Mulan (Live-action remake)

[Ben]

Was that an awfully racist "ah, so" stereotype joke? I hope not...

[EricJ]

Was that an awfully racist "ah, so" stereotype joke? I hope not...

Errr......no.

[Ben]

Ah.

[Daniel]

Final trailer:



Like how they showed more of the story. "Revenge for my father" history, eh? Interesting. Still say the relationship between Mulan and the witch intrigues me most.

Now for little nitpicks when compared to the original:

"Crush these murderers" How bold! Not only does the delivery sound bad, it just doesn't feel like something the Emperor would say. I prefer him calm and wise.

The exchange between Mulan's parents on how she might be killed. Feels too wordy and less subtle. Less emotional, too; I'm guessing they don't find out at night and make the discovery the next day.

Mulan's comb. The originals was quite beautiful. The new one looks rather cheap and uninspiring. They could've had a little character etched out, or give the appearance of stained glass. Even resembling a cherry blossom would've at least made a nice homage...

[gaastra]

Felt more like a first trailer then last. And man they really are hiding the bird mushu from the trailers but the bird girl from ewoks battle for endor is all over the trailers! Can't go for "real war battle" and "no magic" tone when you have the magic bird girl and guys running up walls like sonic. Sorry Disney. Trailer was "ok" but everything we saw in the last few trailers really.

[Bill1978]

I too prefer the previous trailer that got me truly excited, now I'm back to feeling meh. Just looks like another generic fighting movie. They even gave us generic trailer music, instead of the previous lush orchestral stuff.

The choreography of the fighting reminds me of Crouching Tiger... guess it must be the only way they fought I that region back then. I agree you can't argue you want it to feel real to justify the removal of the singing but that have non real fighting and people turning into birds.

[Ben]

I saw Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and was surprised because I didn’t see any tigers or dragons. And then I realized why...they were crouching, and hidden.

— Steve Martin.

[Daniel]

It's somewhat suspicious how they're hiding the phoenix. She was briefly shown in the last trailer and for this final one it's completely absent. Why the secrecy? I would think Disney would want to show it off. Maybe they want to save it as a surprise... or more than likely, not risk more possible backlash.

[EricJ]

And now Coronavirus (and trade/travel restrictions) is making the spring Chinese release of this movie tricky, for the very purpose of this movie's existence.

As if, leaving aside Disney's earlier troubles with overseas catastrophe disrupting export business, we needed another reason: Hollywood, be smart--Don't start.

[Daniel]

New images taken from a book. A little spoilery. Shows a younger Mulan.

[Daniel]

TV spot aired during the Oscars:



Still not feeling Mulan's father. Just sounds like he's reading words on a script and not putting any heart or performance into it. A far cry from the original actor.

[Daniel]

Going back to the images I posted above, I found the text that accompanies them. Does not leave me with much hope...

For starters the remake seems to have all the key scenes, but per the norm done worse. The witch's importance seems to have been way overhyped in the trailers. Her role is so small with little impact. She fights with Mulan and after stabbing her and thinking she's won, she just flies away? Leaves a door open for a sequel right there. The way Mulan is revealed is different, basically after the fight she rejoins the troops without her disguise and asks for forgiveness. That and the ending just sound incredibly underwhelming.

I'm hoping there's more to the story that the book decided to leave out.

[Daniel]

Oh, and this year the live-action Mulan is coming out, by the way. You have to go see it. I recorded a new "Reflection" and new material for the movie. So, I've been working on that.

Cool.

[Bill1978]

Oh God! I tremble at Christina re-recording that song. Since the original recording she has learnt how to screech and wail and trill over a tune. I'm happy they got her back, like how they got Celine back for Beauty and Elton for Lion King, but that doesn't mean I'm looking to her re-interpreting the song into her current mode of singing.

[Daniel]

What's interesting is Matthew Wilder confirmed Liu Yifei recorded her own rendition of "Reflection". So... two versions of the same song during the end credits? If so, that's just dumb.