In a stunning turn of events, at least for those of you who aren’t clairvoyant, Disney has announced an upcoming, live-action version of Mulan. It’s almost like someone at Disney read my article about the upcoming Lion King remake!
It’s time for everyone’s favorite, non-princess badass warrior woman to head back to the silver screen. The "Hero Who Saved China" is coming back, this time as a real life human being.
I’m honestly a little shocked, but not too shocked. Disney is, as I wrote before, in the midst of a new Renaissance, remaking films from our (the Millennials) childhood. Just as we lived through the first Disney Renaissance, I feel that the hope is, by bringing our childhood favorites back to the big screen, millennials will be more enticed to bring their children to see their favorite childhood movies re-imagined. After all, many millennials already have young kids.
What shocks me about this is difficulty of the subject matter. Mulan really is a much darker film than most Disney movies. Shan Yu, the yellow eyed Hun intent on taking over China is one of the scariest and most openly violent of the Disney villains. Mulan is the only Disney film about soldiers going into war. And Shan Yu suffers an extremely violent on screen death: being completely blown up by fireworks over a crowd of people who in all honesty, were showered with human flesh confetti .
One of the big fears that fans of the original have is that the movie will become extremely whitewashed in order to appeal more to American audiences. The American film industry does have a fairly negative reputation of using white actors to portray characters of color. However, Disney has confirmed that they will not be whitewashing the film, a response brought about to a petition by fans who want an ethnic Chinese actress to play Mulan.
Fans of the original do have some demands for Disney in regards to this new film. The strong, independent characterization of the Mulan needs to be maintained. We need all of the original characters back, from Mushu and Cri-Kee to Grandmother to the Matchmaker. Also, let’s talk about the soundtrack. While Mulan may not be as song-heavy as other Disney films, the ones it does have are strong. “Honor To Us All”, “Reflection”, “I’ll Make A Man Out Of You”, and “A Girl Worth Fighting For." Disney, let’s have a real moment here. You need to include all of these songs if you don’t want fans to start rioting in the streets. One of the major concerns with all of the Disney remakes is the soundtracks. Disney created some truly iconic songs in the late 80’s and 90’s, and now that they are choosing to remake these films, fans want reassurance that our favorites will make it back onto the Silver Screen.
That being said, I am extremely excited to see Mulan coming back to the movies. Disney announced that Mulan will actually be back in November of 2018, which is pretty quick in film time. Hopefully we’ll see some great action, memorable characters, and even more touching father-daughter moments.
