Mulan director Niki Caro explains the absence of Mushu from the live-action adaptation

Mulan live-action adaptation is now available to stream on Disney Plus with premium access. Directed by Niki Caro, it stars Liu Yifei in the titular role, along with Donnie Yen, Jason Scott Lee, Yoson An, Gong Li, and Jet Li. The film takes a few different tracks from the original animated version, as it does not include singing and one of its classic character, dragon Mushu, is not present in the recent version. Now Caro revealed the reason why they left out the tiny dragon.

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Why Mushu was left out of Mulan live-action film?

In a recent interview with USAToday, Mulan director Niki Caro opened up about why dragon Mushu could not make it to the live-action adaptation. She said that they were very inspired by what Mushu brought to the animation, which was the humour and the levity. The filmmaker stated that the challenge for them was to bring that to Mulan’s real relationships with her fellow soldiers.

Niki Caro explained that Mushu was a beloved character in the animation version and was Mulan’s confidante. She stated that the part of not bringing it into the live-action is to commit to the realism of her journey, and also as she had to make those relationships with her fellow soldiers. "So there was certainly a lot to work within that department,” she noted.

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Eddie Murphy voiced Mushu in the animated version of Mulan. His absence in the live-action adaptation saddened many. Although director Niki Caro has disclosed that the reason of not having the dragon in Mulan was to allow the character to better her relationship with her fellow soldier, it is also speculated that his absence could also be because several people found Mushu to be insensitive in the 1998 film.

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Mulan is based on the Chinese folklore The Ballad of Mulan. The movie shows a young Chinese maiden who joins the military disguising herself as a male warrior in order to save her ailing father. Her intelligence and valour become an inspiration to many. It was delayed several times and finally released on Disney+ on September 4, 2020, with an additional cost for its subscribers. Even after its availability on the streaming platform, Mulan will be hitting the theatres in China on September 11, 2020.