| Mulan | |
|---|---|
Promotional Poster For Mulan by John Alvin |
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| Directed by | Tony Bancroft Barry Cook |
| Produced by | Pam Coats |
| Written by | Robert D. San Souci Rita Hsiao |
| Starring | Ming-Na Eddie Murphy B.D. Wong Miguel Ferrer Harvey Fierstein Beth Fowler George Takei |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 19, 1998 |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Language | English Mandarin |
| Budget | $70,000,000[1] |
| Gross revenue | $304,320,254 |
| Followed by | Mulan II (2005) |
Mulan is a 1998 animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and released by Walt Disney Pictures on June 19, 1998. The thirty-sixth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, and a part of the Disney Renaissance, the film is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan,[2] and was the first of three produced primarily at the animation studio at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida.[3] It was directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, with the story by Robert D. San Souci and Rita Hsiao, among others.
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Katie Carr praticaly worships mulan. Its kinda annoying for Abby and Josh. and she is a brat =]
Mulan originally began as a short, straight-to-video film titled "China Doll" about an oppressed and miserable Chinese girl who is whisked away by a British Prince Charming to happiness in the West. Then Disney consultant and children's book writer Robert San Souci suggested making a movie of the Chinese poem, "The Song of Fa Mu Lan" and Disney combined the two separate projects.[4]
Development for Mulan began in 1994, after the production team sent a select group of artistic supervisors to China for three weeks to take photographs and drawings of local landmarks for inspiration; and to soak up local culture.[5] The filmmakers decided to change Mulan's character to make her more appealing and selfless[6] and turn the art style closer to Chinese painting, with watercolor and simpler design - opposed to the details of The Lion King and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.[7]
To create 2,000 Hun soldiers during the Huns' attack sequence, the production team developed a 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 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 Chinese are bowing to Mulan, the crowd is a panoramic film of real people bowing. It was edited into the animated foreground of the scene.[8]
Reception of Mulan was mostly positive, gathering a 90% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes.[9] Stephen Wong described the visuals as "stunning,"[10] Kyle Suggs described the visuals as "breathtaking,"[11] and Dan Jardine described the visuals as "magnificently animated."[12] Film critic Roger Ebert gave Mulan three and a half stars out of four in his written review. He said that "Mulan is an impressive achievement, with a story and treatment ranking with Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King". Negative reviews described it as a "disappointment." The songs are accused of not being memorable, and slowing down the pace of the movie.[13] Some reviewers suggest that the film is "soulless" in its portrayal of Asian society.[14]
This movie was also the subject of comment from feminist critics. Mimi Nguyen says the film "pokes fun at the ultimately repressive gender roles that seek to make Mulan a domesticated creature."[15] Nadya Labi agrees, saying "there is a lyric in the film that gives the lie to the bravado of the entire girl-power movement." She pointed out that she needed to become a boy to do it. Kathleen Karlyn, an assistant professor of English at the University of Oregon, criticizes it suggesting "In order to even imagine female heroism, we're placing it in the realm of fantasy". Pam Coats, producer of Mulan, aimed to produce a character that exhibits both masculine and feminine influences, being both physically and mentally strong.[16]
Mulan's opening weekend box office figures were $22.8 million,[17] placing it as the second highest grossing movie that week to The X-Files.[18] It went on to make $120 million domestically and $304 million worldwide, placing it the second highest family film of the year, behind A Bug's Life, and the 7th highest of the year overall.[19] However, these figures were criticised as being a significant decrease from former Disney films, and this was considered a sign of the decreasing popularity of cartoon animation.[20] Top international releases include United Kingdom ($14.6 million) and France ($10.2 million).[21]
Mulan won many Annie Awards. The film itself won the award for Best Animated Theatrical theatres. Individual achievement awards were awarded to Pam Coats for producing; Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft for Directing; Rita Hsiao, Christopher Sanders, Phillip LaZebnick, Raymond Singer and Eugenia Bostwick-Singer in Writing; Chris Sanders for Storyboarding; Hans Bacher for Production Design; David Tidgwell for Effects Animation; Ming-Na for Voice Acting Mulan; Matthew Wilder, David Zippel and Jerry Goldsmith for music and Ruben A. Aquino for Character Animation. Tom Bancroft and Mark Henn were also nominated for Character Animation.[22] It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Original Music Score in 1998, but was beaten by Stephen Warbeck's score for Shakespeare in Love.[23] The music score also received significant praise. Jerry Goldsmith won the 1999 BMI Film Music Award and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score in 1998. Matthew Wilder and David Zippel were also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song the same year for "Reflection". They were beaten by The Truman Show and "The Prayer" from Quest for Camelot respectively.[24]
Disney was keen to promote Mulan to the Chinese, hoping they might replicate their success with their 1994 film The Lion King, which was one of the country's highest-grossing Western films at that time. Disney also hoped it might smooth over relations with the Chinese government which had soured after the release of Kundun, a Disney-funded biography of the Dalai Lama that the Chinese government considered politically provocative.[25] China had threatened to curtail business negotiations with Disney over that film and, as the government only accepts 10 Western films per year to be shown in their country, Mulan's chances of being accepted were low.[26] Finally, after a year's delay, the Chinese government did allow the film a limited Chinese release, but only after the Chinese New Year, so as to ensure that local films dominated the more lucrative holiday market.[27][28] Kelly Chen and Coco Lee voiced Mulan in the Cantonese and Mandarin dubs of the film respectively, while Jackie Chan voiced Shang in both dubs.
The Chinese legend of Hua Mulan centers on a young woman who disguises herself as a man to take the place of her elderly father in the army. The story can be traced back to The Ballad of Mulan. The earliest accounts of the legend state that she lived during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534). However another version reports that Mulan was requested as a concubine by Emperor Yang of Sui China (reigned 604–617).[2] The film may take place even later, as it prominently features landmarks such as the Forbidden City which was not constructed until the 15th century during the Ming dynasty. On the other hand, at the time of Northern Wei, the Xiongnu (Huns) had been already absorbed into Chinese culture. However, according to the style of dress (traditional Han clothing, also known as Hanfu), the film takes place sometime in the 15th century or before. The fireworks featured in the movie indicate that the movie is set during the Sui dynasty. Though Mulan is set in north China, where the dominant language is Mandarin,[29] the Disney film uses the Cantonese pronunciation, "Fa", of her family name. Disney's Mulan casts the title character in much the same way as the original legend, a tomboy daughter of a respected veteran, somewhat troubled by being the "sophisticated lady" her society expects her to be. In the original Mulan legend, Mulan uses her father's name Li and she was never discovered as a girl, unlike the film.
When Mulan masquerades as a man, her name is a pun in Chinese. Her first name is "Ping" (瓶), meaning vase, and her surname (placed first using Chinese naming conventions) means Flower (花). Together they make "Flowerpot", a Chinese term meaning an effeminate man. According to Orpheus in Mayfair and Other Stories and Sketches by Maurice Baring, "Pong" in Chinese means soldier-man.[30] Chi Fu's name literally means, in Chinese, "to bully".
Mulan features a score by Jerry Goldsmith and five songs by Matthew Wilder (music) and David Zippel (lyrics), with a sixth originally planned for Mushu, but dropped following Eddie Murphy's involvement with the character.[31] The movie's soundtrack is credited for starting the career of pop singer Christina Aguilera, whose first song to be released in the U.S. was her rendition of Reflection, the first single from the Mulan soundtrack. The song, and Aguilera's vocals, were so well received that it landed her a recording contract with RCA records.[32] In 1999, she would go on to release her self-titled debut album, on which Reflection was also included. As well as her own, the pop version of Reflection has 2 Spanish translations, because the movie has separate Spanish translations for Spain (performed by Malú) and Latin America (performed by Lucero). Other international versions include a Brazilian Portuguese version by Sandy & Junior ("Imagem"), a Korean version performed by Lena Park and a Mandarin version by Coco Lee.
Lea Salonga, the singing voice of Mulan in the movie, is also the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Aladdin. The music featured during the haircut scene, often referred as the Mulan Decision score, is different in the soundtrack album. The soundtrack album uses an orchestrated score while the movie uses heavy synthesizer music. The synthesizer version is available on the limited edition CD.[33] Salonga, who enjoys singing movie music in her concerts, has done a Disney medley which climaxes with an expanded version of 'Reflection' (not the same as those in Aguilera's version). Salonga also provided the singing voice for Mulan in the movie's sequel, Mulan II.
The song I'll Make a Man Out of You was performed by Donny Osmond, who commented that his children decided that he had finally "made it" in show business when he was in a Disney film.[34]
| Mulan | |
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| Films | Mulan | Mulan II |
| Characters | Fa Mulan | Mushu | Li Shang | Shan Yu |
| Songs | "I'll Make a Man Out of You" | "Reflection" |
| Soundtracks | Mulan: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack | Mulan II Soundtrack |
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