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
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
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