Mulan- released June 5, 1998 (usa)
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Rating- 3 out of 5 Drumsticks
Rated- (G) Targeted audience- Young children (girls) Directors-Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook. Sequel- Mulan 2 Plot- In this educational comedy flick, we follow young Mulan as she struggles to fit in with her cultures expectations. Upon receiving news her father is being forced to return to battle we watch her take a leap of faith and enter the army as Ping the scrawny solider. With a helping hand from Mushu, lucky cricket, her steed and trusty compadres she enters into dreaded war for the sake of China and most importantly her loved ones. |
FEATURING
Soon-Tek Oh as-
Fa zhou |
B.D. Wong as-
Li shang |
Ming-Na Wen as-
Mulan |
Eddie Murphy as-
Mushu |
Freda Foh Shen as- Fa Li
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Miguel Ferrer as- Shan Yu
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Pat Morita as-
Emperor of China |
June Foray as-
Grandma Fa |
Positives of this movie-
This is an educational comedy designed for families and children. We watch as Mulan breaks the serious problem of gender roles and shows that we shouldn’t let others cover up our true potential. Young children get a sneak peek into what the Chinese culture was many years ago and can learn about the stereotypes that were labelled to women back then. This movie shows our children that it is okay to be who you truly are and we get to experience Mulan work hard to get a result, therefore teaching this generation that everything isn’t given to us, if we truly want something we must pursue our goals and work hard until we reach success because it will all be worth it when we look back at our tough journey. The love Mulan has for her family, is expressed to the point where she would sacrifice her own life to keep her beloved ones safe from harm’s way, this encourages us to apply this to our own lives, proving how important family is and the simple fact we should treasure it because a certain turn of events could leave us alone, wishing we were able to have their loving support. If we look back at the movie in general we can note Mulans growth and how she flowered from, lost, ashamed and disappointed into a beautiful, strong, proud, warrior. Viewers get to see how much she improved herself through pure determination. As well as having many serious topics in this film we can look over and see the light hearted humorous side, whether we focus on the quirky, sass mouthed characters who can be seen accompanying Mulan , ridiculous fight scenes with cartoon like characteristics (no gore) or the sneaky adult jokes that were slipped in right under our noses. We can clearly see the multiple positives of this classic Disney film most of us grew up with.
Negatives-
We must also stop to look at the negatives of this film. We see how girls were constantly under the control of men and forced to dress, act and speak in a specific manner which the culture thought to be beautiful and respectful. Young children could try applying this to their own lives and feel as if they must act as someone they are not, constantly working to impress others. As we watch on we see the devastation war brings and how so many innocent lives are lost as men are slaughtered front and center. The producers make going to war seem like a fun, enjoyable, vacation and in actual fact are lying to our children making the whole image of war seem good or righteous , disguising the fact that it is a brutal, senseless, mass murder of soldiers and innocent people. There are multiple examples of stereotypes like the men are depicted as, grotty and violent when in today’s society we are striving to break these stereotypes and tell our children to pursue their personality. Continuing on with the topic of violence we see as the soldiers seem to resolve any brawl or misunderstanding with their fists, we shouldn’t be teaching our children that it is not ok to just lay their hands on somebody else when they are experiencing anger to this person. In today’s colourful society we see people of many sexualities and are taught that this is acceptable, In this movie Mulans ancestors are very displeased to see their great grand daughter is a cross dresser this is not the correct message to be passing oh through the generations, we are all unique and different and we should embrace others individuality.
My opinion on Mulan-
I quiet enjoyed this movie. It has light hearted humour whether we stop to focus on Mushus sassy temper or funny fight scenes, it can make anyone have a good laugh. I like that educational factor of this film and how it incorporates learning in a fun, colourful manner, enabling myself and the audience a glimpse of the vibrant Chinese culture. The directors portrayed Mulans determination perfectly and I believe this can truly inspire young girls who are struggling with finding themselves, by showing it is alright to be yourself. I would recommend less stereotypes being added to this movie. It would have been good if a more feminine male was incorporated to show not all boys are rough and grotty. Another recommendation is to make the film have less violence as we do not wish to show younger viewers it is okay to resolve conflict with acts of violence.
BY TEHYA EVANS