Liu is a central part of that as she’s tasked with convincing viewers of both her emotional journey of self-discovery and her bad-assery. Caro and the film’s four credited writers (Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Elizabeth Martin, Lauren Hynek) bring nothing new really to the already familiar story, but they succeed in delivering perhaps its most thrilling and affecting adaptation. She’s working on a far larger scale, but she does a fantastic job marrying the epic nature of battle scenes, stunts, and special effects with the more intimate character moments between Mulan and those around her. Caro revisits the promise and themes of her breakout film, 2002’s Whale Rider, with this tale of a young woman fighting against sexist expectations and traditions. The two women deserving of the most immediate credit are director Niki Caro and lead Liu. Happily, the humans both in front of and behind the camera are more than up to the task at hand. But unlike both of those films, its success rests squarely on the shoulders of human characters rather than chatty animals. It’s more The Jungle Book (2016) than The Lion King (2019) in that it’s both quite good and not the first live-action version of the tale to hit screens. The Disney empire’s continued effort to bring each of their animated hits to live-action life continues with Mulan, and it’s easily one of their most accomplished and affecting efforts to date. As the battle draws closer to home, Mulan is forced to decide if lying about who she really is serves a greater purpose… or if there’s no greater purpose than being true to yourself. Combat skills, of which she’s undeniably gifted, are championed among the new trainees, but the military leaders make it clear that honor and honesty are every bit as important. Dressed and bound like a man, she takes her father’s armor and sword and heads to war. Gifted only with a wife and two daughters, elderly veteran Zhou ( Tzi Ma) answers the call, but before he can report for duty his eldest, Mulan ( Liu Yifei), beats him to it. It’s been told on-screen via live-action as recently as 2009’s Mulan: Rise of a Warrior, and now Disney has returned with their own live-action epic remake titled, simply, Mulan.Ī ruthless band of warriors leaves a trail of carnage and carcasses throughout China, and the emperor decrees the mandatory military service of one male from each family. The story of Mulan is best-known to many as a 1998 animated film from Disney, but the legend has been shared for centuries, both in and out of China where it originates. It’s even more of a challenge when you’re retelling not just a single film but a familiar tale known to generations around the world. Remakes are always tricky business, as filmmakers must decide how faithful they want to be to the original.

Cast of mulan rise of a warrior