What Pocahontas wanted to be

Rating: 8/10 (31 October 2018)

Since I recently saw this movie again during a seminars day at my school, and since I was unsatisfied with my first review of this movie, I have decided to rewrite it. It was a slow Halloween despite a costume-con in my school's atrium, but conveniently it quieted down as this movie began. So why is this movie better than I initially remembered it?
The story, admittedly, does utilize some clichÃ©s (especially in its twists), but its structure is very solid overall. It flows affably and delivers on the humor, courtesy of its voice acting (I loved Miguel Ferrer's portrayal of Shan Yu) and the way it wrote its comic reliefs. Not only do these reliefs provide some good chuckles, but Mushu in particular is important to the plot due to his fire breathing and mentoring of Mulan. For our characters, we have the titular Mulan as the woman who wants to deliver more than what is expected of her by any means necessary, Li Shang as her tough yet fair CO, and Shan Yu as a genuinely threatening and bad@$$ villain with, again, an intimidating and all-around awesome voice. Most other characters outside of the Fa family, the Emperor, and Chi Fu are either summed up in tropes (Mulan's trio of friends) or just not important to the main story. Our main characters are memorable and complex, just as we expect from a Disney movie. Even 20 years later, the animation still resonates with its depiction of ancient China, its moderately thrilling action, its appealing character designs, its commitment to the humor, and its enhancement of the songs. It's smooth and perfectly fluid to give the human characters realism, and does enough with its effects and stylization of the animal characters to make them believable in their world. The songs are forgettable in comparison to other Disney songs of the period, but they are very fun to listen to, don't interrupt the plot flow, and make the montages easy to remember, more so than the songs themselves.
Mulan, at least for me, comes off as one of the few Disney movies where one more easily understands it if they view it as they grow older. Young children may remember the songs, Mushu's jokes, some sight gags, and the action, while older children may point out that Mulan is a solid role model. As such, if your family has children of various ages, this would be a safe bet for movie nights. It is a worthwhile addition to Disney collections, even if VP Pence doesn't think highly of it.