First image from Disney’s live-action adaptation of Mulan

After years of planning and rumored casting controversies, Disney has finally revealed their new Mulan in full gear.

Disney’s dreams of adapting Mulan into a live-action movie started in the early 2000s, but the film was eventually scrapped. They went ahead and started again in 2015, slowly moving along without a steady lead, until actress Liu Yifei, also known as Crystal Yifei, was casted in November of last year to play Mulan. The Chinese actress won the role after a long worldwide search that Disney was determined not to whitewash. She joins a diverse cast, almost all with Chinese decent, including Donnie Yen, Jason Scott Lee, Yoson An and martial arts legend Jet Li.

Adapted from the 1998 animated film of the same name, about a girl who disguises herself as her crippled father to take his place in the Imperial Army and fight the invading Huns. The film was a major hit in the US, earning a cult status and an Oscar nomination, but not so much in China. The Chinese didn’t like movie’s retelling of the original folktale and thought Mulan herself had been too Westernized. They also accused the movie of disregarding Chinese traditions, claiming it was a Western movie with Chinese accessories.

The story of Mulan is one of China’s most beloved folktales, and is still a part of the required curriculum in Chinese schools today. The original ballad, while incredibly moving, is also traumatic and too mature for the audience Disney was going for when they made Mulan. Considering it’s a children’s movie, telling the story the way it’s originally told might have been too much.

Disney is making a few changes from the animated version, starting with the songs. The live-action version is not a musical but director Niki Caro later promised that music will appear, maybe popular numbers like “Make a Man out of You” or “Reflection“, in non-traditional musical methods. The original villain and Mulan’s love interest is also changing for the adaptation. Instead of hunky Li Shang we’re getting a guy named Chen Honghui, played by Yoson An, described as “a confident and ambitious recruit who joins Commander Tung’s unit.” The original villain in Mulan was the Huns and their leader, Shan Yu, but Disney has changed this character all together and added a female villain as well.

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Gong Li will play a powerful witch that’s still unnamed and Shan Yu will be replaced by Bori Khan, played by Jason Scott Lee, who is a warrior obsessed with avenging his father’s death. By these character descriptions, it sounds like they’re removing the regular war plot, and instead are giving their antagonists emotional motivations for being evil. I like Shan Yu as a villain and wished he was in the movie, but I’m not going to hate on this new guy before I get the chance to see him in action.

The issue of Mushu is still a mystery, he’s not been confirmed nor has he been all together removed, but it’s not looking good. I’m wishing hard that Mushu returns, but judging by the direction the movie is going in, I can’t see a comical talking dragon becoming part of the equation.

The film is directed by the second female director to be hired by Disney to direct a film budgeted at over $100 million, Niki Caro. A win for female directors but a loss for Chinese directors. The script is written by both Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, and is scheduled to be begin filming in New Zealand and China sometime soon. It’s too soon to call this the official release date, movies always move around their premiere dates, but it’s meant to be released on March 27, 2020.