Mulan (1998) Review

Mulan

Release Date: 3rd September 1998 - Australia

Production Companies

Walt Disney Pictures

Walt Disney Feature Animation

Distribution

Walt Disney Studios Motion

Pictures Australia

Genre: Animation/Family/

Action/Adventure

Rating: G

Runtime: 88 minutes


Budget: $90,000,000

Box Office Gross: $304,320,254 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary

In a society bound by tradition, a young Chinese girl named Mulan learns that her father is to get called to arms to fight the invading Huns led by the dreaded Shan Yu. Knowing that her father would not survive the battle in his weakened state, she disguised herself as a male soldier and took his place in the Imperial Army. Little does Mulan know that her spiritual ancestors have sent a guardian to protect her, only that her protector is a disgraced small dragon named Mushu. Mulan

tries to earn the respect

of her fellow soldiers and

her commanding officer,

Captain Shang, during her

time in the Imperial Army.

Now, Mulan has to keep her identity safe from the army and sets out to prove her worth for her family's honour by marching into a battle where the fate of China and the Emperor's life are at stake.

Voice Cast
Ming-Na - Mulan
Lea Salonga - Mulan (singing
voice)
Eddie Murphy - Mushu
BD Wong - Shang
Miguel Ferrer - Shan Yu
Donny Osmond - Shang
(singing voice)
Harvey Fierstein - Yao
Soon Tek-Oh - Fa Zhou
June Foray - Grandmother Fa
Marni Nixon - Grandmother Fa
(singing voice)
George Takei - First Ancestor
James Hong - Chi Fu
Pat Morita - The Emperor
Miriam Margoyles - The
Matchmaker
Frank Welker - Khan/Cri-Kee
James Shigeta - General Li
Jerry Tondo - Chien-Po
Gedde Watanabe - Ling
Matthew Wilder - Ling (singing voice)

Crew
Directors - Barry Cook and
Tony Bancroft

Poem - Guo Maoqin (Uncredited)
Based on a Story - Robert D. San Souci
Story Co-Head - Dean DeBlois
Story - Robert D. San Souci,
John Sanford, Tim Hodge,
Burny Mattinson, Barry
Johnson, Ed Gombert,
Chris Williams, Julius
Aguimatang, Lorna Cook,
Thom Enriquez, Joe Grant
and Floyd Norman
Additional Story Material - Linda Woolverton,
Jodi Ann Johnston, Alan Ormsby, David Reynolds,
Don Doughtery, Jorgen Klubien, Denis Rich,
Joe Ekers, Theodore Newton, Larry Scholl,
Daan Jippes, Frank Nissen and Jeff Snow
Screenplay/Story Supervisor - Chris Sanders
Screenplay - Rita Hsiao, Philip LaZebnik and
Raymond & Eugenia Bostwick-Singer

Associate Producers - Kendra Haaland and

Robert A. Garber

Producer - Pam Coats

Martial Arts Fight Advisor - B.H. Barry
Production Designer - Hans Bacher
Art Director - Ric Sluiter
Artistic Coordinator - Jeff Dutton
Character Design Supervisor - Chen-Yi Chang
Character Designers/Visual Development -
Richie Chavez, Peter DeSeve, Paul A. Felix,
Jean Gillmore, Caroline Hu, Sai Ping Lok,
Rick Maki, Sue C. Nichols, Alex Nino,
John Puglisi, Robh Ruppel and

Marcelo Vignali
Visual Development/Lead Animator:

"Little Brother" - Shawn Keller

Layout Supervisor - Robert Walker

Background Supervisor - Robert E. Stanton

Supervising Animator: "Mulan" and

"Fa Zhou" - Mark Henn
Supervising Animator: "Shang" and "Fa Li" -
Ruben A. Aquino
Supervising Animator: "Mushu" - Tom Bancroft
Supervising Animator: "Cri-Kee" - Barry Temple
Supervising Animator: "Shan-Yu", "Falcon"

and "Elite Huns" - Pres Romanillos
Supervising Animator: "Yao" and "The

Ancestors" - Aaron Blaise
Supervising Animator: "Chien-Po" and

"Ling" - Broose Johnson
Supervising Animator: "The Emperor" -
T. Daniel Hofstedt
Supervising Animator: "Chi-Fu" and

"Grandmother Fa" - Jeffrey James Varab
Supervising Animator: "Khan" and

"General Li" - Alex Kupershmidt

Clean-Up Supervisor: Los Angeles  - Vera Pacheco

Computer Animation Supervisors - Rob Bekuhrs
and Eric Guaglione
Film Editor - Michael Kelly

Associate Editors - William J. Caparella

and Albert Coleman (Uncredited)

Sound Designer/Supervisor - Lon Bender

ADR/Dialogue Supervisor - Curt Schulkey

Re-Recording Mixers - Mel Metcalfe,

Terry Porter and Dean A. Zupancic

Foley Artists - Catherine Harper

and James Moriana

Songs - Matthew Wilder
Lyrics - David Zippel
Music - Jerry Goldsmith

Executive Music Producer - Chris Montan

Music Coordinator - Tom MacDougall

Score Recordist and Mixer - Bruce Botnick

Awards

1999 Academy Awards
Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score -
Matthew Wilder, David Zippel and Jerry Goldsmith (Nominated)

Review

This film produces a massive scope and a fascinating Chinese backdrop that would have impressed the late director David Lean if he were alive. MULAN was based on a legendary Chinese poem and had an empowering message. It's no wonder Disney has to put any creative liberties into turning this ballad into an animated musical. It is fair that Disney never gives up trying to replicate movies with the same formula repeated many times. Even the frequent use of comical characters has toned down the movie's darker themes. Unfortunately, MULAN runs at a minimal 88 minutes and, to some degree, does not deliver enough action scenes to warrant the film a PG rating. On a positive note, the animation was delicate. The feature had some great moments, including the title character donning her disguise as a male soldier and the avalanche scene.

I could not help but gain an appreciation for Jerry Goldsmith's well-conducted and bombastic score. I was impressed by his musical genius. Also, I praise Eddie Murphy for putting his energetic voice for the hilarious dragon Mushu and two of the feature's songs, "Reflection" and "I'll Make a Man Out of You".

MULAN is good, but adding more action could have enhanced the plot. It would have been on a larger scale to be Disney's hugest achievement. Buy or rent it and enjoy it with the young ones or for the sake of honour.

Star rating: (7/10) Good Movie

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