Mulan was absolutely groundbreaking. The film introduced Disney’s first strong female lead, as well as a level of diversity that up until that point had been sorely lacking.
Below are 10+ random facts about Mulan that fans did not know.
Hold tight to your lucky crickets and let’s get down to business (see what I did there)!
The movie is based on an ancient Chinese tale called “The Ballad of Mulan”
The movie is a highly romanticized version. The original story is far more graphic and far more grim.
After fighting for 12 years, Mulan is discovered as a woman. As punishment , she’s sentenced to a life as a concubine and then kills herself.
This was Eddie Murphy’s debut as a comedic voice-actor!
Eddie also refused to record his lines inside an actual studio. Instead, he made Disney come to him.
They ended up recording Eddie’s parts at his home in New Jersey.
Jackie Chan stars in the film!
Not in the English language version, though. Jackie’s voice can be heard doing the Chinese dubs for Li Shang .
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I wonder what his singing voice is like in comparison to Donny Osmond’s? Let’s hear it, Jackie!
Mulan’s father honors her.
Remember the scene where Mulan’s father is doing Tai Chi, right before he collapses? The style he’s performing is called Mulan Quan .
It was named in honor of the legendary character, Mulan! Pretty meta, eh?
There is a reason for all the magnolias.
Have you ever noticed the abundance of beautiful white magnolia flowers in Mulan ? It’s intentional.
Mulan in Chinese means magnolia and it’s an ancient symbol that’s been associated with China for millennia.
The names on Mulan’s family shrine are real Disney animators.
You can see them during the scene where Mulan is singing ” Reflection .”
All of the names scribed into the wall are the real men and women who worked on the movie.
Mushu could have sounded a lot differently.
Originally, the directors were looking at Joe Pesci and Richard Dreyfuss to star as Mushu.
It’s an interesting thought but I think it’s easy to see that they made the right choice in the end.
Ming-Na and Mulan have the same nervous habit!
Ming-Na Wen admitted that the two of them both have a habit of touching their hair when they are nervous .
I suppose it really was meant to be for Ming-Na Wen!
The name of Mulan’s dog is a clever reference to the original story.
In the original tale, Mulan has a young infant brother.
The movie chose not to include this detail and instead opted for a cute dog named Litte Brother .
There’s a reference to Hayao Miyazaki that you might have missed.
Miyazaki is one of the godfathers of Japanese animation. He’s responsible for some of the greatest animated films ever made, including Spirited Away , My Neighbor Totorro , and Howl’s Moving Castle .
The scene where Mulan finds the child’s doll in an abandoned village is an homage to a film called Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind .
Chi Fu’s name is incredibly on-the-nose.
Roughly translated, his name literally means ” to bully .” Which is fitting, considering how much of an absolute control freak he is in the film.
Without a doubt, one of the most annoying characters in the Disney canon.
The movie helped launch the singing career of Christina Aguilera!
“The film Mulan and the song “Reflection” coincided with getting me my first record deal,” Christina said in a statement via Rolling Stone .
Fun fact: Christina also has a new track for the live-action version of Mulan called ” Loyal Brave True .”
Mulan is a killer.
Very few Disney characters actually met their demise before Mulan came around. You’d maybe see one, but certainly, no more than two characters die over the course of a movie.
Mulan changed all that. She has an astounding 1,995 bodies to her name. That avalanche really did a number on the Huns.
Did you notice that Shan Yu didn’t seem shocked to learn that Mulan was a woman?
That’s because women fought alongside the men in Mongol armies.
This is probably why Shan Yu didn’t waste time underestimating Mulan and respected her as the dangerous foe that she was.
Ming-Na Wen got the part thanks to her voice work in *The Joy Luck Club*.
“When we heard Ming-Na doing that voice-over, we knew we had our Mulan. She has a very likable and lovely voice, and those are the qualities we were looking for,” producer Pam Coates said to Deseret News .
