The official trailer for Disney’s live-action Mulan has released online. Following the recent box office success of its Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King retellings, the Mouse House is giving yet another one of its beloved ’90s animated films a makeover. Released in 1998, Disney’s original Mulan wasn’t as lucrative as the studio’s other Animation Renaissance features, but it was an Oscar-nominated hit in its own right. For the 2020 version, however, director Niki Caro (McFarland, USA) is making some noticeable changes to its predecessor.
Story-wise, the live-action Mulan isn’t too far off from either the 1998 movie or the Chinese legend that inspired it, and once again tells the tale of how Hua Mulan (Liu Yifei) takes her ailing father’s place in the Imperial Chinese Army by disguising herself as a man. But unlike the animated film, it’s not a full-blown musical and, judging by its teaser trailer, hews closer to a traditional Wuxia epic. It also features Gong Li as Xianniang, a powerful witch and a brand-new villain who makes her grand entrance in the newest preview.
Disney dropped the latest Mulan trailer online this morning, ahead of its release in theaters later this month (where it will no doubt show with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker). Check it out below, followed by the film’s new poster.
As one would expect, this new trailer runs down the basis plot beats of the live-action Mulan while simultaneously highlighting its stylized martial arts fights and battle sequences. Written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (who share credit with Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek for their earlier script draft), the remake follows Mulan into battle when ancient China is attacked by Northern invaders led by Xianniang and the warrior Böri Khan (Jason Scott Lee). Judging by the trailer footage, the latter is basically a replacement for Shan Yu, the vicious leader of the Huns in Disney’s 1998 film. Interestingly, whereas Shan Yu never learned Mulan was a woman until the very end of the animated movie, it appears Xianniang discovers the truth about her enemy earlier on and uses that knowledge against her by pointing out the patriarchal Chinese Army will almost certainly punish Mulan for her noble actions.
Arguably, though, the live-action Mulan looks better than many of Disney’s other recent remakes because it’s deviating from the animated version in major ways, and not in spite of this. That’s not to say the film won’t bank on audiences’ nostalgia for the 1998 movie (case in point: the official trailer includes an instrumental rendition of the animated movie’s beloved song “Reflection”), but Caro’s tentpole seems like less of a slavishly faithful retelling and closer to an actual re-imagining. Some viewers will no doubt miss the 1998 film’s catchy songs and memorable characters like Mushu, who doesn’t appear to be part of this new iteration. But with the Mouse House’s retellings having become increasingly formulaic and, at worst, kind of pointless over the last couple years, this new take on Mulan could offer a welcome breath of fresh air.
Source: Disney
- Mulan Release Date: 2020-09-04
