Thoughts on Mulan

 

via Giphy

"I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan. You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated a soldier, deceived your commanding officer, dishonored the Chinese army, destroyed my palace and ... you have saved us all."

Reviewers in 1998 wanted it known: what Eddie Murphy did as a comedian, as a Hollywood star and as the voice of Mushu in Mulan, Robin Williams had done before in Aladdin. Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times, at least also acknowledged non-funnyman James Woods' then-recent performance in Hercules. The point is that Mushu, like the Genie and arguably Hades, is an unmistakable crowd-pleaser, foolproof insurance for an animated flick. In my research, I realized an unreported bond between Eddie and Robin. Both men had a Disney film where they provided the voice for a high profile supporting role come out before a Fox comedy in which he starred. Things apparently went much smoother for Eddie and Disney than Robin and Disney. Of course, here in 2022, Mulan, Dr. Dolittle, Aladdin, Toys and 20th Century Fox itself all belong to Disney.

A particularly surprising claim in Peter Bart's The Gross was that Disney did not intend to prominently plug Eddie's work in Mulan. I was 9 going on 10 at the time, so I don't remember if that's true. According to Bart, Disney, namely Dick Cook, made the decision to have less hype. "We're taking down the noise level," Cook said. "It feels right this summer." (Then again, they did have Armageddon waiting in the wings.) Mulan's promotional budget supposedly was $30 million, half of the amount spent to promote Hercules. Alas, a step forward for taste, and two steps back. McDonald's promotion of Mulan, while likely best remembered for the introduction of szechuan sauce, also included letting the world know that "McNuggets are Chinamite!" Neither that nor some of Mushu's lines and his characterization sat well with certain prominent moviegoers.

"Though Mushu has the very funny voice of Eddie Murphy to make him lovable, this black-sounding character is treated as a servile clown. When he hollers 'Call out for egg roll!,' there's something to offend everyone."

-- Janet Maslin, New York Times

"I'll Make a Man Out of You," arguably the best of Matthew Wilder & David Zippel's five songs for Mulan, was a favorite at parties when I went to college. You just haven't lived until you've heard an entire room of drunk youth all singing like Eddie Murphy and Lea Salonga. (Different Times!) My point is that I'm part of a generation, or generation group, that does not think Mulan is a lesser work of the Disney Renaissance. The movie was intended to appeal across generations, according to Bart, and it worked with my mom. I'll never forget watching her sing along with and seem to make a connection with "Reflection." That being said, I cannot claim that Mulan is especially bold in terms of storytelling or characterization, nor was it in 1998.

Directed by Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft and based on the Hua Mulan legend, Mulan has six credited screenwriters: Robert D. San Souci, Rita Hsiao, Chris Sanders, Philip LaZebnik (also The Prince of Egypt's primary writer), Raymond Singer & Eugenia Bostwick-Singer. Mulan (speaking voice of Ming-Na Wen, singing voice of Salonga), upset that her clearly too damn old father (voice of Soon-Tek Oh) is willing to accept conscription in an effort to defend China, poses as a man and goes in his place. "Ping" ends up turning three jerks (voices of Harvey Fierstein, Gedde Watanabe and Jerry Tondo) into her best friends. Love and respect also eventually comes from hunky Shang (speaking voice of BD Wong, singing voice of Donny Osmond!). Hell, Mulan, Mushu and Cri-Kee the lucky cricket do save the emperor of China (voice of Pat Morita) from Shan Yu of the Huns (voice of Miguel Ferrer). Not bad for a girl who admits to making it up as she goes along.

"Now, remember, it's your first day of trainin', so listen to your teacher and no fightin', play nice with the other kids, unless, of course, one of the other kids wanna fight, then you have to kick the other kid's butt."

"But I don't wanna kick the other kid's butt."

Despite having not seen the movie in full in at least a decade, I remembered most of Mulan's story. The two notable exceptions were Shang's father, General Li (voice of James Shigeta) being among those killed by the Huns and that Mulan faced execution for her deception. Mulan's spared because Shang appreciated her saving his life and because, c'mon, like Disney was going to be that bold? I can't possibly top Todd McCarthy's words in Variety, that he felt "how every last plot turn, line and gesture has been calculated and weighed for its full dramatic, ideological and cultural impact." It often works, like the escalation of Li's death being discovered, Mulan saving Shang and Shang saving Mulan. But there are also cloying moments, like Fa Zhou giving the standard metaphorical speech about late bloomers to his daughter.

I find Mulan hard to criticize on its own. Many complaints are ultimately related to the movie being part of a creative assembly line that more or less began in 1923. I'll also stick up to some extent for the assembly line and its products. The technology got sophisticated, that's for sure. Twenty-four years after seeing it on the big screen, I was still wowed at Shan Yu and his army charging in the snow. I also was impressed by the animation in the "Reflection" and "Mulan's decision" sequences. With a Disney movie, you can chose to keep your eyes on the flourishes or direct your gaze to the storytelling engine at work. Either is a fascinating experience. Alas, your ears aren't always as rewarded. I thought some of that dialogue was just awful.

"The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all. ... You don't meet a girl like that every dynasty."

Recommended with reservations.

Thoughts:

-- "Great, she brings home a sword. If you ask me, she should have brought home a man. *meets Shang* Woo! Sign me up for the next war."

-- Box Office: Grossing more than $120.6 million domestically on a $90 million budget, this opened at No. 2 and came in at No. 13 for 1998.

-- Awards Watch, in general: Mulan was the big winner at the 26th Annie Awards, scoring for Ming-Na Wen's performance and the music, storyboarding, writing, direction, producting, production design, effects animation, animation of Shang and as a feature. Other nominations were for the animation of Mushu and Mulan. The Prince of Egypt, A Bug's Life and Antz were nominees for the 27th Annie Awards. All of them, plus Tarzan and South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, repeatedly lost to The Iron Giant. On the other hand, A Bug's Life did defeat Mulan (and The Rugrats Movie, notably ignored at the Annies) for the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Animated Family Movie.

-- Awards Watch, the music: Things weren't so rosy. Mulan lost the Oscar for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score to Shakespeare in Love. Christina Aguilera's performance of "Reflection" also lost the ALMA to "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You" from The Mask of Zorro. "Reflection" lost the Golden Globe to "The Prayer," but this time the score lost to The Truman Show. Finally, at the Grammys, "True to Your Heart" lost to "My Heart Will Go On" and the read and sing along lost to The Children's Shakespeare.

-- Memorable Music: The score is 23-20, still favoring non-original songs. Mulan earns six points, one for the Jerry Goldsmith score as a whole and one each for "Honor to Us All," "Reflection," "I'll Make a Man Out of You," "A Girl Worth Fighting For" and "True to Your Heart." I had forgotten that "True to Your Heart," intended for Hanson and performed by 98 Degrees and Stevie Wonder, was the first single released. It scored No. 51 on the adult contemporary chart. "Reflection" scored No. 19 on that same chart.

-- Critic's Corner, the music: "Mulan's five songs ... may just be the worst ever to appear in a Disney movie," Stephen Thompson wrote at the A.V. Club. In a 2018 retrospective for the site, Maggie Donahue shared her dislike for "A Girl Worth Fighting For." "(It) implies that while a woman must be 'one of the guys' to earn respect from a man, she must dumb herself down to a submissive, gracious housewife type to be desired by one." I just think the song's not as good as "There Is Nothin' Like a Dame." Maslin: "The musical sequences have little of the jauntiness that was previously supplied by songwriters like Alan Menken and Elton John." Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly, liked "I'll Make a Man Out of You" but lamented that it was the "only song in the move that escapes Disneyfied blandness." Roger Ebert admitted the merely pleasant, not catchy songs kept him from giving Mulan a four star rating. Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post, defended the songs. "(They) are surprisingly effective in advancing the plot and characterization," he wrote.

-- Critic's Corner, the movie: "A female empowerment story par excellence," McCarthy wrote. Gleiberman: "Cross-dressing has worn out its novelty as a comic device, but it turns out to be just the thing to spark a wholesome family entertainment." "This is a film that adults can enjoy on their own, without feeling an obligation to take along kids as a cover," Ebert raved. He also observed that the animators seemed to have some idea of the advances occuring with anime. "If American animation is ever going to win an audience beyond the family market, it will have to move in this direction, becoming more experiemntal both in stories and visual style." "Disney takes a sledgehammer to the subject of gender stereotyping (with) a film that not only breaks the cross-dressing barrier but also ratchets up the violence level for children's animation," Maslin wrote.

-- Detractor's Corner, the movie's mechanics: Janet also complained about the "trotting out (of) every storytelling stereotype in the Disney playbook." "What finally undoes Mulan ... are those standard elements that have not been re-energized," Turan wrote. "(There is) perhaps more adherence to Disney formula than should have been the case," according to McCarthy. "(It) goes about halfway toward setting new boundaries for Disney's, and the industry's animated features, but doesn't go far enough." Nevertheless, he appreciated that unlike Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty, there's no "passive heroines (being) rescued by blandly noble princes." Gleiberman: "It would be nice if the next Disney cartoon, whether about a girl or a guy, had the adventurousness to avoid role models altogether."

-- Critic's Corner, Eddie: "Neither his patter nor his role is inspired," according to Turan. "Murphy, working in the tradition of Robin Williams' genie in Aladdin, is quick, glib and funny," Ebert wrote. "One bit where he steps into a Pentecostal minister shtick is almost too jarring," O'Sullivan wrote. McCarthy: "While individual lines might prove amusing, the overall effect of Mushu's aggressively jivey commentary is jarring and, frankly, off-putting in this serious context; Mushu and Murphy really belong in a different movie." "(He) gives an irresistable performance, but you wish he had jazzier lines," Gleiberman said. Donahue: "Mushu (is) a walking metaphor for fragile masculinity."

-- Ebert did lightly object to the idea of Mulan and Shang being allowed to have a modern-style romance. "In an Eastern culture, the ending might have involved an arranged match between Mulan and Shang, which she has earned by her exploits," he wrote. It would be kind of funny, if a bit unnecessary, to have a moment where Grandmother Fa (voice of June Foray, singing voice of Marni Nixon) gloats to the matchmaker (voice of Miriam Margolyes) who so cruelly wrote off Mulan.

-- Hey, It's ...!: James Hong, George Takei, Freda Foh Shen and Chris Sanders.

-- "You said you'd trust Ping. Why is Mulan any different?"

-- Next: Dr. Dolittle. On deck: Out of Sight.