Mulan Teaser, My Thoughts

In 1998, Disney released the 36th film in its Animated Canon: Mulan. It was based on the Chinese folktale of Hua Mulan, a female soldier who replaced her father in the Imperial Army by disguising herself as a man. Mulan herself was voiced by Macanese-American actress Ming-Na Wen, whom you may know from the TV series ER, or the film Street Fighter: The Movie. More recently, she's known for portraying Melinda May on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Mulan would go on to be a box-office and critical success, grossing over $300 million at the box office. It was the second-highest grossing family-oriented film of 1998, only behind A Bug's Life. It would win several Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature. The film's score got nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. The film did get criticism in China for being considered too different from the original folktale. It would get a direct-to-video sequel in 2004.

Well, considering that Disney has been on a kick of remaking some of their classic animated films in live action, it makes sense that Mulan would get that same treatment. Chinese actress Liu Yifei is picking up the sword for this film, which also will feature Donnie Yen, Gong Li, and Jet Li. A teaser was released during the broadcast of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final. Let's take a look!

Wheee, we're going horseback riding!

Aww, poor Mulan. She just wants to swing a sword around and fight Huns.

The film looks incredibly lush. It's amazing.

I can imagine that the battle scenes in this film will be epic. I can't wait to see them.

Hey, people wanted Mulan to have some discipline? Where better to learn that than the army? Besides, turns out she's got a knack for beating up Huns, and China could use some good Hun-beaters right now.

I have to admit, Yifei Liu looks awesome as Mulan.

FALCON ATTACK!

I hope that for the battles, they keep wuxia films in mind. Seems like that influence is kind of there.

I have heard people complain about the lack of musical numbers and the lack of Mushu...despite reports saying Mushu will be in the movie. That doesn't bother me so much. I think this version is attempting to be more authentic to the original tale of Hua Mulan. And I think that's a good thing. It allows it to be different from the original animated version. And besides, the original animated version still exists, you can still watch that one. I'll give this a look. I've seen the original and I enjoyed it, so I want to see what they do this time around.

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