The Rise of a Warrior Princess

If you are waiting for the release of the new Disney movie about the legendary female warrior from China, take it easy and give it a try on this different and more realistic version of Mulan: rise of a warrior, released in 2009, in China.

As this movie is a hundred percent Chinese, from the director Jingle Ma, we have in the main cast: Zhao Wei as the protagonist; Chen Kun as Wentai; Jaycee Chan as Fei Xiahou; Liu Yuxin as the Rouran Princess; Nicky Lee as Hu Kui; Yu Rongguang as Hua He; Zhou Sun as the Emperor; Jun Hu as Modu and Vita as Wude.

This story takes place in the China of 450 A.D., when a Chinese dynasty is under threat of the Rouran tribes. When the Chinese army starts to recruit soldiers to fight on battle, the family of Hua is called on the list. As Hua He, Mulan’s father, is very ill and was sent to his certain death, she takes advantage by knowing martial arts since her childhood and tricks her father by stealing his weapon and armor and enters the Wei army pretending to be a boy in order to save his life.

Mulan started training and becoming a very brave soldier with a helpful heart. This way, she started getting attention of Wentai, the Sub Commander. Their friendship started at this point until he accidentally finds out that a woman is infiltrated in the army.

From this part of the story, you will see many different things: her best friend is not a small dragon and the difficulties she’s going to pass through are much different from the obstacles we see in Disney movie. After fighting many battles and winning, Mulan is finally betrayed by the Commander-in-Chief and she almost loses everything if it wasn’t for the announcement of the 7^th Prince of Wei offering himself as a prisoner. What happens next you will know better by watching it.

Technically speaking, this movie has a good original soundtrack, a not very convincing performance by the protagonist because she looks and acts, every time, like a girl. It is unbelievable that the whole army of soldiers, who spent 12 years with her, saw her as a boy. On the other hand, she did give a balance between being a vulnerable and strong girl at the same time, which gave her an award. Besides that, we can see many monotonous scenes, but adequate light effects and good simple effects on battle scenes.

This movie is better than expected and has gotten 4 awards and 7 nominations. The values shown in this movie are very deep, indeed emotional people usually cry at the end of this drama. If you are one of those, watch it prepared to see tears rolling down your face. More than a sentimental love story; it’s a story of love’s sacrifice, courage, faith, honour and patriotism. Mulan wasn’t born a princess nor a warrior, but her actions made her be both.

“Someone once said, go too far from home and you will lose your roots. Kill too many people and you will forget yourself. If you die in battle, your life will sink into the ground like rain and vanish without a trace. If at that time, you fall in love with someone, hope will blossom again from the earth and embrace life with passion. Wentai, thank you.” - Mulan