Mulan (2020)

[BetterButter]

[scrb]

So Disney is rebooting every one of their movies?

[Trini]

Looks good! It's not a musical, right? But I think the trailer used the melody from 'Reflections'. And it looks like she doesn't cut her hair in this one? Aw, that scene was really good in the animated film.

[Kromm]

So does she cut her hair in a part of the movie we aren't seeing, or has the pretense of her disguising herself as a man totally been taken out?

I get that's there's a ton in the original film that doesn't score high on the political correctness/woke-scale these days and certainly expected big changes to the romance part of the story. But I don't see how you get around her disguising herself, and why she does that.

[twoods]

I do see a scene with her hair up and covered so I’m guessing the parts with her hair out was after her troop found out she was a female. The whole premise of Mulan is her disguised as a male so she can take her dad’s place. I’m wondering if they will keep Mushu and the cricket and CGI them like they did Abu in Aladdin.

[Guest]

It looks good. I’m happy that Disney is finally beginning to make big changes from the animated versions. Hopefully this does better than Dumbo. 

22 minutes ago, Kromm said:

So does she cut her hair in a part of the movie we aren't seeing, or has the pretense of her disguising herself as a man totally been taken out?

With Chinese hairstyles at the time she really doesn’t need to cut her hair to disguise herself. The extra length will hardly be noticeable in the bun. If anything her short hair in the animated movie was too short to make the bun she wears. 

[AimingforYoko]

3 hours ago, scrb said:

So Disney is rebooting every one of their movies?

Look, Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilms can only put out four or five movies a year. Six, tops. What, you want them to come up with original ideas? That's why they bought those other studios.

[starri]

I'm in.

Quote

I’m wondering if they will keep Mushu and the cricket and CGI them like they did Abu in Aladdin.

I don't think they've said one way or another, but given that the original was very poorly received in China for deviating so much from the legends of Hua Mulan, I doubt we'll see them.

I'm not even sure we'll get any kind of a romance plot either, and I'm fine with that.

[Bill1978]

51 minutes ago, starri said:

I don't think they've said one way or another, but given that the original was very poorly received in China for deviating so much from the legends of Hua Mulan, I doubt we'll see them.

I'm not even sure we'll get any kind of a romance plot either, and I'm fine with that.

I've heard talk that Mushu has been replaced with a phoenix and that Mulan falls in love with one of the troops.

This is probably the first re-make I'm intrigued about. It doesn't bother me that they are dropping the songs (although including the melodies in the score could be distracting for my brain which occurred watching that teaser). My main concern at this moment is that the fight scene will involve lots and lots of unnecessary slow motion.

I can actually see a reason for this product to exist unlike other remakes from Disney - looking at you Lion King.

[Trini]

Poster:

[starri]

3 hours ago, Bill1978 said:

I've heard talk that Mushu has been replaced with a phoenix and that Mulan falls in love with one of the troops.

The phoenix isn't Chinese, so I'm not sure about that.  There does appear to be some kind of hawk with her in the trailer, which is pretty cool.

The Li Shang analog is played by Donnie Yen, who is an extremely good-looking man, but he's also in his 50s, so if there is a romance, it's not with him.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, starri said:

The Li Shang analog is played by Donnie Yen, who is an extremely good-looking man, but he's also in his 50s, so if there is a romance, it's not with him.

Yoson An is supposed to be playing the love interest. 

1 hour ago, starri said:

The phoenix isn't Chinese, so I'm not sure about that.  There does appear to be some kind of hawk with her in the trailer, which is pretty cool.

I’ve been trying to find the source of that rumor and it seems to come from a Disney fan site which used cast pictures that include a Mulan logo with a bird as evidence. I think they may have misidentified Fenghuang as a phoenix. If Wikipedia is correct it is viewed as a female symbol that is paired with the male dragon. 

Edited July 8, 2019 by Guest

[nilyank]

I also like that it appears that Mulan has been practicing sword wielding and fighting before she meets up with the troops. Saddened that there will be no songs, but I most likely will hum them when the corresponding scene shows up.

[voiceover]

I'm just here to be a brat.

I don't care how many elegant smoky slo-mo sword scenes they throw at me.  If MuShu isn't here, it's not "my" Mulan.

[Spartan Girl]

I'd rather have no Mushu at all then have a new version of him being voiced by Kevin Hart.

Anyway, even if it's not like the cartoon, I'm excited for this too.

[Morrigan2575]

12 hours ago, starri said:

The Li Shang analog is played by Donnie Yen, who is an extremely good-looking man, but he's also in his 50s, so if there is a romance, it's not with him.

Donnie Yen is hot.  I had no idea he was in his 50s

[Fukui San]

2 hours ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Donnie Yen is hot.  I had no idea he was in his 50s

As a kid I took martial arts classes taught by Yen's mother in Boston in the 80's. He was already a big deal then. Pictures on the covers of martial arts magazines, movie roles, etc.

[Kromm]

10 hours ago, voiceover said:

I'm just here to be a brat.

I don't care how many elegant smoky slo-mo sword scenes they throw at me.  If MuShu isn't here, it's not "my" Mulan.

It's okay to feel that way, but I also recommend not being surprised if a lot of people disagree on the character, since The Ballad of Mulan predates Disney's version by like 1500 years and doesn't feature a hyperactive dragon.  LOL

[voiceover]

1 hour ago, Kromm said:

It's okay to feel that way, but I also recommend not being surprised if a lot of people disagree on the character, since The Ballad of Mulan predates Disney's version by like 1500 years and doesn't feature a hyperactive dragon.  LOL

Thanks for the permission.  I knew the story years before the Disney animation (thank you Collier's Children's Encyclopedias).

Thus the referring to it as "my" Mulan.

[Trini]

12 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I'd rather have no Mushu at all then have a new version of him being voiced by Kevin Hart.

Anyway, even if it's not like the cartoon, I'm excited for this too.

I mean, I'll miss Shang, and the 'Be A Man' training montage, but I can still love the animated film, AND this new version, which looks different but good.

(And I don't see the point of remaking these animated films in live-action if they're going to be the same anyway -- this is my problem with the new Lion King.)

Anyway, I hope Mulan gets too directly kill Shan-Yu (or whoever the villain is)*, because I appreciate that she's the only Disney 'princess' with a kill count.

*Wait - Jason Scott Lee is in this? How did I miss that casting?!

[Kromm]

Watching this again, what really strikes me is what a phenomenal actress Yifei Liu appears to be.  She communicated more in just a few looks in that scene with her family than most actresses manage in an entire movie. 

[krankydoodle]

The Mulan trailer is a dismal sign Disney is bowing to China's nationalistic agenda

I thought this was an interesting response to the changes made for the live action version.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, krankydoodle said:

The Mulan trailer is a dismal sign Disney is bowing to China's nationalistic agenda

I thought this was an interesting response to the changes made for the live action version.

It is interesting but it jumps to a lot of conclusions based on a minute and a half trailer and a couple of rumors. I really doubt that Disney is stupid enough to turn a princess movie into a “gritty realist film”.

I think people have forgotten the tone of Mulan’s original trailer was actually pretty similar to this one and it also didn’t include Mushu. 

Edited July 9, 2019 by Guest

[blueray]

I've always wanted a more realistic version of Mulan.  Basically take the general plot of a girl who honors her family by fighting when her father is unable too and portending to be a boy as that's what she had to do at the time. While I'm not Chinese, as a kid I looked up to Mulan as a girl who was was strong but at the same time trying to find herself. Plus she was a baddass. I think removing the songs and the dragon will actually improve it (not that the animated movie isn't good). Since they are having it as live action they should make it more realistic, which may result in it being more serious but that's not a bad thing.  I actually haven't actually seen any of the "live action" remade Disney movies, but from what I heard they basically used scene by scene. I think having a new take could make this a really good movie.

[Trini]

Description of new footage of Mulan shown at D23: https://io9.gizmodo.com/new-footage-from-mulan-was-filled-with-a-whirlwind-of-e-1837542561

Sounds like they are doing similar scenes from the animated film, but with different circumstances.

[Trini]

[BetterButter]

[Spartan Girl]

Oh yeah, I'm in.

[JessePinkman]

I don't mind the lack of Mushu or the lack of singing. As long as the score is the instrumental versions (like "Reflection" in this trailer) of the '98 version I'll be happy.

Also the lack of overdone CGI is very nice.

[elle]

3 hours ago, JessePinkman said:

As long as the score is the instrumental versions (like "Reflection" in this trailer) of the '98 version I'll be happy.

That instrumental version of "Reflection" is beautiful!

[Brn2bwild]

This looks good.  Am I wrong that she pronounced her father's name differently than in the cartoon?  "JOE" rather than "ZOO"?  Is that because she's saying it the Mandarin way (as opposed to Cantonese), or because the animated movie's pronunciation was just wrong?

[Bill1978]

As gorgeous as that score rendition is of Reflection I kind of wish they had no intention of referencing the songs in the score cause that just makes me want the songs in the movie. And I could also do with them no referencing the song titles as well.

Having said all that I am more impressed with this trailer than the teaser and just maybe I'll head to the cinema. The only thing stopping me is the witch, is she a part of the original legend?

[starri]

15 hours ago, elle said:

That instrumental version of "Reflection" is beautiful!

If the same person also did the arrangement for Rise of Skywalker's version of the Star Wars theme and Circle of Life in the Lion King trailer, he or she needs a raise.

[Zuleikha]

The only thing stopping me is the witch, is she a part of the original legend?

No, the original legend is very short and simple with very few details about the actual war.

The only Chinese heroic epic that I've read is Journey to the West, so I don't know if witch characters are common in heroic epics. But I've seen witch characters in a number of Chinese wuxia films, so the witch fits to me in a way that Mushu would not. 

[DollEyes]

My verdict: looks good. I don't mind live-action reboots as long as they're innovative & clever, ala the Jungle Book reboot and not just a shot-by-shot rehash like Lion King. 

  I like that this version of Mulan seems more realistic, magic aside. Since I've always found Mushu annoying anyway, I won't miss him. As for the songs,  the instrumental score is good enough for me. If they use "I'll Make A Man Of You"  for the training montage, even better.

[Trini]

Character posters - the theme is reflections!: https://www.theilluminerdi.com/2020/01/25/mulan-character-posters-battle/

[Trini]

 

[Guest]

 

Edited February 2, 2020 by Guest

[starri]

[Trini]

Mulan will be the first live-action remake with a PG-13 rating. Fitting for the only Disney 'princess' with a body count.

[Trini]

The Hollywood Reporter cover story: Inside Disney's Bold $200M Gamble on 'Mulan'

Liu Yifei and Director Niki Caro:

[Bill1978]

I'm not really buying Disney's reasoning for dropping Li Shang. To me is sounds like they are trying to shift the criticism into self proclaimed congratulations.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/entertainment/movies/disney-drop-mulan-character-following-supernumbermetoo/ar-BB10EhZ1?ocid=spartanntp&pfr=1

[Spartan Girl]

7 hours ago, Bill1978 said:

I'm not really buying Disney's reasoning for dropping Li Shang. To me is sounds like they are trying to shift the criticism into self proclaimed congratulations.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/entertainment/movies/disney-drop-mulan-character-following-supernumbermetoo/ar-BB10EhZ1?ocid=spartanntp&pfr=1

Yeeeah, I don't buy it either.  There was never a MeToo situation in Mulan.  Just say you wanted to do it differently with that character to make it different than the movie, don't drag MeToo into it.

[GHScorpiosRule]

8 hours ago, Bill1978 said:

I'm not really buying Disney's reasoning for dropping Li Shang. To me is sounds like they are trying to shift the criticism into self proclaimed congratulations.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/entertainment/movies/disney-drop-mulan-character-following-supernumbermetoo/ar-BB10EhZ1?ocid=spartanntp&pfr=1

40 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Yeeeah, I don't buy it either.  There was never a MeToo situation in Mulan.  Just say you wanted to do it differently with that character to make it different than the movie, don't drag MeToo into it.

 

Neither do I. Plus, considering when and where this takes place, an era before women's rights were even on the horizon, using it as an excuse, is just that: an excuse. Plus, Li didn't pursue Mulan as a love interest until AFTER the war was over and she'd returned home.

[angora]

Yeah, @GHScorpiosRule, when you look at the timing of the Mulan/Shang prospective romance, it's actually the OPPOSITE of what Disney's saying. Here's a captain who's drawn to/attracted to his subordinate (mileage varies depending on how much you ship them while he still thinks she's a man,) but he very specifically DOESN'T cross any lines or make any overtures of that nature while he's still in a position of power over her.

[Guest]

On 3/3/2020 at 1:25 AM, Bill1978 said:

I'm not really buying Disney's reasoning for dropping Li Shang. To me is sounds like they are trying to shift the criticism into self proclaimed congratulations.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/entertainment/movies/disney-drop-mulan-character-following-supernumbermetoo/ar-BB10EhZ1?ocid=spartanntp&pfr=1

Sounds like a typical reaction to MeToo from someone who really doesn’t understand MeToo. I can’t imagine Disney is happy with that producer speaking out like that. I would be very surprised if he does any more interviews. 

I’d be curious to hear what the director and writers had to say on the topic. 

[Spartan Girl]

Aaand this has been postponed due to coronavirus. It's the right move, but yhe early reviews made it sound so good and it was so close to my birthday....

I have just one thing to say to the virus and everyone responsible for this mess:

Edited March 12, 2020 by Spartan Girl

[BetterButter]

 

[Trini]

3 hours ago, BetterButter said:

 

I disagree with them a bit about the songs, but this was funny.

[Trini]

Optimistic new release date: July 24.