Gotta love Disney. A kids movie about a crossdresser.Forget the dwindling grosses for Pocahontas, Hunchback and Hercules. Mulan redeems the house of Mouse. Except for the songs.
Stunningly animated (see the charge of the Huns over a snow covered ridge) and nicely voiced. Ming-Na Wen is fine in the title role, and Miguel Ferrer is downright scary as the leader of the Huns, but it's Eddie Murphy who steals the show as Mulan's sidekick, Mushu the dragon. He's hilarious. I could've done without the second bit of comic relief, though: a non-speaking little cricket who bears a slight resemblence to a little wooden boy's conscience. But again, for anyone over the age of 12, this, like all Disney movies, comes to a screeching halt when the songs start up. I mean, really, you see the Chinese in training, preparing for war, when all of a sudden, Donny Osmand starts blaring through your skull in Dolby surround sound, claiming he'll make a man out of you. Uh, thanks, Donny, but no thanks. While The Lion King's songs were also a wee bit out of place, at least they were memorable. Not so here.
Aside from that, however, Mulan's solid entertainment.It's a kids movie, but it's good. Go see it.
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