Customer Reviews

Legend of Mulan [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

When I read reviews of people complaining about this movie because it is not the Disney version, I see that as a good thing. If people who like Disney don't like an anime, that's good; it usually means there is substance to the film.

However, I must break down and agree with the Disney-lovers. This is the worst animated show I have ever seen. It is worse than the Beatlejuice cartoon. I'm sure the dialogue was written by some common household pet. The voice acting made the dubbed version of MD Geist look like a masterpiece. The animation, oh my... The only way to describe its quality is to ask: Remember the old Amiga cartoons that were around in the late eighties? Those were works of art compared to the animation from this film. I think the sound effects/dialogue were mixed by someone deaf or insane (or both). Sound effects were mostly inaudible compared to the dialogue. I think the fight sequences (all two of them with the two whole sword swings in each) were storyboarded by a three year old. Wasn't Mulan supposed to be in a war or something? Perhaps something at least on the scale of a bar brawl? Not according to this film...

Have I badmouthed this movie enough? Well don't take my word for it, this movie is so bad there are no credits. I guess everyone who worked on this movie were scared to put their names on it (and this is the ONLY thing that indicates that those who made this film have greater mental prowess than, say, a toasteroven).

This ain't the original version. Neither is that Disney thing. Both videos are pretty poor retellings of a centuries-old poem.

If you want the original version, go to the book section of this site and look for the poetry collections _The Flowering Plum and the Palace Lady_, or stick "Ballad of Mulan" into a search engine.

I strongly recommend renting this video before purchasing. Mostly, because it is quite simply, awful. I've always been a big fan of Animation, but this video was sub direct-to-video quality. In this film the plot is butchered to include, (amongst other things), a talking panda, a dragon and an evil skull-uniform-wearing general complete with underground fort, a legion of badies in skull ying/yang armor, and an American bald eagle (!)

The good: The only (somewhat) well-designed character was Mulan and her Grandfather. There is a somewhat decent message at the beginning about not judging people by their appearance/color of skin, which I felt was appropriate.

The bad: It's too bad the animators didn't take the movie's message to heart when they chose to draw most of the Chinese in an ugly, stereotyped and exaggerated way. The art had me cringing! And if the good guys were ugly, the `evil' villains, looking more like trolls than people. Also, the voice acting was terrible. Mulan sounded like a cranky teenager reading her lines completely deadpan. The rest of the Chinese sounded like they were voiced by one guy, with a Brittish accent!

Overall, while I expected to find this movie MILDLY entertaining, instead it was dime-store anime at its worst. Watch at your own risk.

First of all-be warned, NOT the Disney version for kids. Dark, violent, typical Japanese amination, and a wandering storyline that ultimately had me up and--of all things--vacuuming halfway through it. I kept trying to return, but each time I reached the same conclusion--BAD. Bad, bad, bad.

Mulan the legend is definately the most greatest legend in history. It explains how the chinese worked and how Mulan sacrifices her own life to save her ill father from death in the war.

Despite the fact that the soundtrack of this movie is in DTS, nothing is GOOD to say about this movie. The animation is so primitive that none of my three kids (ages 2, 7, and 10) likes it. It was my mistake to buy this movie since I thought this was the wonderful "MULAN" movie from Disney.

Apparently, the only money spent on this production was todisguise it as the Disney title. The DTS sound does little to redeemthe weak story line and animation. Most television cartoons made ten years ago have better animation.

I was very disappointed with this film. The Japanese-animation style graphics were what was to be expected, but the content grew less legendary and extremely disappointing. This movie was terrible!!! Terribble!TEEERRRIIIBBBLLLEEE!!!!!!

This is the worthest film I ve ever seen. Making is absolutely minimum and sound should be DTS but it is a better Dolby Stereo also customers shall think that this is a Disney version bad, bad, bad.......

This is not the Disney film, as I thought when I bought it. The voive-overs are pretty stilted, the animation only ok quality. Mulan moves through the whoe film perpetually pissed-off--not really a children's version.