A good movie

If I recall correctly, I actually saw this movie when it was released because my girlfriend at the time was a huge Disney fan. Damned, it was almost 20 years ago! I feel so old right now... Anyway, even though I really enjoyed it and even though it was definitely a solid effort from Disney, it never really became one of their real classics, at least, in my opinion. Basically, it was a fascinating story taking place in Asia for once, an area never explored by Disney before. However, even though it worked very well during the darker and dramatic moments, those scenes were constantly undermined by some rather underwhelming supposedly funny sequences. Take the intro with Mulan for example, it was a just a rather cringe-inducing segment supposed to make you smile but, in fact, it completely ridiculed some Chinese tradition without giving any insight on the purpose of this tradition. That was also the problem in this movie, the way it was constantly shifting between showing the Chinese culture and history and then showing some gross Americanism along the way. At least, Mushu was pretty good even if it was pretty obvious that they tried to get the same results they had with Robin Williams with 'Aladdin'. Obviously, Murphy never reached that level but he was still entertaining enough. Eventually, 3 years later, he would have much more success giving Donkey's voice in 'Shrek'. I also loved Shan-Yu who must be one of the most badass villains in Disney's history. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still really liked the damned thing and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

7/10