Great Disney Movie with a Different Beat

Rating: Null/10 (17 July 2002)

After watching Mulan at a local movie theater with my family, I have to admit, I was amazed. I had seen previews for it on TV, and I was disappointed. I pictured Mulan as a dark, gloomy movie about war and fighting. Honestly, it was the opposite. With the hilariously clever Mushu and cute Cri-Kee, Mulan colorfully displayed a young girl, growing up, trying to find her way and prove she is worth something to her father and to herself.
Mulan is certainly not the typical, traditional Disney film...and I applaud it for that. Focused in Ancient China, it is about a young, ordinary girl. She is not a princess (Jasmine) and she is no extraordinarily beautiful woman falling in love (Pocahontas). She is just a young girl trying to save her father and trying to prove herself.
I admit to scrutinizing Mulan for not being about a princess and not being about romance, but because of that, it proves that a movie about people, ordinary people, can do well too. Mulan came at a time when Disney movies were not as appealing as they once were (The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules), but it revived the Disney scene anyway.
While I still say that the new classics, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King are the best films Disney has produced, with well-written storylines and amazing musical scores, Mulan is a wonder of its own. The lack of music was disappointing, but nonetheless, Mulan is a wonderful movie for families, especially young girls and their fathers.