# Disney's Live Action 'Mulan' [September 4, 2020]



## Stunna (Mar 30, 2015)

> On the heels of the magical success of Disney's live-action Cinderella, the studio is eyeing another live-action retelling: Mulan.
> 
> Disney bought a script by writing team Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek that centers on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, the female warrior who was the main character in Disney's 1998 animated film.
> 
> ...


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## aaaaa (Mar 30, 2015)

It's sad when you can't distinct between april fools and reality. Disney archived that status.


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## wibisana (Mar 30, 2015)

Vicki Zhao?


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## Rukia (Mar 30, 2015)

This could be good Stunna.


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## Stunna (Mar 30, 2015)

Mulan is one of the more interesting choices to adapt so far, I'll give them that much.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Tranquil Fury (Mar 30, 2015)

Just go with Ming Na again, she looks 30ish despite being 50 and can still go in action roles.


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## Stunna (Mar 30, 2015)

cast a 51 year old to play a 16 year old?

what the hell


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## DemonDragonJ (Mar 30, 2015)

This is ridiculous; why is the Disney company making so many live-action remakes of their animated films recently? Are they really that greedy for money and have they exhausted all of their ideas, that they must recycle previous ideas?

Reactions: Dislike 2


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## Han Solo (Mar 31, 2015)

DemonDragonJ said:


> This is ridiculous; why is the Disney company making so many live-action remakes of their animated films? Are they really that greedy for money and have they exhausted all of their ideas, that they must recycle previous ideas?





What say you Stunna?


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## Stunna (Mar 31, 2015)

I've more or less said the same thing dozens of times

Han pls


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## A. Waltz (Mar 31, 2015)

im so excited for this!

ill be so fucking pissed if they hire white actors though. it seems like something they would do.


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## Stunna (Mar 31, 2015)

Nah, they know they wouldn't get away with that shit, especially these days lol


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## A. Waltz (Mar 31, 2015)

Stunna said:


> cast a 51 year old to play a 16 year old?
> 
> what the hell



they can make the role older 

and she looks like young 20s which is what most 16 year olds in movies and TV look like, anyway

i mean the glee kids were played by actors in their 30s 

she doesn't look 51 at all lmfao


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## Han Solo (Mar 31, 2015)

They hired British and American actors for a French story


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## A. Waltz (Mar 31, 2015)

Stunna said:


> Nah, they know they wouldn't get away with that shit, especially these days lol



welp that's true. 


man im so excited. a movie with a full asian cast!!!!!! D finally!!! man it's gonna be beautiful. and the outdoor setting..ancient china...so beautiful i can't wait!


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## Stunna (Mar 31, 2015)

c'mon, now

Ming Na is fine, and she definitely looks good for her age

but she is not playing a teenager or someone in their 20's

that shit is crazy as hell

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Stunna (Mar 31, 2015)

Han Solo said:


> They hired British and American actors for a French story





Stunna said:


> Han pls


**


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## A. Waltz (Mar 31, 2015)

i was gonna say, get jamie chung to play mulan but she's already playing mulan in once upon a time 

but seriously ming na would be great

i hated what they did with cinderella, the actress acted so young. the animated cinderella felt really mature and elegant, but the live action one made her look like an awkward teenager. and yeah, technically cinderella was a teenager i think but i mean the animated movie one didn't sound/act like it at all!!


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## Han Solo (Mar 31, 2015)

Stunna said:


> **



White people aren't all the same ya know


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## A. Waltz (Mar 31, 2015)

Stunna said:


> c'mon, now
> 
> Ming Na is fine, and she definitely looks good for her age
> 
> ...



she could totally pass as someone in her 20s if they dress her correctly. plus acting. leave that to make up and costumes. she has less wrinkles than most late 20 year olds lol.


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## A. Waltz (Mar 31, 2015)

Han Solo said:


> They hired British and American actors for a French story



well tbh i doubt they'll get a 100% chinese cast  there's gonna be korean actors somewhere in the mix


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## A. Waltz (Mar 31, 2015)

actually, do you know who i can see being in this movie? ryan potter 

perhaps he's too short or young for anything major but his forehead and eyebrows.. his face just reminds me of a soldier for some reason haha


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## Stunna (Mar 31, 2015)

Han Solo said:


> White people aren't all the same ya know


yes they is





A. Waltz said:


> she could totally pass as someone in her 20s if they dress her correctly. plus acting. leave that to make up and costumes. she has less wrinkles than most late 20 year olds lol.


nah b. You set her next to a 16 or 20 year old, and you'll tell the difference. Ming Na might be hotter than the other chick, but you'll be able to tell who's more youthful.

plus it's a really uninspired choice. "Let's just get her voice actress to be her live-action actress!"

that'd be like having Eddie Murphy reprise his role as Mushu

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Han Solo (Mar 31, 2015)

So I just found out there actually was a French live action Beauty and the Best last year. 

Fuck Disney


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## Stunna (Mar 31, 2015)

meh; it's not like there aren't already a shit ton of adaptations of Beauty and the Beast--plus last year's wasn't even that good

I wouldn't be surprised if Disney's is better


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## Han Solo (Mar 31, 2015)

Stunna said:


> meh; it's not like there aren't already a shit ton of adaptations of Beauty and the Beast--plus last year's wasn't even that good
> 
> I wouldn't be surprised if Disney's is better



I am unsurprised that you watched it you know. 

On topic: Yeah hiring someone who is 51 to play Mulan dun make sense


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## Stunna (Mar 31, 2015)

dat condescending emote 

Seydoux was a sexy Belle tho


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## Han Solo (Mar 31, 2015)

Stunna said:


> dat condescending emote
> 
> Seydoux was a sexy Belle tho



I saw her in the credits

I was instantly tempted to watch it, I won't lie


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## A. Waltz (Mar 31, 2015)

Han Solo said:


> So I just found out there actually was a French live action Beauty and the Best last year.
> 
> Fuck Disney



i watched the original french beauty and the beast live action
i guess technically it's not a live action since i doubt the animated movie came out by then
but it was black and white and hella old
watched it in french class


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## Stunna (Mar 31, 2015)

a live action film is any film that isn't animated; it doesn't need an animated counterpart


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## Narcissus (Mar 31, 2015)

Mulan was an unexpected choice, but not a bad one. 

I wonder when they'll do their own live adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.


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## wibisana (Mar 31, 2015)

Jackie Chan should direct this.


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## Whip Whirlwind (Mar 31, 2015)

How the hell do we get a page and some change in without LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS!


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## Sanity Check (Mar 31, 2015)

[YOUTUBE]06vyMRBv2zA[/YOUTUBE]

.


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## RAGING BONER (Mar 31, 2015)

I blame disneyfied man children like Stunner for condoning this kind of thing...


though tbh if they made it with the same kinda artistic flare as Hero or Crouching Tiger i could get behind it.


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## Stunna (Mar 31, 2015)

I've never condoned this practice


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## Rukia (Mar 31, 2015)

Stunna.  What will your reaction be when Scar Jo gets cast as Mulan?


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## Stunna (Mar 31, 2015)

tears, 'prolly


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## Spica (Mar 31, 2015)

This beautiful man for Shang. He may be Korean, but at least he's American, speaks English, has done work in Hollywood and last but not least sexy. 

Meh on whoever becomes Mulan.


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## A. Waltz (Mar 31, 2015)

Spica said:


> This beautiful man for Shang. He may be Korean, but at least he's American, speaks English, has done work in Hollywood and last but not least sexy.
> 
> Meh on whoever becomes Mulan.



holy shit he is sexy
shang's gonna need some topless workout scenes


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## Jena (Apr 1, 2015)

Stunna said:


> that'd be like having Eddie Murphy reprise his role as Mushu



my sincere hope for this movie is that everything is hyper realistic and then Mushu is literally just Eddie Murphy in this costume

Reactions: Funny 2


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## Detective (Apr 1, 2015)

Jena said:


> my sincere hope for this movie is that everything is hyper realistic and then Mushu is literally just Eddie Murphy in this costume



And he can be a character that only Mulan can see, like an imaginary friend. It would be like that one show where Elijah Wood dresses up like a fucking dog.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## A. Waltz (Apr 1, 2015)

Jena said:


> my sincere hope for this movie is that everything is hyper realistic and then Mushu is literally just Eddie Murphy in this costume



this              

no seriously though, eddie murphy and ming na. it's not lazy at all. they're great. smh.


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## Deleted member 235437 (Apr 1, 2015)

Arden Cho would make a good Mulan
only problem is she's Korean and not Chinese


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## Detective (Apr 1, 2015)

Suffice to say, it wouldn't be outrageous to state that 99.6% of NF will not be able to tell the difference


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## A. Waltz (Apr 1, 2015)

ive heard some people mention jenna ushkowitz for mulan (as their dream cast)

she's young enough and she does give off that "probably terrible at being ideal feminine housewife" and she could give off that awkward guyish persona too. 


*Spoiler*: __ 










dunno much about her acting capabilities
she's the girl who played tina on glee. but i mean it's a disney movie and it's mulan so it's not like an overly complicated role to portray 
she's also adopted, her family is white. her origins are korean. perhaps she could relate well to that "when will my reflection show who i am inside" thing....  haha.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Stunna (Apr 1, 2015)

it is lazy tho; it's banking purely on nostalgia rather than making any risky creative choices.

I mean, that's entirely what this movie is on paper, but still


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## Mider T (Apr 1, 2015)

I still haven't seen Maleficent or Cinderella


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## Deleted member 235437 (Apr 1, 2015)

Maleficent was pretty good imo, always been a fan of Angelina though
but the twist on Sleeping Beauty was pretty entertaining.


I've never liked Cinderella, doubt I'll check out the new version any time soon


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## Sanity Check (Apr 3, 2015)

I hope Mulan is played by a white woman with big boobs.

Its unfair that asians always portray the role.

We need more equality in movie making!

.


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## A. Waltz (Apr 4, 2015)

Stunna said:


> it is lazy tho; it's banking purely on nostalgia rather than making any risky creative choices.
> 
> I mean, that's entirely what this movie is on paper, but still



it's not nostalgia at all

most kids don't know who the voice actors were lol

most people who know ming na was mulan is cuz she's currently popular because of SHIELD and they found the information on her wikipedia page
i bet most kids thought lea salonga played mulan simply cuz she sung as her lol


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## Pilaf (Apr 4, 2015)

Fuck you so fucking hard, Disney.


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## Stunna (Apr 4, 2015)

A. Waltz said:


> it's not nostalgia at all
> 
> most kids don't know who the voice actors were lol
> 
> ...


c'mon, now; Eddie's prime may have been years ago, but he's still managed to keep relevant in the pop-culture ether for younger audiences through his Shrek work. His voice is very distinguishable--everyone knows that he's Mushu.

but tell me then: if it isn't because Eddie and Ming Na were Mushu and Mulan in the original film, why do you (and others) want them to reprise their roles? Why not have an age-appropriate Asian martial artist play Mulan? Or someone who wouldn't be as distracting as Eddie Murphy?


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## A. Waltz (Apr 4, 2015)

Stunna said:


> c'mon, now; Eddie's prime may have been years ago, but he's still managed to keep relevant in the pop-culture ether for younger audiences through his Shrek work. His voice is very distinguishable--everyone knows that he's Mushu.
> 
> but tell me then: if it isn't because Eddie and Ming Na were Mushu and Mulan in the original film, why do you (and others) want them to reprise their roles? Why not have an age-appropriate Asian martial artist play Mulan? Or someone who wouldn't be as distracting as Eddie Murphy?



cuz he's funny and he literally is mushu like he was mushu

why wouldn't he be mushu smh

and tbh i wonder if they'll even like get a real mushu or if it's gonna be CG

if it's a CG thing then it'd be cool to have eddie back cuz it's like the original voice


as for ming na
she's a martial artist
she's currently very popular thanks to SHIELD. technically already working for disney, so it wouldn't be out of realm.


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## Stunna (Apr 4, 2015)

A. Waltz said:


> cuz he's funny and he literally is mushu like he was mushu
> 
> why wouldn't he be mushu smh
> 
> ...


so it _is_ nostalgia. You only want Eddie Murphy to be Mushu because that's what you're used to from the original movie. No other reasons--pure nostalgia--familiarity. 

and I doubt they'll be able to get their hands on a real dragon, so CGI is probably the best bet



> as for ming na
> she's a martial artist
> she's currently very popular thanks to SHIELD. technically already working for disney, so it wouldn't be out of realm.


- there are other martial artists

- popular =/= best suited for the role

- her currently working on a show distributed by Disney doesn't mean much of anything.

there doesn't seem to be any strong reason why the two should reprise their roles, but there are at least a few good ones why they shouldn't.


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## Sanity Check (Apr 4, 2015)

A. Waltz said:


> ive heard some people mention jenna ushkowitz for mulan (as their dream cast)



.

Yifei Liu would be my choice.



Jenna Ushkowitz looks too korean to play a chinese character.


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## Stunna (Apr 4, 2015)

whaddya' know, a casting choice that seems to make sense


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## BlazingInferno (Oct 4, 2016)

Disney is casting and the movie has a release date sorta


No doubt James Hong will be a part of the movie, he's the go to Chinese guy. If Ming-Na Went doesn't have some sort of role, Imma gon be pissed


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## A. Waltz (Oct 4, 2016)

honestly ming-na still looks young enough to play mulan 

she better be in 


what are your thoughts on people getting offended if they cast non-chinese actors? obviously i think the main ones should be chinese at least but what about korean or japanese or asian? i mean, there are white movies or shows about certain countries and yet they still cast white people from all over. (like lincoln. or english movies where you got welsh and scots. or scotts playing english characters, or austrian or germans playing other types of european)

wasnt daniel day lewis british? yet he played a US president. and the dude from 12 years a slave was brit too lol yet he played an american slave/freeman.


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## Stunna (Oct 4, 2016)

A. Waltz said:


> i mean, there are white movies or shows about certain countries and yet they still cast white people from all over. (like lincoln. or english movies where you got welsh and scots. or scotts playing english characters, or austrian or germans playing other types of european)


This seems like a logical excuse, but I'm not gonna speak on whether certain Asians should or should not be offended by other certain kinds of Asians representing them in film. There's a lot of cultural history there that I can't comment on.


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## Deleted member 235437 (Oct 4, 2016)

BlazingInferno said:


> Disney is casting and the movie has a release date sorta
> 
> 
> No doubt James Hong will be a part of the movie, he's the go to Chinese guy. If Ming-Na Went doesn't have some sort of role, Imma gon be pissed


Ming-Na looks too old to be Mulan considering Mulan is supposed to be a 16 yr old girl 

I think she would be a good choice to play Mulan's mom though

Reactions: Agree 1


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## BlazingInferno (Oct 4, 2016)

Khaleesi said:


> Ming-Na looks too old to be Mulan considering Mulan is supposed to be a 16 yr old girl
> 
> I think she would be a good choice to play Mulan's mom though



Where did I say she should play live action Mulan? Read people's posts throughly before you respond.


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## Deleted member 235437 (Oct 4, 2016)

BlazingInferno said:


> Where did I say she should play live action Mulan? Read people's posts throughly before you respond.


I never said you did.....you said you hope she has a role in the upcoming film, I've seen others say that she should play Mulan and didn't feel like quoting multiple times. I still added in to your thoughts by suggesting a role she should play 


Chill, it's not that big of a deal


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## BlazingInferno (Oct 4, 2016)

Khaleesi said:


> I never said you did.....you said you hope she has a role in the upcoming film, I've seen others say that she should play Mulan and didn't feel like quoting multiple times. I still added in to your thoughts by suggesting a role she should play
> 
> 
> Chill, it's not that big of a deal



Well don't quote me if you're not directly talking to me, because I'll assume you are. And I'm perfectly chill. BTW, Ming-Na playing Mulan's mom is what I'm hoping for.


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## A. Waltz (Oct 4, 2016)

BlazingInferno said:


> Where did I say she should play live action Mulan? Read people's posts throughly before you respond.


damn wtf calm the fuck down ? he probably meant to @ me or some shit not a big deal. wtf do you have some wife checking over your @s on NF or some shit? damn chill woman

Reactions: Like 1


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## A. Waltz (Oct 4, 2016)

they always age people up in movies/films so i was ok w/ ming-na being mulan lol. like when high schoolers are played by people in their mid-late 20s.


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## BlazingInferno (Oct 4, 2016)

A. Waltz said:


> damn wtf calm the fuck down ? he probably meant to @ me or some shit not a big deal. wtf do you have some wife checking over your @s on NF or some shit? damn chill woman



 Funny how when people seem to misunderstand me and I tell them to throughly read posts they're responding to before responding next time, I get reactions like this. However, Khaleesi was calm about it, while you...I wasn't even talking to you so I don't know what you're freaking out about. The dude already said he was referring to you.


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## A. Waltz (Oct 5, 2016)

BlazingInferno said:


> Funny how when people seem to misunderstand me and I tell them to throughly read posts they're responding to before responding next time, I get reactions like this. However, Khaleesi was calm about it, while you...I wasn't even talking to you so I don't know what you're freaking out about. The dude already said he was referring to you.


wow you didnt even have to reply seriously? just let it go dude it's a fucking online forum get a fucking life


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## BlazingInferno (Oct 5, 2016)

A. Waltz said:


> wow you didnt even have to reply seriously? just let it go dude it's a fucking online forum get a fucking life



I think you're the one that needs to calm down now...take your own advice.


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## Brian (Oct 5, 2016)

I'd probably watch this, I saw the live action chinese film and I enjoyed it.


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## Stunna (Oct 10, 2016)

please be false...


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## Deleted member 235437 (Oct 11, 2016)

Stunna said:


> please be false...


fuck that shit if it's true, Mulan isn't Pocahontas

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Skaddix (Oct 11, 2016)

Burn This shit down. The only non Asian should be voicing a certain dragon.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Ae (Oct 17, 2016)

Stunna said:


> please be false...


This movie should be in Chinese with English subtitles too because it would be culturally inaccurate just like the shitty animated version.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Dislike 4


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## BlazingInferno (Feb 14, 2017)




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## Indra (Feb 14, 2017)

I would of cast someone else as Mulan:



Ming Na looks like a mom.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Yahiko (Feb 19, 2017)

Ae said:


> This movie should be in Chinese with English subtitles too because it would be culturally inaccurate just like the shitty animated version.


I agree with this though i don't think its much of a problem in the animated films since its just a cartoon but it would be stupid to show non-english speaking societies speaking english in a live action movie.


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## Ae (Feb 19, 2017)

Mr. Nice Guy said:


> I agree with this though i don't think its much of a problem in the animated films since its just a cartoon but it would be stupid to show non-english speaking societies speaking english in a live action movie.


I was being sarcastic

Reactions: Agree 1 | Informative 1 | Friendly 1


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## ~Gesy~ (Feb 19, 2017)

Indra said:


> I would of cast someone else as Mulan:
> 
> 
> 
> Ming Na looks like a mom.


Too old imo

I'd prefer someone in their late teens -- early 20's


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## BlazingInferno (Feb 19, 2017)

If the new Lion King is getting someone from the animated movie back, then there should be no reason why they can't cast Ming-Na as Mulan's mom.


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## BlazingInferno (Jul 15, 2017)

Is McDonald's going to bring back the Szechuan sauce for this movie?


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## A. Waltz (Jul 18, 2017)

is it true they wanted to make shang white or something? 

and i dont understand but people were crying about how they weren't going to make shang bisexual.. and im trying to remember when the fuck he was ever bisexual in the animated movie ???? ??


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## Deleted member 235437 (Nov 29, 2017)

Mulan has been found!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Huey Freeman (Nov 29, 2017)

If they make Kevin Hart Mushu I'd boycott this shit

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Mider T (Nov 29, 2017)

You guys think they'll make Ben Kingsley the Emporer?

Reactions: Optimistic 1


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## BlazingInferno (Nov 29, 2017)

Huey Freeman said:


> If they make Kevin Hart Mushu I'd boycott this shit



It probably will happen


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## Mider T (Nov 29, 2017)

If only Charlie Murphy was still alive to play Mushu this time around.


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## NordicXFiles (Jan 9, 2018)

Given that all this adaptations have been nothing of the spectacular and quite pointless, I don't exactly know how I feel about this. Mulan was one of my favorites so obviously, there is a certain hope that this doesn't turn into a raging dumpster fire along with Aladdin. But the director I have never heard of, doesn't give me much hope.


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## Haruka Katana (Jan 10, 2018)

I'll definitely watch this on theatres


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## Cardboard Tube Knight (Jan 19, 2018)

If I don't get my "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" song I'm burning the fucking theater down. 



Skaddix said:


> Burn This shit down. The only non Asian should be voicing a certain dragon.


I want them to get Hannibal Burress to voice the dragon.


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## BlazingInferno (Jan 19, 2018)

I think it was stated there will be no songs in this movie.


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## The World (Jan 19, 2018)

trash 

hard pass


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## dr_shadow (Jan 22, 2018)

Mider T said:


> You guys think they'll make Ben Kingsley the Emporer?



Jet Li maybe?

The voice of the Emperor in the original was Pat Morita, a.k.a. Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid.

In the remake of that film the "Miyagi" character was played by Jackie Chan, but I don't think I can take him seriously as royalty. His face is too goofy-looking.


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## dr_shadow (Apr 14, 2018)

*Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen Ji-dan is set to headline Disney’s live-action adaptation of Mulan, according to industry reports.
*
The actor will join Chinese actress Crystal Liu Yifei, who was cast in November to play the titular female warrior. Yen will play Mulan’s mentor, Commander Tung, and can certainly be expected to show off his martial arts prowess in the role.

With a tentative release date of March 27, 2020, the new _Mulan_ is executive-produced by influential Hong Kong producer Bill Kong (_Monster Hunt_ series; _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_), and directed by Niki Caro, who made her name with the 2002 film _Whale Rider_. Caro’s most recent directing effort is the novel adaptation  _The Zookeeper’s Wife_ , starring Jessica Chastain.

The original animated feature of _Mulan_, released in 1998, grossed US$304.3 million worldwide. This live-action reboot comes in the wake of Disney’s major successes with other productions in this model, including _Maleficent_, _Cinderella_,  _The Jungle Book_ , and last year’s  _Beauty and the Beast_ .

Yen’s recent collaboration with Disney on  _Rogue One: A Star Wars Story_ (2016) proved a big hit with both fans and critics. His blind warrior character, Chirrut Imwe, is widely considered a fan favourite from the stand-alone feature.

Yen is currently shooting _Ip Man 4_, the latest instalment in his signature martial arts series.


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## dr_shadow (Apr 14, 2018)

Soon enough we can just refer to Donnie Yen as "Chinese actor man".

It seems like he is now the go-to guy whenever you need to cast an English-speaking Chinese male.


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## Suigetsu (Apr 14, 2018)

Khaleesi said:


> Mulan has been found!


She looks pretty authentic to me.



Cardboard Tube Knight said:


> If I don't get my "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" song I'm burning the fucking theater down.
> 
> 
> I want them to get Hannibal Burress to voice the dragon.



Couldnt agree more with that, one of the best disney songs in existance that made every boy want to become a man and work hard for it!

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Jake CENA (Apr 14, 2018)

I’m so excited! Donnie Yen is a legit actor and an action star


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## Skaddix (Apr 14, 2018)

mr_shadow said:


> Soon enough we can just refer to Donnie Yen as "Chinese actor man".
> 
> It seems like he is now the go-to guy whenever you need to cast an English-speaking Chinese male.



Well you are a China expert? They changing this movie to be more like the actual Mulan Story from China? Cause they are going far from the animated movie.


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## dr_shadow (Apr 14, 2018)

Skaddix said:


> Well you are a China expert? They changing this movie to be more like the actual Mulan Story from China? Cause they are going far from the animated movie.



The challenge of making this film is appealing to both of the world's largest movie markets. You have an American crew making a movie set in China for mainly an American audience but also ideally a Chinese audience. At the very least it can not be offensive to the Chinese to the point where you get a boycott.

So in casting you need to cast actual Chinese actors who are famous in China (so that putting their names on the poster will draw crowds) but who also speak fluent English without a distracting accent, and who are ideally familiar to American audiences too.

What I'm facepalming at is that this is the world's most populous country we're talking about, yet it seems like the same ten or so people get cast in *everything*. Both at home and abroad. Studios seemingly take no risks and always go for the obvious.

Like, I bet you ¥100 yuan that Wu Jing (44) will play Mulan's love interest because his Wolf Warrior 2 become the highest-grossing non-English film of all time last year.

And Michelle Yeoh will be Mulan's mom or something, because she's on Star Trek now.


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## Kansas City Kipchaks Point Guard (Apr 15, 2018)

mr_shadow said:


> Jet Li maybe?
> 
> The voice of the Emperor in the original was Pat Morita, a.k.a. Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid.
> 
> In the remake of that film the "Miyagi" character was played by Jackie Chan, but I don't think I can take him seriously as royalty. His face is too goofy-looking.


Chan was great in that movie. Loved to see him nt act like some weird anime character which is his usual on screen persona.


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## Suigetsu (Apr 15, 2018)

Yeah, the definitely need to put jackie chan in this.


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## MartialHorror (Apr 15, 2018)

The problem with the accents is it won't make sense seeing some Chinese actors speaking with a minimal accent (Donnie Yen) and others speaking a thick accent (Jet Li). I mean...I don't think I'd care...but I might.

At least they aren't going with that 'Mulan falling in love with a British Soldier' or whatever nonsense that they originally wanted to do. It's kind of a strange dilemma anyway, as the Disney Mulan movie wasn't very well received in China. They can stick to the true story, but that might alienate American viewers who will only be familiar with the animated film.


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## dr_shadow (Apr 16, 2018)

MartialHorror said:


> At least they aren't going with that 'Mulan falling in love with a British Soldier' or whatever nonsense that they originally wanted to do.



Wut? -_-

The original story is set in the Northern Wei dynasty (386-535), so any British person showing up then would have had to be from either Roman Britannia or the Anglo-Saxons.

The 1998 Disney film however borrowed most of its aesthetic from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), because that's the most recognizably Chinese to a Western audience. I suppose in that time someone from Tudor England could have made it over on a Portuguese vessel, but I doubt it.


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## MartialHorror (Apr 16, 2018)

mr_shadow said:


> Wut? -_-
> 
> The original story is set in the Northern Wei dynasty (386-535), so any British person showing up then would have had to be from either Roman Britannia or the Anglo-Saxons.
> 
> The 1998 Disney film however borrowed most of its aesthetic from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), because that's the most recognizably Chinese to a Western audience. I suppose in that time someone from Tudor England could have made it over on a Portuguese vessel, but I doubt it.



I think it was Roman Britannia? Maybe it wasn't a British guy, but just a Roman one. I don't remember. All I remember is that he was supposed to be white and everyone freaked the fuck out (for good reason).


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## dr_shadow (Apr 16, 2018)

MartialHorror said:


> I think it was Roman Britannia? Maybe it wasn't a British guy, but just a Roman one. I don't remember. All I remember is that he was supposed to be white and everyone freaked the fuck out (for good reason).



Though in the Chinese live-action_ Mulan_ (2010), starring my darling Zhao Wei, they gave Russian singer Vitas a weird cameo as an Indo-European slave of the Xiongnu ("Hun") chieftain.

Which is kind of plausible, I guess, because the Xiongnu empire extended into what is today Russia, almost to the Caucasus, where "Caucasian" people obviously come from. So it's possible they could have captured Caucasian slaves along the western frontier.



But mostly they put him in there because Vitas is a big star in China for some reason.


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## Ghost_of_Gashir (Apr 16, 2018)

All I know is that this movie better have a talking dragon.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## A. Waltz (Apr 16, 2018)

the difference in accents are gonna freak me out honestly

its like with game of thrones when you have all the children from the same family have different accents
like bitch what the fuck

but its a minor detail you get over with hours of a tv show
idk how easy it is to ignore in a 2 hour movie lol


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## dr_shadow (Apr 17, 2018)

*Gong Li and Jet Li set to join 2020 Disney release of ‘Mulan’ 

Live-action reboot of 1998 classic ‘Mulan’ boasts a full-blown Asian cast as the producers lock down two more Chinese actors*

Looks like Disney is determined to offer a reflection of who the _Mulan _characters are inside, in its latest live-action rendition of its 1998 animated film _Mulan_. 

The story depicts real-life heroine Hua Mulan, who took her ill father’s place in the army in the Northern Wei Empire during China’s Three Kingdoms Period. 

Since the confirmation of Chinese actress Crystal Liu Yifei’s role as the legendary, real-life inspired female warrior Mulan, more Chinese actors have jumped on the _Mulan _bandwagon including Hong Kong’s very own action star  Donnie Yen Chi-tan who is befittingly assigned the role of Mulan’s martial arts mentor Commander Tung. New Zealand-born Chinese-Vietnamese actress Xana Tang also made it to the list, as Mulan’s sister.

The latest addition to the star-studded cast  are revered actors Gong Li and Jet Li. While talks continue over the latter’s participation, the pair are set to fill the roles of a powerful witch and  Emperor Qin Shi Huang, respectively

An esteemed actress in China, Gong has been credited with popularising 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 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.

Kung Fu superstar Li, who rose to fame as a Wushu champion, is renowned for his role as martial arts masters in films like the _Once Upon a Time in China_ series (as folk hero Wong Fei-hung) and _Hero _(2002). He became a household name in the world stage after starring in  blockbusters _Lethal Weapon 4_ and _The Expendables_.

Disney has been applauded for its effort to advocate diversity by departing from the whitewashing of Asian roles seen in some Hollywood studios. A recent example is the casting of Scarlett Johansson as the Asian female lead of the film adaptation of _Ghost in the Shell_ in 2017.

_Mulan _is scheduled for release on March 27, 2020.


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## dr_shadow (Apr 17, 2018)

Every actor in China is in this movie now.


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## dr_shadow (Apr 17, 2018)

> The latest addition to the star-studded cast are revered actors Gong Li and Jet Li. While talks continue over the latter’s participation, the pair are set to fill the roles of a powerful witch and Emperor Qin Shi Huang, respectively.



So the First Emperor is in the movie? Two possibilities:

1. He will be in a flashback showing the history of China-Hun relations, including the building of the Great Wall which (somewhat) keeps them out until Mulan's time. In this event Li's participation in the movie will be just a cameo.

2. They've moved back the plot from the Northern Wei (386-535 AD) to the reign of the First Emperor (247-210 BC), so that Mulan is now actually fighting in the Qin-Hun wars that culminate in the building of the Wall. This way Li's role can be as big as the anonymous Emperor in the 1998 film.


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## dr_shadow (Apr 17, 2018)

MartialHorror said:


> The problem with the accents is it won't make sense seeing some Chinese actors speaking with a minimal accent (Donnie Yen) and others speaking a thick accent (Jet Li). I mean...I don't think I'd care...but I might.
> 
> At least they aren't going with that 'Mulan falling in love with a British Soldier' or whatever nonsense that they originally wanted to do. It's kind of a strange dilemma anyway, as the Disney Mulan movie wasn't very well received in China. They can stick to the true story, but that might alienate American viewers who will only be familiar with the animated film.





A. Waltz said:


> the difference in accents are gonna freak me out honestly
> 
> its like with game of thrones when you have all the children from the same family have different accents
> like bitch what the fuck
> ...



Have you seen The Last Emperor (1987)?

That was also an English-language film with a 99% Asian cast, and it's great!


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## Jake CENA (Apr 17, 2018)

i thought Jet Li is sick and can't do movies anymore?


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## MartialHorror (Apr 17, 2018)

Jake CENA said:


> i thought Jet Li is sick and can't do movies anymore?



Apparently he recovered and just hasn't been doing as many movies because he's busy doing other stuff like charities.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Jake CENA (Apr 17, 2018)

MartialHorror said:


> Apparently he recovered and just hasn't been doing as many movies because he's busy doing other stuff like charities.



that's great news. i wish he could do one more solo action movie


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## dr_shadow (Apr 17, 2018)

Jake CENA said:


> i thought Jet Li is sick and can't do movies anymore?



Good thing about playing an emperor is you can mostly just sit on a chair for all your scenes.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## MartialHorror (Apr 17, 2018)

Jake CENA said:


> that's great news. i wish he could do one more solo action movie



I don't know. "Fearless" would be almost impossible to top as a grand finale.

He did appear in this short film though.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Jake CENA (Apr 17, 2018)

MartialHorror said:


> I don't know. "Fearless" would be almost impossible to top as a grand finale.
> 
> He did appear in this short film though.



ah yes i remember that youtube clip. donnie yen and jet li against chinese billionaire jack ma. that shit was tight


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## dr_shadow (Apr 17, 2018)

I think including the First Emperor is kind of pandering to Western audiences, as he is the only emperor a lot of people have heard about.

Though interestingly Li has played him before, in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008). [wth 20th anniversary! RIP this franchise]


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## Skaddix (Apr 17, 2018)

mr_shadow said:


> Though in the Chinese live-action_ Mulan_ (2010), starring my darling Zhao Wei, they gave Russian singer Vitas a weird cameo as an Indo-European slave of the Xiongnu ("Hun") chieftain.
> 
> Which is kind of plausible, I guess, because the Xiongnu empire extended into what is today Russia, almost to the Caucasus, where "Caucasian" people obviously come from. So it's possible they could have captured Caucasian slaves along the western frontier.
> 
> ...



Who? Never Heard of this Ruskie. 

What American Singers are popular in China? 

Suppose they can save money on dubbing this sucker since all the Chinese Actors can presumably do it both in English and Mandarin.


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## A. Waltz (Apr 19, 2018)

mr_shadow said:


> Have you seen The Last Emperor (1987)?
> 
> That was also an English-language film with a 99% Asian cast, and it's great!


honestly my issue is bigger in GOT cuz the accents are straight up from different places despite people being relatives that grew up and lived together

broken english wont be as bad, plus there are less relatives in Mulan lol. GOT had a lot of families so thats why it felt weird.


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## Cardboard Tube Knight (May 6, 2018)

mr_shadow said:


> Every actor in China is in this movie now.


It’s Chinese Black Panther


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## Kansas City Kipchaks Point Guard (May 11, 2018)

Cardboard Tube Knight said:


> It’s Chinese Black Panther


Minus for the fact that native Africans got ignored for Black Panther.


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## BlazingInferno (Aug 13, 2018)



Reactions: Like 1


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## Mider T (Aug 13, 2018)

The Kamal Haasan Crazy Hour said:


> Minus for the fact that native Africans got ignored for Black Panther.


Lupita Ny'ongo, Danai Gurira, and Daniel Kaluuya are native Africans.  Yet another example of you trying to be contrarian yet have no idea what you're talking about.


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## Kansas City Kipchaks Point Guard (Aug 13, 2018)

Mider T said:


> Lupita Ny'ongo, Danai Gurira, and Daniel Kaluuya are native Africans.  Yet another example of you trying to be contrarian yet have no idea what you're talking about.


All of them born outside of Africa.


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## dr_shadow (Aug 13, 2018)

The outfit doesn't look very practical. 

This kind of light robe makes you think more of a scholar with hidden martial arts skills; someone who is a proverbial "crouching tiger" and "hidden dragon". But Hua Mulan is a regular soldier on the front lines of a war, so she should be wearing armor.

Compare the 2010 film starring Zhao Wei:


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## dr_shadow (Aug 13, 2018)

Armor also makes it more plausible that nobody should have noticed her feminine figure.

Although that nobody suspected Zhao of being a woman in the 2010 film is a bigger suspension of disbelief than lightsabers being practical weapons on Star Wars.


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## Mider T (Aug 13, 2018)

The Kamal Haasan Crazy Hour said:


> All of them born outside of Africa.


Still native.  In Lupita's case it was because her father was working outside the country, she went to Kenya shortly after being born.


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## Kansas City Kipchaks Point Guard (Aug 13, 2018)

Mider T said:


> Still native.  In Lupita's case it was because her father was working outside the country, she went to Kenya shortly after being born.



That is not a lot. So their accents make them native if they even had one before acting?


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## Mider T (Aug 13, 2018)

The Kamal Haasan Crazy Hour said:


> That is not a lot. So their accents make them native if they even had one before acting?


Is that what I said?


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## Kansas City Kipchaks Point Guard (Aug 13, 2018)

Mider T said:


> Is that what I said?


Pretty much.


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## Mider T (Aug 13, 2018)

The Kamal Haasan Crazy Hour said:


> Pretty much.


Show me where I said that.


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## A. Waltz (Aug 14, 2018)

i dont think that will be the normal soldier outfit she wears
it's a marketing pic
her hair is down, so she's not pretending to be a man here. could be the emperor fight scene or when she first grabs her father's sword. well idk how much they changed the plot, if they'll even have that shit there lol


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## Kansas City Kipchaks Point Guard (Aug 14, 2018)

Mider T said:


> Show me where I said that.


Why would i not conclude that?


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## MartialHorror (Aug 14, 2018)

A. Waltz said:


> i dont think that will be the normal soldier outfit she wears
> it's a marketing pic
> her hair is down, so she's not pretending to be a man here. could be the emperor fight scene or when she first grabs her father's sword. well idk how much they changed the plot, if they'll even have that shit there lol



Yeah it looks like a publicity photo to me as there isn't a background.


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## dr_shadow (Aug 14, 2018)

MartialHorror said:


> Yeah it looks like a publicity photo to me as there isn't a background.



Obviously, but I would have put her in armor for the publicity photo too, since that's hopefully what she will be wearing for most of the film.


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## MartialHorror (Aug 14, 2018)

mr_shadow said:


> Obviously, but I would have put her in armor for the publicity photo too, since that's hopefully what she will be wearing for most of the film.



I'm sure there will be plenty of photos with her in armor down the line. But they are trying to sell a movie and sexiness sells. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if her armor doesn't do much to hide her feminine features for this reason alone.


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## Mider T (Aug 14, 2018)

The Kamal Haasan Crazy Hour said:


> Why would i not conclude that?


You can't show me then don't put words in my mouth.


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## dr_shadow (Aug 14, 2018)

@The Kamal Haasan Crazy Hour @Mider T 

Not my section, but can you guys get back on topic? We're trying to talk about how much T&A will be visible through Mulan's armor here.


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## Sennin of Hardwork (Aug 14, 2018)



Reactions: Like 1


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## dr_shadow (Aug 14, 2018)

So gotta complain about Han-washing here.

They cast Chinese-American actor Jason Scott Lee to play the Xiongnu khan, rather than an actual Mongolian or Kazakh actor.

When they could have gotten for instance Baasanjab, who portrayed Genghis Khan (whom he is a descendant of) in a 2004 TV series and then Guan Yu in John Woo's Red Cliff (2008).


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## MartialHorror (Aug 14, 2018)

mr_shadow said:


> So gotta complain about Han-washing here.
> 
> They cast Chinese-American actor Jason Scott Lee to play the Xiongnu khan, rather than an actual Mongolian or Kazakh actor.
> 
> When they could have gotten for instance Baasanjab, who portrayed Genghis Khan (whom he is a descendant of) in a 2004 TV series and then Guan Yu in John Woo's Red Cliff (2008).



lol...


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## A. Waltz (Aug 14, 2018)

this looks like she's about to sing. goddamnit why isn't this a musical T__T


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## Aruka (Aug 14, 2018)

mr_shadow said:


> So gotta complain about Han-washing here.
> 
> They cast Chinese-American actor Jason Scott Lee to play the Xiongnu khan, rather than an actual Mongolian or Kazakh actor.
> 
> When they could have gotten for instance Baasanjab, who portrayed Genghis Khan (whom he is a descendant of) in a 2004 TV series and then Guan Yu in John Woo's Red Cliff (2008).


Even as part of the Yellow-Fever inducing minority, I had no idea that Han-washing is a thing. I learn new things everyday. I guess?

Now for _*some *_actual substance. I've never seen any of the new Disney live-action films aside from Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent. My memory is fuzzy on Alice, but I did enjoy Maleficent. I wouldn't call it a guilty pleasure, but it was a welcomed approach on one of the slaying Queens of villainy.

As for Mulan... I loved the animated film. And I'm not a big Disney fan, so that's saying something. One of my faves of all time. And the songs were awesome to boot. Too bad there won't be any singing. I would purchase ten tickets in one viewing just to see this in live-action;

​


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## dr_shadow (Aug 15, 2018)

Aruka said:


> Even as part of the Yellow-Fever inducing minority, I had no idea that Han-washing is a thing. I learn new things everyday. I guess?



It's very common in Chinese film for non-Han characters to be played by Han actors.

Aside from the fact that there are simply more Han actors to choose from, directors might instinctively worry that a minority actor will be awkward to work with because of cultural and linguistic differences. Or that they just look/smell funny (=outright racism).

Then there's the need to have big stars in leading roles. A lot of works set in the Qing dynasty will feature the Emperor, who is supposed to be Manchu. But Manchus are only 1% of China's population, most of whom are unknown to the public. So you might rather cast Tony Leung, Donnie Yen or whoever else is hot at the moment.


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## Aruka (Aug 15, 2018)

mr_shadow said:


> It's very common in Chinese film for non-Han characters to be played by Han actors.
> 
> Aside from the fact that there are simply more Han actors to choose from, directors might instinctively worry that a minority actor will be awkward to work with because of cultural and linguistic differences. Or that they just look/smell funny (=outright racism).
> 
> Then there's the need to have big stars in leading roles. A lot of works set in the Qing dynasty will feature the Emperor, who is supposed to be Manchu. But Manchus are only 1% of China's population, most of whom are unknown to the public. So you might rather cast Tony Leung, Donnie Yen or whoever else is hot at the moment.


Aah, that makes sense now; and I agree.

Part of my peeve in the portrayal of Asian characters in films is that if it looks Asian/Chinese, then it's Asian. But that's a rampant issue in Hollywood/film industry and not strictly exclusive to the Han-washing of Asian actors and characters. Could've been worse still, tho. Imagine if they white-washed the film. There's also room for errors with the final product such as slenderizing the film with cultural appropriation, not to mention getting the facts about the era of the film absolutely wrong.

But it's not a serious historical film so some slights may be forgiven, if not overlooked. But depending on how the movie, characters, and culture is portrayed... I'm going to hold my breath and hope for the best.


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## Kansas City Kipchaks Point Guard (Aug 15, 2018)

Aruka said:


> Aah, that makes sense now; and I agree.
> 
> Part of my peeve in the portrayal of Asian characters in films is that if it looks Asian/Chinese, then it's Asian. But that's a rampant issue in Hollywood/film industry and not strictly exclusive to the Han-washing of Asian actors and characters. Could've been worse still, tho. Imagine if they white-washed the film. There's also room for errors with the final product such as slenderizing the film with cultural appropriation, not to mention getting the facts about the era of the film absolutely wrong.
> 
> But it's not a serious historical film so some slights may be forgiven, if not overlooked. But depending on how the movie, characters, and culture is portrayed... I'm going to hold my breath and hope for the best.


I would watch it white washed. Plenty of Turks look white and they were quite common on the  Chinese border. IDGAF.


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## blakstealth (Mar 20, 2019)

Actor/YouTuber Jimmy Wong talking about filming Mulan on a podcast


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## A. Waltz (Mar 20, 2019)

blakstealth said:


> Actor/YouTuber Jimmy Wong talking about filming Mulan on a podcast


can you tell us what he said for those of us who dont have time to watch the whole thing ? and woah i dont know who he is but he's pretty cute, is he playing shang? his skin is nice, i think he uses concealer though lol


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## dr_shadow (May 8, 2019)

The movie has a release date now: March 27, 2020.


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## Mider T (May 10, 2019)

mr_shadow said:


> The movie has a release date now: March 27, 2020.


Yeah we need the title updated to reflect it.


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## dr_shadow (May 10, 2019)

Mider T said:


> Yeah we need the title updated to reflect it.



@Sennin of Hardwork


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## Sennin of Hardwork (May 10, 2019)



Reactions: Like 1


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## Mabel Gleeful (May 12, 2019)

I rewatched Mulan, and it really doesn't hold up well. The movie starts slowly, for one, and it has far too much filler where nothing happens. I really don't lie when I say it's only highlights are "I'll Make a Man out of You", the battle with the Huns and the last fight between Mulan and Shanyu. The rest is boring as all hell. It also doesn't help that it contains prejudicial views about Chinese society (particularly the idea of a particular Confucian patriarchy as if in Europe patriarchy has never existed) while most of the supporting characters are all racial stereotypes and the villains are portrayed with a sallow pale skin as if to emphasise the utterly dumb and ridiculous idea that East Asians are "Yellow".



Aruka said:


> Even as part of the Yellow-Fever inducing minority, I had no idea that Han-washing is a thing. I learn new things everyday. I guess


This really just sounds like another pathetic attempt at equating the racism of colonised or semi-colonised peoples like the Chinese with the racism perpetrated by Europeans. If a Danish played a Norwegian or a French person, people wouldn't really bat an eye. Indeed, no one batted an eye for Swedish Stellan Skarsgard playing a German Saxon in King Arthur.

It's also insulting that people even talk about this when Han Chinese have historically been dominated by non-Han Chinese peoples quite a number of times. Heck, the very last imperial regime of China wasn't Han but Manchu, which ruled China for almost 300 years.


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## Mider T (May 12, 2019)

Mabel Gleeful said:


> ridiculous idea that East Asians are "Yellow".


The Huns are gray in this movie


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## dr_shadow (May 12, 2019)

Mabel Gleeful said:


> It's also insulting that people even talk about this when Han Chinese have historically been dominated by non-Han Chinese peoples quite a number of times. Heck, the very last imperial regime of China wasn't Han but Manchu, which ruled China for almost 300 years.



The official line of the Chinese government is that the "Century of Humiliation" didn't start until 1842. Only conquerors based in currently-foreign countries like Britain and Japan count as invaders.

China isn't officially a Han nation-state, so those non-Han ruling groups that still have a homeland within China's boundaries (Inner Mongolia, Manchuria), are described as "ethnic minority rulers" and not foreign conquerors.

I'm gonna do the math later, but I'd be surprised if the total time China has been wholly or partially ruled by non-Han people exceeds a thousand years.


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## Mabel Gleeful (May 12, 2019)

mr_shadow said:


> The official line of the Chinese government is that the "Century of Humiliation" didn't start until 1842. Only conquerors based in currently-foreign countries like Britain and Japan count as invaders.
> 
> China isn't officially a Han nation-state, so those non-Han ruling groups that still have a homeland within China's boundaries (Inner Mongolia, Manchuria), are described as "ethnic minority rulers" and not foreign conquerors.
> 
> I'm gonna do the math later, but I'd be surprised if the total time China has been wholly or partially ruled by non-Han people exceeds a thousand years.


My point is simply that non-Han peoples in China are hardly more oppressed than even Han themselves, who suffered as much if not more from European colonialism and imperialism especially during the Century of Humiliation, so talking of "Han-washing" seems to me ridiculous, hence why I compared it to European and American actors playing different Europan nationalities to which they don't belong. I didn't compare Manchu rule to European colonialism either, a notion I find offensive. I was simply pointing out that the West's idea of Han domination, and this being anywhere near comparable to European colonial racism, is false.


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## dr_shadow (May 12, 2019)

Mabel Gleeful said:


> My point is simply that non-Han peoples in China are hardly more oppressed than even Han themselves, who suffered as much if not more from European colonialism and imperialism especially during the Century of Humiliation, so talking of "Han-washing" seems to me ridiculous, hence why I compared it to European and American actors playing different Europan nationalities to which they don't belong. I didn't compare Manchu rule to European colonialism either, a notion I find offensive. I was simply pointing out that the West's idea of Han domination, and this being anywhere near comparable to European colonial racism, is false.



Um, there's a lot of controversy around the current Han majority's treatment of its minorities. Most famously in Tibet and Xinjiang or course, but elsewhere as well.

The Chinese media typically have a pretty reductionist view of minorities. E.g. at formal events minorities will appear in their respective ethnic costumes, whereas the Han are all in Western business suits. Footage of "ethnic culture" is also invariable of people dancing in a circle around a bonfire...

They give the impression that minorities live in some kind of unchanging time capsule and are an endangered species to be protected and displayed in zoos ("ethnic autonomous areas"), not human beings with the same capacity for innovation and agency as the Han.

It's not inaccurate to say that Han actors playing minority characters is like White American actors in redface playing Native Americans.

---

Anyway I think you're positing a false dilemma here. Saying that Han Chinese can be racist doesn't mean whites can't be or weren't racist against Han Chinese.


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## Tony Lou (May 16, 2019)

Aruka said:


> Aah, that makes sense now; and I agree.
> 
> Part of my peeve in the portrayal of Asian characters in films is that if it looks Asian/Chinese, then it's Asian. But that's a rampant issue in Hollywood/film industry and not strictly exclusive to the Han-washing of Asian actors and characters. Could've been worse still, tho. Imagine if they white-washed the film. There's also room for errors with the final product such as slenderizing the film with cultural appropriation, not to mention getting the facts about the era of the film absolutely wrong.
> 
> But it's not a serious historical film so some slights may be forgiven, if not overlooked. But depending on how the movie, characters, and culture is portrayed... I'm going to hold my breath and hope for the best.



Who gives a fuck? 


They're *actors*. They don't have to be what their characters are in the most literal way possible. They only have to look the part and portray the emotions/personality properly.


Man, SJWs are a real piece of work.


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## Kansas City Kipchaks Point Guard (May 16, 2019)

Luiz said:


> Who gives a fuck?
> 
> 
> They're *actors*. They don't have to be what their characters are in the most literal way possible. They only have to look the part and portray the emotions/personality properly.
> ...


Hey, SJW's fighting one another is always fun to see.


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## Tony Lou (May 16, 2019)

Kansas City Kipchaks Point Guard said:


> Hey, SJW's fighting one another is always fun to see.



Arguing about what is the True Woke Way. 
ck


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## Zef (May 16, 2019)

Dear God, stop with the live action adaptions Hollywood!


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## Mider T (May 16, 2019)

Why? They make money and people enjoy them.


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## Kansas City Kipchaks Point Guard (May 17, 2019)

Zef said:


> Dear God, stop with the live action adaptions Hollywood!


The Far East did it first...


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## BlazingInferno (Jul 6, 2019)



Reactions: Like 2


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## Mider T (Jul 6, 2019)

So...what's it rated?


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## Karma (Jul 6, 2019)

Mider T said:


> So...what's it rated?


Adults Only


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## BlazingInferno (Jul 7, 2019)




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## Mider T (Jul 7, 2019)

But when will her reflection show who she is inside?


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## Brian (Jul 7, 2019)

no mushu?  it looks good though


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## Rukia (Jul 7, 2019)

I feel like Mulan could surprise.


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## Huey Freeman (Jul 7, 2019)

Fuck this, no mushu just makes this into another generic Chinese war movie.


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## Sennin of Hardwork (Jul 7, 2019)

Nice teaser and the poster is cool.


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## Mider T (Jul 7, 2019)

Huey Freeman said:


> Fuck this, no mushu just makes this into another generic Chinese war movie.


It's a teaser.  I'm sure they'll show him in the trailer.


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## ~Gesy~ (Jul 7, 2019)




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## Mider T (Jul 7, 2019)

Or not


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## Huey Freeman (Jul 7, 2019)

I understand the original story didn’t had Mushu, but this is a remake to live action about the animated adaptation. Which they are currently marketing it at. This is like if they did Aladdin without the Genie.

Should have fired the writers or directed the moment they gave this idea the go ahead.


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## ~Gesy~ (Jul 7, 2019)

Meh..it's making a billion anyway


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## Shiba D. Inu (Jul 7, 2019)

make a movie, slap some mouse ears logo on it and you got a billion


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## Glued (Jul 7, 2019)

I am bored.


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## Glued (Jul 7, 2019)

Shiba D. Inu said:


> make a movie, slap some mouse ears logo on it and you got a billion



The trailer for Dark Phoenix bored me, if I am bored, I will not buy.


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## BlazingInferno (Jul 7, 2019)

Ben Grimm said:


> I am bored.



Well with that “nothing is good enough for me” attitude you frequently show as well as the “I’m too mature for emotes” you seem to portray, I would think you’re boring yourself, tari 2.0.


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## Glued (Jul 7, 2019)

BlazingInferno said:


> Well with that “nothing is good enough for me” attitude you frequently show and the “I’m too mature for emotes” implication, I would think you’re boring yourself, tari 2.0.



Emotes?


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## Huey Freeman (Jul 7, 2019)

~Gesy~ said:


> Meh..it's making a billion anyway


I would bet you money it won’t, if it’s a serious take on the story then it won’t be do well in the west.


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## dr_shadow (Jul 7, 2019)

*Past Mulan adaptations
*
1. Hua Mulan joins the Army (1927)
2. Mulan joins the Army (1928)
3. Mulan joins the Army (1939)
4. Lady General Hua Mu-lan (1964)
5. Saga of Mulan (1994)

6. Mulan (1998) [Disney]
7. The Secret of Mulan (1998) [Knock-off]
8. Mulan II (2004) [Disney]
9. Mulan (2009)
10. Mulan (2020) [Disney]

So... we're going at an average of one film per decade.  No Mulan fatigue, apparently.


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## dr_shadow (Jul 7, 2019)

From the trailer we learn that Mulan and her family are  from Fujian province, since they live in the characteristic  that American spy satellites once mistook for nuclear silos.


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## Mabel Gleeful (Jul 7, 2019)

mr_shadow said:


> From the trailer we learn that Mulan and her family are  from Fujian province, since they live in the characteristic  *that American spy satellites once mistook for nuclear silos*.


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## dr_shadow (Jul 9, 2019)

Amazingly, I feel that "I will bring honor to us all" is not something that a Chinese person would actually say, because the language (unbelievably) doesn't seem to have a word that exactly corresponds to the English "honor".

In the Chinese dub of the 1998 film the phrase "you will bring honor to us all" is translated _women hui yi ni wei rong_ 我們會以你為榮 (you will be our source of pride), and in the subtitles to the just-released trailer "I will bring honor to us all" is_ wo hui guang zong hui zu de_ 我會光宗耀祖的 (I will glorify the ancestors and exalt the forebears).

I feel that _rong _榮 is nearer to "pride" than to "honor", and its opposite _ru_ 辱 (which I just learned today) nearer to "shame" than to "dishonor".

The sentiment of "honor" is of course central to Confucianism, but its meaning is spread out over several words. In the sense of "chivalry" (e.g. "fight with honor") it'd probably say_ de_ 德 "virtue" or, more archaic,_ li_ 禮 "etiquette".

Whereas in the sense of "social prestige" it's obviously _mianzi_ 面子, "face".

Gonna ping native speakers @DonutKid and @Yamato on this.


Characters on the sword:

忠 Loyalty
勇 Courage
真 Purity

Reactions: Like 1


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## Shiba D. Inu (Jul 9, 2019)

600-700M gross in China ?


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## Kuromaku (Jul 9, 2019)

Would it really do that well in China? It's a historical battlefield epic, which the country already has plenty of made by native filmmakers, filled with an Asian cast, which isn't exactly going to stand out in China (which, last I checked, has audiences that appreciate the exotic locales and stars of Hollywood).


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## dr_shadow (Jul 9, 2019)

Kuromaku said:


> Would it really do that well in China? It's a historical battlefield epic, which the country already has plenty of made by native filmmakers, filled with an Asian cast, which isn't exactly going to stand out in China (which, last I checked, has audiences that appreciate the exotic locales and stars of Hollywood).



Chinese people are also very nationalistic and fascinated with their own culture, so if done right it could be a hit because they'd feel Disney is showing them the respect they deserve. 

But it could also backfire if there are conspicuous historical or cultural errors.


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## Deathbringerpt (Jul 9, 2019)

So strap out everything that makes a distinctive Disney animation movie and make it a generic as fuck telling of the Mulan tale so you don't offend your chinese overlords. Taking off Mushu is granted since a black guy wouln't fly there, digitalized or not but fucking songs and whole characters?

Make a man out of you is probably the most famous Disney song before Let it Go made every little girl in the world open their fucking traps.

I gotta commend Disney for being consistent with their deal of remaking their Golden Age movies but worse in every possible, conceivable way. That trailer was boring as shit.


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## reiatsuflow (Jul 9, 2019)

Are we sure there are no songs? I thought that was only rumored.


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## dr_shadow (Jul 9, 2019)

Come to think of it, this will come out around the twentieth anniversary of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000). 

Still the only Chinese film to win an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Picture.

Can Mulan start a second Wuxia wave?


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## dr_shadow (Jul 9, 2019)

They should have honestly cast Zhang Ziyi (40) as the witch. So Liu Yifei (32) can symbolically fight her for the title of cinema queen.


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## Huey Freeman (Jul 9, 2019)

Deathbringerpt said:


> So strap out everything that makes a distinctive Disney animation movie and make it a generic as fuck telling of the Mulan tale so you don't offend your chinese overlords. Taking off Mushu is granted since a black guy wouln't fly there, digitalized or not but fucking songs and whole characters?
> 
> Make a man out of you is probably the most famous Disney song before Let it Go made every little girl in the world open their fucking traps.
> 
> I gotta commend Disney for being consistent with their deal of remaking their Golden Age movies but worse in every possible, conceivable way. That trailer was boring as shit.


They are pandering to the Chinese Market. And it will fail spectacularly.


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## ~Gesy~ (Jul 9, 2019)

"Make a Man out of You" is sexist as fuck tho


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## reiatsuflow (Jul 9, 2019)

This trailer got a bunch fo 24 hour views - 175 million.

Which surprised me because of all the disney animated classics, I thought mulan was one of the least popular. It got more than lion king. 

The sleeping dragon stirs.


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## Huey Freeman (Jul 9, 2019)

reiatsuflow said:


> This trailer got a bunch fo 24 hour views - 175 million.
> 
> Which surprised me because of all the disney animated classics, I thought mulan was one of the least popular. It got more than lion king.
> 
> The sleeping dragon stirs.


Chinese market


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## Glued (Jul 9, 2019)

If the special effects are good, it will be a smash hit in china.

Put Michael Bay on the phone.


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## dr_shadow (Jul 9, 2019)

TBH I don't know what Mushu's name is even supposed to be.

In the Chinese credits it's written _Muxu_ 木须, "Tree-Beard" [sic], which is probably just a phonetic transcription of the English.

It's possibly a pun on _Mulan _木兰 meaning "Tree-Blossom" (=Magnolia). Both characters have arboreal names.


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## Glued (Jul 10, 2019)

mr_shadow said:


> TBH I don't know what Mushu's name is even supposed to be.
> 
> In the Chinese credits it's written _Muxu_ 木须, "Tree-Beard" [sic], which is probably just a phonetic transcription of the English.
> 
> It's possibly a pun on _Mulan _木兰 meaning "Tree-Blossom" (=Magnolia). Both characters have arboreal names.



Hmmm...guess disney was trying to...branch out.


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## Jake CENA (Jul 10, 2019)

This Mulan actress is pretty


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## dr_shadow (Jul 10, 2019)

Jake CENA said:


> This Mulan actress is pretty



Eh, I think it depends on which angle you look at her from. A lot of the time I feel like her eyes are too close together.


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## Jake CENA (Jul 10, 2019)

mr_shadow said:


> Eh, I think it depends on which angle you look at her from. A lot of the time I feel like her eyes are too close together.



Don’t care. I will smash her


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## Jake CENA (Jul 10, 2019)

What if Disney’s story is better than history?


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## dr_shadow (Jul 10, 2019)

Jake CENA said:


> Don’t care. I will smash her



Well, at least she seems to be single. She dated South Korean actor Song Seung-heon from 2015 to 2018, but they broke up. 



Jake CENA said:


> What if Disney’s story is better than history?



Well, it's doubtful if Hua Mulan was really a historical figure. 

Her earliest appearance is in a *poem *from the Northern Wei (386-534), but she's not mentioned in the Official History of that dynasty or any preceding one.

Of course not everybody makes it into the Official Histories, but you'd think a female soldier would have been unusual enough to warrant at least a footnote, if one really existed.


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## reiatsuflow (Jul 10, 2019)

mr_shadow said:


> Eh, I think it depends on which angle you look at her from. A lot of the time I feel like her eyes are too close together.



I think china has a different eye for beauty than westerners. Every time I see a drop dead chinese girl it seems like the chinese themselves aren't that impressed by her. It goes in the other direction too, where sometimes chinese are head over heels for a china woman who looks average to me. I wonder if that's why you see so many white boys with asian girls in the west; the asian women westerners find most beautiful aren't as highly valued in their own cultures, so they think they're average looking and we get the drop on them


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## dr_shadow (Jul 10, 2019)

reiatsuflow said:


> I think china has a different eye for beauty than westerners. Every time I see a drop dead chinese girl it seems like the chinese themselves aren't that impressed by her. It goes in the other direction too, where sometimes chinese are head over heels for a china woman who looks average to me. I wonder if that's why you see so many white boys with asian girls in the west; the asian women westerners find most beautiful aren't as highly valued in their own cultures, so they think they're average looking and we get the drop on them



@wibisana has brought this up a dozen times.


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## Huey Freeman (Jul 10, 2019)

The chinese are too picky and judgmental. For a culture who love to stereotype other races they sure do get offended very easily. 

The animated film had its flaws and inaccuracies, but it was never meant to be a historical piece. Out of all the live action adaptations so far this movie has the most changes and it’s strictly to pander. It will fail horrible in the west and it’s a toss up if it will be a hit China since this isn’t new to them either


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## dr_shadow (Jul 10, 2019)

Huey Freeman said:


> it’s a toss up if it will be a hit China since this isn’t new to them either



If they nail it, this could be China's "Black Panter" though.


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## Glued (Jul 10, 2019)

Westerners and Chinese have different tastes.

If disney tries to appeal to both, they might end up appeasing neither.


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## Kuromaku (Jul 10, 2019)

@mr_shadow

Will it though? BP worked because it appealed to a minority starving for representation in a major Hollywood blockbuster, and then tried to market itself further toward a continent often not all that aimed at. Meanwhile, China's been a target for years, and the movie might just come off as a foreign novelty to a country that has its own big budget historical epics. You might appeal to Asian-Americans, although even then, speaking as someone of Asian descent, the various peoples of Asia tend to hate each other so "who gives a fuck" might be the response on the continent (at least it seemed to be where my family's at when it came to _Crazy Rich Asians_).

Question: I haven't seen the trailer yet, so are the ancestral spirits in this? I'm not sure what the Party's line for ghosts in works of fiction is atm.

Reactions: Like 1


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## dr_shadow (Jul 10, 2019)

Kuromaku said:


> Question: I haven't seen the trailer yet, so are the ancestral spirits in this? I'm not sure what the Party's line of ghosts in works of fiction is atm.



They're not in the trailer, so we don't know. Rep for this excellent question, though. Very perceptive.


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## Huey Freeman (Jul 10, 2019)

mr_shadow said:


> They're not in the trailer, so we don't know. Rep for this excellent question, though. Very perceptive.


If Mushu, the guardian isn’t in this I don’t think they might include them either


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## wibisana (Jul 10, 2019)

At this point China prolly have sent and got approval from Chinese Censorship board.

It is stupid to ignore 500M-1Bn market.

Or prolly they have 2 versions


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## Huey Freeman (Jul 10, 2019)

wibisana said:


> At this point China prolly have sent and got approval from Chinese Censorship board.
> 
> It is stupid to ignore 500M-1Bn market.
> 
> Or prolly they have 2 versions


The 300+ M market buys way more merchandise than the Chinese market.


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## Glued (Jul 11, 2019)

Kuromaku said:


> @mr_shadow
> 
> Will it though? BP worked because it appealed to a minority starving for representation in a major Hollywood blockbuster, and then tried to market itself further toward a continent often not all that aimed at. Meanwhile, China's been a target for years, and the movie might just come off as a foreign novelty to a country that has its own big budget historical epics. You might appeal to Asian-Americans, although even then, speaking as someone of Asian descent, the various peoples of Asia tend to hate each other so "who gives a fuck" might be the response on the continent (at least it seemed to be where my family's at when it came to _Crazy Rich Asians_).
> 
> Question: I haven't seen the trailer yet, so are the ancestral spirits in this? I'm not sure what the Party's line for ghosts in works of fiction is atm.



Black Panther was more than just an appeal to minorities. It was one of the smoothest and sleekest style films I have seen. The Sudano-Sahelian architecture of the skyscrapers, the Nsibidi script on the computers, the abstract art of Shuri's lab all mixed in with bladerunner futuristic scifi setting.

From the design of his black suit to the clothing and one of the best music soundtracks I have seen in a movie. I could watch BP for the music alone.

Klaw was a highly charismatic and professional villain.

Killmonger was intimidating and sympathetic.

T'Challa successfully completes the heroe's journey.

The film did have some flaws though, which I have stated in other threads, but BP could stand on its own merit.


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## Karma (Jul 11, 2019)

Does she even pretend to be a man in this?


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## reiatsuflow (Jul 11, 2019)

We should have cast a japanese actor as mulan just to fuck with china. Then when they called us out on it we would pretend we were too ignorant to notice the difference because "you both look the same to us". 


Then when they get mad we'd reassure them mulan will have an authentic "samurai movie feel".


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## dr_shadow (Aug 16, 2019)

Liu Yifei has taken the Chinese government's side against the Hong Kong riots, and now some overseas Chinese are calling for [HASHTAG]#boycottmulan[/HASHTAG].


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## hcheng02 (Aug 16, 2019)

mr_shadow said:


> Liu Yifei has taken the Chinese government's side against the Hong Kong riots, and now some overseas Chinese are calling for [HASHTAG]#boycottmulan[/HASHTAG].



Why the hell did she wade into this hornet's nest? Was she pressured by the CCP or something? Does she have policemen as family members or something?


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## Kansas City Kipchaks Point Guard (Aug 16, 2019)

Nice to see Disney being fucked by this.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Rukia (Aug 16, 2019)

She took the side of the police.  There could be police that support the protests.  But they are just doing their jobs.  So i’m sympathetic to that.


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## dr_shadow (Aug 16, 2019)

hcheng02 said:


> Why the hell did she wade into this hornet's nest? Was she pressured by the CCP or something? Does she have policemen as family members or something?



Despite the official rethoric of "Hong Kong compatriots!", a lot of mainland people haven't emotionally accepted Hong Kong as an equal part of the Chinese nation. They view them as a kind of half-foreign "dependent territory".

Not unlike how many mainland Americans seem to not completely accept Puerto Rico as part of the United States.

Therefore mainlanders can have surprisingly little empathy with the political concerns of HK. When people go out in the streets demanding free elections, the reaction is not "fuck yeah!" but rather "how dare they!"

A hypothetical analogy being that a Puerto Rican complaining about America's policy towards Latin America might be seen as disloyal and ungrateful.

The Party has successfully indentified itself with the Chinese nation to the extent that when mainlanders hear Hong Kongers complain about the Party, they feel like the dignity of all mainlanders is being attacked, and that HKers are a bunch of spoiled brats who are ungrateful to be part of the Chinese family.

There's a clear patriarchal undertone, where the mainland-Hong Kong relationship is understood as a parent-child relationship, rather then a brother-sister relationship.

Siblings can legitimately quarell with one another, but if a child speaks up to their parents, the only valid response is the belt.


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## hcheng02 (Aug 16, 2019)

mr_shadow said:


> Despite the official rethoric of "Hong Kong compatriots!", a lot of mainland people haven't emotionally accepted Hong Kong as an equal part of the Chinese nation. They view them as a kind of half-foreign "dependent territory".
> 
> Not unlike how many mainland Americans seem to not completely accept Puerto Rico as part of the United States.
> 
> ...



That explains her sympathy but that doesn't explain why she spoke it out loud though. I figured that discretion would be the better part of valour here.  Has any other Chinese celebrity spoken out for the the police and against the protesters?


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## dr_shadow (Aug 16, 2019)

hcheng02 said:


> Has any other Chinese celebrity spoken out for the the police and against the protesters?



Jackie Chan sort-of, but he's a Hong Konger himself, so not sure if he counts.


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## A. Waltz (Aug 16, 2019)

mr_shadow said:


> Jackie Chan sort-of, but he's a Hong Konger himself, so not sure if he counts.


wasnt jackie chan pro-hong kong/protesters tho?


reasons she could have said it:

she's stupid/forgot she was in a disney movie and thought to speak her mind/get political

CPP pressured her

her agents or disney pressured her to, so that all the nationalists in china will support the movie. it's my understanding that it wasn't even that popular to begin with in china because it was seen as a westernized thing. but now that someone pro national is heading it they might just see it out of blatant support against those asking for boycotts. like if a movie in the US turned out to have a pro-trump, pro-guns director and half the population is like "lets boycott it", you know the trump fans will be all "how dare they boycott, now we're all going to support it!!" even though it's a shity movie no one was gonna watch to begin with


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## A. Waltz (Aug 16, 2019)

they should just refilm all of her scenes with a different actress. theyre still filming right?
but it sucks cuz she's the lead so that's literally reshooting the whole thing. but if they were able to do that with kevin spacey im sure they can do that here too. ??


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## dr_shadow (Aug 16, 2019)

A. Waltz said:


> wasnt jackie chan pro-hong kong/protesters tho?



Nah, Jackie Chan is a member of the Chinese parliament* and pretty well known for his conservative, pro-Communist views. 

In another thread I called him the Clint Eastwood of China (Eastwood being an open Trump supporter).

(* The Chinese parliament only meets for one week per year, to ritually vote YAY! to all bills introduced by the Communist Party, so being an MP doesn't interfere with his acting career. It's mostly an honorary position, and proof that in Hong Kong as in America you can run for national office without any political experience as long as you have a name that people recognise. If the names on the ballot were Cheung Sam, Lee Sei, and Jackie-fucking-Chan, who would you vote for?)


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## dr_shadow (Aug 16, 2019)

A. Waltz said:


> they should just refilm all of her scenes with a different actress. theyre still filming right?
> but it sucks cuz she's the lead so that's literally reshooting the whole thing. but if they were able to do that with kevin spacey im sure they can do that here too. ??



Don't see why that's necessary. She supports the legal law enforcement agents of China against illegal subversive protestors.

If Disney sanction her for it, it would amount to them siding with the rioters, which would be a sure way to get the movie banned in China, the world's #2 cinema market. 

Don't think shareholders would like that.


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## A. Waltz (Aug 16, 2019)

mr_shadow said:


> Don't see why that's necessary. She supports the legal law enforcement agents of China against illegal subversive protestors.
> 
> If Disney sanction her for it, it would amount to them siding with the rioters, which would be a sure way to get the movie banned in China, the world's #2 cinema market.
> 
> Don't think shareholders would like that.


oh right.
lol yikes this is such a prickly situation.
i wonder if trump might use this for more trade tension stuff. i have a feeling trump supporters will be sympathetic to her though since she's saying she's "pro-police"
well it would be rich if trump admin gave a fuck about people protesting democracy elsewhere tbh

well if anything i dont think this movie was gonna do that well anyways, and a boycott probably wont do much. if anything, people in china might now be more interested in watching it because of her views and help gain more $$$. evens out.. dead weight loss nothing to do with it anymore anyways. disney's gotta focus on their streaming service.
unless a lot of people start demanding disney say something about her views i dont think they will get involved.


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## MartialHorror (Aug 16, 2019)

Yeah, I don't think they'd recast and reshoot her scenes for a handful of reasons 

-- What she said isn't anywhere near as bad as what Spacey (allegedly) did. 

-- There's still along time before "Mulan" comes out. That Spacey movie (can't remember the title) was set to be released like a month after the allegations came out, so the controversies would've been fresh on everyone's minds. I don't think that the majority of people (at least outside of Hong Kong) will care by then. 

-- When it comes down to it, you have to realize that she grew up in an entirely different culture and political climate than us. Occasionally there are going to be culture clashes. 

I suspect Disney will pressure her to apologize... and she probably will in some capacity... but I also think Disney needs China and its audiences much more than China needs Disney. They aren't going to risk alienating the market they're catering towards.


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## Kansas City Kipchaks Point Guard (Aug 16, 2019)

mr_shadow said:


> Don't see why that's necessary. She supports the legal law enforcement agents of China against illegal subversive protestors.
> 
> If Disney sanction her for it, it would amount to them siding with the rioters, which would be a sure way to get the movie banned in China, the world's #2 cinema market.
> 
> Don't think shareholders would like that.


Shareholders will love the shitshow outside of China around it...


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## A. Waltz (Aug 16, 2019)

Kansas City Kipchaks Point Guard said:


> Shareholders will love the shitshow outside of China around it...


yeah the drama surrounding this is already so entertaining


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## Kisaitaparadise (Aug 16, 2019)

Disney back at it again with disgusting live action....


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## MartialHorror (Aug 16, 2019)

This is actually one of the only Disney properties I'm kind of interested in seeing remade, as it might have some really cool martial arts scenes and tonally, it seems to be attempting its own thing. 

Then again, "Aladdin" was another one I was... intrigued by... but I've yet to see it... Actually, I haven't seen any of them yet, outside of "Jungle Book".


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## Rukia (Aug 16, 2019)

This is not a problem.  It will make at least $500m ww.


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## Mider T (Aug 18, 2019)

KisaitaParadise said:


> Disney back at it again with disgusting live action....


Yup.  They make money and get good reviews, so they will continue.

Sucks for yoooooouuuuuu

Reactions: Like 1


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## Kisaitaparadise (Aug 18, 2019)

Mider T said:


> Yup.  They make money and get good reviews, so they will continue.
> 
> Sucks for yoooooouuuuuu


This is my life and these are my choices


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## Rukia (Aug 18, 2019)

I don’t like the Disney live action remakes. But Mulan the animated movie is underrated.  It doesn’t get the shine it deserves.  And it is the perfect choice for this.


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## A. Waltz (Aug 18, 2019)

Rukia said:


> I don’t like the Disney live action remakes. But Mulan the animated movie is underrated.  It doesn’t get the shine it deserves.  And it is the perfect choice for this.


agreed. i remember rewatching it about a year ago and i was surprised at how relevant the themes were. especially the gender issues seem so progressive when you go back and watch. and as a live action it actually feels like it could be interesting. the other princess movies already tons of shitty live action movies and didnt really need another. but you dont really see many live action movies like this in america at least.

but from the trailer i dont really find it interesting yet. same happened with aladdin where i thought a live action would be great and then i never watched it.. idk. there is still something sort of fake/obvious about it. same with the other live action disney movies.. they look too over the top with colors and fake materials that it looks more like a high school musical or youth production. there lacks tone. with the animated ones you obviously dont have this problem. but it just looks a bit too much on live screen


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## reiatsuflow (Aug 18, 2019)

A. Waltz said:


> agreed. i remember rewatching it about a year ago and i was surprised at how relevant the themes were. especially the gender issues seem so progressive when you go back and watch. and as a live action it actually feels like it could be interesting. the other princess movies already tons of shitty live action movies and didnt really need another. but you dont really see many live action movies like this in america at least.
> 
> but from the trailer i dont really find it interesting yet. same happened with aladdin where i thought a live action would be great and then i never watched it.. idk. there is still something sort of fake/obvious about it. same with the other live action disney movies.. they look too over the top with colors and fake materials that it looks more like a high school musical or youth production. there lacks tone. with the animated ones you obviously dont have this problem. but it just looks a bit too much on live screen



I forget who said this about aladdin, but while watching the movie you can tell the sequences were originally made for animation and they don't work as well in live action, and there wasn't enough work put into the translation. Like the way the genie is visualized.


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## A. Waltz (Aug 18, 2019)

reiatsuflow said:


> I forget who said this about aladdin, but while watching the movie you can tell the sequences were originally made for animation and they don't work as well in live action, and there wasn't enough work put into the translation. Like the way the genie is visualized.


yeah..it's as if there's something lost in translation! it's really hard to explain. things that feel natural animated, just look really awkward or fake in live action.. idk. 
or the costumes too.. like even with belle and cinderella.. the dresses just look so.. fake? like halloween costumes almost. they dont look like they naturally fit the period/look they were aiming for in the rest of the movie. same for aladdin too. it just feels out of place


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## Sennin of Hardwork (Oct 1, 2019)



Reactions: Like 1


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## A. Waltz (Oct 1, 2019)

so much RED!!


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## Mider T (Oct 2, 2019)

Looks like they want a girl to fight for.


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## dr_shadow (Oct 2, 2019)

A. Waltz said:


> so much RED!!


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## the_notorious_Z.É. (Oct 2, 2019)

I guess by now everybody already forgot that controversy with the main actress.


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## ~Avant~ (Oct 6, 2019)

What controversy?


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## the_notorious_Z.É. (Oct 6, 2019)

She took the side of the authorities in the ongoing protests in Hong Kong and many people all over the world pledged to boycott the movie.


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## Bruce Wayne (Nov 17, 2019)

Is it true that Disney is making Mulan trans? Or is that just a meme?


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## dr_shadow (Nov 17, 2019)

Bruce Wayne said:


> Is it true that Disney is making Mulan trans? Or is that just a meme?



Pretty sure it's a meme. The movie is clearly targeted at the Chinese market, which is socially conservative.


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## dr_shadow (Nov 17, 2019)

I'm curious how they'll be handling the language situation for the China and Singapore markets.

A lot of the actors are bilingual, so will the movie still be in English in these markets, or will they have everybody re-dub their own lines in Chinese? 

I remember that for the Muhammad biopic  (1976), they shot every scene twice - once in English and once in Arabic. In that case even using different actors, because the director thought the Hollywood and Middle Eastern styles of acting were so different that you couldn't please one audience without turning off the other. 

(I think the latter is more influenced by theatre, with exaggerated gestures and line deliveries that would seem hammy to an unprepared Western viewer)


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## reiatsuflow (Nov 17, 2019)

Please don't be as bad as aladdin.

Then again LK wasn't very good either.



Is Cinderella still the best live action disney remake?


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## Huey Freeman (Nov 18, 2019)

reiatsuflow said:


> Please don't be as bad as aladdin.
> 
> Then again LK wasn't very good either.
> 
> ...


No Shang and Mushu as we know him is gone. Lol it’s already terrible


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## Shiba D. Inu (Nov 18, 2019)

EZ billion for Mouse with China


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## ~Avant~ (Nov 18, 2019)

Wait, no Shang? How they gonna do “Make a man out of You”?


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## MShadows (Nov 18, 2019)

~Avant~ said:


> Wait, no Shang? How they gonna do “Make a man out of You”?


No can do, my good sir!

We can’t have such a disgusting and sexist song play in this modern age interpretation, even though it’s the most iconic theme of Mulan.


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## MShadows (Nov 18, 2019)

Huey Freeman said:


> No Shang and Mushu as we know him is gone. Lol it’s already terrible


It's like doing an Aladdin story but without the genie and Abu. 

Lol, what a joke!


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## ~Avant~ (Nov 19, 2019)

This is an abomination


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## dr_shadow (Nov 19, 2019)

~Avant~ said:


> Wait, no Shang? How they gonna do “Make a man out of You”?





MShadows said:


> No can do, my good sir!
> 
> We can’t have such a disgusting and sexist song play in this modern age interpretation, even though it’s the most iconic theme of Mulan.



Based on the trailer, this isn't a shot-for-shot, song-by-song remake of the 1998 animated film. It's rather a completely new adaptation of the source material, with the only common denominator that both are made by Disney.


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## ~Avant~ (Nov 19, 2019)

Disney really coming hard for the Chinese box office with this and Shang Chi if that’s the case


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## BlazingInferno (Dec 4, 2019)




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## MartialHorror (Dec 4, 2019)

A shot-by-shot, song-by-song remake of "Mulan" wouldn't make sense anyway, as the animated film underperformed and wasn't well received upon release.


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## Huey Freeman (Dec 4, 2019)

MartialHorror said:


> A shot-by-shot, song-by-song remake of "Mulan" wouldn't make sense anyway, as the animated film underperformed and wasn't well received upon release.


Well received by whom the Chinese? Get the hell of her commie.

This is blatant pandering. Why you think Shang Chi is being made


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## MartialHorror (Dec 4, 2019)

Huey Freeman said:


> Well received by whom the Chinese? Get the hell of her commie.
> 
> This is blatant pandering. Why you think Shang Chi is being made



Yeah, that's what I meant. Sorry. Obviously "Mulan" is going to pander to the Chinese market. That's the only reason it would be made. While well liked in the west, the brand isn't as iconic as "Aladdin", "Lion King", etc. The only way it would make money is if sells well in China, whether we like it or not.


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## Mider T (Dec 4, 2019)

MartialHorror said:


> A shot-by-shot, song-by-song remake of "Mulan" wouldn't make sense anyway, as the animated film underperformed and wasn't well received upon release.


That toy marketing though


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## ~Gesy~ (Dec 5, 2019)



Reactions: Like 3


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## Mider T (Dec 5, 2019)

Not a direct adaptation but I like the shoutouts. Should be good.


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## BlazingInferno (Dec 5, 2019)

Still not fond of them changing Mushu to a phoenix


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## MartialHorror (Dec 5, 2019)

I did like that rendition of "Reflection".


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## Shiba D. Inu (Dec 5, 2019)

@mr_shadow how much can this make in China ?  Endgame numbers ?


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## reiatsuflow (Dec 5, 2019)

apparently it broke trailer view and share numbers in china above and beyond endgame, so err I don't know how that translates. But it's not bad.


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## Huey Freeman (Dec 5, 2019)

@~Gesy~  Sorry for the dislike but that trailer is an abomination to the animation


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## wibisana (Dec 5, 2019)

Mulan's dad looks like Xi jinping lol @Mider T 
it just shameless Chinese shil


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## Mider T (Dec 5, 2019)

Shiba D. Inu said:


> @mr_shadow how much can this make in China ?  Endgame numbers ?


Its trailer is one of the highest English language movies trending ever right now.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Mider T (Dec 5, 2019)

@Shiba D. Inu 


Reposted 385,000 times in 7 hours, twice as much as Endgame (the previous record holder)

Reactions: Like 1


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## dr_shadow (Dec 6, 2019)

They changed the pronunciation of Mulan's surname 花 to Mandarin "Hua" from the animated film's Cantonese "Fa".

Probably because this time the target audience is mainland Chinese and not Chinese-Americans, and the former would be confused if the names weren't consistently in the dominant dialect.

(Compare how you want to be consistent on whether to call Mulan's European counterpart by her native French "Jeanne d'Arc" or by the Anglified "Joan of Arc")


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## wibisana (Dec 6, 2019)

mr_shadow said:


> They changed the pronunciation of Mulan's surname 花 to Mandarin "Hua" from the animated film's Cantonese "Fa".
> 
> Probably because this time the target audience is mainland Chinese and not Chinese-Americans, and the former would be confused if the names weren't consistently in the dominant dialect.
> 
> (Compare how you want to be consistent on whether to call Mulan's European counterpart by her native French "Jeanne d'Arc" or by the Anglified "Joan of Arc")


So is there Juan of Arc? Or Joao of Arc? 
Idk what Italia counterpart will be


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## Mider T (Dec 6, 2019)

mr_shadow said:


> They changed the pronunciation of Mulan's surname 花 to Mandarin "Hua" from the animated film's Cantonese "Fa".
> 
> Probably because this time the target audience is mainland Chinese and not Chinese-Americans, and the former would be confused if the names weren't consistently in the dominant dialect.
> 
> (Compare how you want to be consistent on whether to call Mulan's European counterpart by her native French "Jeanne d'Arc" or by the Anglified "Joan of Arc")


Good thing too since the girl portraying her is being boycotted in Hong Kong.


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## ClandestineSchemer (Dec 8, 2019)

Didn't they say they wanted to go closer towards the original more realistic myth, so no more cricket and Mushu?
So why is there a phoenix and magical shapeshifting witch in the trailer. . .


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## dr_shadow (Dec 11, 2019)

Just realised that next year is the Year of the Mouse. 

(More commonly translated as "Year of the Rat", but actually the Chinese language uses the same word, _shu_ 鼠, for both)


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## Sennin of Hardwork (Jan 2, 2020)




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## Sennin of Hardwork (Jan 11, 2020)



Reactions: Like 2


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## the_notorious_Z.É. (Jan 12, 2020)

wibisana said:


> So is there Juan of Arc? Or Joao of Arc?
> Idk what Italia counterpart will be



Juan and João are the Spanish and Portuguese versions of John.

The female versions are Juana and Joana

The Italian version is Giovanna

Jeanne d'Arc is known in Spain as Juana de Arco, in Portugal as Joana d'Arc and Italy as Giovanna d'Arco.

Reactions: Like 1


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## dr_shadow (Jan 13, 2020)

I need to re-watch the 1998 animated film at some point. Haven't seen it in years, so I'm sure there are subtle cultural references that I didn't pick up on in my pre-PhD days.

Will probably watch it in English this time. Last time I saw it was on VHS, where we only had the Swedish dub available.


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## Mider T (Jan 14, 2020)

*coughDisney+cough*


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## dr_shadow (Jan 14, 2020)

Mider T said:


> *coughDisney+cough*



Not available in Sweden or (any part of) China yet, and I'm too lazy to VPN to a third location.

Instead of instant gratification I prefer to keep building my list of Disney properties I want to (re-)watch once Disney+ comes out in one of my territories.


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## Mider T (Jan 16, 2020)




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## ClandestineSchemer (Jan 16, 2020)

It's like they haven't ever heard of a musical.
Or do they think musicals are only about happy subjects.

China shilling all the way in this movie.


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## Mider T (Jan 24, 2020)

David M. Herszenhorn


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## ClandestineSchemer (Jan 24, 2020)

Mider T said:


> David M. Herszenhorn



Wrong thread?


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## Mider T (Jan 24, 2020)

ClandestineSchemer said:


> Wrong thread?


No


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## Mider T (Feb 2, 2020)

Didn't expect Mulan to be the first commercial of the Superbowl.


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## wibisana (Feb 3, 2020)

Mider T said:


> Didn't expect Mulan to be the first commercial of the Superbowl.


Maybe they are preparing the worst?
This movie was almost guaranteed making at least 500M in China alone

With all these Corona, Disney maybe trying to cut their loses by spending Superbowl ad in hope will get better Domestic revenue


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## Mider T (Feb 3, 2020)

wibisana said:


> Maybe they are preparing the worst?
> This movie was almost guaranteed making at least 500M in China alone
> 
> With all these Corona, Disney maybe trying to cut their loses by spending Superbowl ad in hope will get better Domestic revenue


I'm pretty sure Disney secured that spot before the Coronavirus outbreak.


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## dr_shadow (Feb 3, 2020)




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## BlazingInferno (Feb 17, 2020)

I’m still upset they replaced Mushu.

Reactions: Like 2


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## ~Gesy~ (Feb 29, 2020)




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## the_notorious_Z.É. (Feb 29, 2020)

Is there anything in this movie that has anything to do with the classic animated anymore?


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## dr_shadow (Feb 29, 2020)

the_notorious_Z.É. said:


> Is there anything in this movie that has anything to do with the classic animated anymore?



The title.


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## Mider T (Mar 2, 2020)

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-...cancelled-disney-remake-trailer-a9366246.html

Turning into a disaster


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## reiatsuflow (Mar 2, 2020)

~Gesy~ said:


>


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## BlazingInferno (Mar 2, 2020)

Wait, what? There wasn’t anything between them until right at the end of the movie  Stupidest excuse ever. I’m starting to not feel so sure about this movie now.


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## ClandestineSchemer (Mar 2, 2020)

He didn't even know Mulan's real gender until after she was practically about to be executed for impersonating her father.
To use that as an excuse is retarded.
They should just say they changed it for the Chinese audience, if they won't even bother making up a good excuse.


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## Mider T (Mar 3, 2020)

ClandestineSchemer said:


> He didn't even know Mulan's real gender until after she was practically about to be executed for impersonating her father.
> To use that as an excuse is retarded.
> They should just say they changed it for the Chinese audience, if they won't even bother making up a good excuse.


Doubtful, read the link I posted.


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## dr_shadow (Mar 3, 2020)

Mider T said:


> https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-...cancelled-disney-remake-trailer-a9366246.html
> 
> Turning into a disaster



Can't they just postpone the Chinese release, rather than cancel it outright?

It's not like the Chinese don't want to see the movie. It's that their government won't let them leave their homes.

Then again, with most of them now having the Internet as their only window to the outside world, they might be tempted to just pirate the movie online and watch it close to the international release date. It both saves them from spoilers and gives them something to do amid what must be unimaginable boredom.


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## Sennin of Hardwork (Mar 6, 2020)




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## Sennin of Hardwork (Mar 12, 2020)




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## Sennin of Hardwork (Mar 12, 2020)

Release date pushed back, they'll look for a new one.


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## Mider T (Mar 12, 2020)

:/


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## wibisana (Mar 12, 2020)

Release it next year


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## MartialHorror (Mar 12, 2020)

Yikes, is anything being released this month anymore?!


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## Mider T (Mar 12, 2020)

MartialHorror said:


> Yikes, is anything being released this month anymore?!


Bloodshot


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## MartialHorror (Mar 13, 2020)

Mider T said:


> Bloodshot



... Yay...


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## Mider T (Jun 27, 2020)

Release pushed back to August 21st.


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## Huey Freeman (Jul 4, 2020)

Still a pandering movie


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## dr_shadow (Jul 4, 2020)

Huey Freeman said:


> Still a pandering movie



Panda-ing.


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## ClandestineSchemer (Jul 4, 2020)

Will flop in India.


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## Mider T (Jul 7, 2020)




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## Mider T (Jul 24, 2020)

Its been taken off the schedule


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## BlazingInferno (Jul 24, 2020)

Disney+ release?


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## ClandestineSchemer (Jul 24, 2020)

Doesn't sound like it will bring honor to us all.


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## Mider T (Jul 24, 2020)

BlazingInferno said:


> Disney+ release?


CNN: Here's why you can't watch 'Mulan' on Disney+ right now.


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## Sennin of Hardwork (Aug 4, 2020)




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## Mider T (Aug 4, 2020)

Charging $30 in a service that you already pay for?  $30 on a non-IMAX screen at that?

Mouse must have lost its marbles.  People aren't going to pay for that.


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## Sennin of Hardwork (Aug 4, 2020)




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## Shiba D. Inu (Aug 4, 2020)

should be in the base sub


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## dr_shadow (Aug 4, 2020)

Disney+ launching in Sweden on September 15. 

Strangely, though, there is so far no date for Disney+ launching in any Chinese-speaking territory. While it's expected that it won't ever launch in mainland China, where most foreign streaming services are by default blocked, it's probably coming to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan sooner or later, as well as to Singapore. Right now the only Confucian market that has the service is Japan.

You would have thought that they'd wait for Disney+ to be in place there before releasing Mulan. Right now it's a bit unclear how ethnic Chinese people are supposed to legally watch the movie.


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## Mider T (Aug 4, 2020)

I'd imagine so considering its a big budget movie and they were planning on a blockbuster.


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## Mider T (Aug 4, 2020)

Some information on what the $30 fee will get you.


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## CrownedEagle (Aug 5, 2020)

Support movie theaters? No.
Respect its subscribers?  No
Mushu ??? Songs ??? Also No
Optimize money as much as possible ? Hell Yeah


Disney must be very, very confident to believe that there will be enough pigeons to ensure a "good return on investment" for this movie only available with a subscription to their channel at  30$ and an extra $ 30 to have it. And they are probably right, that's the worst! The Millenials will follow them no matter what.

And to say that some think that Disney cares about more things besides the massive cash they can gain  through all their movie, series, amusement park and goodies.

still hoping someone take one for the team and put it on GoMovies or SolarMovie.


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## NartuoMusic (Aug 5, 2020)

Honestly, I don't like how Disney is lacking in creativity and just redoing its cartoons into live renditions...


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## MShadows (Aug 6, 2020)

NartuoMusic said:


> Honestly, I don't like how Disney is lacking in creativity and just redoing its cartoons into live renditions...


Wouldn’t even be that much of an issue if the live renditions wouldn’t suck donkey balls...


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## Mider T (Aug 6, 2020)

NartuoMusic said:


> Honestly, I don't like how Disney is lacking in creativity and just redoing its cartoons into live renditions...


Disney puts out new material all the time.


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## Mael (Aug 9, 2020)

NartuoMusic said:


> Honestly, I don't like how Disney is lacking in creativity and just redoing its cartoons into live renditions...


Chinese market doesn't know that.

Hell if anything they've sold out what ethics they have left to appease the CCP.


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## Deathbringerpt (Aug 9, 2020)

If any of you people actually enable this absolute joke of price gouging for a fucking live action Disney movie in a streaming service, the entertainment business really is fucked.


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## Mael (Aug 9, 2020)

Deathbringerpt said:


> If any of you people actually enable this absolute joke of price gouging for a fucking live action Disney movie in a streaming service, the entertainment business really is fucked.


It's why I indulge in streaming from sites that I don't pay for...because Disney has enough money and frankly I don't want to spend the money to only see one, maybe two shows.


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## Velocity (Aug 10, 2020)

Deathbringerpt said:


> If any of you people actually enable this absolute joke of price gouging for a fucking live action Disney movie in a streaming service, the entertainment business really is fucked.



If it succeeds and Mulan meets or exceeds their expectations of a theatrical release through Disney+, it'll definitely embolden Disney towards quite the shift away from cinemas.

If they can cut out the middle man, the cinemas, you know they will.


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## Sennin of Hardwork (Aug 10, 2020)



Reactions: Like 1


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## Mider T (Aug 11, 2020)

Clay said:


> If it succeeds and Mulan meets or exceeds their expectations of a theatrical release through Disney+, it'll definitely embolden Disney towards quite the shift away from cinemas.
> 
> If they can cut out the middle man, the cinemas, you know they will.


Apparently Hamilton was the highest streamed program of any service in July.


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## Velocity (Aug 12, 2020)



Reactions: Like 1


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## dr_shadow (Aug 15, 2020)

"Kingdom". 

Hua Mulan's purported home state of was an_ empire_. That is, its ruler used the title "emperor" (_huangdi_ 皇帝) rather than "king" (_wang_ 王). In fact, because of title inflation, virtually all Chinese regimes of any significance have claimed to be empires. Those who brand themselves as "kingdoms" are usually weak microstates that are vassals of one or another empire.


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## dr_shadow (Aug 15, 2020)

Hmm, writing that I realize that maybe I should write up an extended commentary on Mulan when it comes out, since I think I'm the only NF member with (almost) a real-life PhD in Sinology.

But I'll have to make the reservation that I'm not a specialist on the  period (386-589) when the movie purportedly takes place, so I'm not 100% qualified to assess the historical accuracy or lack thereof, but relatively speaking I probably have more to say on the subject than most other posters.

(My real-life research is mainly on what Westerners would call "Classical Antiquity", i.e. the Zhou, Qin, and Han dynasties, ca. 1000 BC to 200 AD).


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## blakstealth (Sep 3, 2020)

Hm...


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## Mider T (Sep 3, 2020)

Guess I'll be watching this on December 4th (Happy Birthday Jay-Z)


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## Sennin of Hardwork (Sep 3, 2020)



Reactions: Like 1


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## ~Gesy~ (Sep 4, 2020)

I hear this movie sucks. Nice try trying to bleed 30 bucks from consumers tho.


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## Mider T (Sep 4, 2020)

~Gesy~ said:


> I hear this movie sucks. Nice try trying to bleed 30 bucks from consumers tho.


I don't blame them, this was made for theaters they have to recoup losses some how.


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## ~Gesy~ (Sep 4, 2020)

Mider T said:


> I don't blame them, this was made for theaters they have to recoup losses some how.


Ironically, it released when theaters are reopening.


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## Mider T (Sep 4, 2020)

~Gesy~ said:


> Ironically, it released when theaters are reopening.


Yeah but not everywhere, and even the places they are open it isn't at full capacity.


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## JFF (Sep 4, 2020)

I have seen it. It's ok-issh for a Disney Classic to Live Action Movie adaptation. The quality is, as expected, quite good. The movie theme is very different from the original. It is all based on "loyal brave true", which overlays the film. This approach makes the film somehow strange. In my humble opinion; it is far too much glorification. It shows that the film is much aimed for the Chinese market. Not so "brave" from Disney themself (...)

The actors are doing (overall) a very good job. Yifei Liua and Donnie Yen are great, while Jet Li in the role of the emperor is very simple and unemotional.

From my point of view the film does not have the charm of the original and somehow ... something is missing. The film feels hollow. It deserved better.

Who would thought, that Beauty and the Beast will be or is still the best remake and mainly because of the brilliant acting of Luke Evans as Gaston. Crazy enough.


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## reiatsuflow (Sep 4, 2020)

Beauty and the beast or the jungle book for sure. 

I don't understand how disney keeps messing up these remake properties.


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## Velocity (Sep 5, 2020)

It's a good movie, I s'pose. Easily digestible and very beautiful with a good cast. 

I do wish they focused more on their own plot lines, though, like Mulan poisoning her own chi by lying about who she is. I'm also not so sure I like that the big lesson of the movie is devotion to family when it should be that you don't need to hide who you are to fit in.

Reactions: Like 1


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## dr_shadow (Sep 5, 2020)

I guess this thread has spoilers now. I'll be back September 15 when Disney+ launches in Sweden.


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## Djomla (Sep 6, 2020)

Just saw it. It's just a stupid generic Chinese fantasy martial arts movie. Nothing more really. Not worth losing two hours.

Also, am I the only one who was expecting Mulan to start throwing Rasengans around and adding Lightning Chakra to her arrows?

Reactions: Funny 1


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## MShadows (Sep 7, 2020)

Djomla said:


> Just saw it. It's just a stupid generic Chinese fantasy martial arts movie. Nothing more really. Not worth losing two hours.
> 
> Also, am I the only one who was expecting Mulan to start throwing Rasengans around and adding Lightning Chakra to her arrows?


Your avatar makes this post even better


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## Mider T (Sep 8, 2020)



Reactions: Like 1


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## T-Pein™ (Sep 8, 2020)

Deathbringerpt said:


> If any of you people actually enable this absolute joke of price gouging for a fucking live action Disney movie in a streaming service, the entertainment business really is fucked.



movie in the theater is like 20 bux,
Price is fair.


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## Mider T (Sep 8, 2020)

This is all @mr_shadow 's fault


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## Mider T (Sep 9, 2020)




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## Mael (Sep 9, 2020)

He's got a point about Mulan having almost zero training or adversity.  Why are we doing this to female protagonists all of a sudden, like they're born gifted?

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Velocity (Sep 9, 2020)

Mael said:


> He's got a point about Mulan having almost zero training or adversity.  Why are we doing this to female protagonists all of a sudden, like they're born gifted?



Uh, she went through all the training that all the men went through. We saw her training with a spear, the martial arts, carrying the buckets up the path, archery, all that stuff. The only thing it was missing was the song from the animated movie.

She was every bit as good as the men and even got better than them later on, which we know is because of her unusually strong chi even though she was trying to hide it. Later on, when she stopped hiding her chi and weakening it by lying about who she was, she became a superhuman killing machine like the witch.

Mulan earned that shit. She was born gifted as well, sure, but it's not like men haven't been like that in movies too.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Mael (Sep 9, 2020)

Velocity said:


> Uh, she went through all the training that all the men went through. We saw her training with a spear, the martial arts, carrying the buckets up the path, archery, all that stuff. The only thing it was missing was the song from the animated movie.
> 
> She was every bit as good as the men and even got better than them later on, which we know is because of her unusually strong chi even though she was trying to hide it. Later on, when she stopped hiding her chi and weakening it by lying about who she was, she became a superhuman killing machine like the witch.
> 
> Mulan earned that shit. She was born gifted as well, sure, but it's not like men haven't been like that in movies too.


That doesn't make it any better and to me it doesn't come off as any real hardship.  She was born with the gift...not earning it.

I never liked that trope, being born with ridiculous power, especially if it doesn't have any real significant price tag.  It's the same shit they pulled with Terminator where Dani seems to already snap learn heavy firearms she can barely lift whereas 80s/90s Linda Hamilton took years of training and dedication.  It reeks of Rey, a poorly designed character from head to toe.  People don't have the patience anymore it seems.


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## Brian (Sep 9, 2020)

Downloaded this and it was pretty dumb at times, I dont see the point in that sorceress, take her out of the film and nothing changes.

What the hell was that chi booshit, all she did was get rid of her disguise and it's like Rock Lee taking off his weights. .

Oh and they split Shang into 2 cardboard characters


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## Mael (Sep 10, 2020)




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## MShadows (Sep 11, 2020)

This too


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## Pilaf (Sep 11, 2020)

No Mushu = no fucks given.

Reactions: Old 1


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## Mider T (Sep 15, 2020)



Reactions: Informative 1


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## ClandestineSchemer (Sep 15, 2020)

Surprisingly logical complaints that I share.


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## Sennin of Hardwork (Sep 15, 2020)



Reactions: Like 1


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## Mael (Sep 16, 2020)

> The most fundamental flaw, most felt, was that Disney’s new heroine starts out from childhood already equipped with superhero-like abilities, thanks to her extraordinary reserves of “qi,” the force that she cultivates and controls to excel as a fighter.



Holy shit this.

This is what's wrong with the way so many female characters are written in the name of feminism and "girls get it done."

They're aces before they even knew it.  There's no struggle, no development, no hardship.  Their only grievances are the sufferings of other, weaker side characters.  No one can beat them.  Nothing can scare them.  No one can hold them down.

They're Uberwomensch.  They're flat, unimaginative, and boring.


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## Glued (Sep 16, 2020)

Mael said:


> Holy shit this.
> 
> This is what's wrong with the way so many female characters are written in the name of feminism and "girls get it done."
> 
> ...



Eh...highly idealized characters can work. for example in Superman 2, Superman had lost all his powers and got the shit kicked out of him at a bar. Then the abject horror on his face when he saw his own blood. Then the cold realization that he knew that Zod was out there, but pretended not to know because of his love for Lois. Then he has to walk back to the North Pole with no one to help him. And he ends up begging his father to give him his powers back because he fucked up. He has to erase Lois's memory because he can't have it all. Then of course we get Superman 3 or if you will, Superman Returns, which...I try not to remember.


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## Mael (Sep 17, 2020)

Ben Grimm said:


> Eh...highly idealized characters can work. for example in Superman 2, Superman had lost all his powers and got the shit kicked out of him at a bar. Then the abject horror on his face when he saw his own blood. Then the cold realization that he knew that Zod was out there, but pretended not to know because of his love for Lois. Then he has to walk back to the North Pole with no one to help him. And he ends up begging his father to give him his powers back because he fucked up. He has to erase Lois's memory because he can't have it all. Then of course we get Superman 3 or if you will, Superman Returns, which...I try not to remember.


But that's Superman.  It works because it's in a comicverse that had it from the get-go not to mention he's from another planet whose people benefit from a yellow sun instead of a red sun.

It doesn't work with this sudden cast of females.  They have zero adversity.  They have no real obstacles.  They're already gifted from day one.  It's flat, boring, and leaves you hating the character instead of relating to them.


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## Shiba D. Inu (Sep 18, 2020)




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## Mael (Sep 18, 2020)

That's a pity.  The Mouse needs his ears clipped.


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## Mider T (Sep 18, 2020)

Always a good day when the Mouse gets his cheese.


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## blakstealth (Oct 10, 2020)

Apparently, China released their own animated Mulan movie in early October, and it didn't do so hot either.


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## dr_shadow (Dec 4, 2020)

It's now on Disney+ in Sweden and I finally saw it!

The visuals were stunning! They look a lot like the work of Zhang Yimou, especially Hero (2002) and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). Some shots were even direct references. I saw that Bill Kong was a producer on this one, which I assume is the same Bill Kong who directed Fearless (2006) and Saving General Yang (2013).

The dialogue was kind of cringe, though. It's fairly obvious that these lines were not written by an actual Chinese person, since nobody (not even in imperial times) actually talks like this. In particular, the constant references to "honor", "disgrace", "shame" etc. were distracting because they're actually not that commonplace words in Chinese. While Confucian culture definitely has these _emotions_, they're usually not conveyed in these exact terms. I switched on the Chinese subtitles to see if these were supposed to be some established concepts that I was just unaware of, but sure enough the translation seems to vary depending on the situation. E.g. the matchmakers terse "dishonor on the Hua family!" is subtitled in Chinese as "花家脸已经丢尽了！" - "the Hua family has no more face left to lose!" In my opinion, it would have been better to have the story revolve around the word _xiao_ 孝 (in the movie: "devotion to family", in Sinology generally: "filial piety"), which is actually inscribed on Mulan's medallion and later sword. This is *the* central Confucian virtue, and the tension between whether it is more filial of Mulan to get married or to take her father's place in the army would have been a much more "Chinese" story, since it is an actual moral dilemma that has been known to Confucianism since the Spring & Autumn Annals.

I also felt that there wasn't much character development. You almost need to have seen the animated film to know who any of the soldiers are supposed to be any why we should care about them. Or even Mulan herself for that matter. I feel like she has about five lines in the entire two-hour running time.  A remake shouldn't rely on you having seen the original to know what's going on.

The fights suffered from a bit of "cut fu". Liu Yifei clearly doesn't know marial arts in real life, and they try to mask this with quick cuts so she doesn't have to do several complex kicks or punches in a row. The battle was overall cool, though.

Despite these criticisms, I think I loved the movie for how authentically Chinese the atmosphere felt: the architecture, furniture, clothing, body language (kowtowing) etc. etc. all get my Sinologist seal of approval. Basically, whenever nobody was _talking_ the movie was good. It should have been a silent film.

Reactions: Like 1 | Informative 1


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## A. Waltz (Dec 4, 2020)

it sure felt like a silent film to me. mulan barely had any dialogue lol


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## dr_shadow (Dec 4, 2020)

Mider T said:


> This is all @mr_shadow 's fault



If they hadn't shot it on location in China, people would have complained about that instead.

The story of Mulan takes place somewhere around the Great Wall, at the intersection between Han and Central Asian civilization. If you want to shoot that on location, you need to go to Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, or Manchuria, because that's where the Wall happens to be in real life. It doesn't necessarily imply an endorsement of anything else that happens to be going on in the area.


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## dr_shadow (Dec 5, 2020)

dr_shadow said:


> Hmm, writing that I realize that maybe I should write up an extended commentary on Mulan when it comes out, since I think I'm the only NF member with (almost) a real-life PhD in Sinology.
> 
> But I'll have to make the reservation that I'm not a specialist on the  period (386-589) when the movie purportedly takes place, so I'm not 100% qualified to assess the historical accuracy or lack thereof, but relatively speaking I probably have more to say on the subject than most other posters.
> 
> (My real-life research is mainly on what Westerners would call "Classical Antiquity", i.e. the Zhou, Qin, and Han dynasties, ca. 1000 BC to 200 AD).



This girl actually does a pretty decent commentary (but not as good as the one she later did on the animated one), so I'll post this first before possibly doing my own.


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## wibisana (Dec 7, 2020)

is this real bad? i watch a lot of tittle yt movie saying its bad bashing it (tho i didnt watch those full video)


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## wibisana (Dec 7, 2020)

i guess ill try to watch it today. its free on my Disney +bay anyway

Reactions: Like 1


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## Mider T (Dec 9, 2020)

Just saw it.  I liked it.

Reactions: Like 1


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## dr_shadow (Dec 10, 2020)

*South China Morning Post review

4/5 stars*

From _The Lion King _to_ The Jungle Book_, most of Disney’s recent live-action reworkings of its classic animations have required lashings of digital trickery. So Niki Caro’s _Mulan_ is something of a treat, with the emphasis on “live” – real actors, real locations. Bringing the legendary Chinese folklore tale _The Ballad of Mulan_ to life, 22 years after Disney’s song-filled animation of the same name, Caro’s take is one of the most beautiful films you’ll see all year.

That some viewers will only get to see _Mulan _on their television screens is a crying shame. The coronavirus pandemic has led Disney to place the film on its new streaming channel Disney+ in territories where it’s available. Audiences in Hong Kong and mainland China, however, will get to see the film on the big screen – which is exactly where it belongs.

The film was shot in China and New Zealand, with Caro and her cinematographer Mandy Walker clearly relishing the stunning vistas. Painted in bright primary colours, mountains, clifftops and bamboo forests are all exquisitely framed; likewise, aerial shots of battles will leave you breathless. Despite some inevitable CGI, the film avoids being too cartoonlike, apart from one scene where Mulan (Liu Yifei) acrobatically catches some flying tea cups.

Scripted by four writers – including Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (who both wrote for _Jurassic World_) – the plot begins as “northern invaders” storm China. The Emperor (Jet Li Lianjie) decrees that one man from every family must fight, but Mulan’s ailing father (Tzi Ma) is too weak. With barely a thought, Mulan disguises herself as a male, amusingly deepens her voice, and leaves home to join the fifth battalion.

Here she will meet Commander Tung (Donnie Yen Ji-dan) and fellow recruit Chen Honghui (Yoson An), two characters based on Li Shang from the 1998 cartoon. “We’re going to make a man out of every single one of you,” promises the commander, though Mulan knows she’s destined to bring shame on her family (and worse) if she’s exposed for her gender deception.

A fabulous Gong Li also features as a witchlike character of “no country, no village, no family”, who comes into Mulan’s orbit.

Caro constructs some splendid action – not least Mulan somersaulting on a moving horse to deflect a spear. While the dialogue is in English, the prominent Chinese cast feels apt in this respectfully told version of the story. True, it’s glossy in that Disney way, but this _Mulan_ is a thing of beauty.


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## Kingslayer (Dec 25, 2020)

I think movie was fine . My nephew and kids loved Mulan !!

The target audience were for 9-13 year old children , Mulan is inspiring woman for young girls , if you want to take your kids and have nice family weekend   this movie is for you .


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## Brian (Dec 25, 2020)

wibisana said:


> is this real bad? i watch a lot of tittle yt movie saying its bad bashing it (tho i didnt watch those full video)


yes if you're expecting the Mulan from the original Disney film


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## DemonDragonJ (Jan 12, 2021)

I saw this movie, today, and I was amazed by its quality and excellence. Disney's recent live-action remakes of its animated films have all been more serious than were the originals, but this film was so serious that it should not be considered a remake, but, instead, a completely new adaption of the original Chinese folk tale. Apart from the fact that all dialogue was spoken in English, it looked and felt very much as if it actually had been made in China, so I must commend the filmmakers for their effort in making this film. I do hope that future live-actions remakes of their animated films are as excellent as was this film.

Reactions: Like 1 | Old 1


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