Who is Mulan?
Disney borrowed Mulan’s character and story - now for the second time - from a popular Chinese folk ballad originating from the 6th century. However, not only the Disney but also the heroine’s own country loves dusting off and updating the story in a given age. The first Chinese Mulan movie was made in 1927 and the last one also in 2020.
In the animated film that Disney made in 1998 the heroine’s name was “Fa Mulan” and in 2020 she is called “Hua Mulan”. “Fa” is the Cantonese pronunciation of the family name, while “Hua” means flower in Mandarin Chinese. Mulan’s nick name or pseudonym is “Hua Ping”, which means a flower vase or simply a vase. In China this often refers to sissies or feminine men.
On the other hand, the given name Mulan means magnolia.
The first out of 1,000
Disney wanted to come out with the live-action version much earlier, in 2010, featuring Zhang Ziyi, who gained international success in the films Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers. This did not happen, unfortunately – or fortunately, from the current protagonist's, Yifei Liu's point of view.
Yifei Liu, who turned 33 this year, was chosen for Mulan’s role through a casting including 1,000 (!) candidates worldwide. The makers had to find an actress of Chinese origin who speaks fluent English and is also experienced in martial arts. Although, Yifei Liu received tough preparatory training for the role, it is still unusual for an actress to do 90% of the action scenes on her own. To that end, in fact, she did most of her job without stunts, from horse riding and battle scenes through sword fights to martial art actions.
Something old, something new
The trailer of the film made in 2020 already goes to show that the live-action version has a more serious tone than the one made in 1998. This is the first Disney remake where the well-known musical-type soundtracks were totally left out.
It is a fun fact that Li Shang’s martial art actions were based on Jackie Chan’s style in the animated movie of 1998, and he was also the character’s dubbing voice in the Chinese version, what is more, Chan also sang the soundtrack "I'll Make a Man out of You" both in Cantonese and Mandarin language. Well, this time not only the soundtracks but Jackie Chan was also dropped from the casting.
Probably many people will miss Mushu, the garrulous miniature dragon and the protector of the Fa family, who was popular in the animated film but was left out from the new movie, however, we hope that the lucky cricket will return.
In addition, we are going to meet quite a number of new actors in the spirit of innovation. We will surely see a real phoenix bird and a witch - the latter is played by the excellent Chinese actress Gong Li (Farewell My Concubine, Memoirs of a Geisha). On the other hand, Mulan is not fighting the conquering Huns but the Rourans who were living in the neighbourhood during the times of the original story.
Asian stars and female power
Although, Jackie Chan has no role in the new Mulan movie, nevertheless, we can see some other Asian stars like Jet Li (Hero, The Forbidden Kingdom), who was persuaded by his daughter to take the emperor’s role, and Tung, the great military leader is played by Donnie Yen (Hero, Ip Man). In addition to the already mentioned Gong Li, the Rouran leader is played by Jason Scott Lee, who also starred in Disney’s live-action The Jungle Book in 1994, and later he had a dubbing part in Lilo & Stitch.
After all, the live-action version of Mulan could not have been timed better. Albeit, this is obviously not a feminist movie, the story is still about a girl who puts on male clothes and wins the recognition of her fellow soldiers and the emperor through her actions in a patriarchal society with strong traditions. Talking about female power: The new Mulan movie was directed by the very talented Niki Caro from New Zealand, who is perhaps less known in Hungary (Whale Rider, The Zookeeper's Wife) and photographed by the excellent Australian cinematographer Mandy Walker (Australia, Hidden Figures).
Mulan, the pioneer
In 1998, Mulan was considered a pioneer in the line of Disney movies as, for example, this was the first animated feature film where the protagonist is Asian and war is the topic. Another novelty was that earlier men never dressed up as women and women never dressed up as men in an animated film. Mulan was the second female character among the Disney heroines to wear trousers (the first one was Jasmine in Aladdin).
Mulan made in 2020 is the eighth Disney movie in the line to revive the former, successful animated film in a live-action version. However, this is the first movie with PG-13 rating, and with 12 rating in Hungary. The trailer also suggests that this is the first remake that does not want to perfectly copy the original piece, on the contrary, it fully re-orchestrates the story, the sight and the actors. And how successful will this strategy be? Everyone should decide after seeing the movie!
