When a live-action remake of Mulan was announced by Disney, there was a mix of excitement and trepidation. On the one hand, the epic feel of the story and the battle sequences were tailor made for the blockbuster treatment. On the other hand, however, would it feel different? After all, a notable contingent of Mulan fans love the animated dragon Mushu, voiced by Eddie Murphy, along with the musical numbers, and that wouldn’t fit this more realistic take. Well, with the movie hitting Disney+ tomorrow (for those willing to pay an extra fee, of course), this is a different feeling work than the animated classic, but it builds on that in interesting ways, making it an undeniable success. The film follows the same general plot as the cartoon classic, with a young girl disguising herself as a male in order to protect her father. Hua Mulan (Yifei Liu), the oldest daughter of a respected warrior, decides when the Emperor of China (Jet Li) issues an order that one man per family must serve in the Imperial Army, that she’ll be the one to defend the country from a threat led by Böri Khan (Jason Scott Lee). So, pretending to be a man, she steps in to take her sick father’s place. Under the alias of Hua Jun, she is quickly tested and put through the paces of becoming a warrior, something she’s always desired, as opposed to being married off. As she evolves and winds up a key part of saving the Empire, she’ll earn the respect of everyone, from fellow soldiers to her father. It’s a traditional Disney story, just given a new intensity with the live-action variation we see here. Niki Caro directs a screenplay that Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver wrote with Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin. Included in the cast are the likes of Donnie Yen, Gong Li, and more. Harry Gregson-Williams handles the music, while the cinematography is by Mandy Walker. This is one of the more successful live-action remakes for Disney. Well suited in most respects to this treatment (while dropping the songs, etc), we get an epic feeling action-adventure with a strong female lead, something Hollywood is in short supply of. That they have to mine their cartoon stock to find this is ironic, but the final product speaks for itself. Still, credit to the writers, as well as director Niki Caro for […]