Mulan (1998)

Genres

Adventure | Animation | Comedy | Musical | War

Directors

Barry Cook | Tony Bancroft

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, BD Wong, Miguel Ferrer, June Foray, Harvey Fierstein, Gedde Watanabe, Jerry Tondo, James Hong, Soon-Tek Oh, Pat Morita, George Takei, Miriam Margolyes, Freda Foh Shen, James Shigeta

Storyline

To save her father from death in the army, young Chinese maiden Mulan (Ming-Na Wen) decides to disguise herself and join in his place.

Opinion

I'll never get tired of saying that war movies aren't my thing and yet "Mulan" was my favourite Disney movie when I was a kid. And it still is nowadays because it isn't only a fun and very entertaining animated film, but it does feature Disney's greatest princess heroine ever.

Although simple and pretty straightforward, this film has that kind of story that not only keeps you interested from start to finish, but that has meaning. By setting the story in ancient China, what the filmmakers did is show the repression of women, their struggle to be who they want to be in a culture where women are expected to be quiet and basically nothing more than somebody's daughters and wives, which sadly is still relevant today. And they also showed the horrors and sorrows of war (I agree that they might be heavy themes for kids, but I grew up watching this and it didn't damage me. Well, at least that's what I think).

As I mentioned above, the reason why I loved and still love "Mulan" are the characters. Mulan is pretty unique in the Disney universe and she is a very positive role model for young girls. She is not a princess but a strong, smart, resourceful and independent young woman, and she shows that each of us can achieve whatever goal we have with hard work and dedication.

Then there are the supporting characters, simply delightful. Eddie Murphy's Mushu is a hell of a sidekick. Not only that little dragon plays an important role in the story, but he's arguably one of the funniest characters ever. Shang is a tough yet insecure man and that's why he is such an interesting love interested. Yau, Ling and Chien-Po are really fun to watch and so is Mulan's grandma. And finally, Shan Yu, the villain, is quite threatening.

There are also some pretty good and catchy songs like "Be a Man", and the animation is stunning and it is so reminiscent of ancient Chinese art that makes is ever more stunning.