This the poster from the movie, which appeared in cinemas in 1998.
The Story
The first image we see in Mulan is the great wall of China, and the Hun's attack it. However the guard lights the warning flares, and the whole of China soon knows about the oncoming attack When the emperor is told, he refuses protection, and tells the army to guard his people instead.
Meanwhile back in the Fa household, it's Mulan's matchmaker day, meaning she must impress the matchmaker to get a husband and to uphold the family honour. To help her along, Grandma Fa loads her up with a lucky cricket, an apple and some beads. Mulan also tries to help herself by writing down a few hints on her arm.
Mulan starts of badly with the matchmaker, and it doesn't get any better, she totally displeases the matchmaker and she goes mad. The matchmaker gets ink and tea spilt all over her, before telling Mulan that she would never bring honour to her family. Mulan returns home sad and disappointed. Her father attempts to comfort her, but halfway through a might drum can be heard, signalling war and conscription.
The army conscriptors tell Mulan's father that he must fight the Huns despite the fact that he can hardly walk. Mulan doesn't want to stand for this and later on that evening she steals her father's uniform and conscription letter and heads off for the army herself, but women are forbidden to be in the army.
Upon her departure the family ancestors come to life, they agree, after much arguing to send a mighty guardian dragon to protect Mulan from the dangers she is facing. Mushu, the tiny dragon is sent to awaken the guardian, but he breaks it by accident and sets out alone, and scared to help Mulan.
Meanwhile, the Huns are advancing into China more and more, they capture two of the emperor's men and tell them that: "by building his wall he challenged my strength"
Mulan, meanwhile practices being man, when Mulan arrives, at first he appears scary but when he comes out from the shadows, he is revealed as a tiny "lizard", as Mulan calls him. Mulan goes to the army camp, and is not impressed by the behaviour of the "disgusting" men! She starts off badly after some bad advice from Mushu, and all the troops end up fighting. The captain who will train the men, emerges to see the troops fighting, and identifies Mulan as the cause. Mulan passes herself off as 'Ping'
The next day, the men start their training to become a proper army. To teach them, Shang (the captain) shoots an arrow into a tall post, and tells the men to retrieve it, onto each arm he ties a heavy weight as a symbol of discipline and strength, he tells the men that they will need both to reach the top. Everyone fails to get the arrow on their first attempt, but Shang trains them properly over the next couple of weeks and they eventually become an excellent fighting force.
Mulan decides to take a bath, much against Mushu's warnings, he's sure that : "there's a couple of things they're bound to notice!" if the other men come into have a bath. However Mulan escapes that fiasco alright. Cri-kee (the lucky cricket) and Mushu write a fake letter stating that the troops need to move out, as he knows that they will never do so unless it seems urgent.
The men march off to the battleground, where they find it ruined, the whole village has been wiped out, as well as the general, Shang's father, the troops soon realise that they are the only hope left for the Emperor. The troops carry on.
When marching along a mountain, Mulan inadvertently alerts the Huns of their position, (Mushu accidentally lights one of the Canons), and the thousands of Huns immediately start firing. Mulan has the ingenious idea to launch the last rocket they have left at the side of the mountain, causing an avalanche, and covering the Huns, however Shang and Mulan inadvertently get caught up in it too, but Mulan manages to save them by sending up an arrow with a rope on for the others to pull the pair to safety.
Unfortunately, Mulan gets injured in the process and is taken to the hospital tent. There she is revealed as a woman. The law states that a woman passing herself in the army as a man should be killed, but as she saved the life of Shang, he decides not to kill her, but the army set off, leaving her stranded. Mulan decides that it would be best if she went home.
Suddenly, all the Huns appear from underneath the snow, Mulan must do something! Meanwhile in the city there is great celebration, as the rest of the citizens think that the Huns have been defeated. Mulan arrives in the city to try to warn the troops, but no-one will listen because she is a woman.
The Emperor appears to give a speech to the citizens, but before you know it the Huns have arrived and some large scale fighting goes on. Mulan quickly hatches a plan to save the emperor and defeat he Huns. She tells Shang and a few of the others to dress up as women in order to bypass the guards protecting The Hun leader, Shan Yu, who is with the Emperor. Shan Yu is meanwhile trying to get the Emperor to bow to him. Shang enters the place where the Emperor is, and fights with Shang, Chien Po, one of the members of the army, grabs the emperor and takes him to safety.
Mulan reminds Shan Yu that she is the one that caused the avalanche, and he starts to chase her. Mulan and Shan Yu end up fighting on the roof, she manages to steal his sword from him, and Mushu appears with a massive firework and shoots it straight at Shan Yu, causing him to take off and explode in a mass of fireworks! The Huns are defeated!
The Emperor is willing to bypass the fact that she is a woman and gracefully thanks her. All the citizens in the city bow down in honour to Mulan. The emperor gives Mulan the sword of Shan Yu "to let the world know what you have done for China" and he gives her is own crest " to let your family know what you have done for me."
Mulan eventually makes her way home where her father is waiting for her, he is extremely proud of her, the gran seems a little disappointed though : " so she brings home a sword, if you ask me she ought to have brought home a man!" just as the words are leaving her lips, Shang turns up at the door, and Grandma seems extremely pleased : "sign me up for the next war!!"
Finally at the end, Mulan has convinced the ancestors that he can be a good guardian at last!
Click hereto find out more information about Mulan.
Text and web design, �, Amy Davies, 2002.
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