While Disney's newest remake is the same cynical cash jump that was only made to make as much money as possible, I liked it in the end. In the case of this particular painting, it is especially cynical. The corporation loves to be politically involved (see previous US presidential elections where they criticized Trump and used Marvel actors for TV spots) or socially (LGBT and Black Lives Matter), but when it comes down to it, they censor black actors on posters films, do not introduce too many characters from sexual or ethnic minorities. Just as I sometimes criticize Netflix for similar practices, at least they are consistent in their activities and not so disgustingly cynical. In the case of "Mulan" there is also licking the four letters of the Chinese Communist Party, which has far worse things on its conscience than Trump supporters, rednecks or other right-wingers. This does not affect my rating of the film, but you have to talk about such things.
Moving on to it, I really liked it. However, it is neither delight nor satisfaction at the level of 8/10 or higher, but I think I could give such a fair 6+. However, I add a small heart to the assessment, because despite the shortcomings of this film, as well as a few IMO unnecessary changes to the original, I had a lot of fun. The story goes more or less the same as in the animation - China is invaded by the Huns (here they are called differently for reasons that I do not understand), the Emperor issues a decree under which each family must send one man to war, the title character goes to a camp, undergoing training, there is a battle. Then Mulan and some of the soldiers go to the Imperial Palace, save the ruler, and Mulan returns to her village. The skeleton of the story is similar, some plots have been developed a bit, some have been removed, some have been added, some things are shown differently. This does not surprise me, because it is not always possible to transfer the original story in a 1: 1 scale into a new form. You know everything is possible, but each adaptation should stand on its own feet. As long as I do not mind some changes or additions (I even consider them positive), such as another form of training, or jokes about Mulan who hasn't washed for several days and therefore stinks or gags while sleeping in a men's camp, o so many changes were hopeless.
In Disney's fairy tale, Mulan used more of a woman's cleverness, she used the brain or simple tricks that many men take on, and in combat she used female advantages (greater body flexibility). In turn, the film uses a kind of impoverished version of Nen from "Hunter x Hunter" or Chakra from "Naruto". Of course, we do not see any auras, and the energy is not materialized in the form of some energy waves, as in DBZ, but has been talked about since the beginning of the movie. We also see that the bigger the Chi, the better a man can handle combat, acrobatics, etc. It's almost as if he were some kind of Saiyan among Earthlings. Goku, Gohan and Vegeta were similarly distinguished from other Z fighters, although of course the difference in "Mulan" is much smaller. Just as in the animation she is a model example of a female heroine who, despite gender differences, does not stand out from the male protagonists (in the sense that she can be placed in a row with male characters similar to her), I do not feel it in the film. In the animation, she was an ordinary girl who just thought and used her strengths, and here they added IMO a harmful uniqueness and Chi, which probably served only to somehow justify the unusual stunts of the Asians. Which, by the way, were just fine. I was expecting something better in this field. But there was also no tragedy in this respect, as in the inept attempts to force women to force them - see "Ghost Busters" or "Ocean 8". Such mediocrity in this aspect - it was neither very good nor embarrassingly poor.
When it comes to battles, this is less so. We have one city capture, a field battle, and a final battle at the Imperial Palace. Each of these events was so-so - they were far from a tragedy, as well as an outstanding level. I would say I was a bit disappointed but I was expecting something more or less like that so I'm not surprised. It looks good, I was not bored during the session, but the farther away from it, the more I confirm my opinion. I laughed at the stage as the Huns bombarded Mulan with the trebuchet. I involuntarily imagined that Simo Häyhä must have felt the same when the Soviets were attacking him blindly in a similar fashion.
To sum up - even a nice movie, but I certainly wouldn't pay for it. Not only because of Disney's cynicism, but also the level of the movie itself. I liked it, but I don't think I will remember it for a while. It is such a cynical shell calculated to earn money on the Chinese, fans of the old movie and families with children.