The First Live-Action Mulan Trailer is a Stunner
The first trailer for Disney‘s live-action remake of Mulan is a thing of beauty. The last time we saw the story of the courageous young woman who disguises herself as a man in order to defend China from Northern Invaders, she, and everything else in the 1998 film, was animated. The new live-action retelling features a fantastic cast, stunning locations, and a director in Niki Caro (Whale Rider, The Zookeeper’s Wife) with serious chops. The results are evident in the first teaser trailer for the film—this looks like a story we need to see in live-action.
Mulan is based on the poem “The Ballad of Mulan” and focuses on the story of Hua Mulan (Liu Yifei). The young woman is set to fulfill her duties, prescribed by her gender and her era, and marry her appointed suitor and live of a life of quiet devotion. Yet Mulan has other ideas. Her ailing father is conscripted in the Imperial Army to fight the Hun invaders, yet Mulan disguises herself as a man takes his place in order to fight on his behalf.
One of the twists in Caro’s version of Mulan is that here the main villain is a witch named Xian Lang, played by Li Gong, rather than the Hun invader Shan Yu from the animated original. The trailer cleverly shows us the young Mulan preparing—and then fighting—in an epic battle while her duties as a wife—quiet, composed, etc.—are being explained to her.
The script comes from Lauren Hynek, Rick Jaffa, Elizabeth Martin, and Amanda Silver. The cinematography, by Hidden Figures DP Mandy Walker, also deserves mention.
The cast is fantastic. Jet Li (The Expendables), Donnie Yen (Star Wars: Rogue One); Tzi Ma (Arrival); Jason Scott Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny); Yoson An (The Meg); Utkarsh Ambudkar (Pitch Perfect); Ron Yuan (Marco Polo); Rosalind Chao (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine); and Cheng Pei-Pei (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).
Check out the teaser trailer for Mulan here:
Here’s the official synopsis:
Mulan is the epic adventure of a fearless young woman who masquerades as a man in order to fight Northern Invaders attacking China. The eldest daughter of an honored warrior, Hua Mulan is spirited, determined and quick on her feet. When the Emperor issues a decree that one man per family must serve in the Imperial Army, she steps in to take the place of her ailing father as Hua Jun, becoming one of China’s greatest warriors ever.
Mulan hits theaters on March 27, 2020.
Featured image: Mulan (Yifei Liu) fights on behalf of her father. Photo: Film Frame. © 2019 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
