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Mulan is the story of a woman who pretends to be a man in order to fight for China. She does this because the Huns are invading China, so the emperor calls upon the oldest son of every family to fight in the Imperial Army - but since Mulan's family has no son to offer, her father (a once great warrior) must go instead. But after having fought one too many battles, Mulan's father is crippled and it's pretty obvious that he wouldn't survive another war. So, Mulan pretends to be a man so she can take her father's place. And along the way, not only does she save her father's life, but she becomes such a great warrior herself, that she saves China. Of course, it wouldn't be a Disney movie without a couple of cuddly sidekicks - namely a lucky cricket named Cri-Kee and a small red dragon named Mushu (voiced by Eddie Murphy).
I really enjoyed Mulan, but it's another one of those Disney movies that falls into the "I liked it, but I wouldn't let my kids watch it" category. The whole war theme really isn't appropriate for their age, and there are a couple of scary scenes, but I'd have no problem letting them check it out in a few years time. As the movie started, I didn't really like the Mulan character, and pretty much where the whole plot was going, but as it went along, and Mulan developed more into a character I could cheer for, I really started to get in the mood. And it helped that some of the songs were a little catchy too! And although the ending battle sequence was a bit contrived, and I'm sure not accurate to any legend the movie is based on, it still made for a fun conclusion.
Unlike most Disney DVDs, this title has been available on DVD before. However, unlike the first, which really went cheap on the extras, this is one of those Disney 2-Disc Special Editions that's loaded with the in-depth type of special features it seems only Disney is able to provide. Disc 1 provides the feature along with an interesting audio commentary from directors Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook and producer Pam Coats. They look at the various aspect of making the movie, focusing a lot on the story and the characters, in addition to some of the challenges the movie presented. It's a good listen in that it really provides a lot of great background, but it isn't the most upbeat commentary I've every heard.
On the first disc, you'll find more extras. First, storyboards of six deleted scenes (and one deleted song), each with their own introduction by director Tony Bancroft. Most of these deal with alternate ways to introduce the movie, or set up the main characters. Under "Music and More" you'll find four music videos from the likes of Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, Jackie Chan and Disney staple, Raven. I'm not exactly sure what the "more" is here, though? Finally, there's a "Mulan Fun Facts" feature. Usually, this is a feature length text commentary with behind-the-scenes facts, but I'm guessing there wasn't that much material available, so instead, we get a brief music/video montage with some pop-up facts. I'll say this - it's certainly better than sitting through the movie again.
Also on Disc 1, we get "Games and Activities" which includes the Mulan "DisneyPedia". Here, we get some great facts about both the movie and the characters and the history of the story. There is a tonne of material here, and it's really worth checking out!
Disc 2 contains the meat of the special features. First up, another music video under the heading "Music and More". Again, what's the "more"? And why wasn't this just included on the first disc? If you can get past that, you'll find yourself "Backstage Disney" with a number of different behind-the-scenes featurettes.
In "The Journey Begins" we look at the origins of Disney's Mulan. First, you'll get "Discovering Mulan" which focuses on a trip the filmmakers made to China to learn about the culture and gain some insight into the Mulan legend. Next, "The Ballad of Hua Mulan" is a telling of the Mulan story, set against some early conceptual art from the movie. This is interesting in that we get the actual story - not the Disney version. Finally, two early presentation reels show storyboards and character designs from the beginnings of the making of the movie.
In the "Story Artists' Journey" we first get "Finding Mulan". This featurette looks at how they came up with the character based on the original legend. Producer Pam Coats tells us how they originally wanted to make it a story about a girl who wanted to escape her oppressive society, so she dressed as a boy to fight in the war. But instead, the filmmakers decided to stay true to the legend about the girl who goes to war to save her father's life. In reality, I found the movie to be a mix of these two elements - so what Coats said didn't really ring true to me. Anyhow... We also get a great multi-angle feature which compares a storyboarded scene to the final product.
In "Design", we take a nice look at art and character design, as well as a great piece about the role of color in the movie. In addition, there are some still art galleries looking at character design, landscapes and architecture. Overall, a nice set of features if you're interested in visual design.
In the "Production" part of the special features, you'll find two scenes from the movie, and how they developed from start to finish, with looks at sketches, rough animation, a cleaned up image and with final color. It's interesting to see the work that goes into a finished scene. Also included are two brief featurettes looking at the role of digital animation in the film.
With "Music" we look at the role of music in the movie - pretty self-explanatory. But I still wonder why didn't they include this as the "and More" part of the earlier-mentioned Music features? I'm so confused. This was interesting to watch nonetheless, seeing as though this movie is more of a story with music as a background, unlike other Disney animated features which are more musicals with stories attached.
Finally, we get "International Mulan" which looks at producing the movie for an international audience. I found this particularly interesting because it was something I had never seen featured on a Disney DVD before, and it was something I never really gave that much thought to. We hear about the process of making the movie in several different languages - about creating songs, changing dialogue, etc. Really interesting.
Overall, I'd have to give Mulan a recommendation. Although I found the features a bit misguided and the filmmakers a tad boring, the material itself was interesting enough to warrant checking out, simply as a curiosity. And the movie was fun, with a nice message.
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