Mulan (1998) Review 

So the 2020 Live Action version of Mulan hits Disney+ at no extra charge tomorrow and because I am cheap I haven't watched it yet so I thought I would watch the original animated film and here is my review for it. The premise of sees a young Woman attempt to save her Father from dying in the military by taking his place secretly by pretending to be a man. 

Main Character 

So obviously Mulan is the main character and for those that criticise Disney's animated films back in the 90s of not portraying strong female characters then go back and watch Mulan as this is a fantastically strong character. It only came to my attention today that the fantastic Ming-Na Wen who I know from Agents Of Shield and The Mandalorian voices Mulan and she is a perfect fit for the role, she is known for her action prowess and she just really fits into the character of Mulan. 

Supporting Characters

There is a good group of characters that Mulan allies with in the film, the main one being Mushu played by Eddie Murphy and he is great and adds plenty of life and energy to the film. I mean it is funny that his voice role here is basically the same as when he voices Donkey in the Shrek films, but it does work here and as I said adds plenty of life to a film that needs it. BD Wong plays Shang her Captain in the army and I thought he voiced the character well and I thought his character fit well with Mulan's story and I thought their dynamic was a highlight of the film. The characters in the army are fine and are good with Mulan, but you can't help but see the stereotypes and generic nature of them kind of makes them a bit paper thin. But when you get to Paper thin we get to the villain of this film, I mean these animated films have great villains such as Scar, Jafar & Ursula but this guy is just really generic, he is a Hun and just wants to take over China. We are not given any interesting and thought provoking reason, he is just a bad guy for the sake of the film having a bad guy which does hurt the film a bit. 

Story  

The story is good, it does a great job showing its main protagonist in a great light and making you care about Mulan and wanting to see her succeed and it does that in an appropriate way, the story also doesn't shy away from some pretty sexist moments and I think it makes Mulan's story better that the film doesn't hide from that. But I feel like this film maybe has an overly simple story, compared to other Disney films I felt like this film had the potential to have more shades of grey in it, like I said the bad guy is just simply a bad guy and I think there could have been more done there, especially when you consider some of the attitudes of the Chinese empire that are pretty bad in this film. 

Script

The script is really good, you have to remember that this is meant to be a family film so it has some of that family humour but it feels appropriate and the film knows when to have its dramatic moments and it is effective in doing so. 

Style 

This film looks fantastic, back in the 80's and 90's Disney had great looking animated films but this one is right up there, it looks stunning and the Chinese backdrop really adds to it and the style of the film. For a family film it does have some exciting moments and some darker moments which sells its war like feeling. It is a really short film barely clocking at 90 mins but that is part of its charm, you can turn it on and watch this quickly and feel like a complete story has been told in the time that is given. 

Overall

Overall, this is a great animated film that maybe is a bit underrated. I feel like when people mention the great Disney animated film Mulan is never mentioned and I am not saying it is as good as The Lion King or anything but I think it is a really great film that deserves to be watched. 

Rating - 8/10