Disney’s Live-Action “Mulan” is Arriving, but With No Identity

By: Keaton Marcus

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Remember the 1998 animated classic dubbed Mulan, another massive hit in Disney’s books, well like others such as Aladdin, The Lion King and Dumbo, it’s getting rebooted into the live-action format. At the end of this month, the remake will be released in theaters after a couple years worth of anticipation, but the movie seems to have lost its identity along the way. Why do I say this? Well, everybody first expects a Disney live-action reboot to be PG rated, with exceptions, that’s the studio’s designated MPAA rating—however, the 2020 Mulan marks the first live-action Disney remake to be rated PG-13. Not even the edgy 2010 Alice in Wonderland could compete with that. Will this affect its box office performance, along with the spreading of the Coronavirus? And who will see a PG-13 version of this story?

You can make a decent argument by saying that a more-restricted MPAA rating can’t stop the giant that is Disney after making the Avengers movies, but those films, and the rest of the MCU, aren’t about an iconic princess, they are about superheroes, who have a very specific fan-base. Those people are teens and adults. Then why wouldn’t those people flock to the theater to see Mulan? Well, the sad thing is, teens just won’t go to the theater to see a Disney film of this caliber. That’s why all these animated films, and live-action reboots are kept on PG levels, so families can do the job of making it the top of the box office. I suppose adults could be interested in taking their 10-year olds to see it, especially females, but that wouldn’t be enough to match the studio’s biggest hits like Aladdin, The Lion King and the entire MCU.

What’s really disappointing about this is that the early social media reactions have come in, and the critics are loving the 2020 take on Mulan, calling it an “empowering, mature adventure”. If you take a look deeper, you can see appraisals such as “wow, just wow… I laughed, I cried, and I loved every second of it” (Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky) or “I’m very surprised at how much I liked the live-action Mulan. It’s so majestic.” (Peter Sciretta, Slashfilm). Critics have praised the visuals: “very beautiful and epic cinematography. It had more fantastical elements than I expected.” (Wendy Lee Szany, Collider) and the action: “the first great superhero movie of 2020? It sure feels like it. She soars over rooftops, flies across walls, shoots arrows, and is just a general badass.” (Kirsten Acuna, Insider). What’s biggest in all the praise is the noting of the sophistication and maturity of the film: “a more mature Disney film” (Erik Davis, Fandango) or even “surprisingly sexy for a Disney movie. Case in point: the very loud “OH MY GOD” that was uttered in the theater when Yoson An took off his shirt.” (Angie Han, Mashable).

But will the excellent reviews carry the film to box office glory, or will the MPAA rating and Coronavirus stop it? The box office projections have been pretty random so far, with some staying conservative, and others expecting greatness. Box Office Pro isn’t expecting anything special, putting it in a range of 40-60 million (similar to Dumbo at 45.9M). They say that “second to no one, Disney has mastered the ability to capitalize on existing IP and nostalgia.” Although on the contrary, they also note that “though a success in its own right, the 1998 Mulan was a more down-to-earth box office performer”. Also, this article was written at the end of January, when the Coronavirus didn’t exist. Additionally, Wikipedia took the other side, stating that the general forecast has it opening anywhere from 80-90 million, with a possibility of 100 million—which is comparable to Aladdin (91.5M). We can’t expect anything official just yet, but seeing it open even close to the high-end expectations would be solid.

However, against all odds, there’s been some serious controversy over the picture, mainly against the lead actress, named Liu Yifei. Many people have accused Yifei of “supporting police brutality” because of an image the actress posted one day of People’s Daily. The photo included a quote from Chinese reporter Fu Guohao, which is “I support Hong Kong police. You can beat me now. What a shame for Hong Kong.” This gave birth to #BoycottMulan along with the fact that the movie dropped all but one of the original’s music, the humor (which came from Eddie Murphy’s Mushu) and even Mulan’s love interest, Captain Li Shang. Producer Jason Reed says that the production got rid of Shang because of the Me Too movement, and they thought that Shang was somewhat of a “boss” figure to Mulan, and that her falling in love with her “boss” would be too uncomfortable with audiences in 2020. That sparked controversy because fans argued that Shang’s relationship with “Ping” (Mulan’s male identity to become a warrior) was more LGBTQ. All this controversy, and the virus may or may not hurt the performance, but either way, I’m still excited to see it.

The question is: what age group will Mulan take aim for? It has the possibility to get some tweens intrigued, but all those little girls begging to see it now can’t. Also, the recent delays for films like No Time to Die, A Quiet Place Part II and Fast & Furious 9 may indicate a possible postponement for this movie.

See it in theaters March 27th.