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 was seen as trivialising the Chinese culture
USC Professor Stanley Ronsen also told The Hollywood Report that the character was seen as a trivialisation of the culture in China. “Mushu was very popular in the US, but the Chinese hated it,” he said. “This kind of miniature dragon trivialised their culture.”
Mushu was once a guardian spirit of Mulan's family, but he has been demoted to the unappreciated position of an incense burner and gong-ringer for the deceased Fa ancestors ever since he failed to protect a family member, a soldier named Fa Deng, resulting in the soldier's demise by decapitation.
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."
A clause in Eddie Murphy's contract for doing Shrek 2 (2004) forbade him from reprising the role of Mushu in this film, therefore having his other voice actor Mark Moseley (a man best known for filling in for Murphy's characters like Mushu and Donkey in their TV and Video Game appearances) fill in for this film.
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.
Although Mushu and the phoenix are both guardians of the ancestors, and both are stone statues brought to life for Mulan's protection, the phoenix is never a true replacement for Mushu. Mulan and the phoenix never really interact, compared with Mushu's constant involvement in the animated film.
The cinematography is great and the colors are often vibrant, but the story is pretty dull. The lead actress is awfully bland as well. The action and music are standouts, but get bogged down by some pacing issues. My biggest issue with this film though is Mulan herself.
Disney's classic 'Mulan' flopped in China because audiences didn't think the heroine looked Chinese enough. Although Mulan is the only Disney Princess of East Asian descent, the original Mulan cartoon was a massive flop in China.
In the original, the general's son Li Shang trains the recruits and ultimately falls for Mulan. The team behind the new movie explained the change was down to the #MeToo movement - they felt Mulan's officer becoming her love interest felt a bit off given his position of power.
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.
In the film, Li Shang falls in love with Mulan after she enters the army disguised as a male soldier named Ping. Queer fans have always claimed Li Shang as one of their own because of his close, loving relationship with both Ping and Mulan, even though Disney has never commented on the Chinese army general's sexuality.
Scholarly consensus is that Mulan is a fictional character, probably developed in Northern China in response to the greater independence women enjoyed there, whose legend was then revised in succeeding eras to reflect the values and challenges of the times.
Although the live-action movie of Mulan was a flop, at least the cartoon was one of the two Mulan movies that was a hit. The cartoon Mulan on IMDb got a star rating of 7.6, and the live-action received a star rating of only 5.4.
The film reportedly grossed between $60 million and $90 million in the United States within the first 12 days of its online release, paling in comparison to its budget. In China, the film took in $23.2 million on its opening weekend, with a sharp 72% decline the following weekend, according to Yahoo Entertainment.
Almost as soon as the film arrived on Disney+, social media users noticed that, nine minutes into the film's 10-minute end credits, the “Mulan” filmmakers had thanked eight government entities in Xinjiang, the region in China where Uighur Muslims have been detained in mass internment camps.
Though the 1998 version is based on this same legend, it pulls many Westernized additions out of thin air, like Mulan's pint-sized dragon sidekick Mushu and love interest Shang. While you might not be able to picture the story without these elements, they ultimately make for a more historically accurate film.
A: Whether it's animation or live-action, both have very low accuracy for Chinese culture. Who is Mulan? Mulan is a fictional female soldier in Chinese poetry, written between 439 and 581. According to the time when Mulan's poem was written, what was China like at that time?
Originally, Disney rejected the idea of having a dragon as Mulan's partner, but after learning that Chinese dragons could be many different sizes, the idea came back. For better use, the animators shrunk Mushu to a smaller size.
This expensive live-action version from Disney has everything you remember and more. Well OK, it doesn't have singing. Forget the songs you grew up with: they didn't fit the vision of director Niki Caro from New Zealand (Whale Rider), who has now helmed the most expensive film ever made by a woman.
Cast. Yifei Liu as Mulan, the eldest daughter of Hua Zhou, who defies both tradition and the law by disguising herself as a man by the name of "Hua Jun", in order to enlist herself in the Imperial Army in place of her ailing father. Liu reprised her role in the Mandarin-language dubbing of the movie.
The film also drew ire for filming in Xinjiang, a region of China where Uighur Muslims have been detained in mass internment camps. The film has also been accused of being too white behind the camera.
At the end of the film, however, it is revealed he somehow survived the fall (with help from his horse), and Mushu saves the day by pretending to be the Golden Dragon of Unity and freeing the princesses from their vows.
Much of the voice cast from the first film returned, excluding Eddie Murphy (Mushu), Miriam Margolyes (The Matchmaker), James Hong (Chi-Fu), Chris Sanders (Little Brother), and Matthew Wilder (Ling's singing voice).
