The live-action remake has blue-chip acting talent and exciting battles, adroitly sidestepping any awkward sexual issues in favour of glossy family entertainment
The most empowered
Disney heroine of all has returned. Here is a rousing and forthright live-action remake of the 1998 Disney animation with a blue-chip cast, all about the female warrior in 4th-century
China who disguises herself as a man and joins the army to fight an invasion threat against the emperor. The result is an entertaining if straightforwardly glossy action-adventure from the Disney workshop.
Liu Yifei plays Mulan, a young woman from a small village, whose parents are fondly indulgent of her unladylike energy but secretly plan to get her married off. There is a nice performance from the veteran Chinese-American character
Actor Tzi Ma as Zhou, Mulan’s gentle, kindly father, who is himself an old soldier, still nursing a painful leg injury incurred in battle. But out in the wider world, storm clouds are gathering. Rebellious warrior Böri Khan, played with pantomime ferocity by Jason Scott Lee, is leading an attack on the emperor – a suitably stately performance from Jet Li – in revenge for the emperor killing his father. His small outlaw band gets supernatural help from Xianniang, played by Gong Li, a woman with witch-like magic powers.