SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – A remake of “Mulan” hits all the right strings to succeed in China’s main market. Disney cast favorite actor Liu Yefi as Mulan and removed the popular Dragon Sidekick in animated origin to meet Chinese tastes.
Still, the movie drew firmly mixed reviews after its coronavirus-delayed release in China last week, with thousands of people panning it online.
The movie was rated 4.9 out of 10 by over 165,000 people on Dauban, the leading website for film, book and music ratings. Negative comments and jokes about the film made more than positive reactions on social media.
“Mulan” has grossed 198 million yuan ($ 28.8 million) since its launch last week, and was the second movie watched in China by Thursday, according to ticketing platform Moyan. He scored 7.5 out of 10 on Moyan, but also a high score with mixed reviews.
“Poor artistic level, misconceptions about Chinese culture, lead to the failure of the film in China,” the state newspaper of the Global Times said. Tweeted.
Chinese critics at home and abroad said they were disappointed with the inappropriate and biased portrayal of the Chinese history film and the pessimistic main character.
Others were not bothered.
“It’s good that different screenwriters make different stories,” military veteran leader Zhang Qin said after watching the film in Beijing last week. “They can play with imagination and that’s a good thing.”
IT engineer Zhang Fan also spoke positively about the film. “What touched me is humanity,” he said.
The remake of Disney’s 1998 popular animation is based on the ancient story of a young woman named Hua Mulan, who dresses as a man and takes her father’s place in the military.
The animated version was a global success, but in China it grossed only $ 30 million, according to reports at the time.
The original story, “Mulan’s Ballad” has gone through multiple presentations. Topics such as fidelity religiosity and loyalty to the central government have remained the main postures, which some find old and problematic.
“It’s a very mild topic in modern China because a lot of people hinder me (Fialian religiosity) so much,” said Ziran Jay Zhao, a Chinese-Canadian author of an upcoming book about China’s only female emperor. ”
Critics also portray inappropriate details such as the use of the southern house when Mulan is from the north as a potential and magical power that only boys can execute – in Chinese philosophy, it is not a limited power by gender.
Some called Makeup and costumes ugly and extraordinary.
Zhao said the film is more like a European fantasy than a Chinese story, noting that the film’s crew was mostly white, consisting of a director, four screenwriters and a costume designer.
“They didn’t really meet any Chinese people on the writing staff, and it really showed,” he said.
Janet NTA, a United Kingdom-based Chinese fiction writer, said the film promises the story of China’s majority Han people, which includes and excludes ethnic minorities, including ethnic Mongolians, Tibetans and Uighurs.
“Mainland Chinese people 20 years ago are not mainland Chinese viewers,” she said of the mild response. “Culture has moved on.”
His comments reflect the latest in a series of controversies surrounding the film in major foreign countries outside of China.
The final credits of the movie are thanks to the publicity departments and the Public Security Bureau in Xinjiang, where part of it was filmed.
China has been widely criticized for detaining Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang as part of a campaign to wage a sometimes violent struggle against Chinese rule.
Earlier, the boycott movement began after actor Liu, who played Mulan, as he publicly supported the Hong Kong police in his fight against pro-democracy protesters last year.
Hong Kong resident Sarah Chan said she has no plans to see the film, which opened in her hometown on Thursday.
“The lead actress … supports the Hong Kong police, so I don’t want to see her,” Chan said. “Besides, I think they’ve changed the historical background of the story. Now that’s not the same story. ”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijia defended Liu last week, calling him a “modern-day mullah.”
Disney did not respond to a request for comment.
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Ice Fung, a journalist with the Associated Press in Hong Kong, contributed to the report.
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