Mulan Discussion

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D82
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Re: Mulan Discussion

Post by D82 »

farerb wrote:Mulan is up for pre order on Best Buy Canda, I'm sure other will be updated as well:
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https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/mu ... 8/M2232553

So I'm guessing they're going to reuse the Blu-ray covers when they release the animated films on 4K. I guess it's fine by me. Better than those awful Revival covers. Though I never understood what that symbol has anything to do with Mulan. Oh well, at least it doesn't have "& Mulan II" on the cover anymore. Good riddance.

The steelbook is fine though it has the same problem as the BatB's steelbook had, which is putting the interesting side of the image under the discs.
I love the steelbook cover, though I agree with you about the interior. I wish they had created new artwork for the other cover, but you're right that it could've been worse.
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Re: Mulan Discussion

Post by DisneyFan97 »

I just learned something interesting today there of the voice actors(Gedde Watanabe , Soon-Tek Oh and Freda Foh Shen) in this movie where all in the Broadway cast of Pacific Overtures !

And BD Wong the voice of Li Shang was in the 2004 Broadway revival as Reciter and do you know who played him in the latest revival !! No other than George Takei the voice of the First Ancestor !!
So all in all Five Actors who has been in
Pacific Overtures on Broadway!

Since Watanabe was in a Broadway Musical it’s strange he din’t do his own singing in the movie :?
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D82
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Re: Mulan Discussion

Post by D82 »

DisneyFan97 wrote:I just learned something interesting today there of the voice actors(Gedde Watanabe , Soon-Tek Oh and Freda Foh Shen) in this movie where all in the Broadway cast of Pacific Overtures !

And BD Wong the voice of Li Shang was in the 2004 Broadway revival as Reciter and do you know who played him in the latest revival !! No other than George Takei the voice of the First Ancestor !!
So all in all Five Actors who has been in
Pacific Overtures on Broadway!
That's really curious. I guess it goes to show that there weren't too many actors of Asian descent in Broadway back when the movie was made.
DisneyFan97 wrote:Since Watanabe was in a Broadway Musical it’s strange he din’t do his own singing in the movie :?
I didn't know he didn't do the singing voice for Ling. Yeah, that's strange.
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Re: Mulan Discussion

Post by DisneyFan09 »

Hey guys! :) I don`t know if you`ve seen this, but here`s the full video of the original version of Reflection. Apparently it was storyboarded in 1996. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgIyAyZJnNs&t=1s
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Re: Mulan Discussion

Post by PatrickvD »

Thanks for sharing! I’ve seen other versions of this but I have never seen or heard this storyboarded one in full. Some lyrics at the start are different as well. Very interesting.

To this day I do not understand why the second verse and chorus were cut. It’s such a marvelous ballad. It works much better in its entirety.
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Re: Mulan Discussion

Post by DisneyFan09 »

You're welcome :) Yeah, it's remarkable how short and sweet Reflection actually is. I wonder why. Even Doug Walker pointed it out on his latest video of the movie. Personally I prefer the final version, as it was more subdued. Despite how there's nothing wrong with the first version.
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Re: Mulan Discussion

Post by blackcauldron85 »

Aaron Blaise recently posted a video on the making of "A Girl Worth Fighting For":

https://youtu.be/s3WVOHygfJE
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Sotiris
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Re: Mulan Discussion

Post by Sotiris »

That was very interesting. Thanks for sharing, Amy!
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blackcauldron85
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Re: Mulan Discussion

Post by blackcauldron85 »

You're welcome! I don't know if it's been posted here but he has another video with a lot of concept art and some animation from Mulan:

https://youtu.be/4mpu8doaVdI
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Re: Mulan Discussion

Post by Disney's Divinity »

11-year-old Emi credits "Princess Mulan" with inspiring her to spend her weekends making lunches for the hungry with her family.

https://www.popsugar.com/family/inspire ... y-48751660
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Listening to most often lately:
Ariana Grande ~ "we can't be friends (wait for your love)"
Ariana Grande ~ "imperfect for you"
Kacey Musgraves ~ "The Architect"
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Re: Mulan Discussion

Post by Disney's Divinity »

Long random thoughts here:
I watched a little of Hercules this morning as it was aired, just the musical sequences, which lead me into one of those moods where I watched a bunch of songs from different movies ("A Whole New World," "Reflection"). It's so odd that I never really liked Lea Salonga's voice on the former (BCK is the star there), but I do like her a lot on the latter. My first thought was it could be something to do with character preferences--I never liked Jasmine in the original film, although I do like her in the TV series and remake, whereas I always identified with Mulan a great deal. But I think Salonga sings lower on "Reflection," perhaps that's why? I feel like her voice is better lower, feeling the words a little more...

I wonder if there's a male cover of "Reflection" out in the universe (outside of random YouTube stars, I mean, lol). I think it would suit a male voice as much as a female one actually. I think the reason it never really gets covered by men so much is because it's sort of tied to a female empowerment story, but, IDK, I think it would work with a male voice because the song is also about being at conflict with gendered expectations, not being what society wants you to be based on gender. I think that's why I always identified with Mulan, feeling uncomfortable being one's self when that is a disappointment to those around you, feeling like you have no value or no use because you're not "right."

Not saying anything everyone hasn't already heard before, but Mulan is one of the characters of the Renaissance that has a story that sort of translates to a LGBT subtext, probably more than Ariel even really. Ursula as well; Tod and Copper in TF&TH is another one; the Beast, Gaston of course to degrees also, I suppose, although I never really identified with the B&TB story that way. I think the additional familial conflict in TLM, Mulan, and TF&TH is what makes them fit that subtextual relatability moreso. I suppose that has a lot to do with Ursula's popularity, the fact that she's a pariah unlike most Disney villains who are powerful community leaders of some kind, a "transgressor" character (in a lot of different ways) who's unashamed and unabashed in a lot of ways. Of course she has to die at the end as all villains do, whereas Mulan's story is more powerful with her being at her most powerful when she's no longer hiding herself behind an acceptable form and gets a happy ending of her own choosing. (As a side point, for those who've never played it, Kingdom Hearts 2 actually exemplifies that point about her being more strong as herself pretty well--since she's a horrible party member when she's in pretend mode as a soldier, but blows everything sky high when she's sort of owning what she is at the end of the story and no longer resisting her identity any longer.)

Elsa is another character from much later that can be read with a similar subtext (trying to hide and be something she's not) who gets a happy ending in the end. "Let It Go" is much like "Reflection" in that way, mostly covered by women because of the female empowerment angle, but I think a male voice like Cheyenne Jackson or so on could do it justice in a different way (as far as a cover would go).
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Listening to most often lately:
Ariana Grande ~ "we can't be friends (wait for your love)"
Ariana Grande ~ "imperfect for you"
Kacey Musgraves ~ "The Architect"
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blackcauldron85
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Re: Mulan Discussion

Post by blackcauldron85 »

As far as "Let It Go," Rascal Flats did a cover with Lucy Hale on the "We Love Disney" album (so part was sung by a male). Since you don't want any rando YouTubers, I can't think of any male covers of "Reflection".
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Re: Mulan Discussion

Post by Disney's Divinity »

I suppose random YouTubers can be okay sometimes. I've found covers of Kingdom Hearts music that way sometimes that were good (like an orchestral version of "Face My Fears"). I know Darren Criss before he was on Glee had covered almost every Disney song on YouTube, now I think of it.
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Listening to most often lately:
Ariana Grande ~ "we can't be friends (wait for your love)"
Ariana Grande ~ "imperfect for you"
Kacey Musgraves ~ "The Architect"
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Re: Mulan Discussion

Post by DisneyFan09 »

Street Food Cinema X D23 Mulan: A 25th Anniversary Outdoor Screening - D23
https://d23.com/d23-event/street-food-c ... Lx_ZCeiKf0
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Re: Mulan Discussion

Post by Sotiris »

I've always loved the cut song "Written in Stone" by Stephen Schwartz which was going to be Mulan's 'I Want' song before he got booted off the film. I've been scouring the net trying to find videos of Lea Salonga singing it, the Mulan Jr. version as well as worthwhile covers of the song. Here's what I've been able to uncover so far.

Written in Stone by Lea Salonga at Town Hall (2012)
Written in Stone by Lea Salonga at Lincoln Center (2013)
Written in Stone by Lea Salonga at Jack Singer Concert Hall (2022) #1
Written in Stone by Lea Salonga at Jack Singer Concert Hall (2022) #2
Written in Stone by Lea Salonga at Encore Theater (2022) #1
Written in Stone by Lea Salonga at Encore Theater (2022) #2
Written in Stone by Lea Salonga at Encore Theater (2022) #3
Written in Stone by Lea Salonga at Royal Albert Hall (2022)
Written in Stone by Lea Salonga at Winspear Opera House (2023) #1
Written in Stone by Lea Salonga at Winspear Opera House (2023) #2

Written in Stone by Lucie Jones at St. James Studio (2016)

Written in Stone (Part 1)
Written in Stone (Part 2)
Written in Stone (Part 3)
Written in Stone (Reprise #1)
Written in Stone (Reprise)/Reflection (Reprise)
Written in Stone (Reprise #2)
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