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Released near the end of the so-called Disney Renaissance, this Tony Bancroft directed cartoon shows us why Disney was a monster, and I do mean a huge one, in the 90's. Most of Disney's strongest works were in the 90's and not mentioning Mulan would be a shame. The animation is very fluid, the concept is good but, even for a cartoon, seemed to steeped in fantasy and by-chance events. I've also read in several places that many critics were not happy with the songs and I heartfully disagree. The songs, in my opinion, are one of Disney's best efforts to date and each fits the scene perfectly. The music is superb too, especially the Mulan's Decision score... beautiful!
I enjoyed almost everyone's V.O., especially Ming-Na as the titular role (remember her from Street Fighter?) and she bought a-lot of verbal warmness and realism to her character and made Mulan one of Disney's best heroines. From the supporting, I enjoyed Eddie Murphy as Mushu, a dream role for many. Since the advent of Robin Williams, the fast-voice-over technique was adopted by many and Eddie Murphy still stands out as one of the best. I somewhat liked Miguel Ferrer's V.O. as Shan Yu, the main antagonist. Maybe because he wasn't given enough screen-time? I think Goran Visnjic might've been a better choice.
Now, the film starts off brilliantly, has great moments and one-liners but it loses its focus and stability badly, very badly, from the point where Shan Yu finds out Mulan is a girl. From there everything seemed hurried and rushed, as if the crew wanted to finish it off quickly. And the ending, well, totally different from other Disney works and it was just OK, could've done times better.
In conclusion, I enjoyed it and it has great songs and stands up against most of the previous Disney productions, although not all and is the second-last greatest Disney production ever... the last was Tarzan, released one year later.
8.5/10
