Movie Info
Movie Name: Mulan II
Studio: SD Entertainment
Genre(s): Animated/Action/Adventure/Family
Release Date(s): November 3, 2004
MPAA Rating: G
Mulan and Li Shang are preparing for marriage. When Mushu learns that he’ll lose his status among Mulan’s ancestors, he sets out to break up the marriage by forcing Mulan and Li Shang to see the differences between them. Fortunately for Mushu, Mulan and have been summoned by the Emperor to escort the Emperor’s daughters to for an arranged marriage to solidify peace in the region. Mulan and employe their friends , , and to protect the women and accidentally lead them to finding love. Now Mulan and ‘s marriage is threatened and peace in the region could be wrecked.
Directed by Darnell Rooney and Lynne Southerland, Mulan II was a straight-to-video sequel to the Disney animated feature Mulan. The movie has been released on Blu-ray and is available in a double pack with the original film.
Mulan II follows up many of the themes of Mulan and mostly focuses on the idea of girl power. Mulan is in charge of her own destiny at this point and tries to bring that idea to the other women and girls of the area. In the first film, no one respected Mulan because she was female…here, Mulan tries to end the practice of arranged marriage and teach other girls that their voice matters.
The movie however doesn’t just paint Mulan as someone who always gets her way. The movie tries to make her balanced and fallible in her relationship with Li Shang. The movie tries to paint the picture as a nice balanced relationship and show that though people are different, they can still be a good pair.
Style-wise, Mulan II does show a downgrade from the original picture. The movie still looks fairly good, but it looks more like a really good cartoon show. The movie also has some songs, and much like the original Mulan, they are mostly forgettable.
Mulan II is only for fans of the first film…if that. Disney now realizes by franchising their popular characters and doing a “what happened before” or “what happened after”, they can squeeze out a few more films. This isn’t always a bad thing, but for the most part you get things like Mulan II which just seems flat and less defined than their big screen counterparts.
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