Here We Go Again: Disney Now Wants a Live Action Mulan

This whole live action remake trend started with Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in 2010, and since then we got Maleficent and Cinderella, with a lot more are coming our way: The Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass, Beauty and the Beast and Dumbo. You can now add Mulan to the list. Yup, Disney is remaking another one of its classic animated film as a live action movie.

Munir's Disney Retrospective - Animated Classic #36: Mulan (1998)

Last Week's: Munir's Disney Retrospective - Animated Classic #35: Hercules (1997)

Mulan holds a very special place in my heart and I'll tell you why: I was eight years old when it came out in theatres, but I couldn't see it because something happened. I fell down from my grandmother's terrace and I almost died. I was in critical condition for some time and after I woke up, I was told not to move too much and I basically had to stay in bed the majority of time. Pretty boring stuff for an eight year old. Fortunately, my parents bought Mulan on video and I kept watching it over and over again. It may be the Disney film I have watch the most, and I know the dialogues and songs by heart. I tell you this so you know that when it comes to Mulan, nostalgia plays a very important part in my review.

Munir's Disney Retrospective - The Renaissance, Part 2 (1995-1999) Introduction

Last Week's: Munir's Disney Retrospective - Animated Classic #32: The Lion King (1994)

After the roaring success of The Lion King, its successor had the uphill battle of surpassing or at least matching its unprecedented acclaim. Of course, that didn't happen and in the following years the films that were released were met with a more lukewarm response and decreasing revenue. That, however didn't mean that Disney Animation was going 'downhill' or that they had lost the magic but, as with any studio that's reached its peak, the only place to go was down. Another factor for this decline was the fact that, in this period of time, Pixar came into existence, forever changing the animation industry. Nonetheless, the second part of the Renaissance is filled with beautiful movies that, while not as good as its four big predecessors, still offer plenty of charm, superb animation, endearing characters and wonderful stories. The last part of the Renaissance may not have been as brilliant as its beginning, but it still remains a high point in the studio's history.

Tomorrow: Animated Classic #33 Review: Pocahontas (1995)

Mulan Blu-ray Review - I'll Make an HD Man Out of You

©Disney

Mulan is available to own on Disney Blu-ray™ from today

Four Disney films arrive on Blu-ray here in the UK today: Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Brother Bear and Mulan. Rounding off our quadrilogy of reviews is this one of the HD transfer of Disney's 1998 animated classic. Given that the primary focus of A113Animation is news, often there are many an old film on which I haven't made clear my opinion - allow me to rectify this particular instance: I love Mulan. The film is funny, has great music, is very dark in places, has a great villain, a great voice cast and, the most recent addition, a pretty damn good Blu-ray package.

Upcoming UK Disney Blu-ray Details

©Disney

We in the UK often get a raw deal of things, Disney are a particularly nefarious culprit of giving us films late. One such area is that we get Disney Blu-rays at times completely independent to the US, sometimes this is good (we got Cinderella and Peter Pan early), but sometimes it isn't (we still haven't got the Finding Nemo Blu-ray, and the bonus features we get on our BD releases are always slim pickings). However, once in a while there's a ray of light in the dark, stormy night; for instance, we've got a succulent slew of Disney Blu-ray releases coming up in the next month.