I wouldn't usually do a page about a Disney movie, but since I live in China anyway, I thought what the heck. Mulan is the story of a smart and fiery Chinese girl who wants to bring honor to her family. Her father is sick, but because of the Emperor's decree, he must go to war to defend China from the Huns. Refusal of the Emperor's command would mean shame for their family. Mulan decides to cut off her hair, dress like a guy, and take her father's place. Meanwhile, Mushu, a cute little red dragon, is sent (well, kinda) by the ancestors to help Mulan. In the end of course, Mulan triumphs through a combination of intelligence and gumption. There is a cute message throughout the movie about women being just as smart and capable as men- Disney sends a much better message of Girl Power than the Spice Girls.

Typical Disney, it has good art, nice music and cute dialogue. Disney has a talent for inserting jokes that little kids might not get, so the parents won't be bored out of their minds. The songs to me seemed a little unmemorable. I don't remember them being bad- I don't remember them at all! Is it that Disney has less memorable songs (I mean, every kid who'd seen The Little Mermaid once could hum the tune to "Under the Sea") or is it just that I'm not a little kid anymore...

The "Chinese" aspect was handled pretty well, except that Mulan's head occasionally looked like a disembodied beach ball. The people who did the drawings spent three weeks in China, so everything looked pretty realistic...

There were some really cute jokes, especially by the Grandmother, and the little dragon (Eddie Murphy did a great job with the voice of Mushu.) Another great voice was that of Shang Yu, the Hun leader, by Miguel Ferrer.

Grandmother: (after Mulan gave the sword of the evil Shang Yu to her father) She brought home a sword? She should have brought home a man!

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