The recent Beauty and the Beast adaptation proved a perfect modern retelling of a cherished classic (cue the now well-overused “tale as old as time” joke).
With its massive success — a whopping $710 million worldwide after just 11 days — and nearly unanimous fan reception, Disney has discovered the perfect formula revival: an all-star cast and crew that creates an almost exact mirror of its animated counterpart, with a few minor story upgrades and 21st century tweaks. Why mess with perfection?
That’s a question directed at Niki Caro, director of Disney’s upcoming live-action Mulan revival, who has been sharing plans for the film that make it very clear they’re not looking to recreate the animated version verbatim.
“From what I understand, no songs right now, much to the horror of my children,” she said in an interview with MovieFone.
Aside from scrapping iconic songs such as “I’ll Make a Man Out of You,” “Reflection” and “A Girl Worth Fighting For,” rumors have indicated that the writers will scrap Mulan’s love interest, Li Shang, and add a new romantic counterpart instead.
Being wary of how it looks to simply translate an old animated film into a live-action one does makes sense; from far away, it seems cheap, easy and lazy.
But the careful thought and attention that went into Beauty and the Beast makes it clear that good revivals are an art form — and can be wonderful movie-going experiences even if audiences can anticipate the songs, costumes and endings before they see them.
If Disney wants to tell an original story, it should ditch the revival concept entirely and write a completely original story. After the massive success of Beauty and the Beast, we know what Disney is capable of when it comes to recreating something we love. It almost feels cruel to offer anything else now.
Regardless of what the final product looks like, people will show up to see a movie with the title Mulan because of the implications that go along with Disney’s storied image. But those movie-goers will ultimately be disappointed, because the reason to go see a revival is to watch a live-action replica of an animated movie they loved from childhood. That’s not what this movie will deliver. It still might be a great story, but that isn’t the point.
A live-action Mulan has the same potential as Beauty and the Beast to take an already fairly progressive fairytale and push it to have an even greater, more modern voice. The story of a woman who ditches gender norms to fight in a war to protect her family is a great one. Moreover, the fact that it’s slated to feature an all-Asian cast — though that should have been a given, considering it’s a story that takes place in China — gives a platform for mainstream diversity when Asian artists are so rarely given one.
But it needs the proper attention and care that other Disney revivals have been given to do so — which this adaption seems unlikely to have.
