Mulan
Disney’s “Mulan” is one of their most beautifully animated films of the modern era. Working from a style that harkens to Asian woodcuts and manga, the film’s use of color along with the design makes it one of the best of that era of Disney post-“The Lion King,” where the films got a bit more serious, and the overall weight of the narratives seemed to overshadow the need to entertain.
In 1998, I was relatively lukewarm on “Mulan.” I appreciated the artistry, and Eddie Murphy was hilarious as Mushu the Dragon, but otherwise, it was forgettable for the- at the time- 20-year-old me. Watching it for the first time since then, those first two still stand out as the highlights of the film, but I appreciate more the character of Mulan, and her journey to forge her own path beyond just falling in love, as a heroine that points the way to more modern Disney “princesses” like Rapunzel (“Tangled”) and Moana (“Moana”). For her, larger issues of honor to family, and independence are the order of the day, and that comes through in every moment of Ming-Na Wen’s vocal performance.
On the whole, I still would not say that “Mulan” is even in my Top 15 of Disney animated films, but revisiting it now, I have a greater appreciation for the way directors Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook adapt the legend, and give the film room to be different while not being completely outside of the Disney formula. The music is a big part of that, and the songs by Matthew Wilder
and David Zippel are nice in how they, like the movie, fit the Disney formula but don’t always tell the story in the same way we’re used to. The same could be said about the Jerry Goldsmith score, which is reminiscent of Hans Zimmer’s Oscar-winner for “The Lion King” in how outside the formula it is, partially because of the setting that allows the composer to use instrumentations for the setting; it’s not one of the composer’s best scores, but it’s a refreshing change-of-pace from the Disney norm.
This is one of my wife’s favorite Disney movies, and I get why- it has a strong female hero and rousing action, and some good songs in it. It doesn’t quite reach those heights for me, but, watching it again after 22 years, I appreciate everything it does outside of the Disney conventions. They kind of needed that, at the time, and it pointed ahead for what was to come in ways I didn’t think about in 1998.
