TGIF Feature: My short, short, short review of the live-action 'Mulan'

Iconic Chinese actress Gong Li as Xian Lang, the witch.

After waiting years and having the rug pulled out at least four times in anticipation of its opening. I couldn't wait any longer for the local theater to watch Mulan. So I oped to watch it in my coronvirus-inspired setting.

Directing: Niki Caro created a visually stunning film, but more attention should have been made towards character development. And, mo god, how did you ever accept the writing? (See below).

Action: Spectacular, but I inherently fantastic Chinese martial art movies and easily accept the jumping on rooftops and running horizontally.

Costumes: Beautiful. Bina Daigeler should get an Oscar nod and if she does walk up to the stage to receive a statue, I hope she brings along Gong Pan Pan, her Chinese fashion consultant. I can forgive them because they're creating for what looks best cinematically, not an anthropological thesis. But then again, I'm not a student of fashion history.

Acting: Adequate. Best in the non-action scenes. Problem was in the dialogue (See below). Gong Li came off the best as the Witch (I'd love to see her in more accessible films.) Jet Li and Donnie Yen had little to work with. Liu Yufei was OK as the Tom-boyish Mulan but she excelled in the action scenes.

Dialogue: Clunky. Did every line from authority figures -- the father, the captain, the witch -- have to have that "Kung Fu, grasshopper" kind of pronouncement? How many times do we have to get hit over the head about the importance of family? The dialogue felt like it was written by those folks who do the translations for the foreign language captions. The clumsy writing sounds like it was by writers and a director just learning about Chinese values (Turns out, that's all-too true.) or former writers of fortune cookie fortunes. It is hard to imagine that with the millions poured into this film Disney couldn't find an Asian writer.

In short: See it in theaters if you can. It's a beautiful film to immerse yourself in. Don't compare it to the 1996 animated version of Mulan, otherwise, you'll be disappointed. They are two separate movies and should be viewed as such. Best to watch it without expectations.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions. 

Mulan release date announced; new poster & trailer released

UPDATED Dec. 5, 9:30 a.m. to include new trailer.

The live-action remake of Mulan hits theaters on March 27th, 2020 ahead of Disney's newest installment of the George Lucas-inspired space saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Fans are still waiting to see if Mushu will have a part in the remake or not. His absence was another problem audiences had with early trailers but we hear that the dragon is part of the live-action film. 

The highly anticipated remake of Disney's 1998 original animated version hit some delays that involved extensive reshoots.

In preparation for the new trailer, Disney put out the new poster featuring Mulan, played by popular Chinese actress  Liu Yifei, in a fighting posture. Word is that the film will sacrifice the music featured in the original but will beef up the fighting scenes. 

The early trailer released four months ago drew some criticism from China over historical inaccuracies.

Liu Yifei also attracted criticism for her remarks against the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong drawing calls for a boycott of the film.

Directed by Niki Caro, the movie also stars Donnie Yen, Jet Li, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Yoson An, Xana Tang, Jason Scott Lee and Ron Yuan.

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Disney drops first trailer for live-action 'Mulan'

The first trailer for the live action Mulan was released Sunday and it looks absolutely gorgeous. 

Any doubts that star Liu Yifiei (Forbidden Kingdom) can convincingly handle a sword should be put to rest.

What the trailer doesn't show is any of the characters singing. The production team led by director Niki Caro vacillated between making the movie a straight action drama or to include the popular music that made the 1998 animated version so enjoyable.

When Liu was cast, it was assumed that her singing would be featured in the movie but later comments by Caro seemed to indicate that the production abandoned the idea of using the music associated with the animated Mulan.

The film was originally expected to start production earlier this year with a projected release in December, so it is not known if production was delayed due to working the music in. It is now due for release in March 2020.

Now, according to our friends at The DisInsider, Walt Disney Studios is gearing up to add some of the familiar music from the 1998 hit animated film, as well as Mulan’s faithful sidekick and comic-relief “Mushu,” the fire-breathing dragon voiced by Eddie Murphy in the original. Disney's CGI department did an outstanding job in The Lion King, so Mushu should be a piece of cake.

Unlike some of the other Disney live-action films, however; Mulan may not be adhering as close to the animated source material.

Gong Li, a superstar in China, is playing a brand new villain, and she isn’t the only new character included. Donnie Yen (Rogue One) plays a role of a mentor, and they’re also changing the love-interest. The star-studded, all-Asian and Asian American cast also includes Jason Scott Lee, Yoson An, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Rosalind Chao, Cheng Pei-Pei and martial arts superstar Jet Li.

Mulan is the epic adventure of a fearless young woman who masquerades as a man in order to fight Northern Invaders attacking China. The eldest daughter of an honored warrior, Hua Mulan is spirited, determined and quick on her feet. When the Emperor issues a decree that one man per family must serve in the Imperial Army, she steps in to take the place of her ailing father as Hua Jun, becoming one of China’s greatest warriors ever.

The decision to reprise Mulan's musical roots, and even to add new songs, to the live-action version, may have been influenced by the acceptance and success of another live-action remake of an animated hit, Aladdin, which weaved the popular songs (including "A Whole New World") into the remake.

Any doubts Hollywood may have had about Asian actors and Asian-themed storylines able to attract audiences should be put to rest by the success of Crazy Rich Asians. Disney has been at the forefront of diversifying its casting options. The latest big blockbuster that Disney has benefited from the Aladdin, which went to great lengths to cast culturally appropriate actors for a story that takes place along the Silk Road, linking China, the Mideast and Euruope.

Last week Variety reports that Aladdin, starring Mena Massoud in the title role and Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine with Will Smith as the Genie and  has grossed over $900 million worldwide with no signs of slowing down for the rest of the summer.

Aladdin has been the surprise of the summer becoming one of the studio’s biggest live-action titles ever. It joins Beauty And The Beast, The Jungle Book, Alice In Wonderland and three of the Pirates Of The Caribbean films in reaching the milestone.

Aladdin, directed by Guy Ritchie, is currently the 3rd biggest film of the year domestically and worldwide, and the No. 1 film of 2019 so far outside of the Marvel superhero franchise.

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TGIF Feature: 'Mulan' production starts - the next movie with an all-Asian cast

Chinese actress Liu Yifei will portray Mulan.

ASAM NEWS

PRODUCTION is underway for Disney’s live action version of Mulan.

Coming on the heels of Warner Bros.' Crazy Rich Asians, which was released in North American theaters on Wednesday (Aug. 15), Mulan could be the next wide-distribution movie from a Hollywood production company featuring an all-Asian cast.

Mulan stars Chinese star Liu Yifei as the title character.

The movie isn’t due out until March 2020, but Disney is whetting our appetites by releasing the first photo of Liu as Mulan.

“It’s a big, girly martial arts epic. It will be extremely muscular and thrilling and entertaining and moving,” the film’s director, Niki Caro, (The Zookeeper’s Wife), told MovieFone about her vision for the Disney remake. According to IGN, shooting will take place in both New Zealand and China.

Joining Liu will be Jet Li (Expendables 3), Donnie Yen (Rogue One), Gong Li (Raise the Red Lantern) and Jason Scott Lee (Dragon: the Bruce Lee Story). Recent additions to the cast include Rosalind Chao (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Cheng Pei-Pei (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Nelson Lee.

Based on a traditional Chinese legend, Mulan was a teenaged rebel who dressed as a man to serve in the emperor's army in place of her father. She becomes a war hero in the battle against the Hun.

Breaking away from the Disney mold of princesses who are usually rescued by male heroes, Mulan raises issues of female empowerment, women in the military and cross-dressing, particularly relevant in this era of #MeToo and #AboutTime.

Disney had previously said the live action version would not be a musical, unlike the original animated version which featured the singing voice of Broadway star Lea Salonga. However, as of late, Disney has said that could change. The selection of Liu Yifei to portray the legendary character, opens the door to that possibility. She  is also a popular recording artist in China. Director Niki Caro, has said the film would incorporate music in some way.

Views From the Edge contributed to this report.
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Mulan: A star-studded cast for reboot; one controversial role remains unfilled

Gong Li and Jet Li are joining the 'Mulan' cast.

MULAN, the live-action remake, is off to a fitful start. On one hand, the casting of Chinese superstars generates tons of excitement, not only in the U.S. but in China as well. On the other hand, the fate of a popular character has fans up in arms.

Three huge Chinese stars are being secured for Disney's Mulan, joining Liu Yi Fei, an enormously popular star in her own right, who plays the lead role. Production is scheduled to start  in New Zealand in August followed by work in China.

Martial arts-legend Jet Li (The Expendables) and internationally acclaimed actress Gong Li (Memoirs of a Geisha) are set to play the Chinese Emperor and the movie's main villain respectively, in director Niki Caro's (Whale Rider) live-action version of Disney's 1998 animated adventure.

Last week, Donnie Yen (Rogue One, Ip-man franchise) was confirmed as a cast member to play the role of Commander Tung, a mentor and teacher to Mulan. His role was not in the original animated version of the movie.  

New Zealand-based Chinese/Vietnamese actress Xana Tang was also cast as Mulan's sister.

For Western audiences: The addition of Gong Li and Jet Li (not related) with Yen and Liu Yifei is comparable to Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep joining Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Jennifer Lawrence. You've got your older stars and you got your up-and-coming and wildly popular young actress -- you can get a sense of what Disney is doing. Each of the Chinese superstars could headline a movie on their own but to have them in the same film is a major, major coup for Disney and almost assures blockbuster status when the film opens in China, whose movie-going audiences rival - if it hasn't already surpassed - the U.S. as the No. 1 movie market.

Liu Yi Fei will play Mulan and Donnie Yen will play her mentor, Commander Tung.

Yen, who made quite an impression in his Hollywood debut in Rogue One as a blind martial artist who had command of The Force, is enormously popular in Hong Kong/China and the rest of Asia for his fighting and acting skills.

Jet Li is already well-known with Western movie fans, especially those who folow the martial arts genre. He's made a few Hollywood movies but the litany of mediocre roles has limited his box-office impact, but he's still big in Asia.

An esteemed actress in China, Gong Li has been credited with popularizing Chinese cinema in the English-speaking world, especially after winning the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal as a hapless prostitute in Farewell My Concubine (1993), and the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the American film Memoirs of a Geisha (2005). 

Gong’s Mulan role is a character which did not exist in the original animated film, and is said to replace the original’s ruthless Shan Yu, the king of the Huns.

There is one major role that has yet to be cast and it looks like it will never be filled: Li Shang. While the character serves as Mulan's commander-turned-love-interest in the animated original, it seems like he might not be making an appearance in the reboot. 

A tender moment between Mulan, posing as a boy, and Li Shang from Disney's first version of "Mulan."

After Yen was cast as a new character named Commander Tung as Mulan's mentor last week, a casting call for the film was uncovered revealing that Mulan's love interest will now be a solider named Chen Honghui.

According to the listing, Chen will serve as Mulan's "chief rival" who has a "mean, bullying streak to him." However, after he realizes that Mulan is actually a woman, those "intense feelings of rivalry" eventually turn into love. Meanwhile, the website Backstage.com shares that Honghui's part will be a lead role in which casting directors are looking for someone in their 20s who is "strapping, cocky and handsome" and can speak "fluent English and Mandarin Chinese."

It looks very much like Li Shang is being replaced with a more traditional love interest. Whether or not Disney's animators deliberately intended Li Shang to be confused about his sexual identity doesn't matter -- that's the way people have been interpreting the character and that's the perception held by the legion of upset fans who made Li Shang their bisexual icon.

It didn't take long for fans to voice their strong opinions about the recast, as fans have long considered Li Shang to be a "bisexual icon" for falling in love with Mulan when he thought she was a man. Alas, it seems like this isn't the only change the live-action film will make.

Still unknown - at least to us outsiders - is whether the new movie will be a musical like its cartoon 1998 predecessor. Would the popularity of the Disney original still rub off on the new version if they exclude such classics, including “I’ll Make a Man Out of You,” “Reflection,” and “A Girl Worth Fighting For?”

After initially saying that the upcoming Mulan wouldn’t be a musical, director Niki Caro later told the Los AngelesTimes that the film could include the tracks of the 1998 film’s legendary soundtrack. The casting of Chinese actress/pop singer Liu Yi Fei for the lead, it was thought that Caro was definitely leading towards a musical. However, with production to start in August, that announcement has yet to be made.

Because of the lengthy time it took to cast the lead role, literally auditioning a thousand actresses, the release date was put off from this year to March, 2020.

That's still a long way off and anything can still happen. Barring any major changes - and they would have to be catastrophic - Mulan will be the second all-Asian cast movie made and released by a Hollywood studio in recent years. Crazy Rich Asians, based on the novel of the same name and helmed by director Jon M. Chu which is now in post-production, will premiere in August of this year.

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RIP Li Shang

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