Mulan kicks butt without wires!

Rating: 9/10 (11 July 2002)

That's my background - grew up with Aristocats, Jungle Book, 101 Dalmations etc but I've avoided stuff like Pocahontas and The Lion King like the plague because cutesy animals and horrible moralising have replaced wit and charm. So I gave Mulan a chance.
And I was really pleasantly surprised. Mulan manages to keep a reasonable flavour of Chinese/Hong Kong cinema without seeming patronising or watered-down. It's not too cute or fluffy and the villain is not even remotely camp or risible. He's just plain EVIL. Course the songs are sometimes naff, but I really loved Disney's take on the staple "kung fu boot camp" .
Even the romantic angle isn't too gloopy and soft focus, it just leaves you with a hint of a beginning.
Anyway for more cross-dressing martial arts heroines, check out Brigitte Lin's career.