My Review of Mulan

Mulan never grabbed my attention until I had a daughter to watch it with. When it first came out, I blew it off as Disney's next attempt at an epic along the same lines as The Lion King. When my daughter came along, though, she wanted the DVD. Being the big pushover that I am, I bought Mulan for her. We watched it together and I immediately fell in love with the film. As the third film listed on my Disney list and as I've done with the first two, here's my review of the film from Amazon.com. I hope you enjoy it.

A Good Message For Young Girls

Although Mulan isn't my favorite of the big Mouse's productions, it is definitely in my top ten. In this tale, a young girl goes against tradition and takes her father's place in a great war with the Mongols by disguising herself as a young man. The tale has been told before in various forms, but it works very well in this picture.

The story gives girls a strong message of doing what you believe in or what is best, even though it may go against tradition or the majority's point of view. In the end, Mulan not only gains the respect of her fellow soldiers, but of the entire empire of China.

The action sequences are fairly intense, although there are really only two major battles. The first is the brilliantly animated fight in the snowy mountains where the Chinese, outnumbered, take on a huge Mongol force lead by the sinister main villain whose name escapes my memory right now. The second major conflict takes place in the emperor's palace and spills into the streets of the city.

The characters in this film are all given proper introductions, though the main bad guy doesn't have many chances to develop. All we really know is that he wants to take over the Chinese empire. Ming-Na Wen provides the speaking voice for Mulan. The rest of the character voices include B.D. Wong, Pat Morita and a hilarious Harvey Fierstein.

Of course, everyone focuses on the comic relief of Mushu(Eddie Murphy). Murphy does a splendid job with the character, though I think he could have been given a little more room to expand on the character. In all honesty, Mushu is almost as funny as Murphy's "Donkey" from the "Shrek" films.

The songs in this film are pretty good. Reflection is a rather good song that is performed by Mulan(singing voice provided by Lea Salonga). The song is very inspiring. My favorite song has to be Be A Man, however. It just sounds great and reminds me of Elvis' GI Blues. You'd think the military would be an odd setting for musical numbers, but it works in both of these films. Another excellent song is True To Your Heart, performed by Stevie Wonder and boy band 98 Degrees. It's a very peppy, feel-good song that finishes off the film in great fashion. The DVD includes a number of special features. From games to the obligatory "Making Of" featurette, it's all here. There is a music video of the aforementioned Stevie Wonder/98 Degrees song and a very, VERY virginal looking Christina Aguilera performing Reflection. Overall, a fine addition to the family DVD collection. I highly recommend this to folks with young daughters due to its good message. Don't worry if you only have sons, the message works for them as well, and there's plenty of action to quench their craving for fight scenes. Highly recommended.