I would never have even bothered to educate myself on the poem, and would be reliant on the Maxine Hong Kingston version from Disney if I had never seen this. When she comes back, she resumes her task, having successfully defended her nation. In the poem, Mulan starts while weaving something on a loom, and leaves it unfinished while she goes to war.
On the other hand, I have to give the creators points for staying much truer to the source material. If I don’t see a soldier collecting dog tags from the dead, or another closing somebody’s dead eyes with their hand, it wouldn’t be the biggest tragedy.
MULAN RISE OF A WARRIOR CAST MOVIE
I enjoyed the elevated martial arts aspect, as opposed to straight combat, but the story can sometimes lapse into war movie cliches. I sometimes wish the special effects were a little less cheesy, but there weren’t too many of them to take me out of the moment. Even when compared to the Disney cartoon, I could still enjoy this on its own merits. While the pacing was uneven, and didn’t really give me a good sense of the 12 years that had passed, Mulan: Rise of a Warrior had a lot of entertaining moments.
I wasn’t in love with the soundtrack, but maybe I’ve just overdosed on shakuhachi. The soundtrack is nice and loud, with a good dynamic range. It’s hard for me to avoid comparing this film to Red Cliff, just because it shared so many of the same personnel. Of course, the obligatory trailer and previews are also included. There aren’t any major bombshells, but I never expect huge revelations from these things. The cast interviews are pretty much the same thing, in that it seems like everybody is really proud of the whole group’s work on the film. It’s obvious they all really respect each other, and truly wanted to make something that would not only would be a blockbuster, but could also be a meaningful film. The “Making Of” special is pretty in-depth, and covers the motivations of the characters and the passion of the directors and principal cast. The special features in Mulan: Rise of a Warrior are in SD, but the content is mostly one on one interviews with the actors and the crew, so it’s not really necessary to present the material in high def. Vitas, an apparently really famous Russian singer, appears in the movie as a servant boy of the Rourans. As the story intensifies, his character works almost as an anchor for Mulan, whose life has changed so much over a span of 12 years. While there isn’t a ton of places to inject levity into the story, he manages to elicit a few laughs. Jaycee Chan (Jackie Chan’s son) plays the comic relief. Barring that suspension of disbelief, Zhao does a great job with the role, and really embodies the spirit of Mulan. Maybe it’s just my natural bias to find it hard to believe anybody could mistake her as a dude. Like Clark Kent (but without the glasses), it doesn’t seem like just putting her hair in a topknot would really be enough to deem her asexual. Personally, Vicky Zhao being accepted as a man is a hard premise to accept. She rises through the ranks to eventually become a general, while at the same time finding love with a fellow soldier. Additionally, in this version, Mulan was already a sort of tomboy growing up and possessed martial arts training, so the requisite training montage is out as well. Since this isn’t the Disney Mulan, there isn’t any character defining moment, with the pivotal hair chopping and a soundtrack of pretty songs that my little sister can sing along with. Mulan takes the horse and the family armor in the middle of the night, while he is asleep, and replaces him. Mulan’s father is old and disabled, but is still an honorable man and wants to honor his commitment to his country. All military families must offer one male soldier to the Wei dynasty, in order to fight back the hordes. War is beginning in China against invading tribal forces (in this case, the Rourans). Originally released in 2009, Mulan: Rise of a Warrior more faithfully adheres to the original poem than the Disney film most Americans have been exposed to. When this came up for review, I couldn’t wait to pick it up and take a look. I loved her performance in Shaolin Soccer as a bald headed but appreciated goalie, and was floored by her acting range in Red Cliff. I have to confess some writer bias: I really like Zhao Wei (or alternately, Vicky Zhao) as an actress. Funimation has just rereleased Mulan: Rise of a Warrior on BD, so it seemed like a good time for me to finally catch the 2009 interpretation.
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