Mulan is not only one of my favorite Disney movies, but one of my all-time favorite movies. Released in 1998, Mulan attempts to tell a version of “The Ballad of Mulan.” How does it do? Let’s get down to business and find out.
The film opens on the Great Wall of China, where the Huns are attacking, led by Shan Yu. Soon, word spreads to the emperor about the attack, and he orders more troops to be recruited so they can defeat Shan Yu.
Elsewhere, Mulan is studying for a test while her father prays to the ancestors that she does well. Mulan rushes to town and gets ready to meet the matchmaker, a large, uptight woman who will determine who Mulan will marry. Mulan’s grandmother gives her a cricket for luck, but the cricket escapes his cage and messes up Mulan’s chance to impress the matchmaker. Back at home, Mulan is devastated that she can’t bring her family honor through marriage, and she wonders about her role in the world. Her father approaches her and comforts her.
Just then, they hear the sound of drums. Chi Fu orders one man from every family to join the army to defeat the Huns. With no sons, Fa Zhou must go off to battle again. Mulan pleads with him not to go, since he will most likely die due to his age and leg injury. He insists he must go, though, and Mulan runs away to cry. After everyone has gone to bed, Mulan decides that she will take her father’s place in the army, at the risk of her own life, since women at this time are not allowed to serve. When her family has discovered this, they are upset and pray to the ancestors to protect her. The ancestors decide to send the Great Stone Dragon to protect Mulan and tell Mushu to awaken him. But when Mushu tries to wake up the Great Stone Dragon, the statue merely crumbles. Mushu decides to go instead to prove his worth to the ancestors, and Cri-Kee tags along.
Mushu tries to help Mulan make a good first impression, but he messes things up and causes the whole camp to turn on her within minutes of their arrival. As time passes while an incredibly catchy song plays, the guys come to accept Mulan, going by Ping, as one of their own. The Huns continue to advance into China, despite attempts to stop them, and -although the order is a fake concocted by Mushu and Cri-Kee- Mulan’s company must head to the front to help out the order. They are ambushed, though, by the Hun army and must fight or die. Mulan takes a rocket and causes an avalanche to occur, killing most of the Hun army in the process. Shan Yu wounds her during the fight, and her secret is discovered. However, because she managed to save Shang with an incredibly strong rope and a whole lot of luck, he spares her life and abandons her in the mountains. After they leave, Mulan witnesses a handful of Huns, including Shan Yu, emerge from the wreckage and head to the Imperial City. Mulan rushes after them.
In the city, everyone is celebrating the defeat of the Huns. Mulan appears and tries to warn her friends, but no one listens to her. Shan Yu appears and takes the emperor hostage. Mulan convinces Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po to help her out, and Shang decides to give her a second chance. Together, they manage to get the emperor to safety. Mulan lures Shan Yu to the roof, where Mushu lights a powerful firecracker at him, which throws him into a pile of unlit fireworks. They all explode, killing Shan Yu and saving China. The emperor offers Mulan a position on his council, which she turns down. She returns home with the emperor’s crest and Shan Yu’s sword as gifts for her father. Her family is relieved that she is home safe. Shang shows up with her helmet, and Mulan invites him to dinner. Mushu is reinstated as a guardian, and he celebrates, much to the annoyance of the head ancestor.
Like many Disney Princess movies, Mulan has songs in it. The first song is “Honor To Us All.” While I enjoy all of the songs on this list, I tend to forget about this song the most. I don’t know why I do, since it’s a pretty song. Next is “Reflection.” I don’t know if this is my favorite Disney song or not, but it’s definitely on my list of favorite Disney songs. Mulan is struggling to play her part in the world and wonders when she’ll be able to show who she is inside. “I’ll Make A Man Out of You” is a three-week long training montage, and one of the best training montages in cinematic history in my opinion. By the time this song plays, we already know a woman’s role in society, but this song tells us a man’s role, specifically as a soldier, in the same society. Lastly is “Girl Worth Fighting For.’ The guys talk about their ideal girl, which of course makes Mulan uncomfortable, but no one seems to notice. No songs are sung during the second half of the film, but “I’ll Make A Man Out of You” can be heard when the guys are getting dressed up as concubines while preparing to infiltrate the palace.
Fa Mulan, voiced by Ming-Na Wen, is my favorite Disney Princess, and based on this Super Carlin Brothers video, it seems like a lot of people agree with me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvkx0gEyE5Y Mulan’s driving force is to save her father from certain death, even though she knows that if she’s discovered, she will be killed and her family dishonored. She just wants to do the right thing, and I wish more people in this world wanted to do the right thing for no other reason than it’s the right thing to do. And she knows how to kick butt if she needs to. When she goes to the army camp and she’s surrounded by all the guys, she doesn’t once think about who might be cute. Now, being surrounded by a bunch of guys for months on end, it does seem natural that she would eventually become attracted to at least one of them, and she does. But their romance isn’t really explored until the last five minutes of the movie, which I really like. Disney movies are notorious for love at first sight romances that last, especially Disney Princess movies. I understand that being Disney, they were of course going to shoehorn in a romance, but it wasn’t shoved in your face, so I tolerate it quite well. I wish more Disney Princesses were like Mulan.
Li Shang, voiced by B.D. Wong, is Mulan’s CO and love interest. He was promoted to captain by his father, General Li, and is in charge of training the new recruits. He’s forced to work under the watchful eye of Chi Fu, who is determined to see Shang fail. Shang wants nothing more than to make his father proud of him, and to prove that he didn’t get the job just because of his last name. Because his father is the general, Shang does possess a working knowledge of military procedures, and he does his best to pass this knowledge down to his troops. He’s very good at keeping personal stuff from mixing with his job, since he mourned the loss of his father for all of three seconds. However, we don’t know much about their relationship, so it’s possible they weren’t that close. It isn’t until the last five minutes that Shang shows any hint of romantic feelings for Mulan, and he only goes after her because the Emperor said to.
Yao, voiced by Harvey Fierstein, Ling, voiced by Gedde Watanabe, & Chien-Po, voiced by Jerry S. Tondo, are three of the men who serve with Mulan. Yao is a short, gruff man who is missing an eye. Ling is skinny and a typical class clown. Chien-Po is very tall, obese, and loves food. They are never seen by themselves, and they’ve clearly known each other for a while before they joined the army. I can see Yao and Ling being buddies, but how Chein-Po got thrown into the mix is unclear, but he does seem to be the voice of reason in the group. They all have their own ideal version of a wife, and like all the men in the troop, they miss being around women. When Mulan is outed, they don’t even question it. Instead, they try to save her because they were friends with Ping, even though they made her life miserable for the first few weeks of training.
Mushu, voiced by Eddie Murphy, and Cri-Kee are Mulan’s guardians and animal sidekicks. Cri-Kee was found by Grandma, who mistook him for a lucky cricket, and gave him to Mulan to help her impress the matchmaker. Mushu used to be a guardian of the Fa family, but was demoted when the man he was protecting was beheaded. He’s been trying to earn back his spot ever since, though the ancestors are determined to not let this happen. I heard a theory that Khan, Mulan’s horse, was possibly another guardian for Fa Zhou. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hopf2YOxBY I can see how this could make sense, since Khan is very expressive, and he hates Mushu, but Mushu doesn’t recognize Khan as a fellow guardian, and it would’ve been Mushu’s job to awaken Khan when he was assigned to help Fa Zhou. Cri-Kee tags along because he wants to keep an eye on Mushu? I don’t really understand why Cri-Kee was included, since he doesn’t really do much besides stand there. Only Mushu seems to be able to understand him, and Mulan barely interacts with him after the matchmaker incident.
Mulan’s family consists of her father, Fa Zhou, her mother, Fa Li, and her grandmother. Fa Zhou, voiced by Soon-Tek Oh, fought in the army many years ago, but was wounded and now has to walk with a cane. He has a deep sense of honor, but he loves his family. Even though he knows his age and health will mean death for him, he is still willing to serve in the army to protect his family and country. When Mulan leaves for the army, he knows he cannot go after her because she will be killed if she’s exposed, and the family dishonored. Fa Li, voiced by Freda Foh Shen, is Mulan’s mother. Not much is known about her, since she is a traditional Chinese woman of the times, but she wants what’s best for her family. The grandmother, voiced by June Foray, is a very sassy old lady. Presumably Zhou’s mother, she seems to be the closest to Mulan personality wise. She lives with Zhou and Li, probably because her husband is dead. Mulan is the rare Disney Princess that has both of her parents live throughout the entire movie, and she’s the only Disney Princess to have a grandparent shown in a movie.
Mulan’s ancestors are the spirits of past members of the Fa family, and they look after the current living members. The head ancestor, voiced by George Takei, is the leader of the ancestors. I don’t know why he’s in charge, but he is. Maybe he’s the first person to use the Fa name, who knows. Only one ancestor is named, Fa Deng, and it was his death that caused Mushu to be demoted. They don’t really do much in the movie, since they can’t leave their temple. They come out, argue about Mulan, agree to send the Great Stone Dragon to retrieve her, then celebrate when Mulan comes back a war hero. The head ancestor, however, still seems annoyed by Mushu’s antics.
The Emperor, voiced by Pat Morita, is a very kind and wise old man. He cares more about protecting his people from the Huns than himself. He doesn’t underestimate his opponents and will take no chances when protecting his people. He often speaks in proverbs, but he can be very blunt if he needs to. After the battle at the palace, he doesn’t care that Mulan is a woman when he recognizes her as the hero of China, and he bows to her.
Chi Fu, voiced by James Hong, is the Emperor’s advisor who watches and takes note of how Shang’s troops are training. He is very cocky, arrogant, and a stickler for the rules. Typical for the time period, he thought very little of Mulan because she was a woman, and fainted at the prospect of losing his job to her. He was the only one who enjoyed the parade at the end of the movie while everyone else lamented Mulan. He hates that Shang was promoted and sees it as a father doing his son a favor. He lords his position over Shang to try and prove who’s really in charge. I don’t get why he was present during training, or why he followed the troops to the front for battle. My guess is the Emperor wanted to get rid of Chi Fu, at least for a little while, since he seems to find Chi Fu annoying at times. Why the Emperor keeps Chi Fu around is unknown, since we don’t know much about the politics of the time.
Shan Yu, voiced by Miguel Ferrer, is the leader of the Hun army that attacks China. The Huns are most likely based off the Xiongnu Empire, also called Asiatic Huns, who lived from about the 5th century BC to 51 BC when the empire split into two bands. (The Xiongnu are thought to be the ancestors of the Huns who battled the Roman Empire in the fifth century AD under the rule of Attila.) I don’t know why Shan Yu isn’t considered one of the great Disney Villains. He’s large, pale, has black and yellow eyes, he has a falcon as a pet, and he doesn’t care about killing innocent people, not even women and children. He’s the type of person to straighten your tie while threatening your life, or use the excuse of returning a lost doll to slaughter an entire village. If I saw Shan Yu coming towards me, I would run the other way, since the dude is straight up scary.
No one knows if Mulan was a real person or not, but the legend, known as “The Ballad of Mulan”, has been told for centuries. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/china/mulan.pdf “The Ballad of Mulan” was written between 386 AD and 557 AD, during the Northern Wei Dynasty. Being an ancient legend, there are many different versions of the same story, but they all have the same basic information. A young woman takes her father’s place at war, because he is old and she has no older brother. After many years at war, usually 10-12 years, Mulan turned down an offer for a minister’s post and asked instead to return home. Also, when she revealed her true self to her comrades, they were shocked that she was a woman, but ultimately fine with it. The version I read mentions a little brother, which is the name of Muan’s dog in the movie. I heard somewhere that originally, Mulan was going to have a little brother, but for some reason, it wouldn’t work, so they changed him into a dog. I’ve included a link to a site that offers a lot more background information about the legend of Mulan. http://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/ballad-hua-mulan-legendary-warrior-woman-who-brought-hope-china-005084
A popular question is during which dynasty does Mulan take place. Disney isn’t known for being historically accurate, and Mulan is no exception. Disney seemed to mesh together several different dynasties when writing Mulan, and this does make it harder to try and guess when the film takes place. The Great Wall of China was built beginning in about the third century BC during the Qin Dynasty. Most of what exists today was built during the Ming Dynasty, during the fourteenth through seventeenth centuries AD. https://www.history.com/topics/great-wall-of-china After the fall of the Qin Dynasty, the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Bei Qi Dynasty, and the Sui Dynasty all added to the wall. The Huns are based on the Xiongnu, which first appeared during the fifth century BC and split around 51 BC into the eastern and western hoards. Before the split, the Xiongnu constantly attacked the Chinese, which is what prompted them to build the Great Wall in the first place. After the split, there were some attacks on China, but by the fifth century AD, the Xiongnu had all apparently died out, since any references to them had ceased. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Xiongnu However, the film does show fireworks, and the earliest records of fireworks and black powder don’t appear until about the seventh century AD, during the Tang Dynasty. https://www.fireworks.co.uk/history/ If you don’t consider the fireworks and black powder, then the Qin Dynasty makes the most sense, given when the Great Wall was built and when the Xiongnu were around. Some people suggest that Mulan takes place during the Han Dynasty. While I can understand their reasoning, there is one line in the film that challenges this: Shan Yu clearly says that he invaded China because the Emperor built the Wall. I could not find any evidence that the Han Dynasty did anything with the Wall. They certainly could have, but the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty is who ordered the wall to be built. I’m going to say Mulan is supposed to take place during the Qin Dynasty and was heavily influenced by the Han and Tang Dynasties, and the “Ballad of Mulan” takes place during the Northern Wei Dynasty, because that’s when it was written. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/chem/hd_chem.htm
The animation in Mulan is just beautiful. The backgrounds look amazing while the Hun army looks terrifying. There are plenty of bright and colorful moments, but there’s also a lot of dark animation, especially when the Hun army is on screen. There’s even a brief shot of dead bodies shown on screen in a G rated movie. The camera doesn’t linger on them, and there’s no blood, but they still show dead bodies. I heard once that the animators had to create a new software so they could animate the Hun army during the battle. Now, the movie was released in 1998, but some of the effects still hold up.
Mulan is the only Disney Princess who isn’t royalty. As every Super Carlin Brother fan knows, in order to qualify to be a Disney Princess, you must either be born royal, marry royal, or perform an act of heroism. This last condition was added in so they could add Mulan to the lineup. Mulan never once acted to prove she was as good as any man. She left to save her father, and she went back to save China. She did what she did because it was the right thing to do. If this movie had been written today, in 2018, she probably would’ve tried to prove that women are equal to men, even though it wouldn’t fit in with the time period at all. Mulan knew society had a role for her to play, and she did her best to play it. When she went off to war, it wasn’t to prove a point. This sense of family and honor is lost to modern day Americans. I hope that when the live action version is released in 2020, they don’t try to make her a feminist, but instead stay true to the heart of the legend.
I’m SJ, and theses are my real thoughts on Mulan.
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