Review: Mulan (1998)

With the Huns invading China, the Emperor (voiced by Pat Morita!) calls for one male in each family to join China’s army to help fight the Huns (who are led by Shan-Yu, voiced by that great Asian actor…Miguel Ferrer). When her aging father (voiced by Soon-Tek Oh) is called, daughter Mulan (voiced by Ming Na) dresses like and impersonates a man and joins the army to spare her father. Once told by a matchmaker that she will never bring honour to her family, Mulan attempts to do just that. Eddie Murphy provides the voice of Mulan’s tiny dragon companion Mushu, and James Hong is the voice of Chi Fu, a scheming viceroy to Mulan’s brave, stoic army captain Shang (voiced by B.D. Wong).

 

1998 Disney animated film is superior to the terrible “Pocahontas”, but in addition to a female protagonist, the film shares the earlier film’s ill-fit of Disney animated family fun and serious historical story (or in this case, based on Chinese legend). Directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, there’s some things to like here, but I’d still favour seeing the live-action “Hua Mulan”. At least that film doesn’t have a talking dragon sidekick voiced by Eddie Murphy.

 

First things first, the angular animation suits this film’s Asian flavour much better than it served “Pocahontas” or “Hercules”. It’s a good-looking and very pretty film, no doubt about it. Mulan herself isn’t all that attractive to be honest, but I kinda like that she looks ‘normal’ and not too Disney-ised (or Americanised, perhaps). The film also has an excellent, Academy Award nominated music score by the one and only Jerry Goldsmith (“A Patch of Blue”, “Planet of the Apes”, “The Omen”). The film’s big song, ‘Reflection’ is also one of the best Disney songs as far as I’m concerned, even if I loathe everything else Xtina Aguilera has ever done. On an irrelevant trivia note, most of the songs were co-written by Matthew Wilder, who you may remember from his 80s one-hit wonder ‘Break My Stride’. Awesome song that one (Less awesome is Stevie Wonder losing credibility collaborating with 98 Degrees on a song. It sucks).

 

We also get terrific voice work by the late Pat Morita and the excellent George Takei particularly standing out as a ghostly ancestor. James Hong is also good as always, even though his work is the most racially stereotyped in the entire film. For some reason I found that detail hilarious. I’m not overly keen on all the American-accented English used throughout the film, but at least they aren’t all phony Asian accents, and most of the cast at the very least is Asian or Asian-American. I could see what Eddie Murphy and Disney were trying to achieve, another Robin Williams in “Aladdin” situation, but he stands out like a sore thumb here. He doesn’t remotely fit in, and isn’t particularly amusing.

 

One advantage this film has over the later “Hua Mulan” is that it’s easier to swallow the gender deception here than in a live-action film. She’s a bit more convincing in disguise here, at least physically. And credit where it’s due, the film does manage to tell quite a bit of the legend, just with a much lighter touch, probably unavoidable. But like “Hercules”, I still can’t help but think that Disney animation just isn’t the right format for a story that simply isn’t for kids. The biggest problem is that the title character never quite pulls you in here in this sanitised version. She just isn’t afforded enough depth to truly resonate with viewers.

 

It’s not a bad film, and it’s a lot better than I was expecting, but I’d watch “Hua Mulan” instead. The Asian setting gives the film a difference to the Disney norm to an extent, but overall this is a near-miss. It’s almost a good film. Almost. The screenplay is by Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, Rita Hsiao (“Toy Story 2”), Phil LaZebnik (“Pocahontas”), Chris Sanders (“Lilo & Stitch”, “The Croods”), and Raymond Singer.

 

Rating: C+