Half the fun of the animation – and much longer: Mulan reviewed

Mulan is Disney’s latest live-action remake, coming in at 120 minutes, compared with the 1998 animation, which ran to 80. So it’s a third longer, and very much seemed it — and half the fun, if that.

No songs. No jokes. No crazy grandma. No Eddie Murphy. Instead, this is a workaday action-adventure that is unlikely to entrance a new generation and won’t cut it for nostalgic adults either. I watched with two twentysomethings who had adored Mulan growing up and were genuinely excited but who wandered from the room after 40 minutes. So I was lonely as well as bored but couldn’t come up with a reason to summon them back. Quick, quick, or you’ll miss one of those dreary battle scenes that seem to go on forever?

Her fellow soldiers never suspect she’s a girl, which makes you want to shout ‘You should have gone to Specsavers’

Directed by Niki Caro, the story, like the original, is based on the Chinese folk tale about a plucky young woman who disguises herself as a boy to fight the invading Huns, and it delivered Disney’s first progressive heroine rather than one hanging about in the hope that a dishy prince would turn up.