DISNEY: MULAN(1998)
Another of Disney's best animation feature films ever
made! Music is excellant! The story is ageless. And the
animation is great! And of course it doesn't hurt to have
the great talents of Star Trek's George Tekai!!
All in all, a must watch for all Disney/animation/cartoon
fans! A+
From Amazon.com:
Solid entertainment from a new group of Disney animators.
The story source is a Chinese fable about a young girl who
disguises herself as a man to help her family and her country.
When the Huns attack China, a call to arms goes out to every
village, and Mulan's father, being the only man in the family,
accepts the call. Mulan (voiced by Ming-Na Wen, sung by Lea
Salonga) has just made a disastrous appearance at the
Matchmaker and decides to challenge society's expectations
(being a bride). She steals her father's conscription notice,
cuts her hair, and impersonates a man to join the army.
She goes to boot camp, learning to fit in with the other
soldiers with some help from her sidekick, Mushu, a
wise-cracking dragon (voiced by Eddie Murphy). She trains,
and soon faces the Huns eye-to-eye to protect her Emperor.
The film is gorgeous to look at, with a superior blend of
classic and computer-generated animation. Directors Tony
Bancroft and Barry Cook make the best of it: a battle in the
snowy mountains is as thrilling as the best Hollywood action
films. The menacing Huns are not cute but simple and bad.
The wickedness is subtle, not disturbing. The film is not a
full-fledged musical, as it has only five songs (the best,
"Be a Man," is sung during boot camp). Eddie Murphy is
an inspired choice for the comic-relief dragon, but his
lines are not as clever as Robin Williams's in Aladdin.
These are minor quibbles, though. The story is strong,
and Mulan goes right to the top of Disney animated
heroines; she has the right stuff. --Doug Thomas