Mulan II (Musical Hell Reviews #117)

This just in: Disney direct-to-video sequels still a trash fire.

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[thegayghost]

I'm honestly surprised the movie didn't end with Mushu learning that Shang's family has a female dragon guardian who looks exactly like him, only pink

[PassTheMarmalade]

Even Mulan's voice actress can't seem to say the "I have a duty to my HeEeAaArT" line without sounding like she's rolling her eyes.

[LaFemmeFictionale]

Of course the thumbnail is THAT image. That is this movie’s greatest legacy.

[savedgirl]

I saw an interesting take online. “A girl worth fighting for” in the original movie is ultimately the little girl who lost her doll. Unfortunately those kind of details aren’t here.

[davidanthonymercado]

My thoughts towards to this movie were “DISHONOR ON YOU! DISHONOR ON YOUR WRITING! DISHONOR ON YOUR CHARACTERS!”

[Talisguy]

The way you described Mulan and Shang bringing the comic relief trio to help escort the three princesses made me realise something. This is a Shakespeare comedy plot with all the cultural inaccuracy and double the contrivance and stupid character actions, but none of the humour.

[somerandomschmuck]

Fun fact: in the original story of Mulan, as in the thing that inspired the first Disney movie (at least the earliest thing I can find with the name) Mulan actually went through the entire war without being discovered, and even reached the rank of general. Her fellow generals who were good friends with “him” only figured it out when the leader of their group sent some of them to find their “brother” general because the leader had an unmarried sister he thought their “brother” would be a good husband for. At which point they finally met her out of her armor when they went to her house. They accepted it, left to tell the boss what was up, and one of the generals said he’d come back to marry her, which she seemed up for.

[starbird]

It would have been interesting if they did keep the theme of “opposite attracts”

Maybe a Pacifist calming Yao
The orderly dating Ying
And the spitfire dating Chen Poe

[CJCroen]

"Aren't impressions more Iago's thing?"
Not only that, but unlike Mushu, it _makes sense_ when Iago does it. He's a _parrot, _ parrots _mimic, _ that's the joke. Why is _Mushu_ suddenly doing it? Especially since, in the first movie, he was explicitly shown to be _terrible_ at impressions!

[gageperuti]

17:22 Did Mulan just squee? If there was one Disney Princess I absolutely could NOT see squeeing, it's her.

[swamplinglvr]

You can tell they really don't know what they're doing when the parents have and give the wrong yin and yang symbols to Mulan and Shang. They give her the white with the black dot (yang) and him the black with the white dot (yin), when it should be the other way around. Unless it's supposed to represent them carrying each other's symbols...(Source: Xiran Jay Zhao).

[harlequinade]

My least favorite thing about this movie is how selfish everyone is. The princesses may not have been happy, but China WAS ABOUT TO BE INVADED. Sometimes there are bigger issues!

[mrsmaggiekoch]

I think the worst thing is taking a fun side character and making them a straight up villian.

[graphitetailgrace]

Give Hunchback 2 this: it didn't end with Quasimodo, Esmerelda, Phoebus and the rest indirectly dooming the entirety of France in the name of love.

[cam]

Their rubber-hosey expressions were getting to me even before Shang goes entirely off model, but what really makes me side eye is Mulan turning into Generic Good Princess. "Follow my heart! Arranged marriage bad! *Squeal!"* Even most D*sney knockoffs aren't _that_ bland. There's bad, then there's ruining something _good._

[johnvinals]

Between “Music” and “Mulan II”, someone really needs to send Diva copies of “The Owl House” to cheer her up.

[laurenfrey]

I am honestly very surprised that the “Mushu getting off scot-free” thing did not warrant Sin Number 10. I get that it’s part of the bullshit ending, but Mulan was 100% correct in that his actions were unforgivable, but she ends up forgiving him anyway because he did the very barest of the bare minimum?? And that thing with Shang combining the family temples, like, I’m not Chinese, so I’m not going to say anything about whether that is something that can or has been done, but in terms of writing, it is one of the laziest cop outs I have ever seen in film. Mushu did not deserve that, he was the absolutely and completely the villain of this film, and faced no consequences at all, nor did he put forth any amount of redemption.

[vdegamr]

Is there some sort of law that all movies set in China must contain at least one scene where the characters travel past a large rice paddy being tended by a single female farmer in a conical hat?

[TheBronyBraeburn]

I knew someone who loved to passionately defend this movie. Anyone who disliked it was "misogynistic" because "women should marry who they want, damnit!" Completely ignoring the historical and cultural context of the time period and location. If it wasn't for the physically painful experience of watching Belle's Magical World (Why, Paige, WHY?), I could easily declare this to be the absolute worst of the Disney direct-to-video sequels.

[EugenioScamardella]

Mulan (a Chinese young woman coming from a wealthy family, a young woman which is SUPPOSED to be aware of how her society works at her time) being so shocked at the idea of ​​PRINCESSES facing an ARRANGED MARRIAGE in ANCIENT CHINA keeps bonkering me.
It's like a Catholic person feeling shocked at the idea of ​​a child from another Catholic family receiving his first Communion.
It's like a Viking warrior feeling like it's "mean" to raid a Slavic village while conquering that land.
It's like an Ancient Greek refusing to accept the idea of ​​dating prepubescing boys in order to "confer them" his wisdom.
Don't get me wrong: a story that involves one of these subjects trying to go against what they find unfair or wrong in their society (and which sure feels wrong for ours) isn't a bad concept. BUT it has to be made properly, mostly by setting a specifiic yet believable context.
The original Mulan movie was clearly intended to break gender stereotypes and expectations, and the choice of putting also all the "arranged marriage thing" would have made the movie feel confusing, trying to sell way too much material. The focus was just on something else.
This sequel just starts off by a weak premess and developes it even worse.

Edit.
What I meant with those examples, is showing those individuals refusing to get that those "dissonant values" are actually a thing in their cultural and historical setting. History has taught us there were figures that decided to be out of those, but I think that at least they should be shown to be aware of how their setting works.
Ex. Jasmine from Aladdin is clearly unhappy with her arranged marriage, BUT in that movie: 1) the theme of feeling "trapped" and trying to find a way out of it is central and just doesn't feel like it's been forced within - 2) Jasmine is shown to already know what's (her father's) law, so there's not "shocked reaction" by her.