Chinese: 花木兰
Year: 2009
Director: Jingle Ma Chor-Sing
Writer: Zhang Ting, Jingle Ma Chor-Sing
Action: Stephen Tung Wai
Cast:
Vicki Zhao Wei, Aloys Chen, Hu Jun, Jaycee Chan, Nicky Li, Yu Rong-Guang, Lu Xujin, Vitas, Xu Jiao
The Skinny: Director Jingle Ma's Mulan has decent acting and fine production values, but the story, dialogue and direction are little better than paint-by-numbers. Jingle Ma should stick to lighter fare, because when he tries for anything with stronger emotions he only seems to stumble. Aloys Chen sure knows how to cry.
Review
by Kozo: Jingle Ma's Mulan is a lot better than his previous Butterfly Lovers. However, relatively speaking that doesn't mean much. The latest screen adaptation of the story of Hua Mulan, cross-dressing warrior woman of Chinese folk legend, Mulan is an average costume epic for undemanding modern audiences. Vicky Zhao Wei plays the title role as an adult, with young Xu Jiao (who cross-dressed as a boy in CJ7) appearing in a brief flashback as the young Mulan. A strong-willed tomboy, Mulan excels at martial arts and doesn't hesitate for a second to stand in for her sick father (Yu Rong-Guang) when he's drafted into military service. She rises quickly up the ranks to general, eventually coming face to face with the burly Mengdu (Hu Jun), ruthless commander of the encroaching Rouran tribes. She also finds pure, possibly forbidden love with super-handsome soldier Wentai (Aloys Chen).
No, the film doesn't have a little red dragon named Mushu. Unlike the enjoyable but understandably toned down Disney animation, Jingle Ma's Mulan has no talking animals and is a serious action drama about one woman making her way in a man's world. Or something. Actually, that's only one of the multitude of themes that Jingle Ma forces into his two-hour Mulan epic, and just like his filmography, there are hits and misses along the way. As a soldier, Mulan confronts the horrors of war, wrangles with military politics and experiences the difficulties of falling in love when she shouldn't. What she really doesn't go through is the whole "hide my gender" thing, because after the first twenty minutes it pretty much gets glossed over. Vicki Zhao's tomboyish image certainly helps her believability as Mulan, but as with his handling of Cheuk Ying-Toi in Butterfly Lovers, Ma doesn't seem that concerned with pretending that Mulan is really a he.
Even if the whole cross-dressing thing were Ma's main point, it's doubtful that would have made the film better, as Ma's direction is frustratingly uninteresting. Ma has ample opportunities to engage the audience - the film's premise has multiple levels both narratively and thematically - but Ma hands each development to the audience through dialogue and very little onscreen discovery. The nadir of his unimaginative storytelling occurs when Mulan's childhood friend Tiger (Jaycee Chan) says to Wentai, "You two are so lonely," referencing Wentai and Mulan's inability to honestly connect. No offense to Tiger, but the best response here would be, "Duh". Jingle Ma should be using every other method at his disposal - actors, action, music - to tell us that Mulan and Wentai are lonely. Both Vicki Zhao and Aloys Chen turn in emotionally convincing performances, so that message gets across anyway. However, to ensure that everyone gets it, Ma throws that unnecessary, obvious line out there.
Year: 2009
Director: Jingle Ma Chor-Sing
Writer: Zhang Ting, Jingle Ma Chor-Sing
Action: Stephen Tung Wai
Cast:
Vicki Zhao Wei, Aloys Chen, Hu Jun, Jaycee Chan, Nicky Li, Yu Rong-Guang, Lu Xujin, Vitas, Xu Jiao
The Skinny: Director Jingle Ma's Mulan has decent acting and fine production values, but the story, dialogue and direction are little better than paint-by-numbers. Jingle Ma should stick to lighter fare, because when he tries for anything with stronger emotions he only seems to stumble. Aloys Chen sure knows how to cry.
Review
by Kozo: Jingle Ma's Mulan is a lot better than his previous Butterfly Lovers. However, relatively speaking that doesn't mean much. The latest screen adaptation of the story of Hua Mulan, cross-dressing warrior woman of Chinese folk legend, Mulan is an average costume epic for undemanding modern audiences. Vicky Zhao Wei plays the title role as an adult, with young Xu Jiao (who cross-dressed as a boy in CJ7) appearing in a brief flashback as the young Mulan. A strong-willed tomboy, Mulan excels at martial arts and doesn't hesitate for a second to stand in for her sick father (Yu Rong-Guang) when he's drafted into military service. She rises quickly up the ranks to general, eventually coming face to face with the burly Mengdu (Hu Jun), ruthless commander of the encroaching Rouran tribes. She also finds pure, possibly forbidden love with super-handsome soldier Wentai (Aloys Chen).
No, the film doesn't have a little red dragon named Mushu. Unlike the enjoyable but understandably toned down Disney animation, Jingle Ma's Mulan has no talking animals and is a serious action drama about one woman making her way in a man's world. Or something. Actually, that's only one of the multitude of themes that Jingle Ma forces into his two-hour Mulan epic, and just like his filmography, there are hits and misses along the way. As a soldier, Mulan confronts the horrors of war, wrangles with military politics and experiences the difficulties of falling in love when she shouldn't. What she really doesn't go through is the whole "hide my gender" thing, because after the first twenty minutes it pretty much gets glossed over. Vicki Zhao's tomboyish image certainly helps her believability as Mulan, but as with his handling of Cheuk Ying-Toi in Butterfly Lovers, Ma doesn't seem that concerned with pretending that Mulan is really a he.
Even if the whole cross-dressing thing were Ma's main point, it's doubtful that would have made the film better, as Ma's direction is frustratingly uninteresting. Ma has ample opportunities to engage the audience - the film's premise has multiple levels both narratively and thematically - but Ma hands each development to the audience through dialogue and very little onscreen discovery. The nadir of his unimaginative storytelling occurs when Mulan's childhood friend Tiger (Jaycee Chan) says to Wentai, "You two are so lonely," referencing Wentai and Mulan's inability to honestly connect. No offense to Tiger, but the best response here would be, "Duh". Jingle Ma should be using every other method at his disposal - actors, action, music - to tell us that Mulan and Wentai are lonely. Both Vicki Zhao and Aloys Chen turn in emotionally convincing performances, so that message gets across anyway. However, to ensure that everyone gets it, Ma throws that unnecessary, obvious line out there.
