Mulan II
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Movie Reviews of Mulan II
Movie Review: Honest review from a male perspective
Summary: 4 Stars
For those of you who liked the first Mulan and are considering buying this, just do it. Even though it's straight to video, it's still just as good as the original. It follows the traditional Disney formula with fun characters and themes of love and caring. Even though this is obviously a girlie disney movie, there was plenty of fun stuff to keep myself, a 23 year old male interested. I saw it at work. Don't ask.
With the water color intro and Tan Dun like music, I couldn't help but think I was watching Disney's House of Crouching Tigers, Hidden Hero. Mulan and Shang on an escort mission? Fighting Bandits? Falling love? If it weren't for the animation and talking animals, it'd be like one of those Taiwanese serials. Speaking of which, maybe it's just me, but I was totally convinced that Mulan and her boyfriend Shang were really Chinese American. They talk and argue as if they were straight out of an Amy Tan book.
As a parent, you might be concerned with the educational value of the film. I read one review about how the moral of the story was to follow your heart and not follow duty. Yeah, that could send mixed messages to children, but there was actually a lot more to it than just that. First of all, the reviewer is right. Mulan obviously follows her heart instead of simply following the rules like her boyfriend. This gets them into conflicts because they realize they are almost complete opposites. He always follows duty. However, by the end of the story, they both do the exact opposite to reach the happy ending. This relates back to the balancing of opposites theme presented by the cute song in the beginning. Also, the "follow the heart, follow duty" conflict takes place again within the red dragon character. He doesn't want Mulan to get married because he loses the perks of being her guardian. So what does he do as her guardian? He does everything he can to break them up. However, by the end of the movie, he goes from following his selfish heart to doing his duty. Anyway, Mulan 2 is just as good as the original in nearly everyway.
Movie Review: Disney does as Disney will--again
Summary: 4 Stars
I doubt I fit the target demographic for "Mulan II", thus the tedium I faced in watching such "kids' stuff". But with my interest in Far Eastern culture, I figured this would be something I could sit through. As the illustrious Savior of China who still goes out to work in the fields, Mulan begins with the lesson of "yin and yang", done up into a musical number of course, but I think Buddhism and Confucianism have to be more than that. She's off on the road doing guard duty this time with now-General Shang, whom she's decided to wed. Now if I'm not mistaken, in Mulan I, she starts as an "enlisted man", so if she hasn't been commissioned by the sequel, it sounds like improper fraternization. The dragon Mushu, who loses the critical bit Eddie Murphy gave him previously, is out to his old tricks, convinced that the marriage will put him out of a job as ancestral guardian. No, this is NOT the real Mushu, but he'll do. The military escort has as its charges a set of 3 Imperial princesses (of course, for Disney, you have to have princesses), given in those hateful arranged marriages to foreign princes (I hear Tevye crying "Tradition!"). Mulan convinces them to give up "duty" in favor of their "hearts". In the instant case, their respective hearts are given to the affable Army buddies from the first film. Now I'm not so sure about this one. There sure is a lot to be said for doing one's duty, and I'm unconvinced there--one's heart typically doesn't pay the same kind of wages. Well, I guess Fa Mulan does all right as a role model for the female youth out there in the audience, and the whole oriental tableau of the movie was an entertaining one for me. I doubt the People's Republic of China will object as much to Mulan II as they did to the spate of films back there about Tibet (one was a Miramax, as I recall). I'll say 3.9 stars on this one. Just watch the Disney Channel, is all, for the Mulan TV series. A new opponent, each episode, but not a feature-length timescale.Movie Review: An honorable second part
Summary: 4 Stars
For a strange reason the movie was released in Mexico on November 5, and when I found out that the release date on the USA changed to February 2005, I couldn't resist the temptation and bought the dvd. Generally I only buy Disney DVD on region 1, because in Mexico many of the additional material is cut, but I think that this version is going to be similar than the USA version.
If you are a fan of the first this is not going to dissapoint you, it's not better than the first one, but definitly is one of the better second parts that Disney has made. Tha animation is very good, and the plot is funny and respect some elements of the first movie, but it lack a lot of action. We can see how the bonds between Mulan and Shang gfets stronger. Althought in some point the story become predictable it has a lot of shocking moments, and a lot of funnies too. All the cast is back, but Eddie Murphy, but not be dissapointed with this when I see the movie for the first time I didn't notice that Mushu wasn't Murphy, the actor that dubbed our favoritedragon has the same complexity in the voice and it can fool even to the most exigent audience, really it's a great work.
We all know that many Disney second parts are no good, but I promise you that this is a DVD buyable. The music is good, and my favorite is a new version of "A girl worth fighting for" (Oh yes, our 3 favorite guards come back too). As I told you in my country many of the additional material is ommited, because here nobody pay attention to the extras, but in this DVD includes 4 deleted scenes, a shadow game, and a Mushu section.
If you have some question about this edition, feel free to drop me a note: durgo@yahoo.com
Movie Review: Pleasantly surprised.
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm from Australia, hence why I've seen this film early. Mulan is my favorite Disney film and when I heard there was a Disney sequel I was very worried... I've seen a couple of the other sequels like Lion King II: Simba's Pride and Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea and found them very cringe-worthy. I read a couple of bad reviews of Mulan 2 and was planning to stay away from this film completely, but the plot summary intrigued me because it did not involve any regeneration of the villain or most importantly, offspring of the Disney hero or any of this "next generation" stuff that the other Disney sequels have been offering. So I gave into temptation and rented it, and was very surprised! It's quite good! With the exception of Eddie Murphy, all the character voices are back and the songs are not as bad as many have described. The Lea Salonga song has been stuck in my head all day! Although the animation of Mulan's character bugged me at times (particularly her eyes) the animation was generally very good, in fact there are a couple of beautiful scenes that gave me chills, great colour and imagery. The score also really takes you to China. The story was not as cheesy as I was expecting and was actually interesting, though it did at times feel a bit far from the original Mulan film. The new characters of the three princesses are quite memorable (I loved Mei... was she the one in the pink dress?), and Mushu is funny as ever. Overall I really enjoyed this film, and no Disney sequel has acheived this! Of course the original will always be the best, but this sequel did not ruin it and I liked it enough to buy it.Movie Review: CONSIDERING that this is a Disney SEQUEL
Summary: 4 Stars
as we all know, Disney sequels are known to suck...yes...i mean that they are not that great....however, considering that this is a sequel, i think this is one of the better sequels that Disney has made...i think the general choreography of musicals is quite weak but the songs are okay...the first one was kinda cute but i didn't like the "like other girls" song.....and well, the story is very...weak as well....no well connected together...no structure....can't really see the art in it....
HOWEVER...the voice acting is pretty good, especially by Ming-Na...one scene was just so dramatic....i ended up in tears as well....very well done.......
what i dislike most is the absurdity of this whole movie...quite a ludicrous idea with the king sending these princesses to be married like that and then falling in love with lowly soldiers...u can obviously tell this is very untrue to what China was like....
the overall concept of the movie was quite weak...BUT....i have a lot of attachment to Mulan and i think this sequel makes my feelings even stronger...and...there are some sweet scenes between Mulan and Shang, which makes it all good~=D~just think this project was a bit rushed, especially the ending....if you're someone who hates weak endings, u might not like this ending cuz it's wrapped up too fast...WAY WAY WAY too fast
CONSIDERING that this is a sequel....i have to say that this one is pretty decent!!!