already know the story. If you like Disney, you probably know it as well. For accurately purposes, minus the talking dragon.Vicki Zhao Wei is actually well casted as the tomboyish Mulan. Zhao Wei basically played a similar role in Red Cliff. She is natural enough not to disappoint, but fails to be anything more than decent. Her chemistry with General (played by Alloy Chen) is more manufactured than love. Likewise Alloy Chen does well without standing out. Uninteresting can be as much as a problem as over-doing something. Veteran Yu Rong-Guang does reasonably well considering his limited screen time. Once again, Jaycee Chan continues to show exactly why he is quite simply just riding on the more famous Chan's fame. He does somewhat redeems himself in the final few moments of his screen time, but yet another non-existent performance. As for Mr. Hu Jun, well he is Hu Jun. Just as he played the villain role so well in Bodyguards and Assassins, Hu steals the spotlight. The result is being the most interesting figure within an uninteresting flick.All in all, Mulan is ultimately an uninteresting look at the life of a folktale heroin. Blame should really not be dealt to the actors, but rather the usage of Jingle Ma. Director Ma has never been known for making emotive dramas or at least movies with substance over style. Ma has always enjoyed painting a good picture, striking a good pose and excellent photography skills. Unfortunately, all you can say is that Mulan is beautiful to look at and nothing more. A tad better than Butterfly Lovers, but even that is not an achievement to be proud of... (Neo 2010) I rate it 4.5/10www.thehkneo.com

I wasn't really sure what to expect, when watching the movie. The only thing about the story of Mulan that i knew, was what i learned from the Disney version. But i'm pretty sure, people who watch this movie wouldn't actually (and rightfully) expect there to be much similarity between the two.One thing that i think is important about this movie is, do not see it expecting to see things you've seen in "similar" movies. You might be disappointed. Because if you expect this to be anything like the classic martial arts movies, that it is most certainly not. Even Warlords, which at least to me felt quite authentic, was more exaggerated in its fighting scenes. And yes, this is also a love story, but just like the fighting and everything else, to me it seems that the people who made this movie gave a lot of thought to how much romance would be possible under the circumstances. Of course there were things that bothered me, too, but i think they were pretty much neglectible. For example i don't know how the character of Wude (played by Vitas) actually fits into the story, he feels slightly out of place. There was one scene that also seemed strange because it was really out of nothing, i don't see this as a spoiler because its not really of any importance to the story, but there was a sandstorm and they called it something like poison dragon. I did some research and it seems there is a legend about the region of Sanweishan that mentions sandstorms as the breath of a dragon, that seems to be a good explanation but someone who isn't familiar with Chinese mythology as i am (and probably most westerners) wouldn't know that and it might be confusing. Also it didn't seem like miss Zhao didn't put in much effort when Mulan pretended to be a man. But personally i don't really mind, actually appreciate it in a way. I think it would have seems a little ridiculous, and this movie is by no means meant to be comedic. The viewer knows she's pretending to be a man and that nobody notices it, there would be no point in having the actress try to talk with a deep voice or even choosing a different actress who is more masculine. That's simply not what the movie is about.If you like, you might see this movie as biographical, maybe even historical as far as that's possible for a legend. All in all i think this movie is absolutely worth watching if you're not too focused on any aspect of Chinese cinema, but even then it might well be worth your time!