मुलान

There are two things I love about this movie, aside from its stunning and beautiful animation. One is that I love the fact that Disney is exploring legends from other cultures and I am so glad it brought us this one. The other is that I just wanted to stand up and cheer at this great heroine. I am a huge fan of Disney movies, but most of the heroines, while spunky, are still just your basic damsel in distress. I loved Mulan's character. She was strong, she was powerful, she could do anything she wanted, and she overcame much diversity. I was thrilled to see the portrayal of a strong female character surviving because of her own integrity and strength rather than because of her looks. Bravo, Disney, for bringing us this wonderfully progressive Chinese tale.

I have a 4.5 year old daughter who is going through the princess phase. We read lots of fairy tales etc and its very difficult to find a fairy tale where the princess is strong and resourceful. Most of the time they are pretty passive and the worst one is sleeping beauty. I find myself treading a fine line between letting her enjoy the fairy tale and occasionally commenting on the fact that perhaps some of these princesses just don't do enough to help themselves and how they can help themselves a little bit more. I don't want to destroy her pleasure in these fairy tales, after all, I loved them too. But it took me a while as adult to see how the subconscious message of helplessness in these fairy tales can reinforce the existing values of society and parents that girls are meant to be saved.

So it is a great pleasure to be able to show my daughter a story of a strong and intelligent girl - Mu Lan and its great that Mu Lan and we are both ethnically Chinese. Here is a heroine who is resourceful, uses her brains, saves the Captain and China. We draw many discussion points from the story, such as why it is that women were not allowed to join the army, the value of trying hard and training and practising hard, what is discipline and why it is needed to succeed, using your brains and thinking of how to solve a problem, not just using brute strength, etc. Even some politics - like why did the Hun king want the Emperor to bow to him and why the Emperor wouldn't bow to him but would bow to Mulan. My challenge is the explain things in a way which is both accurate and yet understandable to a 4 year old. My daughter loves the story because Mulan does a lot of "saving".

My daughter has probably watch the movie only 3 times coz I limit TV and video a lot. But she'll ask me to tell her the story in my own words, based on the video. It works out great.

The fact that the movie Mulan captivates me as an adult also helps. There's only so much I can enjoy of a barney video.

I definitely recommend this movie to parents with young girls, as a good place to start talking about being a strong and intelligent woman. Another good one is Beauty and the Beast. I've not seen Pocahontas so I can't comment on that.

Classic Disney. Why bother remake this great story, and remake it bad ?

This animated movie has everything : characters, story, music, fun, action...

Golden age Disney. The one we'll never get back.

Now I must admit I wasn't sure about this one. MULAN seemed to break most of my preconceived rules on Disney movies. These included the fairytale element - a cross-dressing Chinese soldier doesn't have the same magical appeal as, say, the son of the Greek gods searching for his birthright, etc etc. Also, this verge towards realism meant that the bad guy would not be as appealing - Disney villains are camp, over-the-top thespians by rule - Jeremy Irons in THE LION KING for example. I was concerned about the absence of king-of-melody composer Alan Menken, whose wonderful songs encapsulate the charm of Disney.

However, that said, I thought this film was wonderful. The characters were well thought out and expertly drawn. Not enough songs were present for my liking, but those that were fit perfectly with the story, and the chance to hear the wonderful voice of Lea Salonga (Mulan's songs) is worth the price of this film alone. Eddie Murphy has managed to be as good, if not better, than Robin Williams as the comic sidekick. And the film's conclusion is as genuine and as heartfelt as any adaptation of this story. The mountain scene contains some of the best animation I have seen from Disney, and the rousing score from maestro Jerry Goldsmith accompanies the action superbly.

This may not turn out to be a classic in the same way as THE LION KING and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, but I enjoyed it immensely. Go see it now!!!

Mulan is a well-known ancient folktale in Chinese history. It tells the story of mulan, who disguises herself as a man and goes to the war to protect the country in place of her aged father, and finally returns as a national hero/heroine. Although the story of mulan was evidently modified from its original, Disney did a fantastic job at retelling the story, and delivered it through the beautiful hand-drawn animation that has been lost to us for many years. As a Chinese myself, I know the mulan story like millions of Chinese people do. Some people (espcially Chinese people) may not like the Disney version of mulan simply because Disney didn't stay true to the original, but i feel somewhat differently about this. Not only did i have no problem with Disney's decision to make modifications to mulan's story, I actually kinda appreciate that they did. Cuz Disney's retelling of mulan turned out to be rather amazing, and even better than the original in my opinion. I mean, the original story is great, but it lacks fun and humor, which you can find in Disney's mulan. In the Disney version, Mulan is an outgoing, smart, and independent young woman who has difficulty fitting in the more traditional and reserved ancient Chinese society, where a woman's value is judged by marrying into a good family and being a good wife. So naturally this creates conflict and inner struggle for mulan, and thus brings out the musical number "reflection" that expresses mulan frustrations and desires. This song is so beautifully written and the lyrics have such meaningful morals and depth that it touches me every time i hear it, and I'm a guy! This song can certainly relate to a great many of young people, not only girls but also boys, cuz its central theme is all the same, that is to be your true self regardless the environment that you in. And now back to the movie, there's a lot to love about Disney's mulan: the story, the fun characters, the songs and music, the beautiful animation, etc. The story is smoothly-paced and very believable. You have no problem understanding why things happen the way they do and why mulan has taken certain actions. And I think Disney created the characters very successfully because they made them look like real Chinese people instead of the classic Disney characters that we used to see. And they made the backgrounds in the animation look like beautiful Chinese landscape paintings, which really amazed me! And the opening of the movie is probably one of the most brilliant among the Disney animation features. I was completely blown away when i first saw it in the theater. Although Disney didn't completely stay true to the original mulan, it stayed true to the spirit of the original story and the spirit of china in most part! And as Mulan being a Chinese story, i think Disney did its best to make it look like and feel like Chinese, and i really appreciate their effort. So thank you Disney, for making mulan so great!