Mulan Review
by "Dr. V. B. Daniel" (drdaniel AT stairwell DOT com)July 8th, 1998
"The Great Wall of Animation"
Dr. Daniel's review of Mulan
rating: medical miracle (****)
Starring the voices of Ming-Na Wen, Lea Salonga, Eddie Murphy, B.D. Wong, Donny Osmond, Harvey Fierstein, Jerry Tondo, Gedde Watanabe, James Hong, Miguel Ferrer, Soon-Tek Oh, Pat Morita, June Foray, George Takei.
Directed by Barry Cook. Rated G.
Okay, here's the deal. Y'all remember here a while back, I told you a tale about an old gunfighter, still sharp after all the years of dueling it out with anyone who wanted to call him out? A young upstart named Fox tried him, and got both barrels in the gut, and might never be the same again. in a few short months, three upstarts known as Little Steven, Angry Jeff, and Invisible David are coming to town, and they're riding hard to prove themselves. But, the old gunfighter, Old Walt, don't seem too worried 'bout all that.
Ol' Walt could've kicked his feet up on the bar. He did slack off a little for a while there, and he almost got taken out. So he sharpened up his act. Lost some dead wood, built himself over from the ground up, and regained his reputation as the toughest hombre in town. Some day, somebody may beat him, but at least for now, he's holding all the cards. And, there's another little secret out there that only Walt hisself knows. He's got cards waiting in the wings that are gonna be even harder to beat. He's not buying new guns, or trying new bullets. He's just keeping his weapons in tip-top form, and he's dedicating his best to the weapons that keep him alive.
Y'all figured out my little allegory this time? The folks at Disney seem to be getting a little tired of all the doomsayers, sirening the death of the Walt Disney Company as the animated feature giant. Fox tried to blast them, and the best they could do was "Anastasia", a laugh-a-minute cartoon about the Russian Revolution and the only survivor of Stalin's assasination of the Russian Royal Family. Nice choice, guys. Warner Brothers tried to fight back with "Quest For Camelot," one of the more sloppier pieces of animation to drip out of the bedpan in a while. And, in the wings, the Dreamworks boys are readying "Prince of Egypt", the animated story of Moses, another odd choice for cartooning.
And what does Ol' Walt answer with? Only the best animated feature they've made since "The Lion King." It's called "Mulan," and it's based on a Chinese legend about a young girl. And, folks, lemme tell you, it's a marvel. The soundtrack doesn't rise to new heights, but as an animated feature film, this is textbook stuff.
Mulan, as voiced by actress Ming-Na Wen, is a young Chinese girl, the only child born to her father's house. In order to follow Chinese culture of the day, Mulan should only be a proper young lady, petite, subservient, and passive. The only way to bring honor to her family is by marriage, a marriage to some wealthy, respected family. But Mulan doesn't fit that mold at all. She's adventurous, she's full of questions, and she's a bit of a tomboy. Her father's love is the light of her life, though, so she tries to go through with tradition and make nice for the local matchmaker. Big mistake. She doesn't play the quiet and obedient woman part too well, and the session is a washout.
But, before this can lay waste to the family's hopes, the Huns invade the Chinese border, heading straight for the Emperor's palace. The emperor (Pat Morita) issues a conscription notice, decreeing that one male from every family will join the army to fight off this attack. Mulan's father, a war hero, is now old and crippled from past battles, but as the only male of his house, he must go to join the fighting. He is honor bound. Mulan cannot stand the idea of losing her father, and she knows he won't survive another war, so she chops off her hair, steals her father's battle armor, and rides off, disguised as a boy, to serve in her father's place. If her disguise is discovered, her family will be dishonored, and worse, the law decrees that her commanding officer, Shang (B.D. Wong), must execute her. Thankfully, her ancestral spirits decide to send her a guardian
spirit. Unfortunately, the best they can do is a little red dragon named Mushu (Eddie Murphy).
What's there to say, people? Disney has quite a rep for bringing strong female characters into the spotlight, at least in their animated movies. But Mulan is not like The Little Mermaid's Ariel, or Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She's not all dreamy-eyed and wonderous, and she's not book-smart and spunky. Mulan is more quick-witted and fast on her feet, driven not to prove some great question, but to do what she can to save her father. She just wants to make good on the family name. Wen's voice is determined and, like Pocahontas's Irene Bedard, is feminine but full of strength. There's only a half-hearted effort to show Mulan trying to sound like a boy, mainly because it really isn't necessary. The character in the voice suits the spirit, the spirit of a fighter.
The other voice casting is just as good. Listen for Harvey Fierstein as one of Mulan's fellow recruits. He sounds just like one of those toughs that always got dropped into basic training with John Wayne or Van Johnson as the sergeant. B.D. Wong pulls off the young commander's character well, the young man put in charge while his father, a general, goes off to fight. It was nice to here June Foray's voice again. For years, she was the voice of Bullwinkle's Rocky, and countless other legends of Toon Town. Here, she gives Mulan's Grandma Wu a needed splash of sass. And a special kudo to Eddie Murphy, for bringing Mushu to the level of Robin Williams' Genie in Alladin. Murphy plays this strictly as a sidekick thing, stealing scenes left and right and cracking jokes at every turn. Mushu sounds like he's just in from Eddie's standup routine, but without the cussin'. He's hip, streetwise, and drop-dead funny. Robin still owns the title, but Eddie is a close second.
The true heroes of this movie, though, are the artists who gave the film the look it has. It goes from being painstakingly gentle and exquisite, as seen in Mulan's family cherry orchard, to vast and realistic, seen in the mountain battle scenes. There are scenes of the Great Wall and the Forbidden City that could pass as "real-film" cinematography, almost awe-inspiring until you remember what you're watching, and then even more awe-inspiring to think of the time involved in such detailed art. These scenes, in particular, harken back to the super opening of "The Lion King," with the animals in early morning making the trip to Pride Rock. Compare that footage to scenes from a National Geographic special if you get a chance, and you'll get my drift. Even the detail in the artwork of the horse mirrors Chinese art of the time. These horses are not like Pegasus, all sleek and tight, they're strong and muscular and round, much like those seen on silk screens and in sculpture from that time. They even throw in some Abbott & Costello slapstick during the training sequences, as this motley band of clods trains to be a fighting machine.
If I have an argument with Mulan, it's with the music. There is not a big, show-stopping song here like those in "The Lion King," "Beauty and the Beast," or "The Little Mermaid." These songs are just light and witty, although there is a nice ballad near the beginning. They're as much for laughs as they are for music's sake. But, to cancel out my argument, I'd much rather have this fare than be force-fed another lukewarm ballad that is SUPPOSED to be the showstopper. "Hunchback" had two of these dramatic, poignant songs that went zippo, and that godawful monster of music, Michael Bolton, forever turned me off with that "Go The Distance" thing from 'Hercules'. Since the death of Howard Ashman, the only one to capture the heart of Disney music has been the team of Tim Rice and Elton John, in "The Lion King". Until they find another combo like Rice/John or Ashman/Menken, I'll continue to cringe when I hear a musical number priming in a Disney feature.
I'm not going to sugarcoat this point, I'm telling you plain out. See "Mulan." Heck, go see "Mulan" a couple of times. See it once, for the movie, to laugh, to hear Eddie act a fool, to know the story. Then, see it again and just look at the artwork. Some museums don't have this kind of quality. Until the other upstarts learn how to combine the best of everything and make it all come together to look this perfect, Ol' Walt will still be the only gun in town, still shootin' after all these years, and by God, still winnin'.
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