I watched Mulan, today.
I've been listening to "I'll Make a Man Out of You" for the past few days on repeat, so I thought I'd give the original 1998 animation a try - why not? Well, I was disappointed. Sorely so.
It's not a terrible movie by any means, but it's really not very good either. The plot is so simple; it's dreadfully unadorned! The animation was good, but I do suppose it looks 30 years old, because it is 30 years old. I suppose I should've tempered my expectations, in that regard. The horse looked cool. I also thought that Mushu was just annoying... There were good moments for the little dragon, but Eddie Murphy is fucking dreadful. YEAH, I SAID IT! MUSHU SUCKS!
I also thought that the end of the story had a very strong "and then everybody clapped" vibe to it - then the whole of China bowed. I mean, come on.
The other VAs were good, the music was very nice... I wish there was more music, frankly.
I really loved Shan Yu... He looked so cool! Though, he really didn't end up feeling that threatening, on an individual level. I was also a little confused with the whole like... A handful of Huns infiltrate the castle and somehow that has some implication for the future of China? When they're surrounded by Chinese people? I just feel like that's not really how conquering a nation works. That seemed very weird, and it took away from the whole intimidation shtick the dude had going on, I felt like.
I will not be watching Mulan II, but I did download The Iron Giant. I shall report back. Two protagonists in a row that don't wear pants, I believe.
I'll say, I also really love women kicking ass in my media. I remember loving Winx Club, Code Lyoko, W.I.T.C.H, and Kim Possible as a kid, especially Shego (I really loved Shego).
Mulan marries Li Shang! I also confuse their names sometimes... I had to look it up just to make sure. Shan Yu is the Hun main villain... It would've been really cool if Mulan married him, though, I wonder what would've had to happen for that turn of events to occur.