Like many, I have loved and respected the 1998 animated Mulan film for its entertaining nature, excellent storytelling, and impactful messaging about women's place among men. And I was excited to see how a live action adaptation could add a new, fresh dynamic to such a powerful story. But for this Mulan live action remake, too much gets lost in the adaptation, and assessing the decisions that lead to this sub-par final product can be frustratingly baffling.

After all, there’s no comedy. There are no iconic songs. There’s no Mushu. And it’s all to the unmitigated detriment of Mulan. The exceptional blueprint laid out by the animated film is dismantled and reconfigured with superficial splendor outweighing authentic sustenance. The fun in the animated film is replaced with an overly serious tone and the witty comic relief of Mushu is replaced by a silent and mostly inconsequential Phoenix. I honestly couldn't tell you why.

There are some - a very precious few - redeeming qualities to Mulan though. Set and costume designs are nothing short of exquisite. Disney made sure to spare no expense making Mulan look as elaborate as possible. And it’s all captured with stunning, often wide angle, cinematography that makes the film quite the experience to behold.

But that’s exactly the irony with this remake. In a story meant to express the value of understanding who you are above how you look, Mulan gets it backwards, losing much of the spirit of the animated film, but doing it’s best to look pretty. Furthermore, the film plays off thoughtless scripting that assumes a beloved premise compensates for weak storytelling, which causes important aspects to the Mulan story to fall through the cracks.

Gong Li as the witch, Xian Lang. — Gong Li as the witch, Xian Lang.

Female empowerment, for example, is such an organic component to the animated Mulan film. So in the wake of this live action remake, I’m scratching my head as to why this intrinsic and essential theme had such shoehorned execution this time around. Having seen this new Mulan, I have now gained an even greater admiration for what the animated movie accomplished decades before social movements required it to add extraneous female characters to make its point or chant about believing its female protagonist.

I don’t mean to write this review as a comparison piece between animated and live action versions of Mulan, but it’s hard not to when so much that seemed intuitive in the animated story, like female empowerment messaging, come off as pandering in this live action version. It’s not hard to see that Mulan is just another Disney production checking off necessary boxes to collect consumer dollars when it could've been so much more.

Those who enjoyed 2019’s The Lion King might enjoy the cosmetic aspects of Mulan enough to once again forgive detrimental storytelling flaws. But I expected better, and the creative decision to alter the Mulan experience so much may never make sense to me. Without the comedy, without the music…without Mushu…Mulan lacks the guidance it needed to be both an entertaining spectacle and a great story.

Why "Mulan" Misses The Mark Is Mysterious As The Dark Side Of The Moon