A common inquiry towards many of us millenial kids growing up was "who is your favourite Disney princess?" Or another variant, "which one are you most like?"
Although not technically a princess I always really liked Mulan a lot as one of my favourite women in Disney. However, quite confidently, Pocahontas was my favourite.
As you may already have guessed eventually I ended up with a much more mixed and bag of feelings eventually. While I maintained appreciating the good feelings and influences this character gave me growing up, learning about how it is indeed the bastardization of her real life story did leave that place that once felt so confident, empty. Nothing replaced it, and being an adult now, I figured nothing ever would.
I never did expect, however, to someday appreciate a live-action version of Mulan so much; or for the portrayal of her character, to feel so closely relatable and moving.
...(Even if they still didn't acknowledge she was Mongol. Looking at the good here.)
It's funny because this is the second time I'm watching his movie, but it felt like the first time watching it for what it is.
So without further ado, here are some typical movie review points:
• So long as you don't walk in expecting the cartoon/waiting for Mushu, it's actually a fantastic movie in my opinion. I do admit that the first time I watched this movie a level of disappointment, just because it was so not what I was expecting and had been working up excitement for. That said, second time around without far off expectations, I loved it, and find it artful, meaningful, and encouraging.
• The part that still made me cringe this time over, too: the not-matching-kinda-caucauphonous-audio voiceover for the "I believe her" scene. that must have been added later still made me cringe. It felt so forced and tacked on. A nod to this, yes, and you know I would appreciate if before releasing they realized that more emphasis on the principle (not disbelieving a woman when a man wouldnt be) is called for. But the audio overlay sounded so strange, and the cacauphony of overlapping voices was very not fitting with the moment, either. And it feels a little mean to say, but essentially I would have liked for that scene to have more application of 'be true?'.
• people mock her hair looking too good in the battle. Have they never taken their hair down after it has been in a bun for days? This was real, please let her have this!
Edited February 23, 2026
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