Remaking a musical and cutting out the singing... can't believe it.
What a bad decision! Imagine Lion King, Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin without the songs!
Hard pass for me!
Unfortunate position on your part. This rendition of Mulan just may be a theatrical experience that bears witnessing. The orchestral version of "Reflection" which may not even be in the movie itself was moving just overlaid on this trailer.
shareActually, I wanted a non-musical remake of Aladdin. I want to see the story play out without any songs/musical numbers. I think it can be done and be a pretty good movie. So I'm looking forward to what they are doing with Mulan. They turned it more into my kind of movie. Doesn't seem like a remake either. The movie just seems like a war/martial arts movie with a female main character and then they slapped the name Mulan on it. I'm into war movies, and John Wick 3 has triggered me to get into martial arts movies now. So stripping Mulan of the musical aspect was not a bad decision. For me personally, it was a good decision. I probably wouldn't be as excited as I am for the movie if it was another musical remake. The newest trailer blew me away. I felt I was watching a trailer to The Patriot with Mel Gibson or The Last Samurai. I think Mulan might be my favorite Disney remake, although I've only seen the Aladdin and Lion King remakes. Everything else I skipped. But I think I would've enjoyed Aladdin more if they stripped it of the musical aspect. So I like what they did with Mulan. The decision they made has got me wanting to see the movie opening day/weekend instead of waiting for maybe Blu-Ray. It skyrocketed to a must-see (in theaters) movie for me because they stripped away the musical aspect. I'm also not a musical person either, especially when it comes to movies. Save musicals for Broadway/theatre. But yeah. I'm pretty excited for Mulan. I've only seen the animated movie once too, which was within the first six months it released on VHS back in the day when I was kid. Haven't seen it since. That was like 20 years ago. So that should tell you what I think of Mulan altogether and what this remake (and its trailers) has accomplished to get me in a movie theater to see it.
shareThe animated Mulan is really a very unique and serious movie with great songs and a slew of interesting characters, with Eddie Murphy's Mushu being an enjoyable over-the-top comic side-kick. Whether or not Asian audiences accepted that kind of Western humor in their beloved mythology is left to the imagination as the original barely saw the light of day as a Middle Kingdom release. China had their own Mulan TV series running in 1998 and never had a theatrical release for that and other reasons.
The dramatic tones and narrative of the animated version can not be denied though. The Huns (though historically inaccurate for the story of Mulan) were menacing and depicted as brutal and merciless. Though no deaths are shown on screen the menace is ever present when the Huns are there. One of the most ominous scenes, presented via a tonal shift is after the song "A Girl Worth Fighting For", when the squad comes upon a decimated and slaughtered village. The death of children is implied along with the death of the General's entire army at the hands of Shan-Yu.
I agree the comedic element was so much of a diversion for some who were swept away with just how funny and light everything seemed, but the scene where Mulan is discovered has Shang-Li faced with the decision to behead Mulan. Did everyone just dismiss that? Mulan was spared because Shang-Li owed her his life and not because she was a "Love" interest.
I'm looking forward to this Live-Action, closer to the myth, rendition of Mulan but I just hope they introduce side-characters for Mulan to play off of as strong as the cast from the animated version (Chien Po, Ling, Yao, etc). I will miss that more than the songs not being there.
And thank goodness there are no songs! I've avoided most of the other remakes *because* they repeated the musical route of the cartoons.
shareI agree. I think a big complaint for all the live action remakes so far is that the songs just are lifeless copies of the originals. I am glad Disney is taking a more serious tone with this. As well as doing something different. Why make keep carbon copies of previous movies just with actors?
shareWell, I see that as an absolute win! (We will see.) ;>
shareActually, it may be a good idea. I always thought the movie Sweeney Todd would have been better if there had been no singing.
shareIt's kinda hard to imagine a non-musical remake of the Lion King & Aladdin. These movies are popular because of the songs, without the songs it would be weird and lame.
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