Live Action Mulan

While I was really looking forward to seeing the new take on Mulan, I was not going to pay a $30 overcharge to watch a movie at home given the ridiculous abundance of distractions already on offer across the spectrum of video sources available to me. It just does not make sense. (I would pay $5-$10 to rent a movie.)

Now it is free for Disney+ subscribers and we got to watch it. We is not exactly correct... I was the only one who really watched it. H and K were not keen on the "action movie" vibe of the whole thing.

I will say that Mulan does take much more liberty with the original that the other live action adaptations.

From my point of view, the choices they made greatly improved upon the movie.

The animated version is fine and the songs are cute, but it is definitely a kids movies. The animated version does have a strong girl message behind it, but it also muddies it all up with a needless love story.

The live action movie is better for dropping the songs, the silly dragon, and the love story. What is left over is a powerful story of a young woman finding her voice and her power without the help of some man. This Mulan is strong, courageous and foolish. However, she has the wherewithal to own up to her mistakes and the confidence to choose the middle path.

The action sequences are spectacles. They are sumptuous. The whole movie is visually spectacular.

It is a shame that COVID stopped it from being seen on the big screen. In a theater, it would have been a much more thrilling experience.

Even at home on a 40+" TV with surround sound it was a fun way to spend a couple of hours.

Onward

I am glad that some studios are releasing content online during this time of crisis.

Onward was a Pixar quality movie. The animation was great. The characters were lively and well done. The story was fun and pretty standard family fare.

Was it great? No. I enjoyed it, but I will forget about it soon enough.

Frozen II

I think Frozen II has gotten a bad rap. Aside from the megahit song, it is every bit as good as the original.
In many ways I liked it better than the first. I liked that it gave both sisters equal time. I found that the original Frozen spent to much time on Anna. I also thought that Anna was way too one dimensional in the first movie.
The sequel gives both women more complex characters. I also liked the story better. It was sort of like a condensed and better done version of the 9 Star Wars movies. Evil grandfather destroys balance of nature in desperate grab for power. Grandchildren must rise above themselves to restore balance. Elsa and Rey have a lot of parallels. They both have immense power and both don't know their place in the world.