you 've got to love disney .
no matter what they serve up , it is a guaranteed success as long as it 's animated .
kids have to go see the movie .
then they have to get the toys .
oh , the video came out ?
got to buy it , or risk little billy 's temper tantrums for the next month .
all of this culminates in the childhood equivalent of a pilgrimage to mecca : a visit to the magic kingdom .
stay at the disneyland hotel !
buy a disney t - shirt !
eat an ice cream mickey mouse on a stick !
it 's both a vertical and horizontal monopoly when you think about it .
dale carnegie should have had it so good .
what 's most amazing is that all this success is in spite of a severe lack of originality .
you see , disney animated features these days have two components : theme and plot .
the theme changes with each new movie ; the plot does not .
the plot is a mold into which the characters of some ancient fable are dropped , and try as they might to rise above the characters of previous features , they are nearly always destined to do no more than the same .
however , while the success of a disney animated feature is generally a given as far as box - office receipts , merchandising dollars , and glimmers in the eyes of little children , critically they are as varied as anything else that hollywood has to offer .
luckily , disney 's latest animated offering , mulan , manages to be engaging and refreshing , even while rife with formula .
the film starts with the invasion of ancient china by the huns , led by the imposing shan - yu ( miguel ferrer ) .
soon , china 's emperor ( pat morita ) mobilizes his armies and decrees that one male from each family in the country shall serve to fight in china 's defense .
when the fa family is served notice , it is the elderly father , fa zhou
( soon - tek oh ) who must answer the call , as there are no other males in the household .
fearing her father will surely be killed in battle , fa mulan ( ming - na wen ) disguises herself as a man and sneaks off with the royal orders to join the chinese army .
mulan , based on a chinese epic poem , is a classic tale of the triumph of the ugly duckling .
mulan herself is a disgrace to her loving family , as she has a difficult time fitting into the traditional woman 's role , and in a very amusing scene where a matchmaker attempts to assess her value to a potential husband , we see that " grace " is not one of her strong points .
very early on , we are presented with the high importance of bringing honor to one 's family , and by botching her chance at gaining the favor of the matchmaker , mulan fails at that task .
by leaving home to fight in her father 's place , she may not only spare his life , but bring honor , too .
as is the case with most disney musicals , the songs are first rate and pervasive throughout the film .
i 'm not sure if they will get much airplay , but at least one of the songs will no doubt receive recognition come oscar time .
both lea salonga , who provides the singing voice for mulan , and donny osmond who sings for shang , the captain of mulan 's army unit and obligatory love interest ,
are more than competent , although salonga 's voice translates much better to animation .
you have to hear it to understand .
interestingly , the musical numbers which are so often done with big flourishes are surprisingly muted in mulan .
there is no significantly big number , which is customary as the second or third song in a disney film , but this does not detract significantly from the rest of the movie .
it is , however , an expectation which has been built by disney 's own formulaic history , and some viewers may feel as if something is missing .
artistically , the animators have chosen to adopt the more subdued pastels of chinese artwork , and although this may not live up to the vibrance so associated with many of the other disney works , it helps to contribute a more authentic , and therefore more credible , nature to what otherwise may be seen as a typically " disneyfied " ethnic tale .
there are also a couple of visually standout scenes , one involving the charge of shan - yu 's hun army , which utilizes the same computer - enhanced imagery disney animators have employed since the chandelier in beauty and the beast .
the other scene worth mentioning is so quick you might miss it .
when mulan resolves to take her father 's place , she dons her father 's old battle armor , and unsheathes a sword .
as she does so , you can see her reflection in the polished metal .
it just left me thinking ,
" that was really cool . " a wonderful range of performances delight the audience
throughout the film , varying from the straight , such as soon - tek
oh as fa zhou , to the comical , such as harvey fierstein as yao , a gruff , pugilistic member of shang 's conscripted army .
even more outrageous is eddie murphy as mushu , the diminutive guardian dragon sent to look after mulan .
although an obvious attempt to relive the chemistry brought forth by robin williams in aladdin , murphy nevertheless distinguishes himself with his own winning performance .
i found the choice of b .
d .
wong as shang a little strange ( you may remember him as martin short 's wedding planner assistant in the father of the bride ) , but they used robbie benson for the voice of the beast in beauty and the beast , so i guess anything 's possible .
in any event , wong performs admirably as well .
one character which provides a significant amount of humor is grandmother fa .
she deserves recognition not only because of the levity she brings to the movie , but also because she is voiced by two very remarkable people .
june foray , who supplies grandmother fa 's speaking voice , is a venerable voice actress who may be best known for her work as rocky the squirrel and natasha fatale ( as in boris and natasha ) .
marni nixon , who provides grandmother fa 's singing voice , is the same vocalist who dubbed the voices for anna in the king and i , maria in west side story , and eliza in my fair lady .
with this in mind , hearing grandmother fa is like listening to a little piece of history .
mulan is the latest disney animated feature to get away from some of the eurocentrism which for so long dominated disney films .
in an effort to be culturally sensitive ( and to avoid a " miss saigon " -type debacle ) , disney has also wisely chosen to employ many asian - american actors for both lead and supporting roles .
in addition to the actors already mentioned , the cast includes such ubiquitous talents as james hong , gedde watanabe , james shigeta , and george takei .
i guess clyde kusatsu was n't available .
at a running time of slightly under an hour and a half , mulan moves quickly and provides solid entertainment for both children and , happily , adults .
this is the kind of disney feature that makes you wonder what they will do next , rather than hope that the next one is better .
Output: P