The new live action update will hopefully do better than this animated effort, which pillages and burns its way through sixth-century Chinese history
Culture shock ... Disney makes free with an ancient Chinese ballad in its 1998 film. Poor Mulan. All photographs: Walt Disney Company/Ronald Grant Archive
Director: Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook
Entertainment grade: B+
History grade: E
1. Mulan
2. Production year: 1998
3. Country: USA
4. Cert (UK): U
5. Runtime: 93 mins
6. Directors: Barry Cook, Tony Bancroft
7. Cast: Eddie Murphy, George Takei, Ming-Na Wen, Pat Morita
8. More on this film
Mulan was a legendary Chinese heroine, said to have disguised herself as a man and joined an army.
People
Going down in flames ... cute talking dragon explains Disney's plot to Mulan
It seems young Mulan is too clumsy to qualify as a decent potential bride, even after a makeover song. But her father stops obsessing about that when he is
called up to serve in the Chinese army against an invasion. Mulan disguises herself as a man to go in her father's place. So far,
so accurate to the Ballad of Mulan, the poem originally written down in the sixth century that is the only real evidence for Mulan's existence. Researchers
have tended to identify Mulan with the Northern Wei dynasty, probably during the fifth or sixth century when its territory was frequently invaded.
War
Fire away ... Mulan goes to join the war with talking dragon still prattling
Speaking of frequent invasions, a whole load of foreigners suddenly swarms over the Great Wall of China. These are identified as the Huns. Oh dear.
The Hunnic empire was at its largest under the famous Attila (ruled 434-453), who may have been a contemporary of Mulan's, if she existed.
But the eastern limit of Attila's territory was around the Caucasus, 3,000 miles from Northern Wei territory, and the thrust of his military
efforts was westwards into Europe, not eastwards to China. So this isn't Attila. Some scholars think the Huns were linked with the Xiongnu,
a central Asian tribal confederacy that did frequently go to war with the Han dynasty of China in the third century. But that was at least a couple of
hundred years before Mulan's time, and in any case the link between the Xiongnu and the Huns is disputed. It's not at all obvious who these fellows
are supposed to be, though, thanks to Disney, it's very obvious they're the baddies.
Race
Horses for sources ... I thought the Huns lived 3,000 miles away?
Disney's Huns are a bunch of evil-looking semi-monsters with handlebar moustaches. Their leader, Shan Yu, has sunken yellow eyes, vampire teeth
and massive claws. And to think they wasted the makeover song on Mulan. The movie's Shan Yu is more or less fictional. There was a famous Chinese warrior
called Xiang Yu who went to war with the Han emperor in the third century, but he wasn't a Hun. Or a Xiongnu. This is a right old mess, and more than a
little bit racist. Whoever the film's Huns are, they'd have a right to be really quite cross.
Violence
Clutching at straws ... Disney struggles to make Mulan both a killer and a heroine
Mulan herself gets made over again, this time as a soldier, and with the other troops goes to face the Hun army. This puts the film in a quandary. War notoriously involves violence and death, but Disney heroines do not whip out swords and hack people to death in a frenzied bloodlust, leaving severed limbs and straggly entrails all over the place. Disney heroines sing nice songs to woodland creatures and tidy up cottages for dwarves. Gingerly, the film attempts to tread a middle path, implying that Mulan annihilates most of the Hun army by causing an avalanche, and having her dispatch Shan Yu with a load of fireworks. Very pretty. But still technically killing. "My little baby, off to destroy people," sighs her talking dragon happily. The Ballad of Mulan doesn't go in for visceral descriptions, but it does mention that Mulan travelled 10,000 miles in the service of the war machine, that she was away for 10 years, and that 100 battles were fought. It's a stretch to imagine she pulled this off without hacking at least a few people to death. There's no talking dragon, either.
Verdict
Dragon lady ... the real Mulan would probably have burned down your house
There is little historical evidence on Mulan and her time, but this film has managed to make a complete hash of it anyway. Still, as Disney heroines go, Mulan herself is a clear improvement on the standard-issue drippy princess. If a dwarf asked her to tidy his cottage, she'd probably burn it down.
