Mulan (1998)

[StevePulaski]

Mulan (1998)
Directed by: Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft

Rating: ★★½

It's not hard to understand why Disney's Mulan is a cherished property for millennials and "nineties babies" alike. It signifies a wrinkle in Disney's fabric of impossibly perfect princesses, a formula that in large part made them the empire they are today. There's no glass slipper to be found. No hulking creature alongside its heroine. In fact, there's a clear and present disadvantage for its titular character, who must disguise herself as a man in order to counter an incoming invasion. Here's a film that admirably goes against the grain in big aspects but muddies itself by still sticking to formula in others, making a first-time viewer like myself cognizant of the fact that I am vastly late to the station to hop on the nostalgia train for this one.

Mulan was released at a time when the strong female lead — particularly in animated films — wasn't as explicitly common as it is today. This wouldn't be noteworthy if the film around the character didn't feel mostly adequate. Mulan is a commanding screen presence thrust into a couple involving sequences, but between the litany of forgettable, Americanized supporting characters and a very overused source of comic relief, the project isn't the sum of its iconic hero.

Based on a Chinese folktale, Fa Mulan (voiced by Ming-Na Wen) is the daughter of the elderly warrior Fa Zhou (Soon-Tek Oh), who nonetheless plans on being part of the brigade to protect the Great Wall amidst an impending attack led by the ruthless Hun leader Shan-Yu (Miguel Ferrer). Mulan can't bear the thought of her father dying in combat, so she steals the family sword and plans to disguise herself as a man named "Ping" in order to go in his place.

By doing this, Mulan is disobedient not only to her family's expectations but to the plan in place for her since birth. She was supposed to marry whomever the family saw fit for her and lead the life of a matriarch. When assigned to serve under Shang (BD Wong), who the filmmakers can't help but make attractive to Mulan, she is accompanied by a skimpy dragon named Mushu (Eddie Murphy), a glib, wise-cracking source of comedy who gets far too much dialog in an otherwise serious tale.

Murphy's Mushu is in the same vein of other staple Disney side-characters, such as Robin Williams' genie in Aladdin or Timothy Q. Mouse in Dumbo, who occasionally usurp the lead in popularity. However, it's as if nearly every dramatic moment in Mulan must warrant a quip from Mushu, whose voice and demeanor is already out of place in a Chinese parable. Also out of place are most of the men called to serve under Shang's order. They range from frustratingly dopey to jarring in their masculinity, tagging the bases of typical, underserved supporting souls that never come close to matching the weight of the protagonist.

Besides its effortlessly likable lead, Mulan is lifted in part due to some particularly engaging action sequences. There's a riveting avalanche that requires some flexibility on part of the characters that even the animation appears breathless to capture. The final battle is an appropriately non-linear showdown with the collateral damage one would expect from a novice warrior, and the Donny Osmond-led number "I'll Make a Man Out of You" appropriately sets the tone while serving as the film's signature song. There's a lot to appreciate with Mulan, and it's nearly impossible to negate the nostalgic lens through which it's often viewed. This is another case where praise for representation shouldn't obscure other narrative shortcomings.

NOTE: Check out my review of Niki Caro's live-action remake of Mulan on my web-show Sleepless with Steve:

Voiced by: Ming-Na Wen, BD Wong, Eddie Murphy, Miguel Ferrer, and Soon-Tek Oh. Directed by: Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft.