Mulan
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date (Streaming): September 4, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 52 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
21
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSep 3, 2020
Mulan is a spirit lifter, and though it doesn’t arrive as planned, it could not arrive at a better time. Read full review
91
Original-CinThom ErnstSep 6, 2020
Mulan is distinct enough from its predecessor that it hardly seems like a remake at all. Read full review
91
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezSep 3, 2020
An epic coming of age journey with scale and spectacle, and rousing heart, Mulan, is a triumph and essentially boils down to a wholehearted tale of feminine resolve, proving the boys wrong and making a father proud while being true to one’s self. That sounds a little simplistic, but Caro’s movie has surprising layers, of color, contour, and shade to shape her magnificent new empowering fairy tale. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireSep 3, 2020
It’s steeped in traditional cultural locales and details, yet feels bracingly modern with the help of dazzling special effects and innovative action sequences. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldSep 3, 2020
It’s a performance that deserves a bigger playground — but this “Mulan” is still a treat, at any size. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 3, 2020
Shooting largely on New Zealand’s South Island, Caro has a beautiful knack for fluid transitions: the witch entering the body of an unsuspecting traveler in silhouetted shadow, for example, or a simple, fixed composition of Mulan riding from one side of the screen to the other, in extreme long shot. The dizzying wuxia martial arts action, with warriors sprinting up, down and sideways, defying gravity, propel the action scenes without overwhelming them. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperSep 3, 2020
Beautiful. Even on the small screen. Yes, it’s a shame that American audiences won’t be able to see Niki Caro’s spectacular live-action epic “Mulan” in theaters, but the good news is this is such a great-looking film, with amazing set pieces and dazzling action and colors so vibrant they would dazzle a Crayola factory, it will still play well on your home monitor. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattSep 3, 2020
Whether its stronger rating and more somber tone will translate to a home-bound family audience, only time and streaming revenues will tell; in the meantime, Mulan might be the closest thing to a true old-fashioned theater-going experience the end of this strange summer will see. Read full review
83
IndieWireKate ErblandSep 3, 2020
Mulan is perhaps the best example of how to marry the original with something fresh. The Ballad of Mulan has always been an epic-scale story about the power of being yourself in a world not ready to accept that, a tale that will likely always have resonance. In Niki Caro’s “Mulan,” that story elegantly and energetically moves forward, a timeless message made for right now. Read full review
80
PolygonKaren HanSep 3, 2020
Mulan handily clears the bar set by live-action duds like The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, but it still fails to recapture the magic of the movie it’s adapting. It forgoes the strongest ideas in the animated film (the songs and the humble origins of heroism) in order to try to tell a more conventional story. Read full review
80
EmpireBeth WebbSep 3, 2020
Niki Caro’s boldly reimagined, battle-laden saga belies its Disney status and spotlights the multifaceted star power of Liu Yifei. The result is a live-action remake done right. Read full review
80
IGNLaura PrudomSep 3, 2020
Disney’s live-action Mulan is a confident blend of old and new, hiding a familiar heart under action-packed armor. Read full review
79
TheWrapSteve PondSep 3, 2020
If you strip away the things that make this such an unusual release in such an unusual year, you’ll find a pretty good movie and one that approaches this story with heart and with fresh eyes. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesSep 3, 2020
It smartly skips the goofier aspects of the original, too. Once you’ve shed musical numbers and Eddie Murphy cracking wise as a dragon, you’re in far less jocular territory...And that feels right for the material. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 3, 2020
This more lenient attitude toward the original 1998 film has allowed director Niki Caro to be less reverent in her approach. The result is satisfyingly fresh. 2020’s Mulan follows the same general trajectory as its predecessor but numerous changes – some small, some large – have given it a unique identity. Read full review
75
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiSep 3, 2020
While not totally original, transitions to live action with real guts and reinvention. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrSep 3, 2020
In the end, Mulan 2020 stands as an inspired oddity: A reenvisioned remake that improves on the original even as it owes everything to movies that have come before. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadaySep 3, 2020
Somber and serious-minded, the live-action Mulan is a movie that has grown up alongside its original audience, which is presumably old enough to crave something heavier in its entertainment diet. Little girls might be better off sticking with the cartoon for now; but this opulent, ambitious production and Liu’s focused, intrepid performance at its center, gives them something to grow into. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittSep 3, 2020
The not-so-secret sauce for why this Mulan works is Liu, a Chinese actress new to American audiences who sells every bit of her character, from rebellious youngster to conflicted accidental soldier to confident warrior woman. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzSep 3, 2020
Sumptuously designed, brightly costumed and shot with an eye toward epic grandeur, the new film is simply gorgeous to take in, no matter the size of the screen. Less pretty is the script, which took four screenwriters to conjure even though there’s perfectly good source material just sitting there, waiting for a photocopy machine. Read full review
75
The Film StageChristopher SchobertSep 3, 2020
Interestingly, of all Disney’s recent live-action adaptations, Mulan is probably the one that would have benefited most from the big screen. Read full review
70
UproxxMike RyanSep 3, 2020
For me (no, I didn’t have to pay for it, so keep that in mind), it felt legitimately fun to watch. It wasn’t quite the feeling you get in a theater, but it just felt good to watch a new huge would-have-been-a-blockbuster movie, even at home. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzSep 3, 2020
Is it going to save Hollywood? No, probably not. But it might save your Friday night, and that’s not nothing. Read full review
70
CNNBrian LowrySep 3, 2020
Mulan is big, sumptuous entertainment. It's good, but not great, transforming the story associated with the 1998 animated musical into a song-free, live-action movie that's more adequate than transcendent -- a perfectly reasonable family-viewing investment that's worth seeing, but not necessarily a must-buy. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 3, 2020
If this Mulan can be faulted for excessive earnestness, the movie’s sweeping visuals and inspirational tone are hard to resist. Read full review
68
Paste MagazineAmy AmatangeloSep 6, 2020
While glorious to look at, the movie still feels slightly hollow. All the right pieces are there, but an emotional connection to the characters is lacking. Read full review
67
Consequence of SoundJosh SpiegelSep 3, 2020
Unlike other Disney remakes, the issue with Mulan isn’t that it hews to the formula too closely; it’s that when this movie veers away from that formula, it tries to be something approaching a Marvel movie, and that’s one crossover we still don’t need. Read full review
63
The Associated PressLindsey BahrSep 3, 2020
There is more good than bad in Mulan, and we should be so lucky to get a gorgeous and inspiring war epic that is suitable for children to watch. Mulan might even inspire some kids to dip their toes into all that Asian cinema has to offer, which would be the best possible outcome. But something has to give in this blind fealty to the animated films, because it’s getting in the way of greatness. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 3, 2020
I adored the animated Mulan, but the best I can say for this one is it’s pretty enough, and watchable. Whatever they market-researched and committee-scripted into this, I wanted something with more heart, better action and at least a hint of fun. Read full review
60
Film ThreatAlan NgSep 8, 2020
While the film boasts an all Chinese cast, the story, culturally, is pretty tame. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeSep 6, 2020
It’s a film that cries out to be seen in the cinema. Disney’s decision to bypass a theatrical release in favour of streaming does a disservice to both the film and its audience. Read full review
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekSep 4, 2020
Brings honor to its predecessor, but it’s somehow lacking in joy. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternSep 3, 2020
It’s an efficient retelling of a tale about a young Chinese woman discovering her power — affecting at times, occasionally quite lovely, but earnest, often clumsy and notably short on joy. Read full review
60
Total FilmNeil SmithSep 3, 2020
Like the inscription on her daddy’s sword, the new Mulan is loyal, brave and true… but not quite as funny or dramatic as it might have been. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 3, 2020
Perhaps more than any other Disney live-action remake to date, Mulan feels like a blockbuster version of great mime – it’s performed with such consummate precision and showmanship that at times you would swear you were watching something with a heart. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisSep 3, 2020
It’s lightly funny and a little sad, filled with ravishing landscapes and juiced up with kinetic fights (if not enough of them). It has antiseptic violence, emotional uplift and the kind of protagonist that movie people like to call relatable. Read full review
60
BBCNicholas BarberSep 3, 2020
Niki Caro’s film is a well-constructed family-friendly wuxia drama, with bright colours, grand scenery, and commendable themes. But it’s best enjoyed if you’re expecting a solid tween movie rather than a monumental cinematic landmark. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangSep 3, 2020
One of the movie’s persistent problems is that it often seems to be nothing but lessons — most of them bluntly spelled out, swiftly absorbed and almost automatically rewarded, in ways that short-circuit tension and emotion. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 3, 2020
An entertaining if straightforwardly glossy action-adventure from the Disney workshop. Read full review
60
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 3, 2020
Storyboarded to within an inch of its life, then translated to screen with stunning energy and attention to detail, the film represents Hollywood’s most enthusiastic embrace of blockbuster Asian cinema tropes since “The Matrix” trilogy. Read full review
60
Screen RantMolly FreemanSep 3, 2020
Mulan is a perfectly fine live-action adaptation, delivering some Disney magic and gorgeous visuals, but it's ultimately just an average action movie. Read full review
60
SlashfilmHoai-Tran BuiSep 3, 2020
What Mulan does suffer from is the absence of the levity that the musical elements would have brought. Mulan is serious verging on dour, so bent on presenting itself as a serious war drama that its rare moments of comedy feel almost awkwardly slotted in. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubBeatrice LoayzaSep 3, 2020
Rather than lean into the more mature elements that make it stand out, the movie does frustratingly little with its noteworthy upgrades on the original, resulting in a version of the story that’s only superficially more sophisticated. Read full review
55
The AtlanticDavid SimsSep 4, 2020
Mulan delivers a straightforwardly heroic narrative of a capable woman battling her way to respect. It just doesn’t have much else to add. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsOct 8, 2020
Mulan emerges as a curious act of market negotiation. It is a perfectly fine movie; it will no doubt be meaningful for children, especially those who could afford to see more of themselves onscreen in heroines like Mulan. But its cast, its attitude, its overall eagerness to please — all benefits, one would think — don’t add up to a good movie. They add up to a blueprint of the movie this ought to be. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreSep 4, 2020
Mulan is a dour drag as a work of art and entertainment, an empty if occasionally impressive-looking spectacle propped up by some incredibly clunky writing. Read full review
50
ObserverOliver JonesSep 3, 2020
It is a visually enthralling, high-gloss commercial for state power and repressive constructs. This is a product precisely tooled to be what the global marketplace demands of entertainment that is this expensive to make—a win for capitalism that will leave many filmgoers who found a powerful reflection of themselves in the original film feeling like they’ve lost something important and essential. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterInkoo KangSep 3, 2020
Despite all the splendor, there’s little sense of vision. Read full review
45
Vanity FairRichard LawsonSep 3, 2020
Mulan is not awful. It’s just inert, a lifeless bit of product that will probably neither satisfy die-hards nor enrapture an entire new generation of fans. Read full review
40
VoxAja RomanoSep 9, 2020
For all its screenplay’s threadbare talk about the importance of cultivating deep understanding, Mulan stays superficial and perfunctory. It gets down to business — and little else. Read full review
38
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenSep 8, 2020
The cultural context is at once vague and oppressive—there’s constant talk of “chi” and “ancestors”—to the point that it’s nearly rendered meaningless. With Yifei Lu in the title role, posing elegantly but not given much of a chance to project any sort of inner life. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineSam C. MacSep 3, 2020
Walt Disney’s Mulan remake perfunctorily recycles the worst aspects of the 1998 animated version and roundly fails to convincingly execute the few deviations that it does attempt. Read full review
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