I watched the Mulan remake last night.

She starts off already a martial arts master even as a child just because she was born with magic powers, which misses the point of the original. Instead of proving she can do anything, she already can and just pretends she can't to fit in.

And don't give me that "it's not magic, it's chi" shit. It gives her super-human reflexes and agility despite a complete lack of training. That makes it functionally indistinguishable from magic.

In the original, Mulan was a teenage girl living in an extremely patriarchal society with clearly defined gender roles. Mulan had to struggle to prove she could do anything a man could do, and the fact that she overcomes such adversity is what makes her a compelling character.

Nu-Mulan doesn't struggle with anything except hiding the fact that she has magic chi powers. She doesn't have to prove she's as capable as a man because she already just is thanks to a trait she happened to be born with and doesn't even have to learn how to use.

Really, does every character have to be a fucking superhero now?

The fact that Nu-Mulan's abilities don't come from training or experience but instead from some magic power she was just born with has unfortunate implications.

It's like saying, "Hey girls! You can do anything a man can do, as long as you have fictional superpowers that is!"