Mulan Movie Review 1998

Disney's 36th animated tale is taken from a Chinese fable. The Emperor (Morita) sends out an order that one man from every family must become a soldier in order to repel the advances of Shan-Yu (Ferrer) and his army of Huns. But Mulan's (Wen) father (Oh) is ill and she's afraid he won't return, so she decides to take his place and disguises herself as a warrior. The family's ancestral spirits enlist a guardian--the pint-sized dragon, Mushu (Murphy)--as Mulan goes off to war. The two mainstays of Disney's previous animated features--the songs and the comedy-relief sidekicks--turn out to be the weak links in this story. While Murphy's Mushu does have the funniest lines, he doesn't quite fit the more serious tone. Impressive visuals, and careful characterization by the voice actors make up for any formulaic missteps so that adults, as well as kids, should enjoy the show.

Distribution

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521-1120, Toll-free: 800-723-4763, URL: http://www.bvhe.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 87 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Animated Musicals, Not-So-True Identity, Disney Animated Movies, China, War, General, Folklore & Legends, Dragons, Big Battles, Dads, Royalty, Top Grossing Films of 1998

Screenplay

Philip LaZebnik, Raymond Singer, Rita Hsiao, Christopher Sanders, Eugenia Bostwick-Singer

Director

Barry Cook, Tony Bancroft

Music

Matthew Wilder, Jerry Goldsmith, David Zippel

Other

Matthew Wilder, Ming Na, Eddie Murphy, B.D. Wong, Miguel Ferrer, Soon-Teck Oh, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, Harvey Fierstein, Gedde Watanabe, James Hong, Freda Foh Shen, June Foray, Marni Nixon, George Takei, Miriam Margolyes, James Shigeta, Frank Welker, Lea Salonga, Donny Osmond, Jerry S. Tondo

Producer

Pam Coats, Walt Disney Productions