Mulan Movie Review: Another Great Disney Movie

Mulan
Disney
Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook
Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy
1hr 28min
*****

Mulan is a Disney movie that came out in 1998. The animated, children’s film was based on an old Chinese folktale. Although it’s supposed to be a movie for kids, can adult still enjoy it? Of course! It’s one of my favorite movies to watch. I’m so glad Netflix has it. I can watch it anytime I want.

Mulan is one of my favorite Disney movies. Which is saying a lot because Disney has a pretty good track record when it comes to putting out films, animated or not. In the list of classic animated Disney movies, Mulan is in the top five in my book. The directors, Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook are no rookies when it comes to animated films. Bancroft has worked on other Disney Classics like Aladdin, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. Cook has credits in The Little Mermaid, TRON, and more recently, Walking with Dinosaurs 3D. Together, they did a great job putting this movie together.

The cast did a great job as well. The voice of the main character, Mulan, was read by actress Ming-Na Wen. She has a lot of work under her belt, including the Joy Luck Club, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Two and A Half Men, Sofia the First and Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. Her performance in Mulan was good. She did a good job bringing out the different emotions that the character went through in her voice.

Mushu, Mulan’s guardian dragon, was played by the ever and always funny, Eddie Murphy. Now Murphy is of course a very famous actor who has a had a very long and successful career. His other works include Shrek, another animated film which happens to be another favorite of mine, Coming to America, Dreamgirls, and Dr. Dolittle. Murphy is a comedian first, so I’m sure it wasn’t hard for him to bring that comedic element to the movie, which he did. Everyone loves to laugh and Eddie Murphy is probably the best person to have been chosen for that part.

The movie is about a young woman whose father gets called to war. Her father is very old and has a limp. Mulan knows he will not survive the war. She decides to sneak off and take his place so that he doesn’t have to go. Of course, at this time, women are not allowed to fight in the war so she must go disguised as a man.

I like the plot a lot. It depicts love and selflessness, but also bravery and strength. It’s a nice thing for growing girls to see. Even adult women and men can understand the message and apply it to their lives. It was cool to see how the main character evolved and got more confident throughout the movie. She wasn’t a church mouse by any means. Anyone who sneaks off to fight a war has got to have some fire inside of them, but in the beginning, she was trying to fit the mold of what she was told a lady was supposed to be. By the end, she had stepped into her own version of herself.

The movie was obviously influenced by Chinese culture and folktale. The look of the movie was great. There are lots of bright colors and the vivid details. The characters physical features seemed to be well thought out and went well with their personalities. The scenes with the ancestors and the depiction of spirits were interesting and went well with the storyline.
I think the writers did a good job as well. The characters were developed well and their conversations added depth to the movie. Mushu was probably the best because of his funny lines. The music was catchy and easy to sing along to.
Mulan is one of the earliest movies that I can remember watching that showed a strong female character in a world that constantly told her she shouldn’t or couldn’t be that. The storyline, the animation, the music, I love it all. As an adult, I think I appreciate animated films now more than I ever did as a child. That also goes to show how good a children’s movie if it can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

*****