Review of Mulan (1998) by John M — 07 Jun 2018

The life of a bride isn't for everyone. So this is about a young girl in China. She has been told that she needs to find a husband, but she struggles at making herself presentable. When the emperor puts out the call to arms to stop the invading Hun army, she decides to impersonate a man so as to save her elderly father from being drafted.

This isn't going to be easy, though, and she's going to have to put in a lot of hard work if she wants to pull this off. Believe it or not, I have never seen this movie before. I am well aware of its immense popularity, but if you haven't found the time to go back and watch an old movie, there's only one way to fix that.

That's exactly what I did with my wife this past weekend, and I really enjoyed myself. Now we don't get this animation of this style much anymore. We used to get it in bunches, but with the advancements in computer animation, there's no reason to make your job more difficult.

Regardless, it was a refreshing sight to see. I like how we are getting something different than a standard princess tale, which is where Mulan really shines. It is a completely different culture, and one that is about honor, and this story really captures that while still having fun along the way.

A lot of the humor is injected by Eddie Murphy as the tiny dragon Mushu, and he does great. This was right before the turning point in his career where he started to lose his sparkle. He keeps trying to reinvigorate his career unsuccessfully with these lame dramedies, and with his knack for animated voices, I think he should reconsider his game plan.

There's a lot to like about this story. All of the side characters are lovable, and you walk away from this feeling good. It also has a good message as well, and it hits the topic of sexism squarely in the nose.

Females can be more than just a wife, and I like how this inspired tons of girls to go out and be what they want to be in the face of adversary. It's been almost two decades, and Mulan has aged very well.