In the film, Hua Mulan, the eldest daughter of an honored warrior, masquerades as a man to take her ailing father's place during a general conscription to counter the Rouran army in Imperial China.

In Imperial China, Hua Mulan is an adventurous and active girl, much to the disappointment of her parents Zhou and Li, who hope that one day she will be wed to a good husband.

They are assisted by the witch Xianniang, who uses her magic to pose as a surviving soldier and report the attack to the Emperor of China; he then issues a conscription decree ordering every family to contribute one man to fight Khan's forces.

Xianniang uses her magic to take the image of the Imperial Chancellor, and persuades the Emperor to accept Böri Khan's challenge to single combat, while removing the city guards from their posts.

An emissary from the Emperor, under the leadership of Commander Tung, arrives to present Mulan with a new sword, while making a personal request that she join the Imperial Army as an officer.

As early as 2010, Walt Disney Pictures had expressed interest in a live-action adaptation of the 1998 animated film Mulan with international Chinese star Zhang Ziyi, and Chuck Russell chosen as the director.

[12] Reed also said that in addition to drawing from the animated movie and the original text, the filmmakers viewed adaptations of Ballad of Mulan produced in China for cinema and television.

[29] A team of casting directors visited five continents and saw nearly 1,000 candidates for the role with criteria that required credible martial arts skills, the ability to speak clear English, and star quality.

[7] Further cast announcements for Donnie Yen, Gong Li, Jet Li, and Xana Tang were made in April 2018,[11][14] Utkarsh Ambudkar and Ron Yuan in May,[31] Yoson An and Chum Ehelepola in June,[15] Jason Scott Lee in July,[13] Tzi Ma, Rosalind Chao, Cheng Pei-Pei, Nelson Lee, Jimmy Wong and Doua Moua in August,[23][20] and Chen Tang in September.

"[41] Matthew Wilder, the writer of "Reflection", which was featured in the animated film, confirmed that the song "thematically plays a large part in the new movie throughout the score", and added that "there's a new version of 'Reflection'" as well.

[49] On September 30, an exclusive photo featuring Liu as a soldier in the Imperial Army was released on Empire's upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker issue.

[51] On November 4, a video clip filmed during a Toho cinema preview was leaked online, featuring new shots of Mulan as a warrior battling fiercely and taking off her hair band.

[77][78] According to Reuters, after the controversy about the film's links with Xinjiang erupted overseas, the Chinese government ordered media outlets not to cover the release of Mulan.

[79] At a September 10 conference, Disney CFO Christine McCarthy said in response to the controversy that "almost the entirety" of the film had been shot in New Zealand, but that 20 Chinese locations were used to "accurately depict some of the unique landscape and geography of the country".

[82][83][84] In September 2020, 135 British MPs signed a letter condemning China's human rights abuses, addressed to Liu Xiaoming, Chinese ambassador to the U.K.

[91] The reasoning for not including the character was met with social media backlash from fans of the original film and members of the LGBTQ community, who deemed Shang's relationship with Mulan's male alter ego Ping to be bisexual.

[92][94] In September 2020, Cynthia Vinney of CBR wrote that Honghui's interactions with Mulan were "more homoerotic" than Shang's in the animated version and likewise "can be read as bisexual".

"[96] A call to boycott the film began when Liu reshared an image posted by the People's Daily, an official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party.

[101] Deadline Hollywood reported that industry sources with knowledge of the situation "are figuring that Disney may not have earned great presales" and that they could put Mulan on a third-party service before the December release.

Finance then reported that, according to analytics research firm 7Park Data, nearly 29% of U.S. Disney+ subscribers that accessed the app from September 1 to 12 purchased Mulan, which in the best-case scenario would result in $261 million for Disney.

[114] Several factors were cited as contributing to the film's muted performance, including the announcement of the official Chinese release date only days before the premiere, giving little chance to build a strong marketing campaign; the prior release on Disney+, resulting in pirated copies being available online; a lack of local press coverage in order to avoid drawing attention to the controversy over the film having been partially shot in the Xinjiang region; and poor fan reception on sites such as Maoyan and Douban.

The site's critical consensus read, "It could have told its classic story with greater depth, but the live-action Mulan is a visual marvel that serves as a stirring update to its animated predecessor.

"[120] Kate Erbland of IndieWire gave the film a B+, calling it a "remarkable action epic that carves its own path" and writing, "Mulan is perhaps the best example of how to marry the original with something fresh.

"[121] Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B+ and described it as "a classic hero(ine)'s tale, exhilarating in its elaborate set pieces and large-scale ambitions even when the smaller human story within it sometimes falls short.

"[122] Writing for Variety, Peter Debruge said, "On one hand, the result isn't immediately recognizable as 'a Disney movie,' but neither does it establish its own narrative or visual signature, the way Tarantino did when remixing Asian influences for Kill Bill.

This is pure pastiche, as Caro and her crew shamelessly pilfer from kung fu, Fifth Generation and Hong Kong action movies, incorporating anime and Bollywood touches as well.

"[127] Grace Wong of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "The animated Mulan meant so much to me, and the character I grew up loving taught me that being loyal, brave and true means standing up for what you believe in, no matter the cost.

Although it eventually failed to satisfactorily resolve these at times conflicting missions, it still achieved important progress in addressing some serious gender and cultural problems in Mulan's contemporary intertextual metamorphosis, especially those introduced by the Disney animation.

[131][132] Yanni Chow and Carol Mang of Reuters wrote that the film had "a lacklustre reception in Hong Kong" amidst calls from pro-democracy activists for a boycott.

[117] In April 2020, months before the film's eventual September 2020 release date, it was reported that a Mulan sequel is in development with Chris Bender, Jason T. Reed, and Jake Weiner returning as producers.