# Mulan (1998)

### reviewed by
David N. Butterworth

    MULAN
    A film review by David N. Butterworth
    Copyright 1998 David N. Butterworth

    *** (out of ****)

The Disney studios has its formula for annual, full-length animated features down so pat that it's hard to remember which one you're watching at any given moment.

            "Mulan," their 36th animated adventure, is the latest case in point.

Once again we have a tale focused around a strong central character (female as usual; Disney is one of the few studios whose heroines--Ariel, Belle, Pocahontas, and now Mulan--get equal screen time with their heroes in recent years). Add the requisite love interest and a wise-cracking sidekick or two, pep up the soundtrack with a handful of strategically placed show tunes (an introspective number by a pool or looking in a mirror, a rousing anthem, a cutesy, montage-backed crowd pleaser), pose a few threats to our engaging lead, and tie things all up neatly by the closing credits. Bob's your uncle!

            Better make that Walt's your uncle...

Kids will no doubt go ga-ga over "Mulan" (or at least the fast food tie-ins), but familiarity can, after a while, leave grown-ups--this reviewer included--wishing for a little more. Maybe an animated feature without--shock! horror!--the songs, for example? Or maybe a film in which a cheeky Chihuahua called Pepe longs to become a matador from Trinidad?? How about simply ditching the sidekicks altogether?

            It isn't gonna happen.

Like Disney's previous entries, "Mulan" is slow to make its mark. The animation tends to suffer from some slackness in the early going and the humorous element, a madcap dragon wannabe (in the guise of a loquacious lizard with a case of dry mouth, courtesy Eddie Murphy's animated vocal talents), plays like an inappropriate if necessary (formula-wise) afterthought. However, after about an hour everything comes together and the formula, like it or not, clicks.

Highlights include a spectacular cavalry charge on a snow-covered pass (which, due to the sophistication of today's computer-generated imagery, is hard to tell from the real thing), a memorable, show-stopping musical interlude ("I'll Make a Man Out of You," penned by Matthew Wilder and David Zippel), and last but not least, Mulan herself.

Voiced by Ming-Na Wen, Mulan is Disney's strongest female character to date. When hordes of Huns pour over China's Great Wall and threaten to overthrow the Imperial Palace, the emperor decrees that every family in the land dispatch one man to serve in the Imperial army. Since Mulan's father is infirm, but proud, the high-spirited Mulan steals her father's armor and, incognito, signs up to face the Mongolian menace.

Attracted to, but not distracted by, her commanding officer Shang (B.D. Wong), Mulan outmatches her fellow combatants in smarts, wit, and physical ability. She's a woman of the '90s a couple of millennia ahead of her time.

            Formulaic to a T, "Mulan" remains a classic case of "if it ain't
    broke, don't fix it."

    --
    David N. Butterworth
    dnb@mail.med.upenn.edu

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