Mulan

Plot synopsis:
During the Han Dynasty in ancient China, the legendary Great Wall fails to keep out the notorious Hun army and their ruthless leader, Shan Yu (Miguel Ferrer). The alarm is raised, and the Emperor (Pat Morita) entrusts General Li (James Shigeta) with mobilizing an army to protect China. The wise Emperor reminds the general that "one man can be the difference between victory and defeat."Fa Mulan (Ming-Na Wen), the teenage daughter of prosperous farmer Fa Zhou (Soon-Tek Oh), nervously prepares for her meeting with the village matchmaker (Miriam Margolyes). Though clever and kindhearted, Mulan is a tomboyish klutz who has little faith in her ability to become a poised and dignified bride. After rushing through her morning chores, she meets her mother, Fa Li (Freda Foh Shen) and grandmother (June Foray) in town and is bathed and dressed before joining the other girls at the matchmaker's house. Mulan's eccentric grandmother insists that Mulan take a live cricket with her for good luck, but the insect escapes from its cage and wreaks havoc at the meeting. Mulan is deemed a "disgrace," and is told she will never bring honor to her family.Deeply ashamed, Mulan returns home and laments that she is not the daughter her parents deserve. Her father, however, comforts her and metaphorically suggests that the cherry blossom late to bloom will be the most beautiful of all.The Emperor's smug councilman, Chi Fu (James Hong) arrives at Mulan's village to draft one man from each family for the imperial army. Mulan watches in fear as young men are called forward to receive their orders, knowing that her aging and weak father will be called up as well, being the only male member of the Fa family. As Fa Zhou is summoned by Chi Fu, Mulan pleads for her father to be excused from battle, as he is already a veteran and is afflicted with an injured leg. Fa Zhou reprimands her for her interference, and insists he will go to training camp the next day with the other soldiers. Knowing her father will die if put in combat again, Mulan makes a desperate decision. After her parents are asleep, she cuts her hair short, dons her father's armor, and takes his draft information before riding out to the camp in his place. Fa Zhou and Fa Li awaken and discover with horror that their daughter has left to join the army. They cannot go after her, for impersonating a soldier is a capital offense, and Mulan would be executed if her identity was revealed. Grandmother Fa prays to their ancestors to protect Mulan.In the small temple on the Fa's property, the statues of the ancestors come to life to deliberate over what to do about Mulan. Mushu the dragon (Eddie Murphy), a former guardian who was demoted to gong-ringer, is sent to awaken the Great Stone Dragon, the most powerful guardian, to bring Mulan home safely. While grumpily trying to wake the statue, Mushu accidentally reduces it to rubble. He is met by Cri-Kee, the "lucky" cricket who had accompanied Mulan to the matchmaker, and the two eventually decide to go after Mulan themselves. Mushu plans to make Mulan excel in the army, thus earning back his place among the ancestors as a guardian.Shan Yu and the Huns are riding quickly through the wilderness toward the Imperial City. Shan Yu sends a taunting message to the Emperor, daring him to send his finest troops to face the Hun army.Mulan arrives at the outskirts of the training camp, terrified of her task and dejectedly telling her horse, Khan, that it would take a miracle for her plan to work. As if on cue, Mushu and Cri-Kee appear, with Mushu falsely introducing himself as a trusted guardian of her ancestors and promising to help her become a model soldier. Mulan timidly enters the camp and, following Mushu's instructions on how to interact with men, inadvertently causes a brawl. The ruckus is quelled by Captain Li Shang (B.D. Wong), the son of General Li, who was appointed by his father to train the new troops while Li takes his army to protect the Imperial City. Shang is unimpressed with the sloppy new recruits, especially awkward Mulan, who presents herself as Fa Zhou's little-seen son Ping.Mushu supports Mulan as she struggles through training, which is especially harrowing because her fellow soldiers are still angry with her for the camp-wide fight on their first day. Shang presents them with a seemingly-impossible task: to climb a huge wooden pole while wearing heavy arm weights to retrieve an arrow from the top. Mulan finally redeems herself by cleverly using the weights to her advantage, scaling the pole and reaching the arrow. The other troops begin to warm up to "Ping," especially grouchy Yao (Harvey Fierstein), gawky Ling (Gedde Watanabe), and enormous but gentle Chien-Po (Jerry Tondo). Mulan has an increasingly difficult time keeping her identity hidden, especially since the men all bathe together in a nearby lake, and Mushu is called upon to provide distractions when things get too dangerous.Shan Yu plans to move his army through a mountain pass, which is the swiftest route to the Imperial City. Though he determines that General Li and his army is already guarding the pass, Shan Yu confidently leads the Huns to battle the imperial troops.Chi Fu, the Emperor's council, has remained at training camp to compile a report on the new troops. He remains unimpressed, though the soldiers have successfully completed training, and behaves rudely toward Captain Shang. Mushu, continuing his plan to transform Mulan into a war hero, has Cri-Kee forge a letter from General Li, requesting backup troops at the mountain pass. The ruse works, and Shang marches the troops out of camp the following day. During their trek, Mulan's friends keep their spirits up by dreaming about their ideal woman, but their optimism is short-lived. When they reach the mountain pass, they find General Li and his entire platoon slaughtered. Shang is shocked and grief-stricken at his father's death, but is all the more determined to stop Shan Yu before he reaches the Emperor.As Mulan, Shang, and the troops progress through the snowy mountains, Mushu accidentally sets off a cannon and gives away their position. The Huns immediately attack, and it is evident that they greatly outnumber the soldiers. As the Hun army charges toward them, Shang instructs Yao to aim their last cannon at Shan Yu. Quick-thinking Mulan swipes the cannon and fires it at the mountainside, causing a huge avalanche that buries the Huns. The soldiers run for safety, with Shang and Mulan narrowly avoiding falling to their deaths over a cliff. Shang thanks Mulan for saving their lives, and gets her medical attention for an injury she sustained from Shan Yu's sword. Mulan can no longer hide her gender, and she is ousted to the rest of the troops. Chi Fu pressures Shang to execute Mulan immediately, but Shang, while angry at Mulan for her deception, refuses to kill her and leaves her in the mountains with her horse and supplies.Mulan miserably tells Mushu that entering the army was a mistake, and that she was fated to dishonor her family. Mushu finally admits that he was not sent by the ancestors, and that his mission was a selfish one to get his job back. Even Cri-Kee confesses that he is not a truly lucky cricket. They are all about to give up hope when they discover that Shan Yu and many of the Huns had survived the avalanche and are emerging from the snow. Mulan, Mushu, Khan and Cri-Kee rush to the Imperial City to warn of the coming attack.In the city, Shang and his troops are being hailed as heroes for defeating the Huns. Mulan, presenting herself as a woman again, confronts Shang during their victory parade (though Shang, Ling, Yao, and Chien-Po are noticeably glum) and tells him what she saw in the mountains. Shang dismisses her as a liar, and members of the crowd are deaf to Mulan's words. On the steps of the palace, the Emperor is kidnapped by the Huns, who beat Mulan to the city. Shang, Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po turn to Mulan for a plan. With the latter four disguising themselves as concubines, they infiltrate the palace and attack the Huns guarding the chamber into which Shan Yu had taken the Emperor. Shan Yu threatens to kill the Emperor if he refuses to bow to him and accept him as the new leader of China. The Emperor stoically refuses, but Shang leaps to his aid just in time. As Shang and Shan Yu battle, Chien-Po carries the Emperor to safety. Mulan then attracts Shan Yu's attention by proving herself to be the soldier who started the avalanche, and Shan Yu turns his wrath from Shang to her. Mulan lures Shan Yu to the roof of the palace, before Mushu arms himself with an enormous firework rocket which he launches at Shan Yu. The Hun leader is blasted to smithereens in a colorful display, and Mulan drops to safety on the palace steps.As the chaos subsides, Chi Fu verbally attacks Mulan for her actions. Shang angrily defends her until the Emperor appears. He explains to Mulan that, despite her fraud, she has saved the entire nation of China. In the ultimate display of respect, the Emperor bows to Mulan, as do the countless people in the attending crowd. He then offers Mulan a job as his council (to the shock of Chi Fu), but Mulan respectfully declines and expresses her wish to return home. The Emperor gives her his medallion and Shan Yu's sword as gifts to honor the Fa family.Back at the Fa estate, Fa Zhou is overjoyed at the return of his daughter. Though she presents him with the Emperor's crest and the sword of Shan Yu, he casts the priceless gifts aside and embraces Mulan, ensuring her that "the greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter." Shang arrives soon afterward, returning the helmet that Mulan left behind, and awkwardly but happily accepts Mulan's invitation to stay for dinner.Mushu, at last, is restored to guardian status in the family temple. Mulan thanks him for his help in her adventurous plan, and the ancestors celebrate that the Fa family is complete again.

Tags: violence, cute, entertaining

Review:
She pretends to be a man and does the training to go to war against the Huns who invaded China.With some nice new songs, great music by Jerry Goldsmith and beautiful animations this is a real Disney.
The mountain scene contains some of the best animation I have seen from Disney, and the rousing score from maestro Jerry Goldsmith accompanies the action superbly.This may not turn out to be a classic in the same way as THE LION KING and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, but I enjoyed it immensely.
A great story..I have always been impressed by China's history,by its culture..even though this film is fiction but even so..I like it!..A girl,Mulan,who wants to save his father from going to war and die in battle...a little dragon,Mushu,who tries to convince the ancestors of the Fa family that he can do something important without messing up things around him..a bug who thinks he's lucky and it seems that he really has lot of luck..and a brave horse and companion,Khan..they all decide to help Mulan in war..that's the plot of the story...In the end everything turns out OK and Shang and Mulan fall in love..
But Mulan's story is every bit as good as those movies, even if you find the animation less impressive.The strengths of the movie for me are not the songs (which are very weak compared to earlier Disney), nor the animation (which is charming with a few Chinese flourishes) or any other technical aspect of the movie production.
While in most Disney movies the silly sidekicks or cute animals steal the show, in this movie Mulan is both funny and brave, making her a truly human character that I rooted for whole-heartedly.I am also a crazy feminist and for me this movie is the ultimate girl-power movie.
Mushu always makes me laugh, and watching Mulan try to spit is still the funniest thing I've ever seen in a movie.If you want the classic singing, dancing fairy tale-style Disney movies a la The Little Mermaid, this is not quite what you're looking for.
And the ending was great too, not completely wrapping up the story like most Disney movies do.
With the help of dragon Mushu, Mulan overcomes her status as a woman to help take on the Hun.I wasn't sure I would like this film as I have grown a little tired of the Disney formula of `songs, romance and smartassed comedy sidekicks', which Mulan sticks to pretty well, however I did really enjoy this film.
I've read through most of the posted comments posted before this about this movie; I find that some people love the music, but think the characters are thin; some hate Eddie Murphy's presence, and think the love story is stupid.
Well, your experience with a film is individual, I guess.That said, I'll follow the trail and state why I loved watching this movie not once, but several times:First of all, I'm far from being a fan of animated Disney classics.
Wership of the ancestors, the power and position of the emperor, I found myself lost in the dream of a world long gone; I loved the image of a China with different traditions but still found myself attracted to the pro-Disney story about a girl standing up to a culture's sexist prejudice.
(I do find the plot a bit silly, actually, but I let myself be taken away...it's just a Disney.) Agree, the characters lack a little bit, the love story of Mulan and Shang should perhaps have had a few more frames to play with.
The computer animation used for the Great Wall and the attack of the Huns startles me again and again; Not many live movies can do the job as good.So that's what Mulan is for me...The dream of ancient China and Eddie Murphy's speedy tongue.
And now back to the movie, there's a lot to love about Disney's mulan: the story, the fun characters, the songs and music, the beautiful animation, etc.
The artful animation(watch the smoke) the terrific songs like "Be a Man", the laugh out loud antics of Eddie Murphy's Mushu, and a heroic, feisty, and really likable Mulan help make this movie truly special.
The characters do look a bit funny, but the artists defiantly took their time in making this wonderful film.Mulan is very powerful, very detailed and very funny- just like all animated films should be.
There's a great likelihood that this man is going to die in battle.So, out of the sheer love for her father, Mulan disguises herself in his armor and takes his place in the army.This movie isn't about some gal going off to war to prove herself, or break free from the caste system, like so many other Disney heroines.
I don't know if that'll hurt my opinion on this film or not, but I'm giving my opinion anyways.Mulan is probably one of the best Disney movies of all time.
The music isn't tiresome or annoying like some Disney movies, the message is strong and a good one, and there are some dark elements in it that won't scare the children but will provide a little extra entertainment for adults.I personally think that this movie should be in every household - whether there are children or teenagers or adults watching, it's fantastic..
The characters are also very memorable; Ming Na's feisty Mulan(one of Disney's greatest female characters), George Takei's brooding ancestor, Eddie Murphy's hilarious Mushu- who bags most of the film's best lines-, BD Wong's handsome Shang, Miguel Ferrer's mysterious and often frightening Shan Yu(who actually is an effective and underrated villain despite having an all-too-easy and lame death scene) and of course Pat Morita's wise Emperor.
One of my favorite Disney characters.Girl/young woman can learn a lot from the Mulan character.Beautiful animation with this film as well.I never get tired of this film..
Perhaps I am not the best person to review Disney cartoons...I spend too much of my time thinking things like......Hey they seem to be wearing Tang Dynasty clothes but they are practicing ancestor worship which was not introduced until the birth of the Neo-Confucian religion in the Song Dynasty.However Chinese stories have always gone through a process of growth and change, with elements added and removed by different story tellers and at different times.Disney's Mulan tells the historic/legendary story of Hua Mu Lan, a character popular with Chinese woman.
The values of families sticking together, good beating evil, try your best etc are the 1950s American values that have lived on at Disney.However it is an enjoyable story, and I watch it in China, in Inner Mongolia (Mongolians being from the same region as the Huns), with Chinese and Mongolians....and well they weren't offended....and it is a lovely story, funny, sad, serious, with a lot of beautiful shots, heroic battles, clever dialog in the Disney fashion.
Asian culture and their stories get limited enough time as it is in the theaters, so, being of Chinese blood, movies like Mulan are something for me to look forward to as a moviegoer.I am happy to say that I was delighted by what I saw.
Enjoyable Disney movie about a young woman named Mulan in ancient China who poses as a man and joins the army so her elderly father will not have to.
Disney has created a beautifully artistic and cultural movie, with an excellent story, in the form of Mulan.
Mushu (Eddie Murphy), Mulan's guardian dragon, is a hilarious character who proves to quite helpful on certain occasions and brings much of the comedy into the film.
The trio (Yau, Ling, and Chien-Po) are really fun to watch as they hilariously interact with other characters such as Mulan, Chi-Fu, and even each other.This movie has the perfect blend of amazing art design, epic action scenes, wonderful music that complements the various scenes, memorable songs, great comedy, intricate storytelling, flawless animation, and excellent themes.
Yes, Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best Picture, and The Lion King and The Little Mermaid won two Oscars each, but how many kid's movies from any company -- or country for that matter -- have such a great message?I loved Mulan for the characters, the script, the voices (this is one of the few movies Eddie Murphey has done that isn't completely asinine)...basically, I love every part of it.This movie has definitely earned its place in the pantheon of great Disney animated features, and not only for its box office success and general entertainment and discussion value, but for the innovations in computer animation that almost inevitably accompany a Disney animated movie.
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.
It scouted earlier for the general's encampment and brought back the doll, remember?Oh, and the cross-dressing thing at the end was a little too weird--a bit too Fushigi Yugi and not really very intelligent--do you honestly think that anybody would fall for that trick, even if they were really women (especially considering what the Monguls would have done).The best parts of the movie were the references to Japanese cartoons (anime).
The thing I like about the Disney movies is that they all feel the same and totally different at the same time.Mulan feels very authentic, as much as I could tell, and the story was fun.
Eddie Murphy gives the little lizard ("It's D-R-A-G-O-N to you!") an excellent voice, and he gives the movie a lot of its life, so to speak.Also, passing along the tradition of the latest Disney animated "classics", this one is extremely well made, especially the scene where the Huns come racing down the hillside, and the music is also the now "accounted for" quality.All in all, a very good movie, well worth seeing only to hear out the lizards comments!.
Mulan is one of the best Disney animated movies.
A love story,laughs,dragons,singing and violence.Like most of the Disney animated movies this does have singing.
This is by no means an average Disney effort but like I said,an average Disney still rates as an all time classic.Nobody can beat them in the family/animation genres.What makes this one average as opposed to it having been one of the best was the fact that I found the animations a little rough.They could have made more spectacular background effects.They had ancient China for scenery and that would give them leeway for much more spectacular scenery.I wanted more attention to detail in this area given the animation technology available today.Also,they could have made Mulan a little more stronger looking.More of a stronger look and personality could be done for women without compromising their female qualities.There are many amazon/warrior type gorgeous women and a lot  of them,contrary to stereotipical beliefs,are Asian too.How many chances does Disney have to focus a movie on east Asia.They should have been more responsible wih their portrayal of scenery and people of this great land in this regard.But other than this point,and given how many other things could have gone wrong,Disney once again did a bravo job.Not shying away from exotic cultures and taking on women's rights issues are very commendable and really educate the world's children.The little dragon stole the show too and I was laughing so hard!I forgive the producers regarding the music becouse good musical compositions are very very difficult to come by and you do not just create top quality music any time you want.Great music is very precious and people must realise this fact.So we must appreciate what ever great music we got from this movie(like "Reflection").Creatng great music is very spur of the moment and pops up unpredictably.Ask pro composers and they will tell you.But other aspects like visual animation can very much be controlled big time.Particularly now when hand drawn art is backed up by computer animation technologies.Peace out.......
A Female Warrior Goes Her Way. Movie Review: "Mulan" (1998)In the wake of a post "The Lion King" period at Disney Animation Studios beginning with "Pocahontas" (1995) and concluding with "Treasure Planet" (2002), while Pixar Animation Studios with director John Lasseter establishes digital animated features with the first ever widely distributed "Toy Story" (1995) engaging two times Academy-Award-Winning Tom Hanks to speak the leading character of Sheriff Woody, comes the hand-drawn animation highlight "Mulan" in the year 1998 directed by former character animators Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, who present an extraordinary tale of a Chinese daughter of a weaken military man in the post Han Dynasty 450 AD China.
The main character of "Mulan" decides to abandon female family-inflicted traditions, cutting off her lang raven-black hair with a long sword, before attending an ancient boot camp training period to confront a massive army leading character of Shan-Yu, vocally performed by almost unrecognizable-fierce actor Miguel Ferrer, whos character coming from the North of Mongolia, overtaking the Chinese Wall, pushing through snow-covered, avalanche-indulging mountains of North Eastern China, arguably taking detours though the region of Da Hinggan Ling to hit a central Chinese village palace scenario on his way to the Dynasty's Southern capital.Show-Stealing all-too-funny character of dragon-pet character Mushu, given voice by spitfiring dialogue lines sharing actor Eddie Murphy, keeps the audience alive through a major martial-arts action-spectacle-miss-out in further emotionally uneventful sword duels and gun-powder inflaming rockets shooting through plain clearing mountain strings, at time loveless animated feature, especially in the daytime training scenes, when "Mulan" nevertheless had all the possibilities under a doubled production budget with consequent design efforts, apart from the storywise-superior to suspense-strangling "The Lion King", to become a Disney animated classic, which furthermore due to the lacking depth-of-character supporting cast, which entirely builds on deceased-ghostly-animated roundtable of imperial family members, when the missing thrilling touch becomes indifferent by the time of a showdown-forsaking confrontation between Warrior-becoming woman Mulan and Gorilla-beast-moving Shan-Yu in an even with 80 Minutes relatively short editorial by Michael Kelly, whos cut cannot deliver an ascending character arc of sophisticated Chinese Legend "Hua Mulan", spiritually as technically superior to the character of "Joan D'Arc" inhabited in western civilization, when at least rest-in-peace Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004) infuses international audiences with charms of a an innovative classic-to-synthesized moving score to a over-all fair success of exceeding a worldwide box office revenue by 300 Million U.S. Dollars in concluding exhibitions of holiday season 1998/1999.© 2018 Felix Alexander Dausend
It doesn't really ruin the film, and I'm not convinced that a more traditional voice would have worked any better either, but it is a thing to ponder about.The songs are also great, though perhaps not Disney's best effort either.
I'm not a big fan of Mulan's dragon aid Mushu and think his more self-aware comedic stylings don't fit the film at all, Eddie Murphy provides a lot of energy but it just doesn't work for me.The animation is really impressive.
It's a very sweet, beautifully animated film that will surely please all Disney fans, it stands as a classic animated film in the same vein as Aladdin and The Lion King does, it also has some unforgettable songs that you will find yourself humming long after you've watched the movie, such as Reflection and I'll Make a Man Out of You. The only thing I think this movie is missing is a strong factor of Disney animation films, comic relief, I know that Mushu is a fantastic character and brilliantly voiced by Eddie Murphy, but he dosen't have as much scenes as he should have to lighten the tone of the film, it takes itself too seriously at times and it's story can be very heavy for a younger audience, but we have to hand it to Disney for taking a huge risk on openly dealing with war.
Beautifully animated with stunning music, I would recommend Mulan to anyone looking for a good family film.
Mulan, even if it isn't one of the best Disney animated musicals, is certainly one that should satisfy those of all ages looking for a rousing and inspirational tale.One last thought: What the heck were they thinking with that first song in the ending credits?
It may not be as strong as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, but it's a lot better than some of the later films in the early 2000s (except Treasure Planet, Lilo & Stitch, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and The Emperor's New Groove).The story is great and the way they made a Disney princess become a hero is what made it work.
Like I said before, Mushu is funny thanks to Eddie Murphy's great voice work.The songs may not be as memorable as the other Disney scores, but they're fine enough for me to listen to.
The look of China, the emperor's palace, and the mountains are great as are the character animation.Overall, Mulan may not be as solid as the three films I've already stated, but it's a childhood classic that has been stuck with me for a while and would be looking forward to watch it again.
The villain lives a impression as well.Plus how great to see a Disney movie that doesn't focus on a love story.
This movie has fun and lovely songs, a great plot, wonderful variety of characters, Well drawn, and really does capture what a girl might think in life.
What makes Mulan a great movie is not only the story, but the script and terrific songs written by the latest Disney lyricist David Zippel.
(And the villains were so creepy looking too!) Animated or not, there should be more movies like Mulan...a film for the WHOLE family.
Great animation just like Disney always shows us that the company is the best for animated movies.
Disney's best movie since Aladdin and Eddie Murphy's Mushu is just as funny.