Mulan (Live-Action)

[UmbrellaFish]

I’m worried they will try to make one film for two different markets: the US and China. I know that strategy didn’t fare too well for The Great Wall, but perhaps the Disney magic will come through.

[estefan]

I'm very curious how it will do in China. Mulan is to China what Peter Pan and King Arthur are to the rest of the world. So many films and television series have been produced in China over the past number of years that they might see this new movie as just another Mulan film and not Disney's blockbuster large-scale adaptation. The animated film also wasn't the biggest hit in China, reportedly due to the local government's treatment of the movie, so I don't know if there is as much nostalgia for Mulan like there is in western countries.

[DisneyFan97]

I wonder if Grandma Fa will be included ?

[Disney's Divinity]

I wonder if Grandma Fa will be included ?

I hope so. I liked the comedy she provided in the original film. I still wonder if Cri-Kee will appear, too; I know the character's inconsequential, it really gives something for Mushu to play off of.

[Sotiris]

In the film, Mulan and the imperial army march across the land to face the Hun invasion, which is led by the ruthless Shan Yu, the film's main antagonist. However, the live-action remake is taking some major liberties with the original and changing its villain to the witch Xian Lang, who actor Gong Li has now revealed details about in an interview posted on Weibo.

Although she didn't get into spoilers or specifics, she did reveal what fans can expect from the character, saying (translated from Mandarin), "I've never played a villain but with this role -- audiences will feel she's a villain in the beginning but toward the end, they'll see why."

The actor went on to compare her character to the White Bone Spirit, a shapeshifting demoness from the classic Chinese novel, Journey to the West. Xian Lang is a powerful witch who, as Gong described, "can turn herself into a thousand eagles." Clearly, Xian Lang -- whose name roughly translates to "fairy wolf" -- is a vastly different villain than Shan Yu. "There was no witch in the original," Gong said, "there was a man but he wasn't that important. [Xian Lang] will become important in this movie [...] audiences will understand why this character is the way she is, what she wants -- they've handled the character very well."

Source: https://www.cbr.com/mulan-gong-li-xian-lang-details/

[JeanGreyForever]

I considered Gong Li as playing a villainess in Memoirs of a Geisha but I suppose she wasn't the full-fledged villain as much as she was an antagonistic foil. Still, she's the main reason I'm interested in this film because I love her and would love to see her in the role of a powerful witch.

I wonder if Grandma Fa will be included ?

Grandmother Fa was one of the characters who the Chinese criticized the most for being too westernized. I mean, they didn't even approve of Fa Li (they felt she was too westernized for not scolding Mulan more for arriving late for the Matchmaker's and cheating with the notes on her arm) so Grandmother Fa would be 100 times culturally inaccurate for them.

[DisneyFan97]

I wonder if Grandma Fa will be included ?

Grandmother Fa was one of the characters who the Chinese criticized the most for being too westernized. I mean, they didn't even approve of Fa Li (they felt she was too westernized for not scolding Mulan more for arriving late for the Matchmaker's and cheating with the notes on her arm) so Grandmother Fa would be 100 times culturally inaccurate for them.

I don't think the Grandmother was too westernized. I like her. And after all it is an American movie. I think they should have kept her.

I guess they are getting rid of the ancestors to which is a shame. I would have liked if James Hong played one of them. I thought they were funny.

Seems like this Mulan is an entirely new story. It's like they are stripping Mulan of all the things i liked about the Disney movie.

[Disney's Divinity]

Seems like this Mulan is an entirely new story. It's like they are stripping Mulan of all the things i liked about the Disney movie.

I don't know, some of the outrage over the stark changes from the animated film has helped reverse course in some ways. The animated film's music and Mushu weren't going to be a part of this to begin with.

I can't remember about Shang; at first, he was cut, but I think they recently introduced a character that fills his role to some degree (the son of a general), didn't they?

Either way, I agree with you DisneyFan97, that it is ultimately an American movie and there's nothing wrong with that. Hopefully they remember it while they're attempting to juggle both markets in their portrayal. I don't mind some of the changes though. I love the idea of the witch that they've made the villain here.

[DisneyFan97]

If the decision was mine i would include the grandmother and Mushu.

I would actually rather have those two than Yao, Ling and Chien-Po.

I never really cared about those three characters.

I feel pretty certain the ancestors will be cut and maybe that's best. I found them funny. But they may be culturally insensitive.

I really hope the grandma is in it !

[DisneyFan97]

Ever since i read that Cheng Pei-pei was cast in the movie i have thought that maybe she is playing grandma fa.

This is based on the fact Pei-pei is in the right age and the only old female actress in the cast.

[DisneyFan97]

I heard speculation that maybe Nelson Lee is voicing Mushu.

[Disney's Divinity]

I don't know anything about Nelson Lee to go by. His filmography seems pretty small, but, if it turns out to be the case that he'll be playing Mushu, maybe he gave a great audition for the character?

I think Cheng Pei-pei might be playing the grandmother, too. If not Grandmother Fa, I can only guess she could be playing the matchmaker (if that part of the story is even still in the film) or a background character in Mulan's village or in the Emperor's palace.

[DisneyFan97]

Rosalind Chao could be playing Mulan's mother.

[Sotiris]

Horrible news.

Phoenix Possibly Replacing Mushu In ‘Mulan’; Cast Will Not Sing Classic Songs
https://thedisinsider.com/2019/06/29/ex ... sic-songs/

[UmbrellaFish]

I smell another Great Wall.

[Disney's Divinity]

Well, darn. I don't really mind that the sidekick is a phoenix since they're one of the coolest fantasy creatures--and I remember saying in the Aladdin thread a while back about how the phoenix is being used more often in the media the past couple of years (but maybe that's just me?)--but I am sad none of the music will be there. I thought at least "I'll Make a Man Out of You" could function as a montage song even if there was no character singing it directly, and "Reflection" could be over the credits if nothing else. Hopefully they'll ultimately decide to use those two as more than instrumentals before the finished product is released.

I'm still interested in this regardless. I don't really mind the changes because the '90s formula was something, like the current buddy roadtrip structure, that could be thought of as somewhat restrictive of the stories in some of those films. And Mulan was the weakest musical of that string between TLM and Tarzan. *shrug* I'm definitely not going to mourn the other songs too much, even if I always had a fondness for "Honor To Us All."

[Farerb]

I'm actually fine with those decisions. I never liked Mushu in the original, I always felt he was too "intrusive". He feels out of place, like he's a character from another film barging in. I also felt Mulan has the weakest songs out of all the Renaissance films, I'm fine with I'll Make a Man out of You being in the background during a montage and Reflection in the credits. They decided to not make this film a musical and I'm fine with that decision, it's actually refreshing to have a different take than having another shot for shot remake after Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins, Aladdin and The Lion King.

[Sotiris]

I don't care too much about Mushu but I'm very disappointed there won't be any songs. I had hoped the extended version of Reflection would at least make it in. It's such a beautiful and important song.

New logo:


Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BzTmSoUgOLi/

[DisneyFan97]

Horrible news.

Phoenix Possibly Replacing Mushu In ‘Mulan’; Cast Will Not Sing Classic Songs
https://thedisinsider.com/2019/06/29/ex ... sic-songs/

Will the Phoenix talk ?

[JeanGreyForever]

I know these changes are unpopular, but I'm quite fond of them. Mushu was never going to work in a film that is striving to be more culturally accurate and accepted by Chinese audiences. Anyone with basic knowledge of my username will probably be able to tell that I love the Phoenix mythos so I'm quite excited about this addition.

As for the songs, I don't even consider Mulan a musical and both it and Hercules are arguably the two weakest films of the 90s, music-wise. Both of them didn't need songs so I'm glad they've cut them here.