"Mulan" Except It's the Old One: A Look Back at the 1998 Original
I was planning on reviewing the recent live-action “Mulan” remake made available on Disney Plus, but then I found out Disney is charging subscribers another $30 for what’s probably going to be another divisive, mediocre mess of a film. I don’t like supporting predatory practices in the film industry, especially if I know I’m not going to enjoy what I’m watching. So today we’re looking back at the 1998 original. It came out six months before I was born! How cute is that?
“Mulan” is a well-revered film now, with “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” being probably its most easily recognized scene. To be fair, it isn’t a bad film. It obviously has nice, stylistic animation. I especially love how the explosions and fire are drawn to look like traditional Chinese art. It looks so dope! It’s also dope seeing Disney take such a forwardly feminist approach to a character arc, and I can actually buy a relationship between Mulan and Shang, because they didn’t click after two seconds and actually struggled before making an effort to be together.
However, I’d argue (along with many critics at the time) that this is among Disney’s less interesting films. The soundtrack only has one catchy song (you already know what that is), and a lot of the side characters are incredibly obnoxious. Call me a radical but Mushu needs to take a chill pill. I got so tired of him piping up for no reason. The villain is only remarkable for his incurable jaundice, and overall the whole story plays out very formulaically. It has very few surprises to offer, and that combined with these other downsides makes it a good family film, but not much else.
All that said, I had a good time revisiting this movie. Just because something isn’t remarkable doesn’t make it bad, and “Mulan” is enjoyable. I just enjoy other Disney movies far more. On the off chance that I actually watch the remake, I’m sure I’ll still find the animated version far more funny, visually interesting, and coherent. But for today, I’m satisfied with the movie I chose to watch.
Drew Hickman is a Junior
Communications Major from
Shawnee, Kansas