The atypical Disney gal, indeed:Mulan incognito. © Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Having exhausted the canon of classic European fairy tales and children's books that provided the basic story material for five decades of animated features, the filmmakers at Disney have, in recent years, turned to the Middle East (Aladdin), colonial America (Pocahontas), and Africa (The Lion King). (They have also turned to the world of adult literature, leading to their ambitious, but misbegotten, version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.)

An Asian Classic
Now--and it's about time--they've looked to the Far East, where there is a body of fable at least as rich and well-recorded as in Europe. The new Mulan cleaves relatively faithfully to the bare bones of the oft-told Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, a young woman who is supposed to have taken her ailing father's place in the Emperor's army during a fierce invasion.

Disney has changed her family name from Hua to Fa--which is no great sacrilege, since even the historical records of the real Mulan can't seem to agree on her name or even the century in which she lived. In Disney's version, China is threatened when an army of Huns, led by Shan-Yu (voice of Miguel Ferrer), breach the Great Wall. The Emperor (Pat Morita) demands that one man from each family in his kingdom join the fight. Elderly, infirm Fa Zhou (Soon-Tek Oh), the only male in the Fa family, prepares to do his duty. To protect him, his doting daughter, Mulan (Ming-Na Wen), cuts her hair and goes off in drag in his place.

There is nothing new about cross-dressing comedy--even in family films--and much of the humor in Mulan derives from the heroine's attempts to understand and imitate male characteristics. (Think Tootsie in reverse.) Thanks to her cleverness, she becomes the best of all the soldiers--not surprisingly, given what louts most of the genuine males are. Still, when her deception is uncovered, she is drummed out of the corps.

Of course, further crises require that she save the day once again.

Following a disastrous encounter with the village matchmaker, Mulan is comforted by her father, Fa Zhou. © Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Romance Isn't the Answer
No previous Disney feature has been so centrally concerned with gender roles and only Beauty and the Beast came within shooting distance of Mulan's modern take on the subject. Like Belle, Mulan is smart and plucky...and a complete outcast. Even more than Belle, she has to take charge of her fate. And, way more than Belle, she finds her eventual fulfillment independent of a romantic resolution.

This is still a Disney film and thus, it upholds most of the traditional values that have marked the studio's animated feature output for 60 years. However, the secondary nature of the romantic subplot really represents a change. Mulan isn't waiting for her prince to someday come; when he does arrive, having known her primarily as a man, and having learned to admire her for her deeper qualities, the romance is muted and subtle. While Belle was an independent type from the start, the new film shows Mulan discovering along the way that she doesn't have to accept her preordained position. Our introduction to the character shows her nervously preparing to impress the town's imperious matchmaker; only by finding a suitable husband can she satisfy her family's honor. When she bungles the interview, it is implied that she has no further options. Curiously, these scenes, while amusing, are the weakest part of the movie. While they may be thematically important, they are so tangential to the rest of the plot that they delay the film from getting down to business.