黃美容

Its time to get down to business because the first trailer （預告片） for the live-action adaptation of Disneys Mulan is here.

Like the 1998 classic， the remake follows a young woman who pretends to be a man in order to fulfill her fathers military service and protect the country. Here's the official synopsis （概要） from Disney：

When the emperor of China issues an order that one man per family must serve in the Imperial Army to defend the country from northern invaders， Hua Mulan， the eldest daughter of an honored warrior， steps in to take the place of her ailing （體弱的） father. Masquerading as a man， Hua Jun， she is tested every step of the way and must harness her inner strength and embrace her true potential. It is an epic journey that will transform her into an honored warrior and earn her the respect of a grateful nation...and a proud father.

While the beautiful songs and the little dragon Mushu was a huge part of the original film， according to a report from USA Today， there will be no singing or tiny red dragons in the new Mulan. The news left some fans a bit upset. “Mulans journey must be accompanied by Mushu， her lucky cricket and her battle horse！” said a netizen on Sina Weibo.

Another important character in new Mulan trailer is the matchmaker， played by Chinese-American actress Pei-Pei Cheng. Cheng is famous for her performance in many kungfu films， such as Crouching Tiger， Hidden Dragon， for this reason many Chinese netizens theorize her role in the new film is not to teach Mulan how to be a good wife but how to kick butt.

According to a report from BBC， before Disney announced who would be playing Mulan， an online petition calling for an Asian actress to play Mulan gained more than 100，000 signatures before it was closed on November 30， 2017. After that， Disney set off a global audition （試演） for Mulan， eventually settling on Chinese-American actress Liu Yifei， which netizens saw as a victory.

After the trailer was released， netizens praised Liu's performance， saying the actress is the “perfect one” to play the role of Mulan. Kungfu star Jet Li and Donnie Yen will play Emperor Taizong and Commander Tung in the film， while Chinese actress Gong Li will play an evil witch.

Disney will release Mulan in theaters on March 27， 2020.

Reading Check

If you were Mulan， will you pretend to be a man and join the Army？ Why？

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