Directors Tony Bancroft & Barry Cook
Starring Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, BD Wong
Rated G
Score 5/6

To save her father from death in the army, a young maiden secretly goes in his place and becomes one of China’s greatest heroines in the process.

Last month I watched a live action version of Mulan, so I suppose its only right that I watched the Disney animated classic Mulan.

This version of Mulan is clearly different on the story compared to the 2009 movie, looking past the fact that the 1998 version is an animated movie and a musical but I also got the impression that story seemed to be set in a different period in Chinese history compared to the 2009 movie. I suppose if we really get into it the two movies are different takes on the same legendary/fictional female warrior.
Question to the table could Mulan be one of the more altruistic “Disney Princesses”? especially if you compare her to somebody like Belle (who after her first song in Beauty and the Beast comes across as somebody whose head is lodged firmly where the sun don’t shine). I loved the scene where Mulan runs away from her family to join the army. I thought that the way the montage was done in such a way that it could have been dropped into almost any action movie. While watching this I also wondered if Mulan’s moment with the arrow on the pole inspired Steve Rogers’ moment with the flag in 2011 in Captain America: The First Avenger.
If Robin Williams’ Genie is Disney’s greatest animated supporting character I believe that a strong case be made for Eddie Murphy’s performance in Mulan making Mushu Disney’s second greatest as he brought a larger then life attitude to such a small character. You also have to love Mulan’s Grandma.