Mulan: Will Mushu, Shang and the original songs be in the live-action Disney film?

8 July 2019, 16:11

By Sam Prance

Disney's new Mulan trailer doesn't feature Mushu, Shang or the 1998 soundtrack.

Mulan is back and Disney's first live-action trailer looks amazing. Are Mushu, Shang and the original songs in it though?

It's no secret that Mulan is one of Disney's most loved films. Ever since the animated musical came out in 1998, it's received praise for its feminist themes, brilliant characters and incredible soundtrack. In 2020, Disney will release a live-action version of Mulan and yesterday (Jul 7), they unveiled the first trailer for the movie starring Chinese superstar Liu Yifei as Fa Mulan.

The internet is living for it. However, some people are upset that Mushu, Shang and the songs aren't in the teaser.

Will Mushu, Shang and the original songs be in Mulan 2020?

Fans of the first film will remember that Mushu (Eddie Murphy) is a tiny, orange dragon, who accompanies Mulan throughout the movie and used to be her family's guardian spirit. Mushu provides much of the film's comic relief. Meanwhile, Li Shang (BD Wong) is Mulan's army captain, mentor and eventual love interest. Both characters are key to the 1998 musical but neither are part of the real Chinese legend its based on.

The 2020 adaptation of Mulan will stay much closer to the source material. This means that there will be a lot of differences from the original. Shang, for example, isn't in the film but there is a brand new character called Commander Tung (Donnie Yen) who will play similar role to Shang. As it stands, Disney is yet to confirm if Mushu will appear in the movie but it's rumoured that he's been replaced by a Phoenix.

As for the soundtrack, Mulan's director Niki Caro said in a 2017 interview: "no songs right now". That being said, there are reports that, while the cast won't be singing, the 1998 songs will feature in the film as instrumental tracks. Unsurprisingly people are upset by the changes in the live-action film but others are encouraging them to be open to seeing a more accurate (and less offensive) Mulan.

Here's one of the initial tweets complaining about the trailer. There are a lot of these going viral on Twitter.

Mulan doesn't need songs or Mushu to be great, though.

We see no lies.

Also, the changes are actually really important.

And I oop.

Plus, there is some coded racism to the backlash.

Several points were made.

People are coming round to the film however.

The film looks great. Periodt.

In conclusion...

...bring on March 27, 2020!

What do you think of the Mulan teaser?