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In Short: Yet another insanely overpriced and embarassingly underfeatured Di$ney animated disc. The Movie: Original Film Review Written In 1998: I didn't enjoy this Disney release nearly as much as critics across the country have. This film, about a Chinese girl who dresses as a boy to take the place of her father in a war has a problem with tone; the begining of the film seems like good old slapstick.Only problem is, I wasn't laughing. For the first act, I was bored silly. The songs in this film hardly work, and the animation is sometimes spectacular, and sometimes less than average. It's very hard to take a film about a war seriously when it's all broad slapstick. "Mulan" works best after it's first 30 minutes when it finally settles down and gets serious. The animation is spectacular when Mulan joins a fight against what seems like hundreds of soldiers stampeding over a mountainside in a sequence that's the centerpiece of the film; it works and it's thrilling and it's unfortunate that the rest of the film couldn't be as good as this set; but thankfully the film stays serious towards the end. It's two halfs of decent work. For most of the opening act, I was highly bored by the film's jokey attitude, and then baffled as it suddenly changes tone completely from slapstick to somber. What I did like was Eddie Murphy's little dragon character. It really has no place in the film, but simply, it was one of the few things that kept me interested. It's unfortunate also that "Mulan" takes absolutely no risks. Every scene feels calculated and probably researched days and nights by a team of marketers. Overall, I liked 20th Century Fox's "Anastasia" last fall far better. Even though the films aren't the same in plot, "Antastasia" was far faster, far more entertaining, and nearly perfect in pace.If only "Mulan" was as good as it's middle section, it would be a fantastic film. As is, I just felt it was fair as animation goes. The DVD Review (Written 11/9/99): VIDEO As non-anamorphic transfers go it's not bad, but when you consider a number of other factors( Dreamworks's Prince Of Egypt DVD, which pretty much blows this out of the water in features and quality; the insanely high price as well as the questionable THX certification, which I will talk about later), this disc looks more and more lacking in comparison to the level of quality that it should be at. Nothing against THX really, but if they are going to be certifying discs like this when there are animated titles like Prince Of Egypt that better the image quality on this disc by quite a bit, I certainly find their choices highly questionable. Although a lot of this disc does look very strong, it just doesn't have the level of sharpness that it could- some shots look a little on the noticably soft side. Others, mainly some darker shots, appear slightly "harsh" in nature. Yet again, I'm going to refer back to "Prince Of Egypt"; a disc which looks a lot smoother, sharper and certainly more "film-like" in nature than this one. In other words, you're not getting the kind of quality that you should be getting from a disc that costs $39.99. Disney has included both the widescreen(1.85:1) and pan/scan versions on one dual-layer disc. If it already couldn't be worse, the widescreen version isn't anamorphic. Although the colors on this disc are strong and vibrant, they aren't as awe-inspiring as...you guessed it, "Prince Of Egypt". I may use that film as a comparison over and over again, but really, why not? In terms of animation, it's a far better presenation than this is. You get more from "Prince" than you do from "Mulan". In terms of features, this disc is almost embarassing in terms of features, but I'll be talking about that later in this review. Let's just end this portion by saying that in terms of image quality, you don't get what you pay for here. Dreamworks, with "Antz" and "Prince Of Egypt" has beaten Disney completely. SOUND: And again, "Prince Of Egypt" boasts a much more exciting and thrilling sound design than "Mulan". Surrounds are only occasionally put to good use throughout the movie. Most of the sound comes from the front, and it sounds great; nicely defined and clear, with some solid, heavy bass as well as strong support by Jerry Goldsmith's powerful score. Dialogue is clear throughout. This is certainly a pleasing effort, but nothing that reaches the level of outstanding. MENUS:: Again, like Pinocchio, no effort is made here to do anything special; it's simply the cover art making another appearance as the main menu background. And of course, to make things ever more annoying, you have to come back to the menu to change the audio. EXTRAS:: I won't go into the same rant as I did for Disney's edition of Pinocchio. If you would like to read my thoughts about the poor amount of extra features that Disney is including on these discs, you can read that review, but I think those who are reading this review already can sense my anger at what's (or more specifically, what is not) included on these "Disney DVDs". This disc simply has two music videos- "Reflection", from Christina Aguilera and "True To Your Heart" from 98 Degrees (Yikes.). And of course, there's the trailer. Well, to be honest, I'm suprised that Disney even included that. As for the fact that this is yet another "limited edition", the interest in these DVDs (judging by Pinocchio's sales) seems to be limited, as well. Final Thoughts: If you must, then try to find the lowest price online. Otherwise, not worth it. Disney should be forced to watch the "Prince Of Egypt" and "Antz" DVDs to see what you can REALLY do with this format. Praise goes to Dreamworks, anger goes to Di$ney. As of right now, my feelings towards Disney are simply this: their "Bug's Life" collector's edition that is coming soon had better be mighty impressive after the failure of these "Limited Edition" efforts.  The Film: 80/B- = (400/500 possible points) Video 83/B = (332/400 possible points) Audio: 88/B = (352/400 possible points) Extras: 60/D- = (180/300 possible points) Menus: 65/D = (130/200 possible points) Value: 60/D- = (180/300 possible points) TOTAL POINTS:1574/2100 Average:75%/C |