Mulan Disneys LiveAction Remake Was Right Not To Include The Songs

Mulan: Disney’s Live-Action Remake Was Right Not To Include The Songs

Disney’s controversial decision to exclude the songs from Mulan 2020 was the right choice for a remake that wants to tell a darker, better story.

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Mulan Disneys LiveAction Remake Was Right Not To Include The Songs

Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan made the controversial choice to leave out the songs from the 1998 animated movie. Mulan 2020, like its animated predecessor, is based on the Chinese poem “The Ballad of Mulan” – but it’s a very different movie from the 1998 Mulan, trading comedic talking dragons for epic battle scenes. Mulan 2020 follows the supernatural warrior’s journey as she impersonates a man to join the Imperial Army, and becomes the hero of China. It’s the latest live-action Disney remake of their animated films, following Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast.

Unlike Disney’s previous life-action movies, Mulan is not a shot-for-shot remake of the animated film. Instead, Mulan is a significantly darker depiction of Mulan’s journey as she finds her place in Imperial China and a more faithful adaptation of the original poem. Fans were disappointed when Disney announced that the film would not use any of the songs from the animated Mulan, as part of director Niki Caro’s intent to make a more realistic version. Instead, the film is scored by Harry Gregson-Williams, and only occasionally features instrumental versions of the songs from the animated Mulan.

By reframing Mulan as a realistic war film, Caro used the existing source material to tell an entirely new story. Announcing that it wouldn’t include the songs was the first sign that this Mulan would be a very different movie, and potentially a better one. In Mulan 2020, instrumental versions of the songs were occasionally used to underscore emotional moments in the film – but that was the extent of their inclusion. Gone is the high-energy training montage set to “I’ll Make A Man Out Of You.” Mulan 2020 was intended to highlight the difficulties of Mulan’s life, and the violent war against the Rourans; including the songs would have undermined that goal.

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Ultimately, the decision not to use the original songs was the right choice. Mulan 2020 is a war movie, not a musical comedy. Unlike the other live-action remakes, Mulan attempted to adapt the poem in a new way, and wanted to be a distinct movie from its animated predecessor. Incorporating the songs – which are good, but not appropriate for the film – would have been a bizarre choice that distracted from the story the Mulan remake was trying to tell. Eliminating the songs, much like the other controversial decision to get rid of Mushu, helped Mulan become a better movie no matter how disappointed fans were.

Mulan is not the first live-action remake to cut the songs. Although Disney’s first remake Cinderella also excluded the songs and reinterpreted its story, all of the subsequent remakes have been faithful adaptations of the animated movies. Mulan’s decision to reinterpret the story instead of retelling it makes the movie more compelling, and allows Mulan to explore new themes instead of retreading the old ones. Cutting the songs was a significant departure for Mulan, but gave the writers a chance to try something new while telling a more interesting story. Excluding the songs was the right decision for Mulan, and the movie is better because of it.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/mulan-2020-movie-songs-missing-good-reason/

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