Mulan
U/A; Drama
Director: Niki Caro
Cast: Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen, Gong Li, Tzi Ma, Jet Li
Rating: 

Mulan's Chinese historical/folk-lore origins dates back to centuries but Disney first brought it to the audience in the '90s through its much beloved animated musical effort – so this current film under review is the live-action version fashioned with a sort of spirited relevance to the current times.

Director Niki Caro, having experienced success with 'Whale Rider,' gives Mulan a contemporary rootedness without undermining it's ancient underpinnings. Her narrative spiel is of course derived from the script by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver, Elizabeth Martin & Lauren Hynek, and interweaves ancient Chinese lyricism with Easter eggs and western concepts. Mulan doesn't have a dragon sidekick Mushu, the cricket or the funny souls of ancestors (as shown in the 1998 animated version), instead she has to make do with a Phoenix that takes its own sweet time rising from the ashes (so-to-speak).