Mulan only came out 6 years ago, debuting in 1998. With the recent two disc special edition release, viewers might forget this classic Disney movie is really so new still. Mulan isn’t quite your typical Disney film, with a character whose role is one more serious in tone than many other Disney films of the day. The tone is a bit more adult in nature, with Mulan not looking for a prince charming or falling asleep waiting for a prince to wake her. Instead she is faced with war and identity crisis as her arranged marriage is a disaster and the traditions of the women she’s been raised by just don’t fit her.
Her Chinese heritage comes into play when the treacherous Huns, led by the imposing Shan-Yu, are wreaking havoc among China, burning villages and engaging a war. The Huns pose an undeniable threat to the Emperor, who passes an edict requiring one member from each family to join his army and protect the people of China. Of course without a son in the family, its up to Mulan’s father to bear the task of waging war.
This leaves Mulan a little uncomfortable since her father is old and she feels the guilt of not being able to fight.
As with any other story of good over evil, Mulan steps up to the plate and decides she can pretend to be a boy and join the army. This lets her save her dad from danger, escape the arranged marriage she dreads and save her village. By simply chopping off her hair, she’s able to fend off the conception of her gender.
Of course her family concerned by her actions and potential shame decide to conjure up a protector, and hence usual Disney sidekick in Mushu, a wisecracking little red dragon voiced by Eddie Murphy. This provides the comic relief for the film and gives Mulan even more things to worry about. The two setoff on a journey that as with most Disney films is full of twists and turns and an eventual happy ending. Of course the duo meet several other noteworthy characters and the film follows the type of Disney formula that has worked so well in the past.
For all its beauty in design and colors and cultural references, Mulan just strikes me as an off for Disney. The movie just doesn’t gel well as other hits from the 90’s such as the Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. Still Mulan is worthy of being viewed because it still has that charm that only Disney can manage even in an off-year.
The Disc:
After a previous single disc release that failed to bring home a proper transfer, Disney re-releases Mulan in a vibrant, bright 1:66:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that preserves the look of the original film and brings back the beauty missing from the details that were lacking in the non-anamorphic transfer. Sound quality on the 2 disc special edition has also been boosted by providing viewers with a Dolby Digital 5.1 track that offers four languages to choose from (English, French, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese!)
DISC ONE offers up plenty of goodies beginning with Deleted Scenes, Music & More, Games & Activities, and Backstage Disney. There are six deleted scenes for viewers to watch, and some of these are rather remarkable. Three of these scenes are alternate openings which you can see the director likely struggled with in choosing between each.
Music & More is really exciting for me personally as it includes four music videos. The one that excites me most, is the Mandarin version of "I'll Make a Man Out of You" sung by Jackie Chan (3:21). I love Jackie so much so its truly exciting to see this. Christina Aguilera sings "Reflection" while Stevie Wonder and 98 degrees also toss in versions of “True to your Heart”
The games included are hardly worth mentioning while Backstage Disney is an audio commentary with directors Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook and producer Pam Coats.
DISC TWO is the real meat of the extras with tons of behind the scenes materials and featurettes. Once again we have Music & More and Backstage Disney dividing things up for viewers.
On the music front, the disc offers up the Spanish music video for "Reflection" (3:33). It uses the same set and format for the Christina Aguilera video found on Disc 1, and in fact it's nearly a shot-for-shot recreation using Spanish vocalist Lucero.
Backstage Disney offers up six separate sections each offering short clips and interviews. The sections include The Journey Begins, showing how the film came together; Story Artists Journey, giving rise to the roles that the story creators played in getting this put together; Design, which gives so much information on all kinds of design aspects it’s almost unbelievable; Production, which delves into how the project was produced and finally Music which goes even further into the musical front.
bottom line:
Mulan isn’t quite the best Disney film storywise, but it offers a diverse cultural look at things, fantastic art and some really good voice acting by Ming Na and Eddie Murphy. Disney continues to provide the best in DVD packaging and extras and this is just further proof.
3.5 out of 5
By - Brian Gray
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