Mulan II [HD]

Excellent for a sequel, not as great as the original
Being the father of a daughter, it's very important for me to find examples of strong women in real life and in art or anything else that she can see. The original Mulan is not perfect in this respect but is surprisingly amazing in comparison to so many other films without going overboard with it (sometimes, the attempt to create strong female characters ends up causing them to be caricatures who talk about how strong they are rather than just showing it...or making them so one-dimensional that it would be impossible to relate to them). I'm very weary of sequels, especially if they are straight to video years after the original release. It always seems like Disney has run out of ideas and so they make sequels far removed from the original films or rush to retell in a strange fashion a historical figure. It's often the case that it's uninspired and far from entertaining. Mulan II avoided that. It's been mentioned before, but I think it's important to say there are some tonal...

Fun Family Fare
The story of Mulan II begins with Mulan thinking about marrying General Shang... which upsets one of Mulan's spirit guides (Mushu) so much that he decides to sabotage their relationship. Mushu is worried that he will be demoted if Mulan goes through with her plans to marry General Shang, because tradition calls for the wife's spirit guides to lose their pedestals in the household shrine at the time of marriage, meaning that they would then be subordinated to the husband's ancestors. The story moves back to Mulan and Shang, who are asked by the Emperor to provide safe passage for the Emperor's three daughters across China, so that they can be married to three princes in order to bring peace to China. Mulan and Shang travel with three trusted soldiers, who fall in love with the princesses in their care... as Mushu begins his plans to break Mulan and Shang up. Mulan II is full of jokes, songs, and an important message about following your heart. My favorite part of the film was one of...

This movie could've been so good . . . .
Have you noticed that sequels, for the most part (Toy Story 2 is an exception) just don't feel the same as the original? The music is different, the animation is different, something. You just can't quite put your finger on it; the movie bothers you somehow.

This movie does that. The story and characters were OK, but the plot could have been carried out so much better! Mushu was being selfish, although I admit the scenes when he tried to get Mulan and Shang apart made me laugh. And while the whole "duty to your heart" thing gets most people mad about this movie, I think it just wasn't done right. What I'm saying is, the movie has a decent plot but it was carried out weakly. Yeah, that's the word that describes this movie: weak.

The beginning song is just bad. I agree with the person who said they felt the scene with Mulan teaching the girls to fight was uncomfortable. It was poorly done. As with most aspects of this film, it coul've been better. The song "lesson...

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