Disney’s Mulan epic deserves a bigger screen

If ever there was a time for an iconic studio to stand up and be counted it was with the release of this long-awaited martial arts tale writes Vicky Roach

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Movie-starved audiences can finally get to see this martial arts epic but are we being shortchanged by Disney’s decision to take it straight to streaming in Australia? Plus, Bill and Ted are back and their sequel is totally bodacious Dudes!

Mulan (Yifei Liu) takes her father’s place in the emperor’s army. Photo: Jasin Boland

MULAN

Three and a half stars

Director: Niki Caro

Starring: Liu Yifei, Li Gong, Jet Li

Rating: PG

Running time: 115 minutes

Verdict: Disney embraces Chinese martial arts cinema to deliver a new kind of princess

Stupendous desert dunes, sky-obliterating avalanches, flaming tar balls ... this live action version of Mulan was made for the big screen.

Bean counters not movie lovers took the decision to release it straight to Disney+.

If ever there was a time for an iconic studio to stand up and be counted, it’s now.

Bypassing product-starved cinemas (an audiences) feels mean-spirited, to say the least.

But as a premium home viewing experience for families who are hungry for fresh, quality content, the big budget ($US200 million), action-minded remake stands head and shoulders above its competition.

And that’s clearly what Disney is banking on.

The martial arts epic is based on an old Chines tale.

With a strong female lead (Chinese actor Liu Yifei), an all-Asian cast, and sumptuous production values, Mulan certainly has plenty to recommend it.

After approaching a number of Asian filmmakers, the studio eventually tapped New Zealand-born Niki Caro to direct (the story’s thematical parallels with her breakout 2002 drama Whale Rider are striking).

The result, in Caro’s own words, is a “big, girly martial arts epic” that’s grittier and more muscular than Disney’s animated 1998 musical (the songs have been integrated into the score).

Based on the ancient Chinese Ballad Of Mulan, composed around AD400, the film is set in a world in which women are destined only to become wives.

It’s clear, from a very young age, that Mulan is different.

Her father, Hua Zhou (Tzi Ma), a decorated warrior, indulges Mulan’s natural gifts — until it becomes clear that they will render her an outcast.

Flash forward several years.

Under attack from northern invaders, the Chinese emperor (Jet Li) issues a decree that one man from every family must serve in the Imperial Army.

Disguising herself as a boy, Mulan sneaks out under the cover of darkness to take her ailing father’s place.

Mulan learns to channel her powerful “chi” makeing her a warrior to be reckoned with.

At a massive training camp, she learns how to channel her powerful “chi” under the watchful eye of Commander Tung (Donnie Yen).

Only Li Gong’s shapeshifting witch Xianniang is more powerful.

Surviving a clash with her arch nemesis, Mulan grows even stronger by embracing her female identity, even when this results in disgrace and exile.

As the body count mounts, only she can save the emperor from the brutal warlord Böri Khan (Jason Scott Lee).

The gender-fluid chemistry between Mulan and Honghui (Yoson An) — a peer-appropriate replacement for original love interest Captain Li Shang — is handled with delicacy (the open-ended nature of this romance also suits the new treatment.)

Mulan’s blokey squad, particularly Cricket (Jun Yu), lends some welcome humour.

By drawing from the fantastical tradition of
Chinese martial arts cinema, with a rich, colour-saturated palette that recalls Li Gong’s 1991 film Raise the Red Lantern, Mulan certainly enriches Disney’s cultural canon.

The studio, however, doesn’t bring nearly as much to the table.

Now streaming on Disney+

Alex Winter and keanu reeves in a scene from Bill & Ted Face The Music.

BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC

Three stars

Director Dean Parisot

Starring Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Samara Weaving

Rating PG

Running time 92 minutes

Verdict There’s more mileage in being excellent to each other than a sceptic might expect

THE title is a bit misleading: Bill & Ted don’t stand still long enough to be confronted by the consequences of their actions in this fan-oriented threequel. But as always, their earnest good humour gets them off the hook.

The two chronic slackers have done OK in the three decades since their last Bogus Journey.

Against the odds, they remain happily married to former 15th century princesses Joanna and Elizabeth (played here by Erinn Hayes and Jayma Mayes).

Their chip-off-the-old-block daughters, Thea (Samara Weaving) and Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine), are unswervingly supportive.

Musically, they have also “evolved”. Bill (Alex Winter) has mastered the art of Tuvan throat singing. Ted (Keanu Reeves) is a virtuoso on the theremin.

Despite their best efforts, however, the dim-witted duo’s dream — to find a song that will bring harmony to the universe — continues to elude them (their band, Wyld Stallyns, has long since fallen apart).

And constant rejection is starting to take its toll on their relationships.

After a sobering couples counselling session, Bill and Ted decide it’s time to throw in the towel, whereupon they get a surprise visit from a time-travelling emissary (a somewhat wasted Kristen Schaal), who ups the stakes considerably.

Not only do Bill and Ted have less than two hours left in which to pull off their impossible musical mission, failure to do so will result in a space/time collapse, aka The End Of The World As We Know It.

True to character, the middle-aged knuckleheads figure cheating is the only option they have left.

And so they abscond in a handy, time-travelling phone booth to the near future, where they are confronted by the sorry men they have become in multiple parallel universes.

(Bill’s absurd conversation with himself in an aged care facility about his inability to open up is one of the movie’s high points.)

Meanwhile, Thea and Billie take on their fathers’ classic role, travelling back through time to form an eclectic supergroup that includes Mozart, Satchmo, Jimmy Hendrix, an ancient Chinese flautist named Ling Lun and a prehistoric female drummer.

In the cosmic chaos that ensues, Bill and Ted once again cross paths with Death (William Sadler), who they previously outwitted in a game of Twister, after being very nearly incinerated by a needy killer robot named Dennis (Anthony Carrigan). Their daughters wind up in Hell.

Did the world need another Bill & Ted movie? That’s debatable. But the film’s message – that if this is as good as it gets, well, it could have been a whole lot worse -- feels kind of appropriate.

And because the franchise is so utterly lacking in cynicism, something about this delayed sequel feels strangely genuine.

Turns out, Tolstoy was wrong. Not all happy families are the same.

In cinemas from September 10

Originally published as Disney’s Mulan epic deserves a bigger screen