The first trailer for Disney’s live-action adaptation of Mulan has dropped.
The Chinese epic is a combination of the Disney classic and the Ballard of Hua Mulan. This, however, has left many fans of the animated film feeling perturbed at the exclusion of its musical numbers.
The film’s director Niki Caro, gave an interview to Moviefone in 2017, where she was asked about the songs appearing in the film, to which she replied:
“No songs right now, much to the horror of my children.”
With a film of this scope, there is always the chance for classic, well beloved, songs like “Reflections” and “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” to be made into instrumental pieces to fit the tone of the film.
This wouldn’t be the first Disney live-action adaptation to avoid using their counterpart’s musical pieces. Kenneth Branagh’s 2015 Cinderella also opted not to use them as did Tim Burton’s Dumbo.
While the trailer featured some incredible scenery and insights into a rather large battle scene, Mulan’s sidekick dragon, Mushu, was also noticeably missing from the trailer. It has been neither confirmed nor denied whether he appears in the film, however, recent reports have suggested that the little dragon, famously played by Eddie Murphy, has been replaced by a Phoenix.
On the other hand, it has been confirmed that, Mulan’s commanding officer and love interest, General Li Shang, will not be in the film, being replaced by a new character called Chen Honghui, who starts out as a rival for Mulan and eventually becomes her love interest.
Mulan is directed by Niki Caro, the first female director to take on a Disney live-action adaptation. The film also stars Liu Yifei as the titular heroine, Donnie Yen as Commander Tung, Yosun Ang as Chen, Jet Li as the Emperor and Jason Scott Lee as the leader of the Hun army.
Mulan is slated for March 27th, 2020
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by Luke Hancock.