Mulan II (2004) – DVD

**½/**** Image A Sound A Extras C-
directed by Darrell Rooney, Lynne Southerland

by Travis Mackenzie Hoover Let it be known that Mulan II is out on DVD, and that it's surprisingly good. The House That Walt Built appears to have learned from its early, awful forays into the direct-to-video realm and decided to put a little elbow grease (not to mention money) into these glorified policy redemptions; once you get past its pitifully limited research of actual Chinese culture (no mean feat, believe me), you can't help but notice that the movie looks stellar. Content-wise, it's a decent, if not great, do-what-makes-you-happy message picture slightly curtailed by its minuscule running time and bolstered by a couple of songs that sound like somebody cared how they turned out. Nothing in Mulan II is brilliant, but it's a couple of notches above eyewash–and just smart enough not to drive unwilling parents completely insane. I can think of worse things to show your attention-deficient knee-biter.

I can also think of better things, to be sure: the opening of the film is a cringe-inducing regurgitation of Asian clichés, culminating in a musical number in which our gal Mulan (badly) explains the yin/yang duality to a group of hyperactive kewpie-doll girl-children. Fortunately, the plot soon kicks in, beginning with General Shang (voice of B.D. Wong) proposing marriage to Mulan (Ming-Na)–their vows to be exchanged after the both of them complete a mission to haul the emperor's three daughters into arranged marriages with enemy Mongols so as to ward off an impending attack. Mulan and Shang's wedlock will sadly cause the celestial demotion of dragon-helper Mushu (Mark Moseley, replacing Eddie Murphy), compelling him to facilitate romances between the girls and three comic-relief soldiers from the original Mulan instead. As this successfully drives a wedge through the heroic couple's relationship, all appears lost until the patented Selfless Disney Sacrifice is made.

This is Disney formula rendered by true believers instead of unmoved movers. Whether their belief is misguided, it is at least sincere, and that sincerity pours out into the formal aspects, making for little complexity but a lot of pretty pictures. Mulan II's colours are lustrous and vivid, its pacing is fluid yet punchy, and the occasional line forces you to crack a smile; if it's too short for real thematic consequence and fails to provide a big enough climax, it's involving enough to beguile both credulous moppets and parents tired of forcing quavering smiles when they try to support their children. Ex-Saturday Morning hacks were not invited to this party, meaning residual pleasure for all–not too bad, yes?

Still, one has to rap Disney across the knuckles for digging into their Random Ethnic Stereotype Generator to get the rotten meat for this elegant skeleton. At least when classical Hollywood doled out its slurs, it didn't act as though it was doing anybody any favours; Mulan II holds up the same funhouse-mirror to China whilst acting as though it's being culturally aware. Its we-will-make-China-safe-for-love-matches pose is outrageously patronizing in light of its total ignorance of any Chinese artifact that can't be found in a downtown junk shop–a far cry from the meticulous provincial details of the previous film. Just because I can hold my nose doesn't mean I don't notice the smell.

THE DVD
Mulan II absolutely gleams on DVD. The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is crisp and perfectly saturated, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is equally fine despite the picture's front-heavy mix. (Only a few rumbling atmospherics drift into the discretes.) Extras are as follows:

Voices of Mulan II (3 mins.)
A weirdly disconnected whisk through various vocal talents, presided over by Mushu and featuring one poor woman who admits to crying while giving her performance.

The World of Mulan
An interactive documentary experience where you collect stamps that reveal various commonplaces about China ("Kung Fu was a big ol' part of Chinese culture since, like, forever!"), again presided over by Mushu. A horrible insult to China specialists, Chinese speakers, China–good thing there's a prize (which turns out to be the nature of your Chinese Zodiac sign).

Mushu's Guess Who
Another simple game in which you match the character to the shadow puppet Mushu is making. Perhaps fun for children, it will be obvious enough to incite adults to lob their remotes at the screen.

Video: "(I Want to Be) Like Other Girls" (3 mins.)
Atomic Kitten rips through the film's signature tune, accompanied by clips from the film. I suppose Atomic Kitten fans will be in ecstasy, though the arrangement is pretty underwhelming compared to the version of the song used in Mulan II proper.

Deleted Scenes
The one half-interesting special feature, this mates the audio for four dropped scenes to their storyboard counterparts, with the filmmakers on hand to explain the cuts in video-based intros; the would-be opening fight scene has its qualities, as do two escape-scene prefaces.

Trailers for Pooh's Heffalump Movie, Bambi Platinum Edition, Lilo & Stitch 2, The Incredibles, and the Disney Princess books and videos round out the FastPlay-enhanced platter.

79 minutes; G; 1.78:1 (16×9-enhanced); English DD 5.1, French DD 5.1, Spanish DD 5.1; English SDH subtitles; DVD-9; Region One; Disney