Disney recently revealed the full trailer of the live action adaptation of Mulan and received divided opinions. It can be recalled that several months ago, Chinese actress Liu Yifei aired her support for the actions of the HongKong police amid political conflict in the territory, which brought on calls to #BoycottMulan.

Mulan was one of my favorite Disney movies based on an actual historical figure. Fa Mulan was a much celebrated heroine of China for her courage in masquerading as a man to take the place of her ailing father to fight against the invaders. Hers was an inspiring story that spoke of love for family and love for country. Her story’s message resonates to this day. However, this happened ages ago and had nothing to do with political conflicts of the present.

I must say I loved the animated adaptation, which had both elements of comedy and drama but I find a different appeal from the live action version.

In order to deliver a much more serious approach, Disney replaced the dragon guardian Mushu with a phoenix, a symbol of hope and rising from the ashes. Instead of Shan Yu, the main villain for the new version is a  witch. These are all good calls for me from a cinematic standpoint, and for the delivery of messaging on gender equality.

I loved the cinematography and the scoring from the trailer which seriously gave me goosebumps. The scale of the production was outstanding and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the execution for the rest of the film will follow suit. It really made me excited because there were scenes that were not part of the animated version. There seems to be a lot to look forward to.

I get that a lot of people are angry at Liu Yifei for her statement against HK protesters. However, I will still support the movie because it has nothing to do with the actress’ political opinion. There were hundreds of people who worked on this film, and I think they deserve support for their efforts. This may just be me, but count me in when the film opens in theaters on March 2020. I have a good feeling about this film. I think its going to be epic, controversy or no.