1. I'd be really bummed if they tried to turn Jafar - scheming, clever, oozing manipulative Jafar - into some type of Poor Misunderstood Villain. Couldn't you just make
Aladdin the live-action movie, and use that as a means to cast
two young Middle East/South Asian actors in leading roles? Or since we now have to pander to the Chinese censorship board, go with the original's "set in China" element (I'm not joking about that - the original
Aladdin is set in a fictionalized, muslim-ized version of China).
2. In order to not make this weird, you'd have to really go similar to the original tale of
The Little Mermaid: a mermaid wants the opportunity to get a soul, and apparently marrying/seducing a human is part of the deal to get it.
. . . Even then, I think it's going to be bad.
I would be all for a live-action version of Mulan if it were like a good Jet Li movie except with a badass female lead.
I'd love to see a live-action
Mulan film.