Recently, I watched the 2009 version of Mulan. While I can't call that my favorite movie ever, it did a lot of stuff right both in character development, story line, and pace.
How to compare this with that? I couldn't help drawing parallels the whole time I watched this movie, but it's not fair at all to do a comparison.
This is a completely different kind of movie as a Huangmei opera musical film. At first I was skeptical, but the sets and performances are charming and endearing. If that's all you're looking for and you can enjoy the style of music, this will be a fun yet dated watch.
Personally, I didn't get drawn in, since it has the 2d characters and overexaggerated movements you'd expect from a literal opera film translation. But the main character was fun to watch! Disney's Mulan is a flowery and romanticized fluff piece while 2009 Mulan was a grim yet hopeful outlook on humanity in the darkest places and toughest choices.
This toes the line between the toe, never being very grim and dramatic nor flowery and romantic. It's a show, an opera. It feels more like a night out watching the stage and I found it quirky and cute.
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