There are two hidden Mickey Mouses on Li Shang's horse Disney movies always manages to sneak in a hidden Mickey or two, and "Mulan" is no different. Li Shang's horse gets the honor of being the vessel carrying the hidden Mickeys, with clear Mickey Mouses on his hind and his neck.
Whether we interpret Mulan as a gender-bending feminist or someone who is gender-fluid, her acceptance of her identity is core to her story arc. And the message is clear: Embrace your own identity. Defy what society expects. Present your true self to the world.
The most striking deviation from the original poem is present in both Disney adaptations. The original Mulan isn't aided by a talking dragon and a lucky cricket as in the animated film. The film also contains sequences of the ancestor ghosts who seem to have magical powers.
Alas, there indeed will not be characters breaking out into song in this new version of the film, and producer Jason Reed explained Disney's thinking behind this particular decision: “It will not be traditional 'break into musical' [songs]. They're not going to stop their workouts to do a big musical number to camera.
Though the director shared that Mushu was removed to allow Mulan to better enhance her relationships with her fellow soldiers, his absence may have also been more about not offending viewers, who found Mushu to be insensitive in the 1998 animated feature.
Mushu, the wise-cracking sidekick dragon voiced by Eddie Murphy, and Li Shang, the captain of the Imperial Army and Mulan's mentor, voiced by B.D. Wong. Among those who love the original, there are sure to be some questions as to why these seemingly pivotal characters were removed.
The live-action movie added a sister to give Mulan another reason to sign up. The sister doesn't actually feature that much, but she is taken from the 1600s novel Romance of Sui and Tang, a well-known version of the Mulan story.
In the original Ballad, Mulan had a younger brother. Apparently, Disney wanted to add that element, but didn't find time or accessibility in adding the actual sibling to the film, so they decided instead to include a dog and name it 'Little Brother', as an allusion to that detail from the literary source.
Mulan is a fictional folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century AD) of Chinese history. According to the legend, Mulan takes her aged father's place in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as a man.
But in the original, we see her at only one age for the duration of the film. Mulan's surname is tweaked from Fa, the Cantonese pronunciation of her name, to Hua, which makes it truer to the name of the original ballad. However, both names have the same basic meaning.
The biggest issue is this film features way less action than it's predecessor and way less Mulan (she practically disappears in the middle of the film). Mulan's bickering with Shang is also very badly written. Yet, minor complaints. Overall a decent film.
For instance, a specific discrepancy in the original film is regarding Mulan's family name. It was changed from what it is commonly known as “Hua” in Chinese households to “Fa” in the film to create a character more comfortable for American audiences.
According to the novel, Mulan's feet were bound when she was very young because men considered small feet to be a sign of beauty. (By the way, this was an inaccuracy in the novel—the Chinese didn't start binding girls' feet until after Mulan's time.)
Disney's live-action remake of Mulan might be closer to the poem it's based on, but it's very different from the 1998 Disney animated classic. While both movies tell Mulan's story as she impersonates a man to join the Imperial Army, the 1998 film was an animated, musical comedy packed with jokes and memorable songs.
When was Mulan's secret discovered? While in the movie, Mulan's secret was discovered when she was injured in battle. The Ballad stated that after she returned from war, she returned home and dressed in her old clothing, revealing her identity to them.
Fans of Disney's classic 1998 film Mulan know that the cartoon is arguably one of the studio's queerest works — even if that queerness is not explicitly stated. Actor BD Wong, who voices Captain Li Shang, the film's love interest, is now adding his two cents to the discourse.
Lonnie (portrayed by Dianne Doan) is the daughter of Mulan and Li Shang (Mulan). Lonnie has an older brother named Li'l Shang who was introduced in the books.
See, Mulan comes from the Fa family, thus making her full (fake) name "Fa Ping," which means "flower vase." But the term is also used to describe a woman whose only real skill is to stand there, look nice, and "Don't you worry your pretty little head 'bout it none," just like an actual flower vase.
China blocked the release of Disney's animated “Mulan” for eight months in the late 1990s after the company backed Martin Scorsese's “Kundun,” a film seen as sympathetic to the Dalai Lama. The animated “Mulan” bombed in China as a result.
What is the controversy with the new Mulan actress?
In the lead up to its release, Disney's live-action Mulan has generated a surprising amount of political controversy. First, in 2019, star Liu Yifei spoke out in support of Hong Kong police despite law enforcement's brutal treatment of pro-democracy protesters.
But she also exists for a very important thematic reason: She's the foil, the direct counter to Mulan's goodness. From what she tells Mulan after their fight in a sulfur lake, and again after Mulan's commander expels her from the imperial army, the Witch and Mulan aren't that different. They both have the same power.
"Written in Stone" is a song that was written for Disney's 1998 animated film Mulan, but was cut from the film when its composer Stephen Schwartz left the project. Lea Salonga auditioned for Mulan with "Written in Stone" and recorded a demo during production.
It turns out that the traditional Chinese audience did not particularly think that was the best interpretation of the dragon in their culture. That the dragon is a sign of respect, and of strength and power, and sort of using it as a silly sidekick did not play well with a traditional Chinese audience.”
Some speculated that the filmmakers were trying to downplay the homoerotic undertones of the relationship between Shang and the disguised Mulan. In reality, the filmmakers claimed that they were influenced by the #MeToo Movement, finding it inappropriate for Mulan's love interest to be her commanding officer.
