MULAN 2020, Adventure/Action, 1h 56m
Featuring intense action sequences and sweeping cinematography, the latest Mulan trailer shows the titular heroine vowing to “bring honor to us all,” leading an army of men into battle against fierce opponents. The live-action movie has faced a battle of its own: originally scheduled for cinematic release in March, Mulan was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is now set to release on Disney’s streaming service Disney+ for $29.99, on Sept. 4, on top of a $6.99 subscription.
Initial reactions to the film after its premiere in L.A. in March were largely positive, with critics calling it Disney’s best live-action offering to date. And in an era where Hollywood is backing more Asian and Asian-American stories, Mulan is notably the first Disney-branded film to feature an all-Asian cast, with well-known Chinese and Hong Kong-born actors Liu Yifei, Jet Li and Tzi Ma in leading roles. Director Nikki Caro’s version of the traditional ballad has been celebrated as a feminist retelling, cutting out a romantic subplot from the animated film and focusing on Mulan’s character as a formidable woman warrior. Caro is also one of only four women ever to have directed a live action film with a budget of more than $100 million, with Mulan‘s budget at more than $200 million.
Yet the film has also faced controversy since its first trailer dropped in August 2019. Liu Yifei, its principal star, voiced support for the Hong Kong police on social media during the height of last year’s pro-democracy protests in the city, prompting calls to boycott the film. At the film’s European premiere in central London in March, days before its release was postponed, masked protesters gathered outside the screening venue holding signs calling for a boycott and mocking up the film’s promotional poster as an advert for the Hong Kong police. On the film’s release in September, controversy and calls for a boycott intensified after viewers noted that the film’s credits thanked municipal authorities in Xinjiang, where detention camps and human rights abuses of Uighur Muslims have been well documented.
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