Talk:Mulan (2020 film)/@comment-13372324-20180422143917/@comment-26423071-20180427141505

I don't mean fake, snobby critics.

I mean real ones, the ones that actually speak for the audience.

"The film, in many respects, does do a lot of good updates, that is, except for one element that is kind of an important element, and that's Cinderella herself. If you watch the interviews, they all talk about how she's not a damsel in distress and she's not a waif, and I really hate it when they do that, because it's like, "Okay, we know what she's not. What is she, then?" The answer is...not very interesting. Ironically, in trying to make the character more strong and independent, they actually make her more submissive and more dependent. In the original cartoon, her father dies when she's a child, so it makes sense that she would be used to this way of living that she's supposed to be the servant. Here, he dies when she's practically an adult, so it doesn't make any sense why she wouldn't just leave. In fact, there's a scene where friends are asking her "why don't you just leave", and she's like, "Oh, it's my father's place. I would feel bad." That makes no sense! And she ends up leaving at the end anyway, so it makes doubley no sense! And when it does show her childhood, it's some of the worst stuff in the movie. It actually starts off showing how over-the-top pleasant her life is, and it is painful. It is beyond sappy, it's like it's made for three-year-olds, which, if the movie was made for three-year-olds, fine, but it's clearly not. It's supposed to be made for everybody, it's supposed to make adults feel like children and children like adults. Just know if you're watching it, the first couple minutes is not a reflection of the rest of the film. And following that over-the-top happy childhood, she herself is also over-the-top happy. There's one scene when she finally breaks down, and it's a very welcome scene, but all the other times, she just kind of smiles and looks...pleasant. And I'm sorry. That's not interesting. I know a lot of people remember the original Cinderella as being just very bland and not very interesting, but you know what?

She had her limits, she could get angry, she could get frustrated. You could see in the animation and the performance that she's constantly telling herself, "Just get through it. Just get through it." So when it leads to the scene where the dress is ripped apart and she has nothing left, it's genuinely heartbreaking.

In this movie, when they rip the dress apart, it doesn't mean a thing. Yeah, she cries and she feels sad, but it feels like we're going through this simply because it's the Cinderella story, we kind of got to go through it. It didn't feel earned. We already had the big cry scene when she realizes she isn't part of the family, and it was very effective. But because of that, you're taking away from a moment that should've been huge because you did it a little too early. On top of that, there's a scene at the end where she's locked in the attic. Now in the original, she tries to get out, she's banging on the door, she's calling for help. In this one, she's just so happy thinking about her Prince, and also, somehow so sad that she thinks nobody would want to see her, that she does nothing. She just spins around singing to herself. Oh, my God! This is supposed to be the stronger, more independent version? A good, strong character is supposed to work with their flaws. You're supposed to see what their problems are and see them work through it. The original Cinderella is trying to work through a mindset that she's had since childhood, and see that she is worth the effort. She's worth breaking out, she's worth going behind her Stepmother and stepsisters' back. Here, much more than the original, she waits for someone to come and save her. In the original, she's at least making an attempt to get out! I'm sorry. These are big problems with this character!"