Mulan

Last night I watched the popular Disney movie "Mulan" on tudou.com (花木兰第一部). They have the Mandarin version in three parts, which I couldn't really find anywhere else.

I understood most of the plot, but I think that was probably due to the simple nature of the film. A lot of the dialog was confusing and there were many words I didn't know. This is common when I'm watching Chinese films - each time I seem to understand a little bit more. I found the subtitles distracting in this version - for one, they were traditional Chinese, and I've only been learning simplified. Secondly, they didn't really match the dialog from what I could tell. A subtitle would show up an disappear earlier than the character spoke it. I don't know what the reason for this was, but after half way I tried to block the subtitles out so I could focus on the dialog.

Anyway, I found this movie entertaining, and I think I'll need to watch it a few more times to try and pick up on some more things. I often wonder for movies which have both English & Mandarin tracks - would it be beneficial to watch the English version first (to understand the plot) and then follow up watching the Mandarin one?

I'm still not sure. My gut feeling is that this might help in movies which were originally in English, but are translated to Mandarin, but not as much the other way around.

I think Mulan II is also available on tudou.com, so it's getting added to my "to watch" list.