Mulan (Live-Action)

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Farerb
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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JeanGreyForever wrote:
farerb wrote:I know it is very popular where I come from. I think even more than The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.
That's shocking. Those films are usually hailed as the pinnacle of Disney, nostalgia or not. What country/region is this?
Israel. And to be fair I only based it on a poll done in a local facebook group, which I left because I couldn't stand the shallow conversations about Disney films. Israeli are not that knowledgeable about Disney or its history, people here hardly know basic information like who Bob Iger is. They might be mostly younger people and that does fit what you said about Mulan being popular among younger generation.
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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Growing up, I do not remember other children particularly liking Mulan— of course we’d all seen it, but everybody liked Ariel, Belle, Jasmine. Mulan was and is consistently underutilized in Disney marketing and the film was the last of the 90’s features (not counting The Rescuers Down Under) to receive a sequel or TV series. Then around the time I entered high school (2010), it sort of jumped back into consciousness— I still remember the girls in one of freshman history classes singing “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” when we weren’t learning anything in that class, which was often. Rewatching the movie recently, it holds up well and Mulan is an interesting and well realized protagonist. It probably is the best Disney film of the late Renaissance.
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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UmbrellaFish wrote:Growing up, I do not remember other children particularly liking Mulan— of course we’d all seen it, but everybody liked Ariel, Belle, Jasmine. Mulan was and is consistently underutilized in Disney marketing and the film was the last of the 90’s features (not counting The Rescuers Down Under) to receive a sequel or TV series. Then around the time I entered high school (2010), it sort of jumped back into consciousness— I still remember the girls in one of freshman history classes singing “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” when we weren’t learning anything in that class, which was often. Rewatching the movie recently, it holds up well and Mulan is an interesting and well realized protagonist. It probably is the best Disney film of the late Renaissance.
Mulan is a decent film not without flaws. It has a good script and a likeable protagonist, but the side characters are meh and like people said it could have improved musically - only four songs, no reprises, no song at the end, though it does have one of the best instrumental pieces. Personally I think The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a much stronger film than people give it credit and in my opinion better than Mulan. The thing is Mulan is the 8th film to use the same formula and that's probably the reason why it doesn't have the same impression or cinematic achievement as the Big Four.
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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farerb wrote:
JeanGreyForever wrote: That's shocking. Those films are usually hailed as the pinnacle of Disney, nostalgia or not. What country/region is this?
Israel. And to be fair I only based it on a poll done in a local facebook group, which I left because I couldn't stand the shallow conversations about Disney films. Israeli are not that knowledgeable about Disney or its history, people here hardly know basic information like who Bob Iger is. They might be mostly younger people and that does fit what you said about Mulan being popular among younger generation.
That's cool, I never knew you were from Israel! If it was a local Facebook group, it may have mainly attracted youngsters. To be fair, most people even here in the U.S. are not very knowledgable about Disney or its history, including Bob Iger, or general animators. I think that's common for all the young people across the world because I've heard that people from previous generations used to be much more aware of how Disney films were made and who worked on them. It's sad that this information is not valued anymore.

I know when I used to go to summer camps as a tween/early teen, the film generally everyone liked most was Mulan. I think there are a lot of Internet memes to it as well because they used to be referenced a lot alongside the song I'll Make a Man Out of You. Although this circle was pretty nerdy and mostly Asian so that may have influenced their taste as well, because I had many Asian friends who had never seen any Disney movies except for Mulan.
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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farerb wrote: Mulan is a decent film not without flaws. It has a good script and a likeable protagonist, but the side characters are meh and like people said it could have improved musically - only four songs, no reprises, no song at the end, though it does have one of the best instrumental pieces. Personally I think The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a much stronger film than people give it credit and in my opinion better than Mulan. The thing is Mulan is the 8th film to use the same formula and that's probably the reason why it doesn't have the same impression or cinematic achievement as the Big Four.
I don't think Mulan is a terrible film but I hate when people treat it like the Second Coming of Disney and how it's a perfect film (Moana these days gets that same reception). The villain is very bland and only remembered because of the reference to the Huns in I'll Make a Man Out of You. The comic characters like Grandmother Fa, Mushu, Chien Po, Ling, and Yao really take away from the dramatic elements, and The Emperor himself is reduced to a few wisecracks by the end. Shang isn't exactly the most interesting protagonist either and the romance seems shoehorned in just because all 90s Disney films had to have them, just like they all had to have songs. Out of four songs, only two are well-liked and I agree that the lack of songs being spread evenly throughout the film hurts the film musically.

THOND is highly underrated but it's important to remember that it was a big box office hit back in the day. It made a little bit less than Pocahontas and more than Mulan worldwide and it had a huge presence with the Disney Parks musicals and shows, not to mention it's one of the longest-running and most popular musicals in Germany. Critics also adored the film but over time, it was parents who became wary of the film's content and having their children exposed to it. This article by Scott Mendelson does a beautiful job of explaining Hunchback's legacy and how since the 90s, Disney's turned away from it despite being a critical and commercial success.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmende ... -cartoons/
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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I think one of my favorite things about Mulan is her relationship with her father. Fa Zhou, like King Triton, is such a great, well-done character that's too often overlooked.
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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I'm mad Mulan is Asian! She should have been another race not represented. Any one else agree? rotfl
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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It's such a shame his beautiful song won't be heard in the film. :(

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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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I would be very surprised if "Mulan" doesn't go the "Cinderella" route and include a few of the songs over the end credits. That strikes me as a likely scenario.
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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estefan wrote:I would be very surprised if "Mulan" doesn't go the "Cinderella" route and include a few of the songs over the end credits. That strikes me as a likely scenario.
Yes I think so too. And this way it won’t distract us from the story they are trying to tell (which sounds different enough from the original feature for once) with a song we already know.
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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The trailer looked really good i thought.

It looked like a work of art.

I think this will be a good movie,
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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farerb wrote:
JeanGreyForever wrote: That's shocking. Those films are usually hailed as the pinnacle of Disney, nostalgia or not. What country/region is this?

Israel. And to be fair I only based it on a poll done in a local facebook group, which I left because I couldn't stand the shallow conversations about Disney films. Israeli are not that knowledgeable about Disney or its history, people here hardly know basic information like who Bob Iger is. They might be mostly younger people and that does fit what you said about Mulan being popular among younger generation.
What? You're kidding right? I'm from Israel too. Mermaid, Brauty and Aladdin are hugely, hugely iconic here and I grew up in the 80's/90's. Mulan is just decently popular. I also strongly disagree with your statement that "Israelis are not very aknolowgeable about Disney", what do you expect of a casual viewer to know?
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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Whoa, Rodis! :shock: You’re alive! :) Ok, now we really need Disney-Fan to show up and complete the Israeli Trilogy* (unless there are more Israelis lurking here who haven’t announced themselves.)

*Well, y’know there’s the New Jersey Trilogy ... I thought I’d borrow the name Scaps. 8) :frog:
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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rodis wrote:What? You're kidding right? I'm from Israel too. Mermaid, Brauty and Aladdin are hugely, hugely iconic here and I grew up in the 80's/90's. Mulan is just decently popular. I also strongly disagree with your statement that "Israelis are not very aknolowgeable about Disney", what do you expect of a casual viewer to know?
Were you at the group "Disney Israel - דיסני ישראל"? Because I think that's currently the biggest place for Israeli Disney fans and I just didn't like being there anymore and yeah I got the impression that people there don't know very much about Disney, even worse don't want to learn. Or the discussions revolved around problematic elements in Disney films, which at this point I just don't care anymore since this subject is like beating a dead horse. Maybe there's another place I can go and interact with Israeli fans. Anyway they had this poll about favorites Disney films (it was kind of like a tournament) where the results were:
1. The Lion King
2. Mulan
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. Aladdin
And I was basing my answer on that specifically. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't have any other indicator.
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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Chinese audiences are criticizing the historical inaccuracies in the trailer stemming from mixing together elements from different time periods and regions.

China Loves New ‘Mulan’ Trailer, Except Its Historical Inaccuracies
https://variety.com/2019/film/news/mula ... 1203264522
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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Oh wow, I thought this live-action film would finally fix those concerns after the animated film was riddled with inaccuracies and anachronisms. Clearly not the case.
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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Sotiris wrote:Chinese audiences are criticizing the historical inaccuracies in the trailer stemming from mixing together elements from different time periods and regions.

China Loves New ‘Mulan’ Trailer, Except Its Historical Inaccuracies
https://variety.com/2019/film/news/mula ... 1203264522
:lol: Like I said, Disney is wasting its time trying to appeal to a market that despised the original. The re-makes function off the nostalgia of people who grew up with the films. If China hated the original, they're not going to have fondness for this. Even if everything is changed, you're not going to get butts into seats to find out regardless. And, besides, the tale didn't have a phoenix or a witch either; what even, at their thought process. :lol: Bring the music back for the people who actually care, instead of wasting time on people who never will.
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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Disney's Divinity wrote:The re-makes function off the nostalgia of people who grew up with the films. If China hated the original, they're not going to have fondness for this. Even if everything is changed, you're not going to get butts into seats to find out regardless. And, besides, the tale didn't have a phoenix or a witch either; what even, at their thought process. Bring the music back for the people who actually care, instead of wasting time on people who never will.
Couldn't agree more! :up: It's not like re-imagining them à la Maleficent or Alice was any better. Let's not pretend these remakes are made for any other reason outside a quick cash grab made possible by fans and nostalgic millennials. Without them there wouldn't be a market for these type of movies to begin with. That's why similarly-themed movies from rival studios usually flop. Does anyone honestly believe if a live-action Mulan was made by some other studio anyone would care?
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

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All that article confirms is that Disney hasn't tried hard enough to appeal to Chinese audiences which is evident from their general lack of research. Something that's plagued them before not just on the animated counterpart of this film but their other films too. Even so, the article explicitly states that China loves the trailer, regardless of how nitpicky they've been of the details. That's no different from how we all criticize certain elements of the live-action remakes (or even regular Disney/Pixar/Marvel/Lucasfilm releases) but we still end up watching them.

Anyway, what the Chinese audiences are asking for (general accuracy to historical and cultural details) isn't much if you actually read their complaints. If China or any other country made a film about the U.S. or any of our home countries and the facts and settings were as blatantly incorrect as they've been identified below, I'm sure we'd all be making our voices clear as well. Literally 1000 years off to the point that they could throw in Mulan riding a subway (as one comment says) and the film wouldn't be any less accurate than it already is shows a real problem here.
Yet the Disney trailer shows Mulan living in a round “tulou” house, a traditional communal living structure of the Hakka people unique to coastal, southern Fujian province that became widespread in the much later Ming dynasty — more than a thousand years later.

“Disney shouldn’t be so careless and just think that because tulou are beautiful, they can make Mulan live in one. She’s not Fujianese!” wrote one detractor who wondered how Mulan would manage to make it north to fight the Huns, adding: “I guess this Mulan has to take the subway out to join the army?

Another PhD student expressed a similar sentiment in a video that has itself gone viral, racking up some 8 million views in two days. “This film is just trying to ingratiate itself to Western audiences. It’s like they thought, oh, this element is really Chinese, it’s very Oriental, so I’m going to shove it into the film to make everyone feel this is a very ‘Chinese’ film,” he said.

“This mess of mixing unrelated Oriental elements is really disrespectful of non-Western cultures and audiences,” he added. “This is not about [the producers] truly appreciating elements of a culture that is different from Hollywood’s, but using them to create something that [Americans] find comfortable and appealing.
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Re: Mulan (Live-Action)

Post by D82 »

I've noticed that an actor named Jun Yu is listed on IMDb as the voice of Cricket. Could it be true that Cri-Kee appears in the movie?
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