Mulan (2020)

1 factual error

★☆☆☆☆

Starring: Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Li Gong, Yifei Liu

Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Family

Factual error: Not only Mulan's horse is able to outrun an avalanche (at the beginning even unseen by the large enemy army who does not even notice the event occurring), but it also gallops through it undisturbed while Honghui is being carried away depicted as being in serious danger. (01:09:30)

Sammo ★

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Suggested correction: This is consistent with what you see throughout the whole film: Mulan consistently breaks the laws of physics because her "Chi" is strong. (Translating it to the Star Wars lingo: Strong with her The Force is.) Five minutes before (video time, not in-film time) she reversed the flight direction of a spear. This is a fantasy film and is supposed to do all of this; we watch it knowing that magic, "Chi", and The Force are not real.

FleetCommand

I doubt that her horse is force-sensitive like she is.

Sammo ★

That's a composition fallacy.

FleetCommand

More for Mulan

Mistakes

Plot hole: The 'avalanche scene' in this remake is mind-boggling. For starters, the Witch single-handedly holds the whole Chinese army at bay splitting in a zillion of flying creatures - a power level completely inconsistent with the rest of the movie. To the annoyance of being pounced by little birds, the army gets in turtle formation, apparently just waiting it out. The Rourans somehow are ready for this and have a trebuchet set up - despite the fact that they are nomads, conquered the forts infiltrating them, and they were skirmishing a moment before. They throw flaming boulders with such precision that they are able to target each single 'testudo', multiple times, with the soldiers just sitting there with no reaction.To save them, Mulan is able to sneak behind them UNSEEN, by horse, with a bunch of extra helmets she somehow carried, set them in place, and fool them. Any of these convoluted operations would have taken an impossibly long time.

Sammo ★

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: This entry does not mention any plot hole in all of this. All this entry does is explaining what happened in the film and then ridiculing it. For example, the Rourans weren't "somehow" prepared for it; it was their plan from the start. Being mind-boggling is not a mistake.

FleetCommand

"Any of these convoluted operations would have taken an impossibly long time" is not a plot hole? They were not expecting a field battle (the scene literally starts with them saying "They left the garrison!", so were thinking of an entirely different fight), they somehow just happened to have those never-seen-before trebuchets in the middle of nowhere and have them ready for a usage that is out of their capabilities. I could have split the entry in a couple different ones, but the scene is the same and I think they provide adequate context to what happens with the chain of unpredictable and illogic (even in the 'magic' of the movie world) events.

Sammo ★

I'll answer your first question: "'Any of these convoluted operations would have taken an impossibly long time' is not a plot hole?" In another mistake entry, you've complained that Rourans took their sweet time, and called it another mistake. So, according to yourself, no, it is not a plot hole. Clearly, you didn't like the movie and write just about anything to trash it.

FleetCommand

Apples and oranges; you are comparing an inconsistency in the length/scale of a military campaign with the feasibility of operating a trebuchet, (inconsistent even in the same scene) as if the two could be related in any way. I could write a review if I wanted to simply 'trash' the movie, let's not try to attach motives when someone points out an inconsistency, it's not an attack to the movie per se, or to the viewers who liked it. Some things about this movie do genuinely puzzle me, sure.

Sammo ★

More mistakes in Mulan

Quotes

Commander Tung: What is your name, soldier?
Mulan: Hua Jun, Commander, son of Hua Zhou.

More quotes from Mulan

Trivia

Trivia: Liu Yifei did 90% of her own stunts in this movie.

More trivia for Mulan

Questions

Question: Since one male from each family in her village is required to report for training to serve the emperor, how is it that no-one recognizes Mulan - especially when she gives in to her chi?

Answer: Although it isn't said (in either this film or the animated original), she reports to a different camp than anyone else in her village. Otherwise, the men would not only recognize her physically but they would know beforehand that Hua Zhou never had a son so the ruse would never work. How she knows nobody from her village will be at that particular camp is never explained in either film.

BaconIsMyBFF

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