DVDizzy Forum

To clarify what i meant in the Cruella theard. I don’t think Disney shouldn’t made a live action Mulan if they are going to use so little for the animated movie. Than i could just as well have been made by any Studio.

Also another thing i want to make clear i’m okay with no songs. I have no problem with problem with removing Li Shang. And i think an evil which played by one of China's biggest stars is actually an upgrade form the boring warlord Shan Yu from the original. But I draw the line at removing my two favorite characters The Grandma and Mushu. Than i got a problem with the makers of this Mulan.

You CAN’T remove Mushu is an iconic part of the movie and the Grandma is just plain really enjoyable. Always like old lady characters in fiction who are still sharp and knowledgeable.


All they had to do is tone down Mushu a bit and make the Grandmother more of a serious mentor figure and then I think many chianse people wouldn’t complain that much.

"It's still the timeless story we love, but in live action it's *real*." - Caro on #Mulan. #D23Expo

DisneyFan97 wrote:To clarify what i meant in the Cruella theard. I don’t think Disney shouldn’t made a live action Mulan if they are going to use so little for the animated movie. Than i could just as well have been made by any Studio.

Also another thing i want to make clear i’m okay with no songs. I have no problem with problem with removing Li Shang. And i think an evil which played by one of China's biggest stars is actually an upgrade form the boring warlord Shan Yu from the original. But I draw the line at removing my two favorite characters The Grandma and Mushu. Than i got a problem with the makers of this Mulan.

You CAN’T remove Mushu is an iconic part of the movie and the Grandma is just plain really enjoyable. Always like old lady characters in fiction who are still sharp and knowledgeable.


All they had to do is tone down Mushu a bit and make the Grandmother more of a serious mentor figure and then I think many chianse people wouldn’t complain that much.

I think toning down Mushu wouldn't work because his style of humor is really westernized and wouldn't appeal to Chinese audiences. So even toned down he wouldn't really fit into the tone of the film, but then American audiences would get annoyed that he's so different.

As for the grandma, since Mulan has a little sister now, maybe they felt it would clutter up the story to include another relative of Mulan's in the film.

DisneyFan97 wrote: Also another thing i want to make clear i’m okay with no songs. I have no problem with problem with removing Li Shang. And i think an evil which played by one of China's biggest stars is actually an upgrade form the boring warlord Shan Yu from the original. But I draw the line at removing my two favorite characters The Grandma and Mushu. Than i got a problem with the makers of this Mulan.

I personally have a problem with all of those things, although I think removing the songs and Mushu are easily the worst offenders. Shan-Yu is one of the few male villains of Disney's that I like, although I can appreciate the idea of the villainess they've come up with for this, too.

So strange what they’re doing with this film. It would be like if they decided to remove the songs, cut out Ursula, and have Ariel die at the end of the TLM re-make. Any studio can make a version of the TLM tale just like any studio can make a version of the Mulan legend. Only Disney can make a live-action version of their animated films. Such dumb moves.

I hesitate to go so far as to say I hope it bombs, because I actually believe Disney would have the gall to take the live-action film’s lack of success and treat the animated film worse for it—despite the fact that the live-action film would have failed in part because it wasn’t like the animated film. Same way I feel about the TLM re-make. If the live-action film were to underperform, for many of the same reasons the Broadway show flopped, they might actually conclude that it’s a reflection of what the public feels about TLM as a property instead of what’s really to blame, which is their horrible decision-making and misunderstanding of why the property is popular.

I don't understand the problem. Do you guys want these live-action remakes to be creative and original or not?

If you want Mushu and hear the songs watch the animated movie, it is right there.

It is so pointless when they do these remakes like the animated counterparts. And when they do it like Beauty and the beast or the Lion king, people still complain. They want new creative versions. Ok, let us do it for Mulan. But people are still complaining.

DisneyBluLife wrote:I don't understand the problem. Do you guys want these live-action remakes to be creative and original or not?

If you want Mushu and hear the songs watch the animated movie, it is right there.

It is so pointless when they do these remakes like the animated counterparts. And when they do it like Beauty and the beast or the Lion king, people still complain. They want new creative versions. Ok, let us do it for Mulan. But people are still complaining.

That's my thought process, too.

As I suggested before on this thread, those who are skeptical should give Niki Caro's "Whale Rider" a watch. It's a beautiful film which explores similar themes as "Mulan" and shows why she's the right person to tell this story.

DisneyBluLife wrote: It is so pointless when they do these remakes like the animated counterparts. And when they do it like Beauty and the beast or the Lion king, people still complain.

Yes, different people. What others decide to complain about has nothing to do with me. I didn't complain about B&tB because I liked it for the most part and, no, I wouldn't say B&tB was an exact re-creation of the original at all although it hewed more closely than Alice, for example (which was bottom tier terrible). The only re-make so far that differentiated itself a great deal from the original and was what I'd still call objectively "good" was TJB. I haven't seen TLK to have any opinion of that at all.

My personal stance is that I don't mind minor changes--especially if those changes "improve" small mistakes, add extra detail to / strengthen the story's themes or ideas--as long as the overall hews close to the original. Cutting Mushu and the songs from Mulan are NOT minor changes to me. I’ve said before that I think of the re-makes as being like new versions of a musical. Some particulars may be different, but the crux (the songs, characters, general plot) is—or *should* be, imo—the same.

estefan wrote:

DisneyBluLife wrote:I don't understand the problem. Do you guys want these live-action remakes to be creative and original or not?

If you want Mushu and hear the songs watch the animated movie, it is right there.

It is so pointless when they do these remakes like the animated counterparts. And when they do it like Beauty and the beast or the Lion king, people still complain. They want new creative versions. Ok, let us do it for Mulan. But people are still complaining.

That's my thought process, too.

As I suggested before on this thread, those who are skeptical should give Niki Caro's "Whale Rider" a watch. It's a beautiful film which explores similar themes as "Mulan" and shows why she's the right person to tell this story.

There are some films which I can understand why Disney sticks so close to the source material, like the Big Four of the 90s, because of how untouchable those films are in terms of nostalgia and worldwide appeal. Mulan was never that big a film and it mostly resonates with young generations so I think an update is exactly what it needed.

I'll have to give Whale Rider a watch! What's interesting is how much it reminds me of early drafts of Moana. I wonder if Disney was ever inspired by Whale Rider when they were making Moana and if that's how they also thought of Niki Caro for Mulan.

DisneyBluLife wrote:I don't understand the problem. Do you guys want these live-action remakes to be creative and original or not?

If you want Mushu and hear the songs watch the animated movie, it is right there.

It is so pointless when they do these remakes like the animated counterparts. And when they do it like Beauty and the beast or the Lion king, people still complain. They want new creative versions. Ok, let us do it for Mulan. But people are still complaining.

People want the most iconic characters/songs to make the transition to live action. Seems pretty simple to me. The differences can live in areas that live action does best, in the subtle acting, cinematography, etc. How characters see development over the course of the movie. There's plenty of places to make its mark that doesn't include leaving out iconic characters and songs.

Q: Will the Phoenix in Mulan speak? Is it going to be a female phoenix to make sense?

The DisInsider: No, but that doesn't mean the Phoenix won't. Iago wasn't originally going to speak in Aladdin (2019). But Alan Tudyk was cast at the last minute in post-production.

Source: https://i.imgur.com/j1BreUj.jpg

We learned that a while ago, I thought. At first, I thought the phoenix was just going to be Mushu in a different form, then we learned that wasn't the case not long after. I wonder if the witch will have a bird similar to Shan-Yu's hawk or not, in order to make a counter between her v. Mulan and her phoenix?

Chinese paper poster.


Source: http://news.mtime.com/2019/09/13/1597073.html

I don't like these new Chinese paper posters, to be honest. Frankly, I find them awfully generic.

Sotiris wrote:

Q: Will the Phoenix in Mulan speak? Is it going to be a female phoenix to make sense?

The DisInsider: No, but that doesn't mean the Phoenix won't. Iago wasn't originally going to speak in Aladdin (2019). But Alan Tudyk was cast at the last minute in post-production.

Source: https://i.imgur.com/j1BreUj.jpg

So the animal sidekick will be mute ? Well that’s a big disappointment.

Am okay almost every change.

But removing the Grandma and not even having a Mushu equivalent 1

That really frustrates me !

From what I saw at the D23 movies panel, it looks like the witch can turn herself into a pheonix at some point, but I could have misinterpreted what I saw.

New still.


Source: https://www.empireonline.com/movies/new ... -kurosawa/

The live-action Disney remakes of recent years have varied in their approaches to adapting the original animations – some have been pretty straight-up retellings in a different medium, while others have taken their source material in new directions. The upcoming Mulan is firmly in the latter camp, taking the 1998 film, stripping out the songs and wise-cracking dragon sidekick, and presenting it as an all-out historical epic based on the original Chinese legend. That means huge battles, jaw-dropping scenery, and green-screen-eschewing shoots in the great outdoors.

While fans of the previous Disney take might be sad to lose hit songs including the likes of ‘I’ll Make A Man Out Of You’ and ‘Reflection’, there’s a more grandiose ambition here. “We’re thinking about how David Lean or Kurosawa might approach something like this,” producer Jason Reed tells us, invoking the directors behind historical epics including Lawrence Of Arabia and Ran.

Source: https://www.empireonline.com/movies/new ... -kurosawa/

Then why are they even calling it a re-make? They could've made their own adaptation of the story under a different branch and allowed somebody else to do the re-make of the Disney film.

Well exactly, it's hardly Disney's 'live action remake of Mulan' as it is pretty much a completely different storyline to the animated counterpart.

All cool doing a live action Mulan etc, but I don't think it even needs to be under the Disney live action banner, it could have been done by any studio.

So they used the excuse of the film being a "Disney movie" to justify hiring a white director but not when it came to including elements that are inextricably linked to the actual Disney film such as the songs, Mushu, Grandma Fa or any of the humor. The level of hypocrisy is astounding.

One moment of slight tension came to Caro's otherwise overwhelmingly empowering discussion on stage in New Zealand when she was asked by an audience member how she "reconcile[d] taking the amazing and deserved opportunity to direct Mulan with the critique that perhaps the story should have been directed by someone of Chinese origin?"

Caro acknowledged the legitimacy of the question and said that Disney initially did begin its director search by only considering Chinese filmmakers. But she said it actually was Hong Kong super producer Bill Kong (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Hero; Monster Hunt), who suggested the studio consider filmmakers outside of China. Kong, a legend of the Chinese industry, is an executive producer on Mulan, and served as something of a "godfather of all cultural advice" for the project, according to Caro.

She explained: "It was Bill who said to Disney that, 'Actually, this is a Disney film.' It's certainly about Chinese culture and a terribly old and important story there...But the other culture to contend with is the culture of Disney. It's a very strong culture in the world that reaches many, many people. And so, between them, it was determined that they would widely search for directors that weren't solely Chinese."

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/n ... od-1245415

Disney's Divinity wrote: So strange what they’re doing with this film. It would be like if they decided to remove the songs, cut out Ursula, and have Ariel die at the end of the TLM re-make. Any studio can make a version of the TLM tale just like any studio can make a version of the Mulan legend. Only Disney can make a live-action version of their animated films.

I agree with you on a certain level BUT for me there's a distinction. Only Walt Disney Animation could do what they've done with these stories, at a very certain period of time where the stars seems to have aligned. Not even Walt Disney Studios can replicate those even if they can copy it. I think it's unwise for them to try, 'cause it comes off as a cheap knock-off. I much rather see these with a fresh take than movies that carry the burden of having to live up to the expectations of being something that it's not.