'Mulan' branded Disney's most mature film to date

By Rayya Makarim

JAKARTA (JP): "I know my place, it is time you know yours!" says a frustrated Fa Zhou (voice of Soon-Tek Oh) to his daughter Mulan (Ming-Na Wen) in Disney's latest animated feature.

This statement sets up the premise for Mulan, offering a 125- minute tale of self-discovery and identity. This is not a girlish coming-of-age story where girl becomes woman. Here, girl becomes man.

With almost 700 artists, animators and technicians at work, Mulan is based on one of China's most popular legends. Set against the vast landscape of China, the story starts with two concurrent events. The opening shot is a sinister image of the Great Wall where an army of Huns under the command of the fiendish Shan-Yu (Miguel Ferrer) is ready to invade the country.

Meanwhile, in a small village, an independent-minded Mulan is getting ready for a fateful meeting with the local matchmaker. Inevitably, the appointment ends in disaster, despite Mulan's cheat notes written on her arm. "You will never bring your family honor," declares the matchmaker.

These two colliding introductory episodes come together when a decree arrives from the Emperor, drafting one man from each family to fight the Huns.

As the only male in the Fa family, Mulan's handicapped father unquestioningly steps forward to accept the pronouncement. However, letting her ailing father go will surely mean death for the old man. So, Mulan decides to cut her hair and steal her father's armor. Mulan's place, it turns out, is at the head of a ragtag military unit fighting Shan-Yu's Huns.

Mulan is Disney's most mature film to date. We forget that we are watching a cartoon when we see a burning village with no inhabitants, and a valley full of dead bodies.

The rare subjects of war and death on a large scale is dealt with delicately -- not imposing so that it will scare the younger audience but suggestive enough so the older ones understand the implications.

Directed by Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft, two of Disney's most accomplished animation talents, the film offers a unique look.

With the help of Hans Bacher, the head of the artistic team, the graphic technique of traditional Chinese art became the style for the picture.

"The simplicity comes from making the backgrounds very minimal and not overloaded with detail," said Bacher. This explains the numerous flat open landscape shots with the characters filling in the details against the spacious backdrop.

One spectacular sequence includes a charging Hun army on horseback cascading through a snowy mountain pass. The soldiers are portrayed with full amour, complete with shadowed caused by the snow's glare.

Like most Disney pictures, Mulan effectively blends drama, humor and cute elements into a top-rank piece of work. Keeping Mulan in line are her two sidekicks: a quiet and reserved cricket and a garrulous pint-sized Mushu (Eddie Murphy).

As part of the platoon of misfits, there is the centered and mellow Chien-Po (Jerry Tondo), the temperamental Yao (Harvey Fierstein) and the impish instigator Ling (Gedde Watanabe).

If those three provide most of the physical humor to the screen, Murphy's Mushu brings some of the best lines (scripted and improvised) to the dialog. Murphy's urban vernacular language style is hilarious when weighed against the traditional mythical dragon his voice represents.

Thematically, Mulan isn't very subtle in reinforcing the idea of equality between the sexes. The moment we reach the training grounds (the man's world), the film exploits every kind of gender stereotype.

Mulan makes an unsuccessful attempt at expectorating, and carries herself in what a woman may consider as macho suaveness (complete with one-raised eyebrow and a deep mannish chuckle).

There are a few comic ironies relating to gender, arranged in the dialog as well as the singing parts. For example, the powerful I'll Make a Man Out of You is sung by Shang (singing voice of Donny Osmond, spoken voice of B.D. Wong), the captain of the inexperienced troop of army recruits.

Additionally, to sooth the tension of going to war, the platoon sings A Girl Worth Fighting For, leaving an awkward Mulan as her counterparts gawk at their personal definitions of the ideal woman.

Unlike other Disney villains, Shan-Yu possesses no comical sides to soften his diabolical character. His gestures resemble an animal preparing to catch its prey. With his giant-like figure, he lurks, climbs and crawls, causing all to cower at his shadow.

Drawn in shades of gray, as a contrast to the more colorful animation of the recruits, the Huns look like they just came back from the dead. In their first defeat, where they are buried in an avalanche, Shan-Yu's arm bursts out of the clean white snow -- a scene straight out of a graveyard horror flick.

He is probably the most vicious villain to ever appear in a Disney movie, and his lack of screen time (to some a disappointment) should probably be seen as a positive point (kids would not last through such terror).

Mulan is definitely a move in a new direction for Disney animation, especially with Asia as a fresh location. And although the undiluted twang of the American accent in the movie can be annoying at times, we are quick to realize that Mulan's story of identity, discipline and family honor is a universal theme that transcends gender, race and age. As a proud Mushu says to Mulan: "You da man!" -- well ... sort of.