Mulan

i’d say the most brilliant thing about this movie is the ability it has to give two separate tones without seeming forced. the first half is your typical disney princess film; beautiful gal searching for more, to break free from expectations. humor and quips and musical numbers. then, during one of those said musical numbers, when the men are describing their ideal woman, do they abruptly stop. the song is cut short and the camera pans out to the ashes of what used to be a village, and mulan picks up a doll. from there on out, there’s a shift in the movie. without showing any bodies the movie made it abundantly clear that people- families, parents and children were killed. we get to see, at the same as the soldiers, how high the stakes are. from there on out, it’s not a musical anymore, and there’s not a single song that’s sung afterwards. sure, they reprise I’ll Make a Man Out of You, but it’s momentary, and in the background. the characters aren’t singing it. it’s beautiful and it works so well because despite that, it never stops being a children’s movie. not when mulan picks up the doll, when we realize the weight of it’s existence- and that she, along with the men in the troop, finally found a girl worth fighting for.