The Question That <em>Mulan </em>Doesn’t Ask

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The one twist is the extensive discussion of chi, the notion of one’s essential life force, which this movie essentially turns into the Force from Star Wars. Mulan is particularly good at channeling her chi; she can slow down time to do lots of cool spin moves and well-timed kicks during battle. Her mastery over her chi is limited, however, by dishonesty—which is how the movie boils down her internal struggle over disguising herself. The film is too risk-averse to explore much of a romance with her fellow soldier Chen Honghui (Yoson An) while Mulan is dressed as a man, and instead spends too much time wrestling with her duplicity.

Any time the film indulges in flights of fancy, it’s more enjoyable. The Chinese film legend Gong Li does as much as she can playing the film’s secondary villain, a shape-shifting witch named Xianniang, who sports some cool warrior makeup and a hawk claw for a hand. She’s a darker mirror image of Mulan, a marginalized woman leveraging her magic powers, but she’s too often shunted to the side in favor of the poorly defined main adversary, Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee), an invader from the north whose grievances against the Chinese emperor (Jet Li) are thinly sketched at best. The movie has little interest in understanding the wider conflict that turns Mulan into a warrior, instead painting the emperor as wise and benevolent, even after he institutes a national draft. Mulan’s narrative arc is less interested in her coming to terms with herself—and seemingly more driven by the honor that comes from protecting the emperor without question.

Still, many of the battle sequences are spectacular to behold—it’s unfortunate that this film is debuting online in the United States because of the spread of COVID-19, given the wide canvas Caro is painting on. While the Disney+ release guarantees a wide and safe viewing experience, especially for families, the spectacle will sadly feel a little lacking at home. The cast is loaded with venerable stars, including Donnie Yen as Mulan’s stern commanding officer—though most of them are asked to do little more than supply gravitas.

Mulan delivers a straightforwardly heroic narrative of a capable woman battling her way to respect. It just doesn’t have much else to add.

David Sims is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers culture.