Continuing my countdown of favorite Disney Animation movies following my marathon viewing of all 64…
My Top Ten Disney Animation Movies
#3 – Mulan (1998)
The best film of Disney’s Renaissance Era, Mulan is equally satisfying as a coming-of-age drama, a war movie, and a romcom.
Based on a Chinese legend of a daughter who disguised herself as a man to take her father’s place in war, this movie has a gravitas lacking in many of Disney’s films. But it balances that weighty subject matter with real hilarity, mostly in the form of Eddie Murphy’s dragon sidekick Mushu.
Ming-Na Wen’s Mulan is one of Disney’s greatest heroes, a young woman who risks her life to protect her father’s, but also to escape the societal shackles she’s facing back home. The resourcefulness she shows in order to fit in and excel among the men in her troop is admirable.
Mulan has great chemistry with Captain Li Shang, even when disguised as a man, bringing some kinky undertones to a G-rated movie. The film also alludes to the death of a child and a parent in its most harrowing scene.
It’s to the movie’s credit that those more mature moments are still tonally in sync with Eddie Murphy’s gut-busting performance. His Mushu is the first animal sidekick to deliver real laughs and not just serve as a distraction for restless youngsters.
Finally, Mulan is visually stunning, making my list of Disney’s best feats of animation. The action work is impressive, but I’m most stirred by the watercolor backgrounds of the early scenes — check out the gorgeous clip accompanying today’s Song of the Day.
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Mulan kind of forgets it’s a musical about halfway through, but ‘Reflection’ and ‘I’ll Make a Man Out of You’ are bangers. Both would have a shot at my list of favorite songs from Disney musicals:
Disney Animation – Best Songs in Musicals
5. ‘Love is an Open Door’ – Frozen
4. ‘Almost There’ – The Princess and the Frog
3. ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ – Encanto
2. ‘Where You Are’ – Moana
1. ‘A Whole New World’ – Aladdin
Or a perfect daughter
Can it be I’m not meant to play this part?
Now I see that if I were truly to be myself
I would break my family’s heart
Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me?
Why is my reflection someone I don’t know?
Somehow, I cannot hide
Who I am, though I’ve tried
When will my reflection show who I am inside?
When will my reflection show who I am inside?
Meet Me In Montauk 
Totally agree that this ranks among Disney’s best animated movies.
I’m curious what you thought about the more recent non-animated version?
As a rule, I think the live-action versions of these movies are an abomination. They might have some interesting moments but they shouldn’t exist in the first place.
Mulan has always been a top 2 for me, so I’m quite happy to see it so high on your ranking! Just a gorgeous film and a fantastic story.
I’ve never thought to separate Disney and Pixar films, but Mulan always sits on any top 10 list of my favorite animated films, so it would surely rate even higher for me.
This was the first film I remember taking a very young Maddie to where I could fully support the message being shared with my daughter. Mulan was often marketed alongside the other princesses, but we both could roll our eyes at that marketing ploy as it was clear Mulan was nobody’s princess.