Review by John Delia
The first film by Disney to have a female hero Mulan, comes to Blu-ray with the bonus of Mulan II in a 3 Disc set that includes the DVD versions. The movie will transport your children to China where they can see some of their landscape while living the adventure. Both stories show the courage and tenacity of young people who stand on their principles.
Mulan follows a young girl who wants to join the Chinese Army to fight off the Huns, the enemy of the Emperor. When she gets turned away, she disguises herself as a boy and joins anyway. When she gets into a jam, her unexpected companion, a dragon called Mushu, comes to her aid.
The companion movie Mulan II starts out with Mulan about to be married to General Li Shang, but the Emperor sends for them. He assigns the two a special mission to take three princesses to a far away city in China. When the three princesses fall in love with the wrong men, Mulan devises a plan to help them escape a life they would regret.
The voice cast of Mulan includes Ming-Na Wen as Mulan, Eddie Murphy voices Mushu the dragon, Harvey Fierstein is the voice of Yao, Pat Morita voices the Emperor and James Hong is the voice of Chi Fu. The voices changed a little in Mulan II adding Mark Mosley as Mushu, Lucy Liu, Lauren Tom and Sandra Oh as the princesses and George Takei of Star Trek fame lends his voice as first ancestor Fa.
Both films have excellent songs and music that are romantic and upbeat. My favorite is the song “Reflections†sung by Lea Solonga (The pop version is sung by Christina Aguilera). Others include; “Honor to Us All” featuring Beth Fowler, Lea Salonga and Marni Nixon, “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” by Donny Osmond, and “A Girl Worth Fighting For” with Harvey Fierstein, James Hong, Jerry Tondo, Lea Salonga and Matthew Wilder. In Mulan II there’s the rousing “Lesson Number One” sung by Lea Salonga, the show tune “Like Other Girls” with Judy Kuhn, Beth Blankenship, and Mandy Gonzalez, and the hunting melody of “Here Beside Me” by Hayley Westenra.
Check out the film for hidden Mickey’s, there are several, some are easy to find, others will take several passes of the movie. Good luck on that!
The Bonus Features are very kid friendly and add to the excitement of the Blu-ray experience.
Bonus Features:
- “11 Deleted Scenesâ€- most of the scenes are in storyboard fashion.
- “15 Backstage Disney featurettesâ€- a behind the scenes compendium originally on the DVD release and now collected for the Blu-ray.
- “Six music videos including Christina Aguilera, Stevie Wonder, 98 Degrees, Jackie Chan & othersâ€
- “Voices of Mulanâ€- some of the cast members from Mulan II are interviewed.
- Audio Commentary by producer Pam Coats and Directors Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook
- And more
The visual quality of the Blu-ray is extremely good with sharp lines and bright colors. The film plays perfectly on my 16×9 television. The 1080p High Definition with the 1.66:1 Aspect Ratio on the Blu-ray for Mulan and a 1.78:1 ratio for Mulan II make a great presentation for the kids.
The audio quality comes across crisp and clear for the whole family with the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. There’s no distortion that I could detect and all the fun dialogue is easily understandable. You’ll not miss a word of funny dialogue coming from the impish Mushu that should tickle your children’s funny bone.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A fun action oriented animated film showing courage. (B)
Specifications and additional film information:
- Cast: Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, Harvey Fierstein, Pat Morita and James Hong
- Directed by: Mulan- Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook, Mulan II- Darrell Rooney, Lynne Southerland
- MPAA Rating: G
- Genre: Comedy, Adventure
- Running Time: Mulan runs 88 min, Mulan IIÂ runs 79 min
- Street Date: March 12, 2013
- Original Theatrical Release: Mulan- June 19, 1998, Mulan II-February 1, 2005
- Language: English
- Format: Blu-ray, DVD
- Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Video: 1080p HD Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
- Number of Discs: 3 Discs
- Distributed by: Buena Vista Home Entertainment