Knowing her father’s chances of survival are slim, Mulan takes his sword and armor and sneaks away, posing as his son and joining the Fifth Battalion led by esteemed Commander Tung (played by Chinese screen legend Donnie Yen). Hua Zhou, the lone male in their family, prepares to join the war effort despite his failing health. With the attacks intensifying, the Emperor (played with stoic distinction by Jet Li) calls for one male member of every family to join the fight to quell the enemy invasion. Basically Böri Khan sets out to quench his thirst for revenge by killing the emperor and becoming the new ruler of the kingdom. Not the most original crusade, but he and his soldiers sure look cool carrying it out. Unfortunately he’s the victim of an all-too-familiar problem in modern blockbusters – bad guys with hardly any depth and the barest motivations. Lee is a striking presence, with the look and the snarl of a menacing villain.

Meanwhile on the outskirts of the empire a warlord with a grudge named Böri Khan (Jason Scott Lee) begins attacking imperial garrisons. “ Your job is to bring honor to the family.” Yet in this world of ‘honor’ through marriage, she can’t even choose her own husband. “ A daughter brings honor through marriage“, Hua Zhou lectures. But his deep devotion to archaic traditions leaves Mulan bound by the expectations of her family, village, and culture. The two have a loving bond with the father aware that there is something special about his daughter. Liu Yifei plays Mulan, the spirited eldest daughter of honored war veteran Hua Zhou (Tzi Ma). The results aren’t perfect, but they’re pretty darned impressive. “Mulan” 2020 attempts to carve its own identity with a more realistic vision, no songs and no celebrity-voiced comic sidekick. The way it sounds, the more recent live-action remakes went to great lengths to follow their originals. Their retelling of this inspirational tale aims at capturing the spirit of the original animated film while also making meaningful choices that set their version apart. “Mulan” comes from director Niki Caro and the writing team of Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Elizabeth Martin, and Lauren Hynek. Is it worth the high price tag to watch right now? I’ll let you decide. You know, the $30 ‘stream at home’ version.

But I have seen Disney’s new $200 million “Mulan”. And I haven’t watched any of the latest not-so-warmly received live-action reheats. Full disclosure: I’ve never seen the original 1998 animated feature. If you’re wondering how the new “Mulan” stacks up against its animated predecessor or even the more recent Disney live-action remakes, this might not be the review you’re looking for.

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