'Mulan' comes to life with live actors

November 25, 2009 More than a decade after Disney made a blockbuster animated film out of a folk tale about a young woman in ancient China who takes her father's place on the battlefield, a Hong Kong director is taking on the story of Hua Mulan with real actors. Jingle Ma said his live-action version of "Mulan" avoids glorifying one of China's best-known female folk heroes, instead focusing on her vulnerabilities and relationships. In Ma's 115-minute movie, which opens in China, Singapore and Malaysia on Friday, gone are the goofy antics of a sidekick dragon voiced by Eddie Murphy and the smooth Broadway-style numbers performed by "Miss Saigon" star Lea Salonga, replaced with the bloody, gritty reality of war.

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