Formula Works, Unfortunately
by Mick Jones
It's easy to be churlish about Mulan.
Truppeted as Disney's first foray into Chinese culture, it's actually about as Chinese as
a deep-pan pizza.
Disney's latest makes a belated big screen appearance in Beijing this month. An adaptation of the tale of Hua Mulan, a woman who disguises herself as a man in order to join the army fighting the Hun invaders, Mulan is unlikely to win Disney many new friends, but old converts should be happy enough with its stolid reliance on tried-and-tested formulae.
Our heroine is the usual feisty-yet-sensitive type, only this time her thoroughly modern manners are in total opposition to the demands of her society. We first meet her preparing to visit the local matchmaker, who Mulan's parents desperately hope will find her a good husband so she can "bring honor" on her family.
The interview goes catastrophically, and comically, wrong, leaving Mulan to return home in disgrace just in time to hear the Emperor's decree that one man from every family must serve in the army to fight the Hun.
Her crippled father proudly accepts the charge, but Mulan refuses to accept that he sacrifice himself: She steals his sword, chops off her flowing locks, and rides off to join the new recruits, save China, find true love, live happily ever after etc.
Mulan's efforts at macho behavior -- "Ah, I see you have a sword; I have one, too. They're very manly, aren't they?" -- are good for a few laughs, but comedy is mostly supplied by Mushu, the family dragon guardian unwittingly sent by Mulan's ghost ancestors to protect her.
Mushu gives Eddie Murphy his best role in years as Disney
repeats the trick it pulled with Robin Williams' Genie in Aladdin. It's hard to imagine a
dubbed version being anything but a pale imitation.
The pity is that Murphy is surrounded by weaker material, worse songs, and rather uninspired artwork. The animation is curiously lacking in verve, barring one terrific scene when the Hun army sweeps across the snow to attack Mulan's troops. It's easy to be churlish about Mulan. Trumpeted as Disney's first foray into Chinese culture, it's actually about as Chinese as a deep-pan pizza.
Like burgers from a global fast food chain that taste the same in Mongolia as in Manhattan, big Hollywood movies are almost all put together from the same basic ingredients, whatever their superficial appearance.
There's nothing challenging about Mulan's independent spirit and heroism ?she has to move heaven and earth to gain the respect of male characters who hold her and all women in contempt, but she does so by swallowing their values and defending their world.
In the end, all she gains is for the Emperor to say (not in so many words), "Very well, since you've saved China, we forgive you for being a woman." And Mulan says thanks very much and goes home to be a respectful daughter and would-be wife and mother.
It's insultingly reactionary stuff, and I wouldn't blame parents for being annoyed at finding it foisted upon their children. The real problem is that for all its faults, the movie is eminently watchable. I like Disney, and I enjoyed Mulan even as I was getting worked up about its dreadful conservatism. Sometimes it's hard to be a rebel.