Live-Action ‘Mulan’ Revamp Gives Girls The Kick-Butt Princess They Deserve

When in doubt, do a remake. That’s Disney’s default response for raking in the cash. They’re not stopping with live-action reboots of Cinderella and Beauty and The Beast – now they’ve moved on to Mulan.

Yes, it’ll be exciting to see the 1998 film about a defiant girl turned kick-butt warrior, but Forbes provided a financial breakdown of the live-action Mulan revamp that kind of takes the magic out of the enterprise.

This movie is being made because we’re so willing to flock to the theaters to see Disney’s past live-action remakes, like Cinderella ($336 million worldwide), Maleficent ($758 million) and Alice in Wonderland ($1 billion). We also eat up all the associated accouterments that comes with the Disney franchise – the toys, clothing, toothpaste, and Happy Meal figurines.

So why wouldn’t the Mouse House turn to its endless well of intellectual property to resurrect a story they’ve already told before?

There are other financial reasons to relive Mulan as live-action. It’s a war movie and therefore, the exciting battle sequences are built right in. Plus, they can bring in a respected director (like Kenneth Branagh to Cinderella) to lend it some cache and popular actors that make adults feel okay about seeing a Disney film.

But going beyond the dry, black and white numbers, Mulan will be an interesting live-action revamp if only because the story is unique in the princess canon: Mulan is a princess who goes to war.
Mulan is that kind of awesome girl who is more interested in fighting back than twinkling her eyes at Prince Charming a la Cinderella (or Little Mermaid, or Sleeping Beauty, or Snow White). The story is based on reality – there was a warrior girl named Hua Mulan and she did cross-dress so she could be a warrior and save her father from war, USA Today reported.

Cooler yet, Mulan dares to proclaim that she’s as good as the boys at pretty much everything – and proves it too. What better role model for a little girl these days?

Naturally, this has everyone asking what cartoon Disney will bring back to life after Mulan. Jungle Book is already in the works, and Dumbo could prove a little troublesome to pull off. But leave it to SNL to consider just how on Earth Disney could make Bambi a live action film. And they let the Rock help explain how.

[Photo Courtesy YouTube screengrab]