Mulan 2 : La Mission de l'Empereur

I didn't think Mulan II was awful and I certainly didn't hate it. I found the material to be pretty sophisticated for a Disney movie, particularly for a sequel. The relationship issues were were complex and thoughtful, and I agree with a previous comment that the movie does a good job of building and expanding on what we saw in the first movie. I enjoyed the addition of the the three daughters as characters as well and the return of Ling, Yao, and Chien Po. Overall I thought the movie was charming, entertaining, and it made me grin. There were also some very dramatic scenes in the movie that I thought were just outstanding and ground-breaking for a Disney animated feature.

Having said that, I also have to say that I was disappointed that the feel of the movie did not match the first. In fact it was completely different, and I found many of the characters to be extremely out of character, particularly Shang and Mulan. They just did not seem like themselves, based on our understanding of who they are from the original film. There are moments in which the way they react to events is completely over the top (for example, Shang's anger when he thinks Mulan is gossiping about him to the princesses). His facial expressions even become exaggerated in cartoon fashion. Basically, the movie did not have the serene, serious, yet beautiful feeling of the first. Instead it was like the movie was completely thrown to a group of writers and directors who were given semblances of who the characters are and then ran off with it. Shang, Mulan, and Ling acted so off sometimes that it seemed like their voice actors changed. I was surprised that B.D. Wong, Ming-Na, and Gedde Watanabe were still doing their parts, despite how familiar I am with their voices.

Mulan II is enjoyable, but it's nothing like the first. I think I could best describe it as watching a Mulan fan fiction come to life.... entertaining but with a few ummms in there.

Mulan was one of Disney's greatest films ever made with beautiful animation, excellent voice acting, intense action, and an entertaining story. So, when some of the Disney sequels came out at the time (Return of Jafar, Cinderella II, and Hunchback of Notre Dame II), I waited so desperately to see a sequel that would capture the magic of the original.

Sadly, my expectations were quite low when after the first 10-15 minutes of this film since it failed to be the same positive levels that made the original such a masterpiece and the characteristic was one of the few main problems of this sequel. I'll show you by contrasting the characteristic of the original and this sequel.

In the original, Mulan was a conflicted woman who was doing what is right for his family by protecting his father from getting himself killed. In this sequel, Mulan's personality is to now be a staunch feminist as she and Shang try to love each other. In the original, Mushu was a well-intentioned but slightly misguided sidekick who gave me some laughs with his comedic moments throughout the film. In this sequel, he's a selfish villain who attempts to break up the relationship between Mulan and Shang. In the original, Mulan's army buddies were hilarious and were quite enjoyable characters. In this sequel, they are now being one-dimensional characters repeating the same characteristic over and over again.

With the characteristic out of the way, there are a few good things about this movie. The voice acting is very terrific and did their best with the material they've been given and the animation, while below the original's standards, is obviously quite good and is the best animation I've seen in a Disney direct-to-video sequel this far.

Sadly, those two positive aspects got suffered by it's predictable story (with some overused clichés from other new direct-to-video sequels) and it's uninspiring message about "Following your heart" which makes it a little less entertaining for children and their adults.

Although, not a horrible sequel (unlike Cinderella 2, which was by far the worst direct-to-video sequel I have ever seen), Mulan II lacks the heart of the original and has a uninspiring message that just doesn't measure up. I'm sure the kids will enjoy it, but in terms of direct-to-video sequels, the adults might have a hard time remembering this.

Rating: 5.6/10

Disney is one of the kings of exploitation. For every successful (and unsuccessful) franchise film, there comes tons of merchandising, original soundtracks and sing-alongs and *shudder* direct-to-video sequels. Yes, these sequels go direct-to-video because we all know that they're going to be pretty bad, but parents are always looking for cheap ways to entertain their children (telling folk tales doesn't work anymore since no one knows them--another topic that's ripe for academic study, if it hasn't already been pursued) and so Disney somehow manages, by keeping their costs low and targeting their niche market, to keep churning out endless sequels of their hit films.

Mulan has a baby. It goes by the clever name Mulan II. This film, which amazingly contains the voice talent of Ming-Na (in terms of returning talent, that's all you get--ER apparently doesn't cover the bills), contains a cheesy uninspiring message of following your heart. (Even over duty! Oh wait, in the wonderful world of Disney, somehow duty gets accomplished incidentally to following your heart. I like the scary Brothers Grimm better, thank you very much.) Fa Mulan and her general friend/lover/dude are getting married. Stuff happens. More stuff happens. Who cares? Oh yeah, the film is a musical too. Do I remember the songs? Nope. Am I glad that I don't remember them? Yep. The animation was unimpressive, the story was unimpressive, the acting was unimpressive, the exploitation of other cultures by Disney in attempt to capture the almighty dollar? Impressive. It appears as though Disney doesn't really care all that much about their source material as a whole. Chinese history and culture is only so important as it helps Disney make Mulan and its direct-to-video heir to sell to the masses.

So what does this film have going for it? It's not as painful as Little Black Book. But it's close. I watched it on the bus and despite the fact that I wasn't sleepy, I had to the urge to fall asleep just so I could avoid it. If it were night, I would have. I think you can manage to distract kids with this mumbo-jumbo, but honestly, there are far better ways of entertaining your children. 4/10.

this was a fab movie a great carry on and if anyone thinks other wise they're mad. the true mushu was revealed and we saw a new side to chien po, ling and yao, plus the princesses ting ting, may and su are a great addition i can't wait to see if a third one is planned. it had me hooked when watching it the beautiful scenery the story of ying and yang combined the whole thing. it is a must buy a fab movie for both adults and children it shows china in a new light plus the costumes just keep getting better and better great emotion and reality it is funnier some great jokes from ling and ting ting you just can't miss this fab movie it's great i love it.

When the story doesn't focus on Mushu trying to sabotage the love between Mulan and Shang in order to keep his status, it's good.

The love story between the three princesses, Yao, Ling, Chien Po is the best part of the movie for me and what brings me back to the film every once in a blue moon. The "Like Other Girls" song is such a classic to me, but maybe it's because I grew up with it.

As far as sequels go, no, Mulan 2 isn't up to par with the first movie, but it's a decent sequel among the many terrible ones they've created.