{"id":5385,"date":"2013-03-17T23:19:50","date_gmt":"2013-03-18T06:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=5385"},"modified":"2021-06-01T23:30:10","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T06:30:10","slug":"review-mulan-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2013\/03\/review-mulan-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Mulan\/Mulan II Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Mulan<\/i><\/b> is one of the better Disney animated films from the late 1990s and an inspiration for little girls. The sequel on the other hand… not so much. It\u2019s not a disastrous film by any stretch but it is the typical DTV flick which Disney released during that era.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nMulan\/Mulan II (1998\/2004)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Genre(s): <\/b>Animation, Adventure, Comedy
\nBuena Vista | G \u2013 88 min. \/ 79 min. \u2013 $39.99 | March 12, 2013<\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO (MULAN<\/i>):
\n<\/span>Directed by: <\/b>Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook
\nWriter(s): <\/b>Robert D. San Souci (story), Rita Hsiao & Chris Sanders & Philip LaZebnik & Raymond Singer & Eugenia Bostwick-Singer (screenplay)
\nVoice Cast: <\/b>Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, Miguel Ferrer, Pat Morita, James Hong<\/p>\n

Theatrical Release Date: <\/b>June 19, 1998<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO (MULAN II<\/i>):
\n<\/span>Directed by: <\/b>Darrell Rooney, Lynne Southerland
\nWriter(s): <\/b>Michael Lucker & Chris Parker and Roger S.H. Schulman (screenplay)
\nVoice Cast: <\/b>Ming-Na Wen, BD Wong, Mark Moseley, Lucy Liu, Sandra Oh, Pat Morita<\/p>\n

DISC INFO:
\n<\/span>Features: <\/b>Commentary, Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Music Videos, DVD Copies
\nNumber of Discs: <\/b>3<\/p>\n

Audio: <\/b>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
\nVideo (Mulan<\/i>): <\/b>1080p\/Widescreen 1.66
\nVideo (Mulan II<\/i>): <\/b>1080p\/Widescreen 1.78
\nSubtitles: <\/b>English SDH, French, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/b>44.6 GB
\nCodec: <\/b>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/b>A, B, C<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

THE MOVIES<\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Plot Outlines:
\nMulan<\/i><\/b> <\/b>is set in China and is centered on Fa Mulan (voiced by MING NA), the only daughter of an aged warrior named Fa Zhou. Impersonating a man, Mulan takes her father\u2019s place during a general conscription an invasion led by Shan Yu (MIGUEL FERRER). Along with Mushu (EDDIE MURPHY), her guardian dragon, her captain, Li Shang (B.D. WONG), her lucky cricket and companions Yao, Ling and Chien-Po, she battles the invading army.<\/p>\n

Mulan II<\/i><\/b> features Mulan and new fianc\u00e9e General Li Shang on a special mission: escorting the Emperor\u2019s three daughters across the country to meet their soon-to-be fianc\u00e9es.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 2.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This release comes with glossy and embossed slip cover. Inside there are two DVD copies for each movie stacked on one another while the Blu-ray copy houses both films and has its own slot. All the features from both releases have been ported over.<\/p>\n

MULAN<\/i><\/b> \u2014 3.5\/5
\nAudio Commentary<\/span><\/b> \u2013 Producer Pam Coats & Directors Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook sit down for a nice chat discussing the different aspects of the movie from concept to animation style to story. It\u2019s a wide range of subjects and for behind-the-camera folks, is relatively interesting to listen to.<\/p>\n

Deleted Scenes (22:35)<\/span><\/b> \u2013 We get seven scenes that didn\u2019t make the final cut. One is a song that was to introduce Mushu. Each also includes an introduction as to why they didn\u2019t include the respective scene.<\/p>\n

Under \u201cClassic Backstage Disney\u201d:
\nMulan\u2019s Fun Facts (2:13)<\/span><\/b> is short featurette that shows some behind-the-scenes footage (the crappy home video kind) accompanied old pop-ups with trivia inside them.<\/p>\n

There are several submenus each with a few short featurettes:
\nThe Journey Begins <\/b>\u2013 Discovering Mulan (6:48)<\/span><\/b>, The Ballad of Hua Mulan (5:18)<\/span><\/b>, Early Presentation Reel 1995 (2:20)<\/span><\/b> and Early Presentation Reel 1996 (1:59)<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Story Artists\u2019 Journey<\/b> \u2013 Finding Mulan (7:04)<\/span><\/b> and Storyboard to Film Comparison: Mushu Breaks the Dragon (1:24)<\/span><\/b> where you can see the storyboard only, final film only or the final film comparison<\/p>\n

Design<\/b> \u2013 Art Design (5:33)<\/span><\/b>, Character Design (3:47)<\/span><\/b> and Ballad of Color (4:27)<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Production<\/b> \u2013 Mushu Awakens<\/span><\/b> and Matchmaker Meets Mulan<\/span><\/b> both of which takes you through the process of a scene from the sketches, rough animations, animation effects, etc.<\/p>\n

Digital Production<\/b> \u2013 The Hun Charge (4:50)<\/span><\/b> and Digital Dim Sum (4:01)<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Classic Music & More<\/b> \u2013 \u201cI\u2019ll Make a Man Out of You\u201d Music Video (3:18)<\/span><\/b> performed in Mandarin by Jackie Chan, \u201cReflection\u201d Music Video (3:34)<\/span><\/b> by Christina Aguilera, \u201cReflejo\u201d Music Video (3:33)<\/span><\/b> performed in Spanish by Lucero, \u201cTrue to Your Heart\u201d Music Video (3:39)<\/span><\/b> by Raven, \u201cTrue to Your Heart\u201d Music Video (4:23)<\/span><\/b> by Stevie Wonder and 98 Degrees, Songs of Mulan<\/i> (5:13)<\/span><\/b> featurette, Mulan\u2019s Journey (5:44)<\/span><\/b> featurette and a Multi-Language Presentation (3:12)<\/span><\/b> which seamlessly shows \u201cI\u2019ll Make a Man Out of You\u201d in various languages.<\/p>\n

MULAN II<\/i><\/b> \u2014 1.25\/5
\nVoices of Mulan<\/i> (2:54)<\/span><\/b> is a quick rundown of the returning voice cast as well as the new ones. Of course, they don\u2019t address having someone else voicing Mushu…<\/p>\n

Deleted Scenes (9:54)<\/span><\/b> include four sequences which didn\u2019t make it into the final cut.<\/p>\n

Last item is a Music Video (2:41)<\/span><\/b> of \u201c(I Wanna Be) Like Other Girls\u201d performed by Atomic Kitten. It\u2019s a really nauseating song.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

VIDEO \u2013 4.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Mulan<\/i><\/b> debuts on Blu-ray sporting an impressive 1080p high-def transfer. Presented in its original theatrical 1.66 widescreen aspect ratio, it\u2019s not too surprising an animated film would look good in HD but it\u2019s hardly a guarantee but here the colors are bright and the picture itself shows no signs of pixilation or artifacting. Also nice is there is limited, if any, banding that goes on leading to a smooth transition in the backgrounds. 4.5\/5<\/b><\/p>\n

Next up, Mulan II<\/i><\/b> might not offer an equally remarkable transfer but it\u2019s still solid. The colors here aren\u2019t quite as bright by comparison but I chalk that up to substandard animation considering this was one of those numerous direct-to-video sequels Disney was addicted to during the early 2000s. Still, for fans of the movie, it\u2019s a more than adequate transfer. 4.0\/5<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

AUDIO \u2013 4.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Since both 5.1 DTS-HD MA tracks are more or less the same, I\u2019m lumping them together here. The tracks offer up solid audio be it the surround tracks which are used for the many musical numbers or any ambient noises while the center track is mostly reserved for dialogue which also is crisp and clear.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

OVERALL \u2013 4.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall, Mulan<\/i><\/b> is one of the better Disney animated films from the late 1990s and an inspiration for little girls. The sequel on the other hand… not so much. It\u2019s not a disastrous film by any stretch but it is the typical DTV flick which Disney released during that era. Even so, this Blu-ray gives fans of either or both films on one disc and enjoying with HD audio and video. The price is a tad steep but if you can nab it sub $20, it might be worth picking up.<\/p>\n

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Published: <\/b>03\/17\/2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mulan is one of the better Disney animated films from the late 1990s and an inspiration for little girls. The sequel on the other hand… not so much. It\u2019s not a disastrous film by any stretch but it is the typical DTV flick which Disney released during that era.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,970],"tags":[38,584,1206,1936,1935,1934,1937,1938],"class_list":["post-5385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","category-quick-hit-reviews","tag-disney","tag-eddie-murphy","tag-lucy-liu","tag-miguel-ferrer","tag-ming-na-wen","tag-mulan","tag-pat-morita","tag-sandra-oh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5385"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26437,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5385\/revisions\/26437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}