Mulan: Rise of a Warrior [Blu-ray]

Comparison with the Disney version:This IS the story of Mulan. The Disney adaptation is a good story but not the story of the true Mulan. The Disney story echoes more to the struggle of many modern Chinese Americans, trying to define themselves between their parents' expectations and their own. I can understand that's what makes it a popular movie in the 90s.However, Mulan is from 1600 years ago, when Chinese' culture attitude towards women was more open than the usual China most Westerners have known from recent 300~400 years. In the original literature, there was no struggle to be a good girl. A man/ marriage was irrelevant and not important in the original story at all. She fulfilled her ambitions to be the best daughter and to serve her country to the highest level that most men couldn't match.This Chinese Adaptation:It is hard to make a movie for this story without a male interest and more personal struggles. I think the team did a great job. Instead of Hollywood relationships, the male interest/ prince support Mulan on her way to become the general she is. In the end, they put aside their personal relationship for their country.Even the Han princess did the same thing. She did all the typical things princesses do in history, staging her half brother's murder and marrying herself off to faraway China so that her people wouldn't suffer wars any more. All three sacrifices for the greater good, to end the war, which is this huge, great pressure, dusty theme covering the whole movie.Now is it a movie for children?Maybe not for preschoolers due to the graphic battle scenes. But I would say, if your child can watch a superhero film such as Wonder Woman, she probably can watch this with some help. These are real people trying to do superhero jobs. There is a real princess, not Mulan, in it. There is a real prince with lots of personal struggles in it. There is a little girl that goes from just wanting to protect people to a real general, that she would have to ask people to die.

It's spoken in Mandarin. Sub titles are sometimes hidden by bright light part of movie

Thanks to Disney, I was introduced to the legendary Chinese female general Mulan whose story every school kid in China is very familiar with. In digging deeper into the Mulan story, I realized that there was more to Mulan than the Disney version depicts. Not surprising. The Mulan of Chinese legend was a clever tactician trained in the Art of War. This movie is not your Disney version. This is a live action flick with actors who can act. The movie is an epic largely because the actual story or legend behind it is. I think the producers tried very hard to bring to the big screen the true warrior story of Mulan and they succeed for the most part. Unfortunately, after having viewed the International Version of Red Cliff, it is hard to view any other Chinese historical movie without comparing it to that truly epic movie. This Mulan movie makes a good effort at trying to capture the depth of Red Cliff. I'm just sorry that the movie could not explore Mulan's brilliance as a battle tactician more, but what can you do when you only have 2 hours to present your cinematic story. [Red Cliff had 4 hours to develop its storyline and characters.] If you like costume dramas with some actual historical basis, you will be entertained by this one.

This is a unique and beautiful telling of the Mulan story. The acting is excellent and passionate and Mulan herself is tough and believable. The only thing that really hurts the film is the bizarre and sometimes choppy editing. Parts of the story seemed rushed or skipped over completely and this film could be truly special if it didn't suffer from this. Highly recommend watching in the original language with subtitles to get the impact of the acting. I'll be curious to see if the Disney live action captures Mulan as well as this film does. Mulan is truly a bad@ss in this film, not as dainty as she looked in the new Disney version. If you love the Mulan story, definitely watch this!

I have Owned or saw Every Mulan to Date. This I just Got and Watched .Not A good Story For this Character.. Vicky,Did not seem Believeable. (SPOILERS) she never changed her voice or wore the correct attire and in this she was a "General" for 12 Years ,2 Many mistakes,she should have died (according) to the movie setting Twice, Nope Like an Ever Ready Battery ,going & going. over an hour listening to the "Extras " Director (not impressive) & Jackie Chan's Son Can Not Act ,he should just be a Comedian.. good action Movie (Hong Kong Made) not mainland China.. I really Don't Care what the people living in Beijing Think, (I am not a big Disney Fan) BUT: Yi-Fei (Crystal Liu) Nailed this role over ANY of the other Females Playing Mulan..

The battle scenes are chilling, brutal and personal. Zhao Wei did a wonderful job making the legend flesh and blood. It took a delicate hand to endear the audience to this character without diminishing or minimizing how incredible Mulan's military strategy and leadership was with dalliances. The story is wonderful and rings true to the original legend. So many war movies fall short where this one succeeded beautifully- rarely as a viewer do you see legendary leaders (known for inspiring) played with such charisma and raw power that you can experience firsthand the inspiration and fire lit inside yourself as you watch, even more rare when they are women; We need more stories like this.The character of Mulan is written in a believable way that shows emotional growth and true (not stylized) perseverance through hardship. The plot doesn't rely on the common tropes such as the 'strong' woman trope or the hyper sexualized empowerment trope to carry the story and it's very fulfilling to watch. I wish I had seen this as a young person.Kudos to Jingle Ma, Zhao Wei and team.

Received item in good working condition.

Ordered a 2 disc special edition, got a 1 disc not special edition. Totally unclear that this is a subtitled film in Mandarin ONLY, absolutely no attention is drawn to this fact when you order that you cannot get optional english language dubbing, unless you interrogate the detail ( and who does that when ordering Disney film in the UK??). Luckily doesn't bother me, but my wife hates subtitled films and refuses to watch it, which is ironic as she ordered it! So 1 star for pretty basic false advertising.

Amazing movie telling the more historical legend of the warrior Mulan. This is not a remake of the disney, but more how the legend of Mulan is viewed in its country of origin. The story itself is moving and had you completely immersed. The costumes are acccurate to the period and fit in well. And the music! I could listen to it for hours, especially the song that plays during the credits, its melody haunts you for hours afterwards, as you relive the film in your head. Would reccomend!

I was actually looking for the animation Mulan 2, because I really loved the first one, and in my search I came across Mulan the movie, which I didn't know about. This is an English subtitle movie, and the fact that I read through this shows just how gripped I was. Storyline and action were great. There is absolutely no need to compare this film to the animation, so I won't. This is a movie about the legend of Hua Mulan, a woman who took the place of her father in battle, who won the war, but lost out on love. Great movie

When reviewing Wuxia films, you have to rememberyou are not reviewing a "Western movie"... China,has a very, very, and very long history, with lots oflegends and myths...One of which is MULAN...We all know about her, because of the Disneycartoon movie... But here, we have a morerealistic version of the story...This is a real-lifehistorically character, played by Wei Zhao, fromRed Cliff... I enjoyed this film... there is nothingoutstanding about it, and we learn nothing new,but, Chinese history is fascinating, and this is partmyth and part legend, all good for me...

I saw this film by chance on tv years ago and I loved it. Bought it in DVD as I wanted the chance to see it again whenever I wanted. The quality is good,with subtitles which I needed as I find dubbed films irritating and distracting. This is a more realistic take on a legend. Loved Disney's version but this is better.