Mulan: Rise of a Warrior (), also known as Mulan: Legendary Warrior, is a 2009 Chinese action war film starring Zhao Wei as the titular protagonist. The director, Jingle Ma, has explained that this film is vastly different from the 1998 Walt Disney animated film and that the looks from the character in this movie adheres more to his imagination. Zhao Wei was cast by Ma as Hua Mulan over actresses Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, and Liu Yifei, who were all considered for the role. Plot In 450 A.D., the ruling Chinese dynasty of Northern Wei is under constant threat from the Rouran tribes. The Chinese army conducts a nationwide draft. A retired soldier named Hua Hu insists on enlisting again to serve his country. Hua Mulan (Zhao Wei), his young daughter, is quite intelligent and skilled in various martial arts. But because she is a woman, she cannot enlist. At night, Mulan takes her father's armor and weapon, disguises herself as a man and slips out of the house with the family horse. Enlisting with the Wei army in her father's place, she is recognized by her friend Fei Xiaohu "Tiger" (Jaycee Chan), who agrees to keep her secret. Mulan befriends Wentai (Chen Kun), the battalion's sub commander, as well as other recruits "Scholar" and "Fatso" and his younger brother. Throughout the harsh military training, Mulan proves to be courageous and already skilled in combat, defending others from the bullying of the army commander's nephew, "Turtle". One night, when Mulan is taking a bath in a secluded hot spring, Wentai unexpectedly runs into Mulan. After a brief skirmish, Mulan escapes without exposing her identity. However, Wentai becomes determined to uncover the woman hiding in the camp. To make matters worse, during training Turtle unknowingly dropped a valuable jade pendant, which Tiger furtively kicked into a nearby lake as an act of revenge. Accusing the battalion of theft, the army commander orders a strip-search. Tiger is unable to find the jade pendant in the lake and Mulan, terrified to reveal herself as a woman and tarnish her father's reputation, admits to having committed the theft. In prison awaiting execution, she tells Wentai the truth that she is a woman and asks him to keep her death secret from her father. Wentai agrees and states that he will personally burn her body so that nobody will know her secret. However, the