Disney Gets ‘Reflection’: Live-Action ‘Mulan’ May Get Songs, But No Li Shang

The director of the highly anticipated live-action Mulan received a great deal of backlash after making a comment regarding the intentions for the Disney film to not be a musical.

Those who have watched the original 1998 Mulan know the movie is littered with a number of very catchy tunes. Naturally, fans of Mulan didn’t take too well to hearing the live-action film may not be filmed with the same catchy tunes.

In fact, fans of the Disney film instantly took to Twitter – slamming the decision for the live-action Mulan not to include music.

The tweet below commented on how incredible some of the songs were in the original 1998 film and begged Disney to reconsider the decision not to include songs.

There were several other users who continued to slam the decision not to include songs in the live-action remake of Mulan. Some users claimed it was a huge mistake, some claimed it was the best part of the movie, and some claimed it wouldn’t be a true remake without the songs.

what's the point of a new mulan if there's none of the og music in it?? those are like, all my fave disney songs

— ?squirrel conscience embodied? (@NiaLovelis) March 21, 2017

Entertainment Weekly notes the confusion, chaos, and anger regarding the lack of songs in the live-action remake of Mulan stem from an interview Niki Caro – the director — had with Moviefone. During the interview, Caro claimed that she didn’t think the Mulan remake would feature any of the songs from the original 1998 Disney film.

“Yes, from what I understand, no songs right now, much to the horror of my children.”

As those who have seen the original 1998 Mulan know, that meant not getting to hear popular Disney songs including “I’ll Make a Man Out of You,” “A Girl Worth Fighting For,” and “Reflection.”

Huffington Post notes that Disney has finally done some “Reflection” and is finally “getting down to business” with the remake of Mulan as the director has come forward once more to clarify what she meant during the previous interview.

Fortunately for fans of the original Disney movie – and the songs – it appears as if director Niki Caro is now singing a different tune.

“I don’t know where that’s come from. We’ve never talked about songs, and no decision has been made.”

Sean Bailey, Disney’s president of production, also made a statement regarding the panic that the remake of Mulan was never intended to be a musical. However, “nothing is off the table yet.” Naturally, Mulan fans and media outlets quickly took that to mean chances were pretty good that Disney was rethinking the decision. Will the live-action remake of Mulan now feature songs? Will it be new songs or the original songs from the 1998 film? Other than trying to calm the waters, none of the statements really gave any specifics.

The lack of songs wasn’t the only change being made to the remake of Mulan that sent fans of the film into a frenzy. According to MIC, a casting call sheet which circulated the internet revealed that Captain Li Shang wasn’t going to be in the remake either. Instead, Li Shang is being replaced by a man named Chen Honghui. According to the call sheet, which can be seen below, Chen Honghui is an arrogant soldier who sees Mulan as a rival until he learns she’s actually a woman. Then, he sees her as a love interest.

Wait a hot second, why is Captain Li Shang being replaced by this dude in the new #Mulan. First no music, now this. Grrr pic.twitter.com/tE17hM1G7p

— Jo-Anne Rowney (@JoAnne_Rowney) March 19, 2017

Naturally, it didn’t take long for fans of the Mulan film to also slam the decision to remove Li Shang from the movie as well. Some even questioned if it was just because he was a bisexual icon as he loved Mulan even when he thought she was Ping, a man.

Disney already took a step backwards and responded to those eager to see the show with a glimmer of hope that there may be songs in the movie. Is there any a chance the backlash could get Li Shang back in the movie as well?

It is worth noting that there is no way of knowing for sure if the casting call sheet revealing Li Shang won’t be in the movie is real. It also isn’t possible to know whether or not “nothing is off the table” means songs will for sure be a part of the live-action remake of Mulan.

What are your thoughts on a Mulan remake without any songs and without Captain Li Shang? Let us known in the comments section below.

[Featured Image by Disney/Movie Still]