MULAN (1998) ** My first reaction to an ancient Chinese drama driven by weak pop music isn't entirely positive. Then I settle back and figure that it's written for children-and how many of them are going to go on to become venerable scholars of that ancient era anyway? So it's probably enough, hell maybe even better, that it demonstrates some things about on own culture on reflection: about the absurdity male chauvenism, about unorthodox approaches to honor, about the joys of taking a big chance. The kids loved Eddie Murphy's dragon, but the animation of movement during the climactic scenes was probably the best of it for me.
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