Aladdin Central Messageboard

Dark Rose · Goth Genie Joined: 29 Jul 2019 Posts: 272

Is it out yet? I wanted to see it at first but the PG-13 worries me because the few PG-13 movies I have seen are really just R in disguise, but it's probably rated that since she's a warrior princess so there is fighting. There probably won't be anything too bloody since it's part of the Princess series, right?

AladdinsGenie · Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:28 pm Post subject:

That would suck cause if you don't pay the $30, you never get to have that movie on Disney+ and would have to get it separately for your own collection. Either way you'd have to pay for it but they're making you pay more upfront just to rent it cause they want a big return before they release it for streaming for Disney+ customers, I guess idk.

Meesh · Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:29 pm Post subject:

It comes out September 4.

The article calls it an "exceptional family friendly film," so it can't be that bad?
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Dark Rose · Goth Genie Joined: 29 Jul 2019 Posts: 272

AladdinsGenie · Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:31 pm Post subject:

Meesh · Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:32 pm Post subject:

Universal charged $20 to rent their latest Trolls movie for 48 hours and made a killing. So I guess they're taking a page from that book?

I guess they figure it will be watched by families, and $30 is less than it costs in most theatres for a family to watch a movie?

Sounds greedy to me, but they've also lost a lot of money during the pandemic.

But so have families. Soooo...
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Dark Rose · Goth Genie Joined: 29 Jul 2019 Posts: 272

Also I just looked it up and Mushu won't be in this one, which is disappointing but I looked it up because a relative doesn't like long-bodied dragons due to the "resemblance to a snake"

AladdinsGenie · Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:39 pm Post subject:

AladdinsGenie · Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:40 pm Post subject:

Meesh · Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 12:28 am Post subject:

Just seeing this now, but they got Christina to sing 2020's version of "Reflection."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNprQYHenNI

It's very extra, but also very good IMO. I love that it's totally orchestral, and tbh I love that they asked Christina to do it. She outdoes her younger self.
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Meesh · Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2020 5:06 pm Post subject:

It's out, as of yesterday!

There is a 0% chance that I WON'T crack and watch it.
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Meesh · Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 12:41 am Post subject:

I watched it.

If anyone cares my thoughts in a nutshell (no spoilers)...

I rank it up there with the live-action Aladdin. Good visuals and sequences, good casting, decent score, wasn't a scene-for-scene remake, made a lot of changes that work really well on paper. But I felt that the "heart" and the "message" were being spoon-fed to me, instead of establishing things and letting them grow. Not a lot of character development in any characters. The only interesting character was the witch, and I wasn't satisfied with her resolution. I probably won't watch it again, but I did enjoy it.
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AladdinsGenie · Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 8:20 pm Post subject:

Christina has that same problem as Idina for me in that they like to yell to hit those high notes and everyone praises it as being "powerhouse vocals", but I heard the song when the end credits played and it was better than I was expecting.

[spoilers]

I thought it was okay or at least didn't match up to the type of movie it was selling me in the trailers so I was super underwhelmed. It wasn't even the changes that got me cause I didn't mind those at all and they made a lot of sense. My main problem stems from it's not American enough to be interesting to American audiences and not Chinese enough to be interesting to Chinese audiences.

That's how you end up with this new weird focus on her breast and long hair being symbols of her femininity that she subsequently has to hide or let loose when the story line calls for it (like the guys in the film have the same length of hair as her and as Lea Salonga once said "you don't need big boobs to save China", so why was that moment of her emerging from the mist with her hair down and her binder removed after literally being broken free to show she has titties the big reveal to her fellow soldiers? Laughing

The scene where she cuts her hair and they find out she's a woman because of the injuries to her chest in the animated film have less to do with her gender and more to do with what she did to keep safe for as long as possible. Here they're used in a way that would really only make sense to Americans that don't understand the cultural significance of her cutting her hair to the Chinese and subscribe to our horrible "if you have boobs you're considered a woman" mentality)

chi/qi being used like a superpower she's suppressing (which got on my nerves pretty quickly cause at no point should I watch Mulan and feel like I'm watching the opening to Frozen with Elsa's parents telling her to hide her powers. I think people have been comparing it to the force in star wars and that's probably a pretty accurate depiction of it when contrasted to the witch and her Chi/Qi),

not enough diving in to Chinese culture (I mean, yeah you got rid of Mushu as her guardian and replaced him with a more respectful Phoenix since that was one of the things Chinese audiences hated about the original, but that's really the only taste we got. I know there's more to the Chinese than family swords),

and overused themes of family and honor and bravery and loyalty used for the 1000000000000th time in Chinese films produced by Westerners (which, yeah was in the original film, but you can talk about something else in addition to that cause actual Chinese films certainly do and that was supposed to be your goal in remaking this in the first place. the other live action films that aren't beat for beat remakes managed to do the same.)

As a result, you get this feeling they were guessing what Chinese audiences wanted and what American audiences wanted without trying to offend one and get the other to like this new version knowing how much they had to change it from the animated film. It just felt safe, overall, when the changes they made and the tone they went for kind of demanded they be bigger and bolder. It feels like a lot more time went in to the action sequences, which were the kind of mix I was looking for between American and Chinese inspired, than anything else honestly.

Other things:

Y'all could have kept her name Ping cause I don't remember what fake name she used in the film AT ALL Laughing

I didn't miss the songs, but boy were those leitmotifs referencing the originals huge teases. Also, when they LITERALLY SPOKE SOME OF THE LYRICS AS LINES, like come on.

It's bugging me they didn't give Mulan a "little brother" but instead a little sister, yet Cri-Kee was turned in to a solider Laughing

. I get this is a dude-centric film and they needed more women but it's like right there.

Iiiiiii wasn't expecting Mulan to drop as many bodies as she did, but she was really out here kicking daggers into her enemies. I didn't get why it had the PG-13 rating until then cause the war itself was pretty tame despite the obvious deaths.

Mulan's dynamic with her father here is so beautifully underrated. "The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter" is one of those classic tear jerker Disney lines, and while that's never said here you can feel it when she returns back home and she has to face him. It's the only time I wanted to cry. (Also her wanting to die rather than go home and face her family is somehow a mood Laughing

)

The most interesting character was by far Xian Lang the witch (who is HELLA queer-coded so my disappointment in her ending is mixed with anger cause it's such a horrible trope), I might have squeaked a little when Ming-na appeared as the esteemed guest introducing Mulan to the emperor, and this is probably an unpopular opinion but I'm really glad they split Shang's character between the general and Honghui. It made his pseudo-bisexual awakening that much more enjoyable without the weird power dynamic between a commanding officer and his solider like in the animated film Laughing

(he's also a cutie so >_>)

Speaking of which, I know the kiss between them tested negative with audiences so they cut it from the film (thank god), but the film novelization makes me want it back if only for this line:

LET HIM SAY THIS LINE, YOU COWARDS

Meesh · Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 1:20 pm Post subject:

My response (SPOILERS)

zitagirl · Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 3:11 pm Post subject:

With no Disney+ here yet in this part of Europe, I cannot watch this movie legally yet (and not planning to sail the virtual sea now) so I can only say opinion on things I have heard so far. The 2 things I heard from everywhere was how it tried way too hard to find a middle point (so trying to satisfy everyone only to fail in that) and how Mulan is basically Rey 2.0 with being the chosen one and the Chi thing.

Honestly very sad that they did this to Mulan. I get that the Chinese audience disliked the animated version, but it was so much more endearing (and daring to say, actually more of a good role model) to see Mulan actually grow into a real warrior. This whole "oh, she was actually special from the very beginning, but she was limiting herself" just sounds... not as relatable. I know power fantasies are a thing, but really feel like this was a wrong move from Disney.

Also that line in the novel is hella cheesy, but meh, I think once in a while it wouldn't hurt. Laughing

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