Great Disney movie, but not up there with the best

Rating: 7/10 (22 May 2009)

During the 1990's, it seemed that every year or so The Walt Disney Company would come out with a new animated masterpiece. After the breathtaking "The Lion King" in 1995, the quality of the films decreased, with "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "Hercules," and, their worst feature (although "worst" is a relative term), "Pocahantas." With "Mulan," that trend was reversed (though the legacy of hand-drawn animation came to an end with the dawning of Pixar), at least temporarily (I haven't seen "Home on the Range," though it bombed at the box-office, ending the legacy).
While "Mulan" may have reversed the trend, it fails to match up with Disney's undisputed masterpieces. That being said, it comes close. The animation is astonishing (though the human figures are not as beautifully rendered as in "Beauty and the Beast"). It features a number of standout songs, and a few hilarious sequences. The voice characterizations are solid, with Disney making the right decision to use voices that work the best, and not those who are the most famous. The villain is vicious, but doesn't top "Aladdin's" Jafar. In short, "Mulan" is very good, but not the best.
During Imperial China, the villainous Shan-Yu (Miguel Ferrer) and his army of Huns has crossed the Great Wall of China and is moving towards the Forbidden City, destroying everything in their path. The Emperor (Pat Morita) orders that one man from every family must serve in the army against Shan-Yu. This poses a problem for the Fa family. They don't have any sons, which leaves the ailing patriarch, Fa Zhou (Soon-Tek Oh) to serve. However, his daughter Mulan (Ming-Na/Lea Salonga) knows that he cannot fight, so she poses as a boy and goes in his place.
"Mulan" covers a lot of issues, none of which are taken TOO seriously: cross-dressing (how neither the MPAA nor the social conservatives have a fit about this being in a family movie is beyond me), honor (not quite taken to a stereotype), feminism, conscription, the nature of identity, and so on. Nevertheless, neither the script nor the directors have any intention of pushing some sort of agenda with these ideas. The only reason why any of these issues are addressed is to tell the story, and that's why this film succeeds.
Of all the Disney heroines, Mulan may be the most three-dimensional. She's not the first girl not to be lady-like (that would be Belle from "Beauty and the Beast"), but she has the most depth. Mulan is more of a tomboy than anything, and that makes her a very interesting character. This is taken seriously (she will be executed if she is caught), and it's also taken for laughs (whenever she tries to act "manly," and a disastrous encounter with the Matchmaker (Miriam Margolyes), which is nothing short of hilarious).
The other character that has to be mentioned is Mushu, who is voiced by Eddie Murhpy. A failed guardian, Mushu is demoted to waking up the ancestors and the guardians. After a catastrophe, Mushu finds himself in a peculiar position: if he succeeds in getting Mulan home safely, he may be able to become a guardian again. Internet film critic James Berardinelli likened Mushu to Robin Williams' Genie in "Aladdin." While I see the resemblance, I prefer the Genie to Mushu, if only because Williams improvised his lines to better effect. Still, Murphy does great work, and he has a number of hilarious one-liners.
There are other great smaller characters as well. The wordless cricket has some great scenes with other characters. The tiny but outrageous Grandmother Fa (June Foray/Marni Nixon) has some hysterical scenes as well. And the three soldiers who become Mulan's friends, Ling (Gedde Watanabe), Chien-Po (Jerry Tondo), and Yao (Harvey Fierstien) serve as more comic relief.
"Mulan" has some problems. Some of the dialogue could have been rewritten, and the difference between Mulan's speaking voice and her singing voice is immediately noticeable. Most noticeable of all is the rather plain look of the people. Disney has a way of drawing the human figures to fit the culture it is portraying (like in "Hercules" and "Pocahantas"). "Mulan" is no different, but more work should have gone into them.
As it is, though, "Mulan" is a lot of fun for both kids and adults.