The first teaser trailer is out for the Disney live action movie adaptation of the animated movie Mulan based on the Chinese folklore story of Hua Mulan. Normally I don’t cover Hollywood but the live action movie stars popular Chinese actress Crystal Liu (Liu Yi Fei) as the titular Mulan along with veterans Gong Li, Donnie Yen, and Jet Li. I liked but didn’t love the animated Mulan but I’m loving this live action version which takes out the fantasy elements such as the talking dragon Mushu and also swaps out hunky male lead Li Shang for a younger male lead who is a fellow recruit in the army with Mulan. Crystal looks beautiful in either her girly self or training to become a warrior, she’s just got the steely and resolute look that suits Mulan well.
Teaser for Mulan:
I hope this is good and not bad!
Has anyone seen the Chinese version of live action Mulan?
I loved the Chinese live action Mulan starring Vicki Zhao and Chen Kun, it was more gritty and realistic, and of course Vicki was awesome in it. But it was made quite some time ago, I think more than 10 years so I don’t mind seeing an updated one now. But given that it’s a Disney film, I’m gonna go into this a bit wary. Trailer looks ok so far, but I still find LYF acting to be rather stiff but she’s always pretty to look at.
LYF looks beautiful and I hope she enjoys filming the Mulan role. But….and I say this with all respect to her AND myself being a mature woman…. isn’t the original animated version a younger (late teen/early 20’s) girl? Perhaps that aspect of the story no longer matters, but it kinda feels like when I went to see Phantom and the person singing the role of Christine was a bit ‘long in the tooth’ to be convincing as a wide-eyed ingenue. Either way, I still plan on seeing and hopefully enjoying this live action version.
LYF is pretty but a stone face actress…
That was my first thought as well. Disney went full wuxia for this teaser. Not complaining, I love modern wuxia.
I don’t like any changes being made to the male lead. I would rather they left him as a strict son of a general leader. I’m okay with them taking out the romance and focusing on Mulan’s growth instead. But the male lead was a crucial part of the story in his leadership and shaping her into a warrior
Exactly! When I found out they removed Shang and put in another character my anticipation died. If you were still going to use a young naked lead why create a whole other character than just use the one they originally had ?!
I was pleasantly surprised and it is better than I anticipated. I will watch the film before making judgement.
I thought the teaser looked good. Crystal Liu looks convincing as Mulan as well. However, I don’t like how they removed the songs, the male lead Shang and Mushu and added other new characters.
Will definitely watch it first and then judge for myself whether it’s as good as the animated one. Going to be super duper excited identifying all the New Zealand outdoor locations where the movie was shot as I live in that beautiful country. Directed by a female Kiwi director Niki Caro who is critically acclaimed in NZ. Think it’s going to be an all female empowerment type of movie.