User reviews

I didn't think Mulan II was awful and I certainly didn't hate it. I found the material to be pretty sophisticated for a Disney movie, particularly for a sequel. The relationship issues were were complex and thoughtful, and I agree with a previous comment that the movie does a good job of building and expanding on what we saw in the first movie. I enjoyed the addition of the the three daughters as characters as well and the return of Ling, Yao, and Chien Po. Overall I thought the movie was charming, entertaining, and it made me grin. There were also some very dramatic scenes in the movie that I thought were just outstanding and ground-breaking for a Disney animated feature.

Having said that, I also have to say that I was disappointed that the feel of the movie did not match the first. In fact it was completely different, and I found many of the characters to be extremely out of character, particularly Shang and Mulan. They just did not seem like themselves, based on our understanding of who they are from the original film. There are moments in which the way they react to events is completely over the top (for example, Shang's anger when he thinks Mulan is gossiping about him to the princesses). His facial expressions even become exaggerated in cartoon fashion. Basically, the movie did not have the serene, serious, yet beautiful feeling of the first. Instead it was like the movie was completely thrown to a group of writers and directors who were given semblances of who the characters are and then ran off with it. Shang, Mulan, and Ling acted so off sometimes that it seemed like their voice actors changed. I was surprised that B.D. Wong, Ming-Na, and Gedde Watanabe were still doing their parts, despite how familiar I am with their voices.

Mulan II is enjoyable, but it's nothing like the first. I think I could best describe it as watching a Mulan fan fiction come to life.... entertaining but with a few ummms in there.

I watched Mulan II and i will have to say that it was abit disappointing. Mulan is back,and is engaged to be married to her fiancé,General Shang. When all of a sudden,they are given a mission to escort three Chinese princesses abroad. The music is great,but the animation was weak and at times went overboard with the details. The voice cast were'not as good as the first movie with Eddie Murphy out of the picture as Mushu and the other originals as well. But,i loved the music,the exceptional characters and how the story went. It wasn't as dramatic as the first but there was some parts that truly reminded me of the first. Overall,it's not a bad sequel...and i rate it a good ol' 6 out of 10.

Mulan 2 picks up a month after part 1 closes, with Mulan and General Shang receiving special orders to escort 3 princesses to be wed and thus create a joined alliance that protects China.

Mulan, the hero of China, and General Shang's love is threatened when Mushu, Mulan's guardian immaturely tries to break them up to save his Guardianship pedestal. The story entreats us with a theme of following your heart, which the princesses find is to be like ordinary girls, and not lose their lives even if to save the kingdom.

I really enjoyed Mulan 1, the soundtrack is beautiful, and though I was worried Mulan 2 would not be as good a story, with close attention to detail due to a few changes to cast and so forth, I was pleasantly surprised. Mulan 2 treats us to a sequel that is both touching, fun, and endearing. I didn't find the soundtrack themes as good as part 1, but was enjoyable, and sequence music was fine as well. The animation is very good, and the story has good pacing, and care of plot. A movie to be enjoyed by parents and kids alike.

8/10

Mulan was personally one of my all time favourite Disney movies and movies in general and so when the moment i saw this movie around I was puzzled as to why I have not heard of it, then I realized ... It was direct to DVD. I gave this movie a chance though despite my opinion on some of the other Disney straight to video sequels and boy am I glad I did as this movie is a ball to watch. The movie's plot is simple but perfectly functioning it is the story about Shang and Mulan being engaged to marry but before the wedding having to transport three princesses to another country for an arranged marriage that will end the war, all the time Mushu trying to destroy Mulan's wedding and the three princesses falling in love with three warriors from the first film. The movies scenery and animation are ace almost living up to the ridiculously high bar of the first. Now while the characters are flat and generic, with only the characters from the first standing out, they are funny and provide some cool character arcs. The direction lends this picture an amazing sense of pace despite the movie curiously lacking laid out acts. It makes for some funny jokes cute animation and fast paced even with a generic and schmaltzy plot. So overall a fun movie worth checking out in hd!

Let's get something out of the way... Mulan II is nothing compared to the original. But then again, what Disney direct to DVD sequel is? If you look at this movie for what it really is, you'll notice that it's actually pretty good. Keep in mind it's nothing extraordinary and you can skip this film with a clear conscience, but if you happen to get to watching it for whatever reason you'll probably find the film entertaining and definitely watchable.

The big difference between the first film and this one lies in the direction the development team went for: the original was an ambitious epic about a complex moral dilemma, while the sequel touches on simple black and white issues. Keep in mind that simplicity isn't necessarily a bad thing when done right.

But does simplicity hurt the film? Well, the dialogue is far from witty, the plot is super generic, the character development is a checklist, etc... Yet, does a child care about any of this? After all, direct to DVD sequels are aimed solely at children because a parent doesn't need to be present. No. The simplicity only makes the film more accessible to a younger audience. After all, bite sized lessons and issues are a lot more easy to swallow for a five year old.

To the film's credit, it also gets the essentials right. The plot makes sense, characters are developed, the songs are decent, the pacing works, and most importantly most of the voice cast returns so everything feels right.

Now of course, the film isn't without it's flaws. The biggest issue is this film features way less action than it's predecessor and way less Mulan (she practically disappears in the middle of the film). Mulan's bickering with Shang is also very badly written. Yet, minor complaints.

Overall a decent film. 7/10. It's not a must see and can be left to the children, but if you happen to end up watching the film for whatever reason AND you lower your expectations, you might enjoy it. Well, as long as you're not expecting it to compare to the first one.

When the story doesn't focus on Mushu trying to sabotage the love between Mulan and Shang in order to keep his status, it's good.

The love story between the three princesses, Yao, Ling, Chien Po is the best part of the movie for me and what brings me back to the film every once in a blue moon. The "Like Other Girls" song is such a classic to me, but maybe it's because I grew up with it.

As far as sequels go, no, Mulan 2 isn't up to par with the first movie, but it's a decent sequel among the many terrible ones they've created.

Disney is one of the kings of exploitation. For every successful (and unsuccessful) franchise film, there comes tons of merchandising, original soundtracks and sing-alongs and *shudder* direct-to-video sequels. Yes, these sequels go direct-to-video because we all know that they're going to be pretty bad, but parents are always looking for cheap ways to entertain their children (telling folk tales doesn't work anymore since no one knows them--another topic that's ripe for academic study, if it hasn't already been pursued) and so Disney somehow manages, by keeping their costs low and targeting their niche market, to keep churning out endless sequels of their hit films.

Mulan has a baby. It goes by the clever name Mulan II. This film, which amazingly contains the voice talent of Ming-Na (in terms of returning talent, that's all you get--ER apparently doesn't cover the bills), contains a cheesy uninspiring message of following your heart. (Even over duty! Oh wait, in the wonderful world of Disney, somehow duty gets accomplished incidentally to following your heart. I like the scary Brothers Grimm better, thank you very much.) Fa Mulan and her general friend/lover/dude are getting married. Stuff happens. More stuff happens. Who cares? Oh yeah, the film is a musical too. Do I remember the songs? Nope. Am I glad that I don't remember them? Yep. The animation was unimpressive, the story was unimpressive, the acting was unimpressive, the exploitation of other cultures by Disney in attempt to capture the almighty dollar? Impressive. It appears as though Disney doesn't really care all that much about their source material as a whole. Chinese history and culture is only so important as it helps Disney make Mulan and its direct-to-video heir to sell to the masses.

So what does this film have going for it? It's not as painful as Little Black Book. But it's close. I watched it on the bus and despite the fact that I wasn't sleepy, I had to the urge to fall asleep just so I could avoid it. If it were night, I would have. I think you can manage to distract kids with this mumbo-jumbo, but honestly, there are far better ways of entertaining your children. 4/10.

i think this movie was great, but i really like the first one more. i suppose its because the first had more action, humor and better songs. However, the second one was pretty good. it shows us the personality of the characters and it was such a sweet movie. Its says u should follow and trust your heart. Someone had wrote that this is a lame movie and they only quickly made it because they wanted more money- i don't believe this is true. the animators did an excellent job and i was glad they made a second movie. i especially loved the part where Mulan was holding on to Shang and he falls down the mountain. Ming-Na did such an excellent job- it was so so emotional. loved the movie.

Mulan 2 was a decent sequel. Of course it isn't as good as the wonderful original, which is one of the better Disney movies of the 90s. As far as this sequel goes it isn't as good as Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Simbas's Pride and Beauty and the Beast:The Enchanted Christmas, but I do think it is an improvement over Cinderella 2 and Jungle Book 2. The animation wasn't so bad, it was nice and colourful, but nothing too fancy. The avalanche scene in the original made my jaw drop by the way. The songs and music are fairly decent and memorable on the most part, my favourite is "I want to be like other girls" but Jerry Goldsmith, who is my favourite film composer, is missed. The music he did for the original is beautiful, and I don't think is appreciated as much as it should be. I liked the three princess characters as well. And the voice acting on the whole was very good; Ming Na is a spirited Mulan and Pat Morita has little to do, but is fine as the emperor. However, I did miss Eddie Murphy, Mark Moseley did his very best, but Mushu isn't as funny as he was in the first movie, in fact he is annoying and unlikeable often. The story was clumsily handled at times as it seemed to focus on Mulan and Shang's petty arguments than upholding the country honour. And the film was devoid of humour, with the exception of Ling's very lame jokes. And I don't know why Shang is such a jerk in this movie, he isn't really the handsome and brave Shang I came to admire. On the whole, decent, but don't expect the original. 6/10 Bethany Cox

this was a fab movie a great carry on and if anyone thinks other wise they're mad. the true mushu was revealed and we saw a new side to chien po, ling and yao, plus the princesses ting ting, may and su are a great addition i can't wait to see if a third one is planned. it had me hooked when watching it the beautiful scenery the story of ying and yang combined the whole thing. it is a must buy a fab movie for both adults and children it shows china in a new light plus the costumes just keep getting better and better great emotion and reality it is funnier some great jokes from ling and ting ting you just can't miss this fab movie it's great i love it.

For the most part, what I would say about this movie is that what Disney usually does well, Disney does well again with this. The animation is fantastic, the characters are fun (especially Mushu) and the story is interesting enough to keep an adult watching all the way through. There were, however, a few weaknesses here that I wouldn't usually associate with Disney.

The first wasn't really Disney's fault - it was mine. Having not seen the first Mulan this was difficult to get started with because it's clear that the characters have a history that you're not aware of if you haven't seen the first movie. But there are a couple of more problematic things. First was the music. I didn't think the music was Disney-calibre. It was fun while the movie was on, but within an hour I don't think I would have remembered any of the songs or even been able to hum any of the tunes. None of them were particularly memorable. People who come from non-Western cultures where arranged marriages are still quite acceptable may find the movie's very blatant anti-arranged marriage message offensive (it didn't really bother me but I thought of it) and - most problematic to me - was the value system the movie promoted.

At first, the movie seemed to present an ethical dilemma. Duty or heart? Do I do what I have to do for my country or do I just follow my heart? That's an interesting dilemma. The problem was that it was answered by Mulan pretty quickly. She decided that "my duty is my heart" and that becomes the main message of the movie. It seems to me that "my duty is my heart" can be too easily understood as "my duty is to me." So - I have no responsibility to anyone or anything except to pursue what I want? That didn't strike me as a message I want to send to children.

So, there's a lot of good stuff with this movie, but my gut reaction to the message makes me give this only a 6/10.

An alright sequel.

It's a more watered down story regarding Ming-Na Wen's character, with more focus put on lovey-dovey stuff as opposed to a fight of some kind. Therefore, things are naturally less enjoyable than in the original film. To me, everything's just a little slow and predictable so I can't rate it higher.

Away from Wen, the supporting cast is weaker with the absence of Eddie Murphy as Mushu. Mark Moseley actually comes in with an OK performance, yet it's not a jot on Murphy's. There are some notable newcomers though, with Lucy Liu (Mei) and Sandra Oh (Ting-Ting) appearing.

The music is average, as is the animation. It's simply a weaker production all in all, as you would probably predict. 'Mulan II' is, at least, still better than a number of other Disney animated sequels; e.g. 'Cinderella II: Dreams Come True' or 'Belle's Magical World', among others.

Mulan was a movie based on a chinese yuefu poem, a girl joined army instead of her old father, to do what? Protect the country. Now Mulan2 is ruining the country by ruining the arranged marriage between the allies? That cannot happen in ancient country, it is controversy to ancient Chinese loyalty to country. It is based on ... Disney imagination and American freedom spirit?

This falls short of the original (as sequels often do) but wasn't too bad. Eddie Murphy was sorely lacking as the voice of the dragon. The dragon tries to sabotage Mulan's marriage because it will mean losing his place among the guardians. The story was ok, but stick with the original.

** out of ****

Mulan was one of Disney's greatest films ever made with beautiful animation, excellent voice acting, intense action, and an entertaining story. So, when some of the Disney sequels came out at the time (Return of Jafar, Cinderella II, and Hunchback of Notre Dame II), I waited so desperately to see a sequel that would capture the magic of the original.

Sadly, my expectations were quite low when after the first 10-15 minutes of this film since it failed to be the same positive levels that made the original such a masterpiece and the characteristic was one of the few main problems of this sequel. I'll show you by contrasting the characteristic of the original and this sequel.

In the original, Mulan was a conflicted woman who was doing what is right for his family by protecting his father from getting himself killed. In this sequel, Mulan's personality is to now be a staunch feminist as she and Shang try to love each other. In the original, Mushu was a well-intentioned but slightly misguided sidekick who gave me some laughs with his comedic moments throughout the film. In this sequel, he's a selfish villain who attempts to break up the relationship between Mulan and Shang. In the original, Mulan's army buddies were hilarious and were quite enjoyable characters. In this sequel, they are now being one-dimensional characters repeating the same characteristic over and over again.

With the characteristic out of the way, there are a few good things about this movie. The voice acting is very terrific and did their best with the material they've been given and the animation, while below the original's standards, is obviously quite good and is the best animation I've seen in a Disney direct-to-video sequel this far.

Sadly, those two positive aspects got suffered by it's predictable story (with some overused clichés from other new direct-to-video sequels) and it's uninspiring message about "Following your heart" which makes it a little less entertaining for children and their adults.

Although, not a horrible sequel (unlike Cinderella 2, which was by far the worst direct-to-video sequel I have ever seen), Mulan II lacks the heart of the original and has a uninspiring message that just doesn't measure up. I'm sure the kids will enjoy it, but in terms of direct-to-video sequels, the adults might have a hard time remembering this.

Rating: 5.6/10

I just saw this movie, literally two minutes ago, after watching the first. As with all sequels it isn't as good as the first. The musical score was weak compared to the original and the story lacking in the gripping action the first had. It's not necessarily a bad movie but it certainly does not have the qualities of the first. The actor taking Eddie Murphy's place as Mushu did an excellent job however, full marks on the difficult job of taking Murphy's place. A bit shaky at first but a great performance all round. All in all it's not terrible but could be better and for the kids and ultimate Disney fans, it's even enjoyable.

I've always been a big fan of the first Mulan movie and when I heard about a sequel of course I started waiting for it impatiently. I bought the movie box which included both Mulan movies and when I saw the sequel for the first time I didn't like it that much but it was OK. I would say it's a movie which must be watched two times. I just watched it again and thought it was great this time! I noticed more things which I didn't notice first time. It included everything that was missing in the first movie for example love between Shang and Mulan :) Of course the original is always better but I'm delighted that Disney has made a good sequel. I don't see why they couldn't make some TV series or third movie :)

8/10

This being a direct-to-video sequel, I didn't have too high hopes for this movie, and i many ways my expectations were met. This is some of my comments / remarks:

• Very little attention to details (in the animation). There is very few (if any) small background gags. And people not "active", often stays inanimate for seconds before changing. This is of course due to (lack of) budget. And it doesn't really drag the movie down. But it doesn't lift it either.

• The story is very predictable. After 10-15 minutes you know how it will end. And there is not really any big surprises along the way, you'll always stay 5 minutes ahead of the movie.

• The songs are clearly "cheap". Seems like recycled/refused material for earlier movies, with new lyrics. And the flow (outburst into music) is not very smooth either.

• How much "western" philosophy / values can they be put into a "foreign" "world", and still get away with it. The main moral question in the movie is clearly in contrast to traditions of that time and place. However it is (obviously) victorious in the end as the "right thing to do", regardless of the consequences such action would have lead to "in the real world", especially at that time. (I'm not saying the tradition is neither "right", nor "the best", simply that it is painfully unrealistic!)

• The jokes are not really that funny. Mushu is basically the only one providing laughs.

All in all I think it's an OK sequel. The kids will definitely like it. But don't expect it to be watch every day, like the "originals". (Which of course in a sense is a good thing about it...)