Mulan (Special Edition) | Miguel Ferrer, Harvey Fierstein

Mulan (Special Edition) | Miguel Ferrer, Harvey Fierstein | Great DVD

DVDs:

Mulan (Special Edi...

	Mulan (Special Edition) Miguel Ferrer, Harvey Fierstein Walt Disney Home Entertainment, 2004 average customer review:based on 460 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A young woman disguises herself as a man to take her ailing father's place as a conscripted soldier.
Genre: Feature Film Family
Rating: G
Release Date: 26-OCT-2004
Media Type: DVD

ONE OF DISNEY'S FINEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILMS!

Mixing CGI and hand drawn animation, Disney bring us one of it's greatest animated films, 'Mulan' is better than half the live action films that have come out in the last 10 years. Beautiful animation, exciting action sequences and an wonderful story make this a must see! The battle on the snow covered mountains in breathtaking and reminded me of one of Frank Frazetta's paintings. Most everything works in this film and Eddie Murphy provides a memorable character as Mushu the dragon in this exciting adventure movie. The 2 disc set is full of goodies and sports a great DVD transfer and audio.

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Great DVD

I ordered this for my granddaughter who has suddenly discovered Mulan and didn't have the DVD. She sat and watched very quietly for the first 45 minutes (she's two) and continues to want to watch it.

Pretty Good

Except, they do still sing--as sort of narration for their emotions. The songs are highly unmemorable (as I sit here writing this, I can only remember the line, "I'll make a man out of you," which is from the very worst song ever including in a Disney film. By the way, will Disney ever have a "training session" that will last more than a couple minutes and that isn't put to a song? They did that to this movie, Hercules, Tarzan (who also grew into an adult instantaneously), and Beauty and the Beast (in that Belle changes her mind about the Beast during a song). One more really bad thing about Mulan--Mushu is a total hinderance. I'm not just talking about his pop-culture mouth (which someone should have popped), but that he in fact causes more problems than he solves. Would it really be so much to ask if Mulan could have made the mistake that "gave away our position," instead of having Mushu shoot off a rocket? At least that way, she's redeeming her own mistake, instead of someone elses, which gives no emotional payoff. Better yet, why not have the falcon find the line of troops--after all, that's what the falcon is for, right? It scouted earlier for the general's encampment and brought back the doll, remember? Oh, and the cross-dressing thing at the end was a little too weird--a bit too Fushigi Yugi and not really very intelligent--do you honestly think that anybody would fall for that trick, even if they were really women (especially considering what the Monguls would have done). The best parts of the movie were the references to Japanese cartoons (anime). When Mushu fries the feathers off of the falcon, it looks like a Chocobo from the Final Fantasy series, but is just as likely a reference to the horseclaws from Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (the director, apparently, is a devotee of Miyazaki). Another Nausicaa reference--the doll, which is similar to the one that Lord Yupa finds at the beginning of the Nausicaa movie (it crumbles, and Yupa says, "Another village has died."). Also, Mulan's hair is given incredible attention, which is not usually the case in Disney films (usually they're just pretty and blow in the wind). Just watch her hair when she bows in shame after they find out she's a she! Beyond that, there is a good deal of emotional content, though once the possibility of execution is lifted (a life for a life), it is never mentioned again--even though the overseer, who really hated her, could have had her executed at a moments notice once she caught back up with them. And I'm sorry, but for all their knowledge and art, the Chinese were rather steadfast about their ways and about honor--they would not suddenly become so accepting of women, especially since they are still rather unaccepting of women.

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Fun Chinese theme

Forget the armchair critics. If you're a Disney fan. you'll love this one, about a Chinese girl who joins the army to fight maurading Huns. There's a little dragon friend (Eddie Murphy), a romantic captain of the guard (Donny Osmond provided the singing voice), an evil-looking Hun chieftain, an irritating minister and 3 soldier friends. Despite what others may say, the songs are terrific - not soul (ala Hercules) or jazz (ala Jungle Book), just normal. It's not a kiddies' film - it's for the whole family. Frankly, I'm not really a Disney fan and have little patience to watch most animated films. But this one's worth it.

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