Mulan (1998)
Based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan.
The Huns, led by the ruthless Shan Yu, invade imperial China by breaching the Great Wall. The Emperor orders a general mobilization, with conscription notices requiring one man from each family to join the Imperial Chinese Army. Fa Mulan, an adventurous and active young woman, hopes to bring honor to her family as she is arranged to meet a matchmaker to demonstrate her fitness as a future wife. With the help of her mother, grandmother, she is dressed up (“Honor to Us All”) and also given a lucky cricket. However, following a big mishap, the matchmaker deems her a disgrace to the family (“Reflection”).
Mulan's elderly father Fa Zhou - the only man in their family and an army veteran - is conscripted. She tries to dissuade him from going, but he protests that he must do his duty. Fearing for his life, she cuts her hair and takes her father's sword and armor, disguising herself as a man so that she can enlist in his stead. She leaves with the family horse, Khan. Quickly learning of her departure, Mulan's grandmother prays to the family's ancestors for Mulan's safety. In the local temple, Mushu, a small red dragon, is a disgraced former family guardian who is demoted to the role of awakening the spirits of the ancestors. The Great Ancestor decides that the powerful stone dragon guardian should guide Mulan; and sends Mushu to wake him. After accidentally destroying the guardian's statue, Mushu travels to Mulan's aid to make her a war hero.
Reporting to the training camp, Mulan passes as a man named "Fa Ping", with Mushu providing encouragement and clumsy guidance throughout her deception. Under the command of Captain Li Shang, she and her fellow recruits—including three named Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po—gradually become trained soldiers (“I’ll Make A Man Out of You”). The Emperor's belligerent counsel, Chi-Fu, threatens to dissuade the Emperor from allowing Shang's men to fight. Mushu then crafts a fake letter from Shang's father, General Li, ordering Shang to follow the main imperial army into the mountains. The reinforcements set out (“A Girl Worth Fighting For”) only to arrive at a burnt village in Tung Shao Pass, discovering that the Huns have massacred General Li and his troops.
As the soldiers march up a mountain pass in hopes of reaching the Forbidden City quicker, they are ambushed by the Huns. Mulan cleverly uses a Huolongchushui cannon to cause an avalanche, which buries the entire Hun army. Angered, Shan Yu wounds Mulan during the battle, and her deception is revealed when the wound is bandaged. Instead of executing Mulan as the law requires, Shang, having been saved by Mulan during the battle, spares her life and expels her from the army. Mulan is left behind as the other soldiers depart for the Imperial City to report the Huns' defeat. However, Shan Yu and five of his warriors have survived, and Mulan sees them heading towards the city.
Mulan enters the city and warns Shang, who does not believe her. The Huns then capture the Emperor and seize the palace. Mulan, Yao, Ling, Chien-Po, and Shang enter the palace and defeat Shan Yu's men. Shang prevents Shan Yu from attacking the Emperor, and Mulan lures the Hun leader onto the roof, where she pins him there with his own sword. Acting on Mulan's instructions, Mushu fires a large skyrocket at Shan Yu; the rocket strikes and propels Shan Yu into a fireworks launching tower, where he dies in the resulting explosion.
The Emperor initially reprimands Mulan, but then he and the city's assembled inhabitants praise her for having saved them, and they bow to her in honor. She accepts the Emperor's crest and Shan Yu's sword as gifts but declines his offer to be on the royal council. Mulan returns home and presents these gifts to her father, but he ignores them, happy to have her back. Having become enamored with Mulan, Shang also arrives and accepts her invitation to stay for dinner. Mushu is reinstated as a Fa family guardian as the ancestors celebrate (“True To Your Heart”).
TRIVIA
Eddie Murphy plays the character of Mushu.
Visual Style
A group of Disney artists travelled to China for inspiration as well as cultural and artistic references for the film.
Since there was no general consensus on the time of Mulan's existence, the team based the visual design on the Ming and Qing dynasties.
An important element of production designer Hans Bacher's design was to turn the art style closer to Chinese painting, with watercolor and simpler design.
Technology
To create 2,000 Hun soldiers during the Huns' attack sequence, the production team developed crowd simulation software called “Attila”. This software allows thousands of unique characters to move autonomously. A variant of the program called “Dynasty” was used in the final battle sequence to create a crowd of 3,000 in the Forbidden City.
Pixar's photorealistic open API RenderMan was used to render the crowd.
Another software developed for this movie was “Faux Plane”, which was used to add depth to flat two-dimensional painting. Although developed late in production progress, Faux Plane was used in five shots, including the dramatic sequence which features the Great Wall of China, and the final battle sequence when Mulan runs to the Forbidden City.
During the scene in which the citizens of China are bowing to Mulan, the crowd is a panoramic film of real people bowing. It was edited into the animated foreground of the scene.
Deleted Scene(s)
A deleted scene reveals that Shan Yu and his falcon have a spiritual connection where Shan Yu can see through the falcon’s eyes.
A deleted opening scene was originally planned to be a shadow puppet show that tells the history of the Great Wall and establish the setting of the movie.