A live action ‘Mulan’? Yes please, Disney

It was just announced that Disney is developing a live-action Mulan, and it has our hearts absolutely singing with joy. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney has bought a script from writing duo Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek that centers around the story behind the ancient Chinese poem “The Ballad of Mulan,” after which the 1998 animated film was based. It’s super-exciting to see this legendary woman warrior come to life, and you know we are all about rad girl writers telling the stories of awesome women — so double hooray for that!

The film is set to be produced by Chris Bender and J.C. Spink (of We’re The Millers), but it’s very much still in development and there’s no news yet on who will direct or star as the badass lady lead (. . . or Shang, my personal favorite of Disney’s love interest options). Other details about the movie are so far as mysterious as the dark side of the moon (please let me make my terrible soundtrack jokes), but that hasn’t stopped us from fangirling out over the fact that they’ve decided to bring this ’90s gem to life in the first place.

In case you need a little refresher, the 1998 cartoon feature followed the story of Fa Mulan, a young woman who pretends to be a man in order to take her aging father’s place in a country-wide draft when the Huns invade China. Along with her trusty sidekicks (and good luck charms), a tiny dragon named Mushu and a cricket name Cri-Kee, Mulan proceeds to show us that girls can be clever and kind-hearted and a little clumsy, and still totally kick butt. The film went on to receive Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, which just goes to show it was the best movie ever.

I might be biased, but Mulanis definitely one of my all-time favorite Disney characters — and not just because we both happen to be Chinese and because the film came out when I was seven. She’s an awesome example of gender equality and makes a great role model for young girls everywhere, and a live-action version of her is guaranteed to be badass. Disney has been on a live-action roll lately — from this month’s Cinderella to Tim Burton’s upcoming reimagining of Dumbo to endless news about 2017’s Beauty and the Beast — and now I’m so thrilled that they’ve chosen Mulan as their next film to convert from beloved cartoon to real-life retelling.

(Image via.)

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