MULAN (1998):
Written by: Robert D. San Souci, Rita Hsiao, Chris Sanders, Philip LaZebnik, Rymond Singer, Eugenia Bostwick Singer, Dean DeBlois, John Sanford, Tim Hodge, Burny Mattinson, Barry Johnson, Ed Gombert & Chris Williams
-
Mulan is one of the last movies of the Renaissance, and is rather more popular than many of the "Late Renaissance" movies- it's definitely done better and been considered better than
Hunchback,
Pocahontas and
Hercules, in any case. Taking the legend/sort-of-reality of Hua Mulan, it basically keeps the same general thread (tomboy becomes a soldier and saves the Empire) and Disney-fies it with some sidekicks and buffoonery, all in the name of good fun.
The movie really works, actually- I was REALLY worried when I saw ads for it that featured Eddie Murphy doing his best "Robin Williams" by COMPLETELY ripping off The Genie's concept, and the stupid Cricket was your "Generic Cute Sidekick" like Meeko & Flit were in
Pocahontas, but it avoided the worst of the Disney Movie Template (the damn Cricket was mostly there in one scene and then is just background dressing). The best scenes are pretty much all during the soldiers' training, making the most out of Mulan's general incompetence with everything and her goofy pals. The manliest song in HISTORY doesn't hurt, either.
The Generic Disney Style is merged well to make the characters look Chinese, and the art shift works better than in other movies that screwed around stylistically. The action scenes are generally well-done (though not mind-blowing), and as a whole, the story is quite good. It's one of the funnier Disney movies by virtue of coming by the jokes naturally ("there are a couple of things they're BOUND to notice!"), in addition to throwing out some good old fashioned slapstick. The story's a bit different because it involves the heroine actually setting out to kick some ass, and the villain avoids the usual trappings of Hamminess and Sorcery by simply being some calm, bad-ass War General. And really, how many Disney Villains can lay claim to HUNDREDS OF DEAD BODIES being visible on-screen?
One of the movie's most fantastic moments is in that scene where Mulan fails at training, and is basically kicked out of the army. Because... that's it. That was her mission. Her goal from the beginning was to save her father's life by taking his place in the army, and now that she's been sent him... her mission is over. She could stop right then. But look at her face. The SHAME she feels for having failed- it eats at her. And her sense of duty and pride overwhelms her INITIAL goal, and now she's found the spirit to find her center and find a NEW goal. It's a really wonderful bit- that it all happens non-verbally, during the GREATEST SONG EVER, is all the better. Another great part is that the guys who were being so shitty to her in the beginning (picking fights with the weak Ping like typical bullies and jerks) end up being IMPRESSED by "him"- you can see Ling actually pumping his fists in excitement when Ping is about to get the arrow from the top of the post, and Yao later offers Ping the staff instead of tripping "him"- all during the course of one song.
Given Disney was kind of un-good about using non-white people, it was neat to see a movie FULL of Asians, usually PLAYED by Asians, too. The implicitly feminist story was a good example of how to do it RIGHT, too- it wasn't about male uselessness; it was about a woman fighting against the world and proving herself worthy. Most of the men were positive characters, too- the ones who picked on "Ping" ended up taking her side by the end of
Be A Man, and then defended her once the gender reveal came out! Shang, Shan-Yu and Mulan's father were all also great characters. Mulan herself also importantly started out as a screw-up- irresponsible, impulsive and ungraceful. She actually FAILED at the femininity of her world, which is why it seems all the better when she succeeds at the MASCULINE arts later on.
Odd things: We never get a sense of just HOW big Mulan's training group is supposed to be (there's a hundred tents once, then there's her small group and some background guys, then it looks like all of ten people are walking across a mountain pass), but they segue from "The worst thing EVER!" to "HEY WE WON!" with aplomb by doing it super-quickly. Man- Chien Po is FREAKISHLY STRONG- lifting up a half-dozen guys AND A HORSE?? Lots o' thematic imagery surrouding "Reflections" here, which should be obvious given the "I Want" Song- though really people only ever remember one song about this movie.
Reception & Cultural Impact:
-This movie was REALLY big, though disliked in China (for changing the myths and Americanizing them)- it did about as well as the mid-tier Renaissance movies, and was seen as a bit of a return to form, though nobody was calling this The Next
Aladdin,
Beauty or
Lion King, to be sure. Ultimately, though, its eternal legacy is the AMAZING
Be A Man- a wonderfully ironic, bad-ass song about strength, fortitude, brotherhood, kickick ass and being spiritually centered. It is god-damn EPIC!
Mulan has since controversially gone into the "Disney Princess" franchise, despite being... well, not a Princess. In a pretty obvious corporate move, Mulan was thrown in there because of her race, for Disney wanted to cover as many bases as possible, regardless of direct terminology (to be fair, having the friggin' EMPEROR OF CHINA bow to you is arguably a higher-tier thing than being "the spawn/bride of a royal"). ALSO controversial was the fact that she's usually thrown into the very feminine outfits she found DIDN'T FIT HER in the early part of the movie. Mulan beings, because it's easier to sell dolls to little girls when they're pretty- girls don't typically by "Bad-Ass Armored Girl" dolls. Because of this link, Mulan is often found in Disney Parks as a Meet & Greet Face Character, usually played by the same girls playing Pocahontas- being vaguely asian will usually help get an actress this role.
Mushu is very popular, though not as much as the Genie- they don't advertise Eddie Murphy QUITE as much as Disney advertised Robin Williams, but they did have the character lead on of the "How-To" Animation things at Disney World. Various
Mulan characters show up at EPCOT's China Pavilion in the World Showcase, as well.
Mulan II came out on video shortly, but was pretty bad. Having watched it recently, it barely even has a real "Arc"- it's just Mulan & Shang arguing and nearly breaking up (horribly, it's because MUSHU manipulates them- he's afraid he'll have to leave Mulan once she marries into another family; I feel this really damaged his character), trying to cart three Princesses to another kingdom to get into some arranged marriages. Annoyingly, they sabre-rattle the feminist "No Arranged Marriages!" thing, which would NEVER have been tolerated in this period of China, nor even been questioned like that. Then Mulan's three goofy-ass friends end up falling for the Princesses, and Mulan has to make do so that they can ALL get married. It's... really silly. And no concrete villains, either, aside from some random brigands who show up once. The only really notable thing about the movie is finding THREE named Asian actresses as the Princesses- Sandra Oh, Lucy Liu & Lauren Tom (the Souphanousinphone girls on
King of the Hill) played them, and actually did pretty well. I actually found them to be cute characters, but them falling for Mulan's ugly friends seemed a bit too far-fetched.
The movie is getting the "Live-Action Remake" treatment in 2020, though shockingly and sadly ISN'T a musical, and appears to have... an entirely different story. Like, there's some white guy in it, and the love interest seems to have a different name, and there's a lot of other Generals named, etc.