Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, Harvey Fierstein, and Pat Morita
Finally another Disney movie! For those of you who don't know me (which is pretty much all of you), I am a Disney fanatic... and there is only so far that the Disney movies I have on video can hold out before I get squirly for another one. So ever since Hercules came out on video and I saw the first trailer for this movie I was going crazy waiting. Luckily for me and all you other Disneyphiles out there Mulan is finally here, and it was well worth the wait.
Mulan (Ming-Na Wen) and Mushu (Eddie Murphy)
The plot of Mulan is based on a two thousand year old Chinese poem about Fa Mulan (Ming-Na Wen), a young Chinese woman trying to bring honor to her family. The movie begins with Mulan going to a matchmaker so she can get a good husband and continue to bring honor to her family name, but she fouls it up royally and is told she will only bring shame. Her sorrows are cut short when the Huns, led by Shan-Yu (James Hong), invade China and begin marching towards the Imperial City. The Emperor (Pat Morita) orders that one man from every family must serve in the Army to defend against the invasion. Knowing that her aging father cannot possibly survive another war (he is an old war hero), Mulan makes her self up to be a young man and steals his armor and draft notice and reports to the training camp. Mulan's ancestors, worried about her safety and the family honor, send along a guradian to help her through her quest... by accident this guardian turns out to be Mushu (Eddie Murphy), a tiny dragon whose real job is to ring the gong that awakens the real guardians. Mushu is determined to prove his worth as a guardian so he takes the challenge.
Mulan (as a boy) and her superior officer Shang (B.D. Wong)
When Mulan first gets to the camp she accidentally starts a fight among the recruits and leaves a bad impression in Shang (B.D. Wong), her drill instructor. At first Mulan is a horrible soldier and Shang tells her (well him, to Shang) to leave, but she persists and becomes one of the best new recruits in the Chinese Army. After their training is complete Shang receives word of the Huns advances in the moutains and he takes the new troops to help the General and his army... when they arrive though they find the army wiped out and the general murdered. Shang then leads his troops to a battle in a moutain pass in the hopes of cutting Shan-Yu off. As the battle insues Mulan makes a huge strategic move that causes an avalanche that takes out almost all of the Huns and wins the battle for her side. However, she is injured during the battle and while she is being healed her secrect of not being a he is revealed. Shang and the troops then leave her in the mountains and march on to the Imperial City for the huge celebration. While still there Mulan sees some of Shan-Yu and some of his army rise out of the snow and continue on to the Emperor... knowing she must warn them, Mulan rides ahead to warn Shang. But, she is shunned by all the troops and laughed at for her "silly story" about the Huns, until the Huns capture the Emperor and prove her right.
The Emperor (Pat Morita) thanks Mulan
As I said in my review of Warner Brother's Quest for Camelot there is a formula for animated movies that really needs to be followed for it to be a good movie... Good Plot + Interesting Characters + At least one completely comedic character + Well written songs that fit the storyline = Successful Animated Movie... and Disney succeded on every single one of these (as opposed to Warner Bros. in Quest where they failed every one). The plot is based on a two thousand year old Chinese poem/fable and was adapted to a feature length film very well, the characters are well written and developed (especially Mulan and Shang), Mushu the dragon provides tons of funny lines and almost steals the show, and the songs (although not spectacular) are catchy and fit in with the plot (my personal favorite was "I'll make a man out of you"). However, Mulan had some aspects that were completely out of character for a Disney movie. First off this was the first Disney movie ever to have an Asian setting and theme; second, it didn't have the usual love story imbedded in the plot... yes, Mulan did have a thing for Shang and towards the end he sort of had a thing for her, but the story didn't revolve around it and the ending was very open ended without the usual big kiss and don't know for sure if they got together; finally, Mulan may have had a female main character but it was far from being oriented towards girls... sure the idea that girls can do anything boys can do is a message for little girls, but the action and war scenes will definitely keep boys interested... it even has a lot of stuff that will keep most adults interested. All of these deviations from the Disney norm where far from a hindarence, turning it into a quality movie that anybody can go watch. Mulan took care of my Disney fix for the summer, now I just have to make it to Thanksgiving and A Bugs Life.
