Mulan II Blu-ray delivers great video and audio in this fan-pleasing Blu-ray release
Fa Mulan gets the surprise of her young life when her love, Captain (now General) Li Shang asks for her hand in marriage. Before the two can have their happily ever after, the Emperor assigns them a secret mission, to escort three princesses to Chang'an, China. Mushu is determined to drive a wedge between the couple after he learns that he will lose his guardian job if Mulan marries into the Li family. After the princesses unexpectedly fall in love with the Gang of Three, Mulan decides to help them escape the fate of marrying men they do not love. This contradicts the Emperor's orders and forces him to put Mulan's relationship with Shang into question. They are attacked by Mongolians, and the fate of China hangs in the balance.
Disney is keenly aware of the appeal and reach of its catalog, down to the best and worst films under the Mouse House banner. Titles like Cinderella and Peter Pan arrive separately and to great fanfare, while other titles shuffle onto shelves en masse, sans the red-carpet treatment afforded their Platinum and Diamond Edition brethren. Last year, it was The Aristocats, The Rescuers, The Rescuers Down Under, Pocahontas, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World, The Tigger Movie and Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure, all of which released in a single week in August. This year the mois du jour is March, and the releases include Robert Zemeckis's Who Framed Roger Rabbit (the fan-favorite odd man out in the March 12th lineup) and a trio of 2-Movie Collection Blu-rays: The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, Mulan and Mulan II, and Brother Bear and Brother Bear 2. (Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Atlantis: Milo's Return were originally set for March 12th as well but were unceremoniously and indefinitely delayed without explanation.) And, once again, the deluge is another hit or miss affair, with a classic live-action/animation hybrid, three solid (or at least decent) animated features and a near-unbearable batch of direct-to-video misfires.
Sadly, Mulan II doesn't even have the makings of a classic. From story to animation to execution, it fails to live up the original Mulan (an at-times exhilarating animated saga, with epic scope and battle-ready scale to match) or even deliver on its own terms, settling for the mundane and the average at every turn.
Arriving amid a string of unnecessary, late-to-the-game direct-to-video cash-ins, Mulan II commits a variety of cardinal sequel sins. Failing to grasp exactly what worked the first time around. Significantly altering the roles of familiar characters. Falling back on old themes in the Disney stable, and then accomplishing little to nothing with them. There's more, but one grievous wrong overshadows all the rest: the sequel is really about Mushu, not Mulan, shoving a comic-relief sidekick front and center as if the writers had already exhausted every idea they had for the series' empowered lead. The story is rather simple. Engaged, Shan and Mulan (BD Wong and Ming-Na Wen) set out on a mission to escort the emperor's three daughters into the heart of the enemy kingdom, where they're set to be married to three princes. The hope? That an alliance can be forged and a peace bartered. The problem? Mushu (Mark Moseley, replacing Eddie Murphy), worried about his status as guardian if Mulan weds, causes trouble and inadvertently risks igniting an outright war in the process.
Mulan II suffers through a 79-minute gauntlet of subpar animation and on-the-cheap animated filmmaking. While many of the original voice actors return -- a definite plus -- the writing isn't as sharp, the jokes are groan-worthy, the songs tend to tank and the story doesn't provide the sort of intense action and battles that made the first film linger in the mind. It stops short of pitching an ongoing TV series, thank the Guardians, but all its talk of true love and arranged marriage will sail over the sequel's intended audience like a wayward arrow. A main character's brush with death is about as harrowing as the whole thing gets, even if his inevitable return is as shocking as the exponentially happier ending that follows. I'm just relived that Disney didn't pursue its direct-to-video sequel fix much further. Mulan III was no doubt on the table at some point, and I can only imagine what further mediocrity it entailed.
Mulan II is a bit more washed out than Mulan, with duller contrast and dustier colors than the first film's gorgeous high definition transfer has on display. But so goes direct-to-video animation on a low budget. Disney's 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation doesn't involve cranked contrast or emboldened colors. It simply presents the film as is, flaws and all, which is arguably just what a responsible studio is honor-bound to do. Not that any of its technical merits fare poorly or look remotely average. Line art and other subtleties in the animation have been preserved without fault, black levels are reasonably deep, and the encode itself is free of macroblocking and other major eyesores. Some banding and ringing creep in from time to time, but nothing too serious. All of which leaves Mulan II with a faithful transfer of a less-than-jaw-dropping sequel.
Mulan II can't compete with Mulan's lossless powerhouse, no matter how technically proficient its DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track may be. Still, DTV-quality sound design is the culprit, not the mix itself, meaning the sequel earns solid marks nonetheless. Dialogue is clear and commendable, without any prioritization mishaps or muffled lines. Low-end output is decidedly decent, with some welcome oomph during action scenes or Mushu's slapstick routines. Rear speaker activity leaves something to be desired, though, as does immersion, which rarely delivers a full or open soundfield. That said, directionality is quaint and playful, and the track has its share of fun sonic flourishes. The track ultimately doesn't mount the kind of assault Mulan offers, but it fulfills its duty and does so with dignity.
Voices of Mulan (SD, 3 minutes): Director Lynne Southerland discusses the return of several original cast members and the new voices joining them for the sequel.
Deleted Scenes (HD, 10 minutes): "Battle Sequence," "Mei Flirts" and "The Escape Parts 1 & 2."
Music Video (HD, 3 minutes): "I Wanna Be Like Other Girls" by Atomic Kitten.
Trailers & Sneak Peeks (HD, 7 minutes): The Little Mermaid, Monsters University, Planes, Return to Never Land, "Disney on Ice" and "Newsies."
Mulan II is the black sheep of the Mulan family. It diminishes its title character, loses sight of the things that make the first film so enjoyable, serves up average animation and falls flat on its face when it comes to its action sequences and songs. Disney's 2-Movie Collection Blu-ray release nevertheless presents the sequel with a solid video transfer and lossless audio track. Sadly, only Mulan offers a supplemental package of any substance whatsoever, rendering Mulan II more of a Mulan special feature than anything else.
On March 12, 2013, celebrate the 15th anniversary of Walt Disney's 36th animated feature with the 2-Movie Collection BD/DVD Combo Pack release of Mulan and its direct-to-video sequel, Mulan II, both of which are making their Blu-ray debut.
