The Man Who Never Was has once again come through with info on RIDE WITH THE DEVIL, plus an advanced look at MULAN. Well, that's about all the lead in I can think of...
Well this is a day or two late but better late than never. Now this little gem would not be available save for the fat-headed behavior of a "Team Rodent" drone who was so pompous and rude in attitude (like she was guarding the Holy Grail) that she managed to tick off my informant who thought "Hey, it's a cartoon for crying out loud! Get a life!" So, here's some advance info/critique on "Mulan" straight from a "Trade Screening" - the film is not yet finished - editing, color, and music are all in formative stages and it is labelled a "work in progress" - Now, I suspect there are a couple of potential spoliers in here so keep that in mind.
This should be a really interesting piece if Team Rodent gets their act together and polishes up what has the potential to be a very cool picture. The story is set at an unspecified time in Ancient China and revolves around a young girl named Fa-Mulan or "Mulan" (voice by Ming-Na Wen, singing voice by Lea Salonga) - now she is an odd duck and won't conform to traditional Chinese values being a bit of a tomboy. This puts her at a girl's finishing school/matchmaker to try to polish her up for a hubbie and results in a very tacky musical number of schoolgirl's twirling parasols (a cross between Gilbert & Sullivan, Busby Berkely and Vaudeville - not so hot).
Her father is a retired warrior with a bad limp from old wounds and when word comes that the Huns are invading, the Emporer (Pat Morita) calls on his old veteran to help drive them out. Well, this is where Mulan decides that she will disguise herself as a boy and go in her father's place (a'la Joan of Arc) after which we are treated to a rather "G.I. Jane" -ish sequence as she tries to prove herself as a warrior - unlike Demi Morre, Mulan does not get naked but then, also unlike Demi Moore, she's a cartoon so her acting is considerably better. Now, before she goes off to the army she calls on her ancestors (including "First Ancestor" with the voice of Star Trek's George Takei) for help. The ancestors, as stone gods will come to life and give us a bit of comic relief especially "Mushu" - Mushu is a little dragon demi-god who once screwed up and was reduced to minor status. Mushu (voice by Eddie Murphy) decides that this is a chance to redeem himself and neglects to wake up the other ancestors so that he can sneak off with Mulan as her sidekick.
Mushu, however, is a klutz, a dork, a loser (and very, very funny - Murphy does some of the best work and has the best lines) who gives away the position of Mulan's little band to the Huns by accident and precipitates a near- disastrous battle. Here, however, is where Mulan rises to the challenge, turns the tide to beat the Huns, saves the life of her Captain "Shang" (voice by B.D. Wong, singing voice by Donny Osmond) and becomes a hero. When the Emporer gives a great victory celebration complete with fireworks (marvelous piece of work) Mulan realizes the Huns are coming back and rallies the troops to turn the tide once again to save the day - happily ever after, etc., etc.
Okay, Harry, now a few comments on the overall look of the piece. This should be as good or better than the Lion King in its overall appearance. There is some superb animation and breathtaking scenes (the Hun army crossing the snow-covered mountains is amazing). Jerry Goldsmith's score is fine (needs a bit of work but does the job) except for a couple of musical numbers which seem a bit forced and unnatural (okay, how natural can a cartoon look, right?) There is some very interesting art work which employs traditional Chinese brush painting techniques and this is really rather neat. The only time it doesn't work is during one musical number by the soldiers going off to war - the troops sing a song about the girls left behind and this is illustrated by the animation of a storybook done in traditional Chinese painting style in which the "girls left behind" come to life - okay, we could have done without this one as it was fairly cheesy. There are some very good folks working as voices, in addition to Takei, Murphy and Wong, you can look (or listen) for the voices of June Foray, Harvey Fieierstein, Pat Morita, Gedde Wattanabe and James Hong. Good work all around. Eddie Murphy however, as the sad sack dragon Mushu is just great. All in all, Harry, this one is a definite "go-see" and, if you've got kids, they'll absolutely love it. Thumbs up!!
