Disney’s live-action Mulan released the first trailer, poster, and stills from the film today. The female costumes and make-up still look like bad 80’s movies, but OMG Liu Yifei is perfect!!!!! She’s so beautiful and so fierce in the trailer it made me tear up. I feel like the tone of the trailer was spot on in terms of what I was hoping for in a film about Mulan. What do you think?
The film stars Liu Yifei as the titular heroine and features Gong Li, Donnie Yen, Yoson An, Jet Li, and Cheng Pei-pei. It’s set for a worldwide release on March 27, 2020.
Yeah. Not sure what I was expecting but yet, it’s lacking something. I am now wowed by it. Also, sorry, the hair is a no no. She has beautiful hair. However, it is not realistic in battle to have your hair flipping about…
Fight scenes look amazing (LYF’s fight scenes never disappoint) but tbh this type of gritty wuxia film, while as a standalone could work great, is really NOT what I was hoping for from Disney’s Mulan!!! We already have gritty “realistic” versions of Mulan made in the past, for this version I just wanted to see the beloved cartoon version from my childhood with all the memorable songs be brought to life. No “Reflection”, no “I’ll make a man out of you”, no Li Shang??!! How could they cut out the male protagonist? Him and Mulan were one of my favourite Disney couples!
I absolutely loved the recent live-action Aladdin and really wished Mulan could’ve been adapted in a similar way, keeping all the familiar songs and some elements of magic while improving on some aspects.
I’ve seen lots of praise for Disney for going the more “realistic” route but my feelings are the opposite…I hope I will be pleasantly surprised but I’m feeling pretty let down right now.
(Also much more minor gripe that I’m not too upset over but wonder why they couldn’t film authentically in China? New Zealand is gorgeous and all but I’d have preferred them to show the battles on the plains of inner Mongolia and the mountains actually in China.)
(I will say that the poster is really stunning though. Can’t stop staring at it–great homage to the original poster while bringing a fresh updated look to it. If only the rest of the movie could be the same…)
Nice scenery. Unfortunately, everything else looks and feels ham-fisted like it’s missing something crucial. There’s a high probability it won’t be a box office hit in China. Might do well in the USA and internationally though.
To your question… Her acting skills are still as overrated and bland as they are in the other stuff I’ve seen her in. I’m really disappointed that Niki Caro wasn’t able to get more from her. Cinematography looks beautiful – they filmed in New Zealand iirc – but for a more war-oriented film adaptation of “Mulan”, I think I’m going to prefer the 2009 Jingle Ma version.