Mulan II

Mulan II

DVD cover
Directed by Darrell Rooney
Lynne Southerland
Produced by Jennifer Blohm
Screenplay by Michael Lucker
Chris Parker
Roger S.H. Schulman
Starring Ming-Na Wen
B.D. Wong
Mark Moseley
Lucy Liu
Harvey Fierstein
Sandra Oh
Gedde Watanabe
Lauren Tom
Jerry Tondo
Pat Morita
George Takei
June Foray
Freda Foh Shen
Soon-Tek Oh
Frank Welker
Jillian Henry
Music by Joel McNeely
Edited by Pam Ziegenhagen
Production
company
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Release dates
  • November 3, 2004 (2004-11-03) (premiere)
  • February 1, 2005 (2005-02-01) (United States)
Running time
 79 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Mulan II is a 2004 American direct-to-video Disney animated film directed by Darrell Rooney and Lynne Southerland and is a sequel to the 1998 animated film Mulan (originally released in theaters). The entire cast from the first film returned, except for Eddie Murphy (Mushu), Miriam Margolyes (The Matchmaker), Chris Sanders (Little Brother) and Matthew Wilder (Ling's singing voice). Murphy and Margolyes were replaced by Mark Moseley and April Winchell; Little Brother was voiced by Frank Welker, and Gedde Watanabe does his own singing for the sequel. Mulan II features Mulan and her new fiancé, General Li Shang on a special mission: escorting the Emperor's three daughters across the country to meet their soon-to-be fiancés. The film deals with arranged marriages, loyalty, relationships, making choices, trust, and finding true love. Unlike its predecessor, which gained critical acclaim, this film was poorly received by critics.

Plot

A month after the events of the first film, General Shang asks Mulan for her hand in marriage and she happily accepts. Hearing about their engagement, Mushu is thrilled for them until the leader of the ancestors informs him that if Mulan gets married he will lose his job as a guardian dragon and have to leave Mulan and his pedestal, which is his place of honor as a guardian. The ancestors are happy with this because Mulan would be getting married to Shang, and would become a part of his family, which would require her to have his family ancestors and guardians. Wanting to keep his job and his friend, Mushu attempts to tear the couple apart, having noticed that they are not very compatible, while Cri-Kee tries to foil his attempts and keep the couple together. Meanwhile, the Emperor calls upon Mulan and General Shang to escort his three daughters, Princesses Mei, Ting-Ting and Su, across China to be betrothed to three princes so that an alliance can be formed with the kingdom of Qui Gong. If the task is not completed within three days, the alliance will crumble, and the Mongols will destroy China.

Mulan and Shang set out, along with Yao, Ling and Chien-Po, to safely escort the princesses to their new kingdom. Unfortunately, the princesses fall in love with Yao, Ling and Chien-Po, and Mulan, who has long believed arranged marriages are wrong, decides to go against her orders and, despite Shang's wishes, stop the joining of the kingdoms. One night, Chien-Po, Ling and Yao take the princesses out to a village and declare their love for them. Meanwhile, Mushu tricks Shang into thinking Mulan is taking advantage of him. While traveling through bandit country Mushu is pressured by Cri-Kee to confess to Mulan what he had done. Although Mulan is angered by what Mushu tried to do, at the same time, she is enlightened about the news, and she attempts to reconcile with Shang, only to be attacked by Mongols moments later. While saving the princesses, the bridge Mulan and Shang are standing on breaks, leaving the two dangling off by a loose rope. Realizing that the rope can only support the weight of one person, Shang sacrifices his life to save Mulan and allows himself to fall into the river below.

Devastated by Shang's apparent death, Mulan continues on the trip alone to Qui Gong. Not wanting the princesses to be forced into a loveless marriage, she offers herself to marry one of the ruler's sons. Shang, who actually survived the fall, soon hears about the news and rushes to stop the marriage, but the ruler denies it. Mushu decides to help by pretending to be the Great Golden Dragon of Unity, and forces the ruler to stop the marriage. Still under the guise of the Great Golden Dragon, Mushu marries Mulan and Shang and releases the princesses from their vows. Some time later, Mulan and Shang officially get married back home and after the wedding, Shang combines the family temples, meaning that Mushu gets to keep his job, much to the ancestor's dismay. In his happiness, Mushu accidentally reveals himself to Shang, even though Mulan had already told Shang about him.

Cast

Additional voices

Soundtrack

Mulan II
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released January 25, 2005
Length 31:41
Label Walt Disney Records
Producer Brian Rawling
Graham Stack
Brett Swain
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

The soundtrack contains songs from the film performed by various artists, as well as portions of the film's score composed by Joel McNeely. It was released on January 25, 2005 by Walt Disney Records.

  1. "Lesson Number One" – Lea Salonga and Chorus
  2. "Main Title" (Score)
  3. "Like Other Girls" – Judy Kuhn, Beth Blankenship, and Mandy Gonzalez
  4. "A Girl Worth Fighting For (Redux)" – Gedde Watanabe, Jerry Tondo, and Harvey Fierstein
  5. "Here Beside Me" – Hayley Westenra
  6. "(I Wanna Be) Like Other Girls" – Atomic Kitten
  7. "The Journey Begins" (Score)
  8. "In Love and in Trouble" (Score)
  9. "The Attack" (Score)
  10. "Shang Lives!" (Score)
  11. "Here Beside Me (Instrumental)"

Reception

The movie was panned by film critics. According to Scott Gwin of CinemaBlend, "Mulan II is a direct-to-DVD disgrace that takes everything excellent about its predecessor film, rips it to shreds, and uses it for rat cage lining."[2] Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, gave the film a rating of 0% based on reviews from 5 critics, with an average score of 3.9/10.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mulan II at AllMusic
  2. ↑ Gwin, Scott. "Mulan II DVD Review". CinemaBlend. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "Mulan II (2003)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster.

External links

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