Review of Mulan II (2004) by Sergio E — 10 Jun 2011

Captain Li Shang: You're only duty is to the Emperor!

Fa Mulan: But I have another duty... to my heart.

Mulan turns from a conflicted woman struggling with gender roles to a staunch feminist who is initiating the sexual revolution centuries before its time. Mushu turns from a well-intentioned but slightly misguided sidekick to conniving, selfish villain. Mulan's former army buddies turn decidedly one-dimensional, each displaying but one characteristic over and over again.

The story lacks any clear direction and any real conflict. Its screams cliché from beginning to end, and as soon as three unmarried women appear on the screen, you know what exactly is going to happen between them and the three army bachelors. You know that Mushu will have a change of heart, and you definitely know that one character's apparent death is absolutely misleading.

Firstly I'd like to congratulate Disney on creating another awful sequel. Three cheers! Now, the story. Awful-Mulan and Shang are engaged, then the Emperor wants them to carry out a mission for him. They have to escort his daughters to their arranged weddings, but the journey may be dangerous...and throw in the facts that Mulan doesn't agree with arranged weddings, and Mushu wants to split Mulan and Shang up. This will give you one awful story. I mean, Mulan doesn't agree with arranged marriages-if she hadn't messed up the matchmaker thing in the original, SHE would have been in an arranged marriage. Oh and there's this too-Yao, Ling and Chein Po fall in love with the princesses.

The animation-it's awful. Mulan looks like she's been given an apple for a head, unlike the original. Shang looks pretty much the same although there are some scenes where you think 'what was that?' before you realise Shang's appearance has changed.

Songs...overall they were't as bad as certain other 'sequel songs'. The first song, though, was pointless and awful. But, maybe it's only compared to that, but 'Like Other Girls' was way better. Of course it's about ignoring tradition etc, but they get away with it cause it's Disney.

OK, overall I intensely disliked this movie. It's a bad sequel-if you don't compare it to the original it's slightly better-but I wouldn't recommend it. Unless you like watching brats overturning their county's traditions and cultures to 'follow their hearts' and 'marry someone who loves them for who they are'. However, the story's pretty original for a Disney movie, apart from the 'follow your heart' message. And of course there's a happy ending-Mulan & Shang get hitched, as do the princesses. And Mushu gets to keep his pedestal-a Mushu not voiced by Eddie Murphy, which I thought was great cause his routine is so repetitive. But that's another subject for another board.

Mulan II, the direct-to-video sequel to the Disney hit Mulan, begins with the title character becoming engaged to General Shang. Before they can begin a life of wedded bliss, they must escort a trio of princesses to weddings of their own in order to facilitate a peace between warring nations. Mulan begins to believe her mission may be less than noble upon discovering that the women are being forced into arranged marriages against their will. Mulan ends up opposing her beloved General Shang in order to fight for what is right.

Fa Mulan gets the surprise of her young life when her love, Captain (now General) Li Shang asks for her hand in marriage. Before the two can have their happily ever after, the Emperor assigns them a secret mission, to escort three princesses to Chang'an, China. Mushu is determined to drive a wedge between the couple after he learns that he will lose his guardian job if Mulan marries into the Li family. After the princesses unexpectedly fall in love with the Gang of Three, Mulan decides to help them escape the fate of marrying men they do not love. This contradicts the Emperor's orders and forces him to put Mulan's relationship with Shang into question. They are attacked by Mongolians, and the fate of China hangs in the balance.