Released near the tail end of the Disney Renaissance, Mulan proved to be Disney's best effort since The Lion King, marking a welcome return to form after several middling films. Retelling the Chinese folk tale of a female warrior, Mulan is at once an adventure film, a feminist parable, and a subversion of some of Disney's oldest tropes.
Dispensing with the bizarre, immersion-breaking asides and lackluster stabs at humor that plagued Hercules and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan's story is played straight, with the Hun invasion of China providing the impetus for Mulan to take her aging father's place in the army as a means of proving her value in a society that places no importance on women. Mulan herself is the antidote to decades of Disney princesses whose entire motivation was to get married to some uninteresting prince; she is not un-feminine, but finds herself unable to accept the position of the submissive daughter and eventual wife that Chinese society has allotted her. Her relationship with Li Shang is based more on mutual respect than anything else, and it is actually allowed to develop realistically - there is no hackneyed love-at-first-sight moment. Mulan's character arc, from humiliating herself in front of a matchmaker to saving her country from the Huns, is one of Disney's greatest, and the scene of the Emperor of China leading a mass of people in bowing before her is a genuinely earned payoff.
Apart from its story, one of Mulan's greatest strengths is its cast, which is a gathering of star talent in top form. Refreshingly for Hollywood, the majority of the Chinese cast are played by actual Asian actors: Ming-Na Wen as Mulan, B.D. Wong as Li Shang, George Takei as the Ancestor, and the great Pat Morita as the Emperor. Miguel Ferrer has an impressively sinister turn as Shan Yu, lending a genuine sense of danger to the savage Hun leader. Eddie Murphy's performance as Mushu comes dangerously close to Dreamworks territory at times, but his humor sticks the landing for the most part, and his genuine loyalty to Mulan makes him a better Disney sidekick than some. Even the non-speaking characters, like the Cricket and Khan the horse convey an abundance of personality and charm.
Musically, the film shines as well, with Jerry Goldsmith's bold, cinematic score lending a suitably epic feel - the standout is the synth-and-drum piece that plays as Mulan prepares to leave home for the army, which lends the proceedings a sense of high drama and importance. The songs by Matthew Wilder and David Zippel are all on point as well, all existing in the service of plot and character; there are none of the dispensable numbers that plagued some other late-period Renaissance films. "Honor To Us All" and "A Girl Worth Fighting For" lay down some welcome satire on the roles of men and women in the Chinese society the film depicts, while "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" remains one of the greatest training montage sequences in film history, Rocky be damned. And, of course, we have Mulan's character piece, "Reflection," which, over the years, has received a second life as a queer anthem.
While it may not quite reach the grand artistic achievement of The Lion King, Mulan absolutely defines itself as one of Disney's greatest films. It's a perfect marriage of character, story, music, and theme that scarcely misses a beat. The film's greatest legacy, perhaps, is the value it represents to its target audience. Mulan is no pining princess or passive love interest: she is the hero of her story, and she sets an example for every young girl that watches this film.
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