Disney Daze: Mulan

Mulan (1998)

Disney Animated Classic Number 36
Starring: Ming-Na, Eddie Murphy, B.D. Wong & Miguel Ferrer.

Directed by: Tony Bancroft & Barry Cook

Rating: ★★★

Mulan, the story of a Chinese female warrior, based on an ancient Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, is overall, a pretty decent Disney flick. It's fun, has great animation, and is fairly enjoyable to watch.

The story is about a ruthless warrior, Shan Yu (Ferrer) who is successfully invading China, so the Chinese Emperor begins conscripting men from each family across the country. As Mulan (Ming-Na) is an only child, and is a woman, her father is to be sent to war, but he is aging and Mulan fears that he will die,  so Mulan she goes in his place,  dressed as a man. In order to protect the family’s honour, spirits of their ancestors send out a dragon called Mushu (Murphy) to protect and guide Mulan as she trains to be a warrior in the army. Why the dragon is a jive talking black American (when the film is set sometime around the 15^th century) is never mentioned or discussed, as we know that Disney wanted to replicate Aladdin’s success by having a famous comedian play the supporting comic relief.

It’s a good thing that they did cast Eddie Murphy too, as he is funny (not as good as Donkey in Shrek, but he is warming up to it) and does provide the comic relief that is desperately needed, as the tone of the film is quite dark, especially as the villain massacres villages of innocent people off screen, and we know that if Mulan is discovered as a woman then she will be beheaded (ouch!). 

 

If I was a 15th century Chinese woman, I would be surprised to see a dragon possessed by Eddie Murphy too.

The typical Disney ‘prince’, Li Shang (Wong), the captain of the army that Mulan is being trained for, randomly walks around topless for no real reason except to look ‘sexy’ even though Mulan is not really at any point attracted to him (and he isn't attracted to her at any point either) as she has more important things to worry about. He is a good character, but let’s be honest here: their ‘romance’ is literally crow barred in during the last 10 minutes, especially when throughout the entire movie he sees her as just a trainee and then friend and not romantically at all. Yes, she saves his life (as a man) but would that make him fall in love with her? I doubt it (unless he is gay, and that opens a whole can of worms the viewer is definitely not supposed to be thinking about). This is a typical example of when a movie really didn’t need a love story plot, but then this is Disney, and even though Mulan proves that she is a strong, intelligent and fierce warrior, she still cannot be complete without a man and, as we all know, women can only be judged based on whether or not they have a man in their lives, so the real victory of this film isn’t that Mulan almost single handedly saves China from an evil marauder, it is that she finds a husband. And ironically enough, this is the message that the first half of the film says isn’t important (as Mulan realises that she does not want to be dressed up and put on parade for men), but oh well, I’m sure the audience were happy that she is given a stereotypical ‘Hollywood’ ending. 

The moment when, for no reason, Li Shang realises that he loves Mulan.

Mulan herself is actually a very good character; she’s likeable and smart, and even though she is pretty and charming, proves that she deserves to fight alongside the ‘men’, and that looks are not important. Her companions in the army are funny, and so is Mushu (although he isn't as good as the Genie in Aladdin) and his cricket companion. 

The animation looks amazing, and there are some great set pieces including an avalanche in the mountains, and a comic sequence in the lake, where Mulan has to hide her naked body away from the men. The villain is really strong and evil, but doesn’t get too much screen time, which might be a good thing as this is a children’s film and so we don’t really need to see him butchering innocent civilians. He could have his own evil spin-off (something Disney would never do) showing him going around trying to take over various countries, but then you would have to ignore his pretty horrific death, which although seems exciting and ‘cool’ initially, is actually really disturbing and nasty when you think about it. Disney sure loves killing people off in dark and horrific ways.

The villian, Shan Yu, means business. He kind of looks like a villian in Mighty Max.

Overall Mulan is a good Disney entry, and it works on many levels. I saw the film as an analogy of cross dressing, and I’m sure that it would appeal to the transgendered community, as the story is (probably) just about their plight. Mulan sings a song about being on the outside what she feels on the inside, just before she drags up, so really, is this whole film about the LGBT community? Perhaps. Maybe I’m just over thinking it. Some other characters also drag up (the men become women) as a ploy, but maybe they too have just ‘discovered’ themselves? I'm sure some that someone agrees with this interpretation, probably some liberal gender theorists- I wouldn't be surprised to discover an entire paper (or book) written about Mulan and what it really represents.

I enjoyed Mulan. I’m not sure I would call it a ‘classic’, maybe if I watched it again and began to like it more then it might sway me. It definitely appeals to both boys and girls, as it has fight scenes and horses and swords and strong men and a cool villain but also a beautiful female protagonist ‘princess’.

Mulan proves that if you have the strength inside yourself, you can be who you want to be! So to everyone out there who hears Mulan’s cry: (in the words of the writers of The Simpsons) keep reaching for that rainbow!