Line #19 Trivia/Mulan


1	!!Disney Film
2	* ActorInspiredElement: Creator/MingNaWen's habit of touching her own hair became one of Mulan's CharacterTics.
3	* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: Shan-Yu is understandably furious with Mulan for destroying his army, but he doesn't seem to care that she's a woman, and is also one of the few male characters in the whole film who never outright says anything sexist towards her. Given it's never commented on, it's likely the writers didn't realize that many nomadic tribes (including the actual Huns and the Xiongnu) ''did'' have a widespread culture of warrior women. Because of this, it's not too surprising that Shan-Yu wouldn't care about Mulan's gender, instead viewing her as just another soldier on the battlefield.
4	* BeamMeUpScotty: Mushu's line "Dishonor on you! Dishonor on your family! Dishonor on your cow!" is [[MemeticMutation frequently quoted,]] but it's wrong.
5	-->'''Mushu:''' Alright, that's it! Dishonor! Dishonor on your whole family! Make a note of this. Dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow--
6	* BreakawayPopHit: "Reflection", which, surprisingly, was Music/ChristinaAguilera's first single, and the start of her career. As it's so different from the musical style of the movie, fans are likely to disassociate the two. However, some international Prints instead use [[AlternativeForeignThemeSong Vanessa Mae's less popular instrumental version]].
7	* TheCastShowOff: The singing voice for Shang in the Chinese dub is Creator/JackieChan, who has a background in Chinese Opera. Likewise, appropriate that a massive star of Martial Arts films sings the Training Montage song (and even shows off some sick Kung Fu skills in the music video).
8	* CelebrityVoiceActor: In the French dub, there's actor Creator/JoseGarcia as Mushu.
9	* CreatorBacklash: While proud of the film, the grueling hours nearly ended co-director Tony Bancroft's marriage and he swore off directing features for almost twenty years, only returning to co-direct a couple of foreign co-productions. Meanwhile, Jerry Goldsmith ''hated'' the music [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tU5CsJoU60 for a pivotal scene]]. This was due to ExecutiveMeddling wanting the music to have bit of a Music/HansZimmer flavour. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Oj7eiz0iY His original version]]. (on the soundtrack album, his original version is called "Mulan's Decision", the version heard in the film is called "Haircut".)
10	* CreatorInJoke: Cri-Kee wears sunglasses at the end, as a nod to Music/StevieWonder who sang "True To Your Heart" with 98 Degrees (the song that plays over the end).
11	* CreatorsPest: The writers grew to resent Cri-Kee the cricket, as they quickly viewed him as a pointless character. Whenever they were developing a scene, someone bringing up what the cricket should be doing was met with frustrated dismissal.
12	* CutSong: Two as revealed in the DVD: "Keep 'Em Guessing", originally intended to be Mushu's introduction song, and an opening number filled with [[OminousLatinChanting Ominous Chinese Chanting]].
13	* DawsonCasting:
14	** Ming-Na Wen was in her mid-30s while voicing the 16-year-old Mulan.
15	** James Hong was nearly 70, while Chi Fu seems to be 40-ish.
16	* DeletedScene:
17	** A deleted scene showed Mulan's betrothal to Shang, but it was cut because the filmmakers felt it made it look like she selfishly went to war to get out of her marriage rather than to save her father.
18	** Another scene showed the Huns destroying a village, and Shan Yu killing one of his own soldiers for hiding a bird in his shirt because the orders were to leave nothing alive.
19	** Originally, in the scene when Mushu conforts Mulan (before discovering some of the Huns are still alive), he would say he's gonna take care of her and than "the hardest part is over", and as they hug, he would look around, worried for her. Acording to animator Tom Bancroft, it was changed because Mushu wasn't being sincere with Mulan. [[https://www.instagram.com/tombancroft1/reel/Cmjm7eSMYkI/ You can watch the scene right here]].
20	* DevelopmentGag:
21	** Mulan's dog is named Little Brother - as a nod to one version of the legend where Mulan enlists in the army to save her younger brother.
22	** Mulan says "you're...tiny" when she first meets Mushu. This references that Disney execs were unsure about having a dragon as her sidekick, afraid it would be too big and menacing. Once they were told that dragons could be any size in Chinese folklore, Mushu was created.
23	* FakeNationality: While Mulan, Shang, Fa Li, and Chi Fu's voice actors are Chinese-American, Mushu's is [[UncleTomfoolery African-American]]; Shan Yu's is Irish-Puerto Rican; Chien-Po, General Li, Ling, the head Ancestor, and the Emperor's are Japanese-American; the Matchmaker's is Anglo-Australian; Yao's is Jewish-American; Mulan's singing voice actor is Filipina; Shang's singing voice actor is Welsh-American, and Fa Zhou's is Korean-American. While it's justified in virtue of being ''voice'' actors and appearance doesn't matter, they're oddly mostly using UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents.
24	* IronyAsSheIsCast: Hyper-masculine Yao is voiced by [[CampGay out-loud-and-proud homosexual]] Harvey Fierstein.
25	* KidsMealToy: UsefulNotes/McDonalds had two different Happy Meal tie-ins; one for the film's theatrical release in 1998, and one for the VHS release one year later. The original promotion is famous for coming with Szechuan sauce, which received a ColbertBump after it was referenced in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty''.
26	* NonSingingVoice: A few.
27	** Creator/BDWong does the speaking voice of Shang but the singing voice -- that is, for "I'll Make a Man Out of You" -- would be none other than Donny Osmond. (This in spite of Wong being a Broadway performer with a good singing voice. The WordOfGod on this is that Donny Osmond's singing voice sounds more like B.D. Wong's speaking voice than his own.)
28	** Creator/MingNaWen also does Mulan's speaking voice, while her singing is provided by Creator/LeaSalonga (who also sang for [[{{WesternAnimation/Aladdin}} Princess Jasmine]]).
29	** Marni Nixon sings for Grandma Fa for the character's verse in "Honor To Us All", where her speaking is provided by Creator/JuneForay.
30	** Matthew Wilder, the film's composer (and OneHitWonder singer back in the 80s) does Ling's singing voice.
31	** Mushu's one sung line, despite being more spoken than sung, is done by Mark Moseley, who would go on to be Eddie Murphy's [[TheOtherDarrin Other Darrin]] for all future appearances of Mushu.
32	* MultipleLanguagesSameVoiceActor: The Chinese dub has versions in all three variants (Mandarin, Cantonese, and Taiwanese), and Jackie Chan was Shang in all of them.
33	* TheOtherMarty: Creator/JoePesci was originally cast as Mushu but the filmmakers ultimately decided that his voice was not right for the character.
34	* SoMyKidsCanWatch: Donny Osmond jokes that his kids didn't think he had made it in show business until he had worked on a Disney movie.
35	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
36	** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQR898rb1k8 full version]] of the "Reflection" sequence changes the tone of the piece from a quiet, somber, well, reflection to a triumphant action scene. Lea Salonga still performs this full version live.
37	** Lea Salonga originally auditioned as Mulan's speaking voice as well. Due to her voice being not considered deep enough to allow Mulan to pass for a boy, she was turned down and Ming Na Wen got cast. However, she was retained as the singing voice.
38	** Shan-Yu was originally going to have AnimalEyeSpy powers via his falcon.
39	** According to the audio commentary on the special edition ''Mulan'' DVD, Li Shang was considered a dorky guy despite being physically fit due to his inability to talk to Mulan. An example of this would be after she defeats Shan Yu he says "You fight good" in a nervous way.
40	** Rachel Portman was originally going to score the movie, but she became pregnant and dropped out; Music/JerryGoldsmith eventually signed on after he in turn left another project.
41	** Creator/TiaCarrere was the first choice to voice Mulan. Creator/HelenHunt was also considered.
42	** Creator/BruceWillis was originally cast as Li Shang.
43	** Creator/StephenSchwartz was originally attached to write songs for the original ''Mulan'' before being let go because of his work on ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt''. He was perfectly happy to do both and didn't have an exclusive contract. However, because ''The Prince of Egypt'' was a Creator/DreamWorksAnimation film, the top brass at Disney weren't happy about him working on a [=DreamWorks=] Animation film and said that he had to make a choice. He chose to honor his commitment to ''The Prince of Egypt'' and says he doesn't regret it. Schwartz had written two songs for the film before being let go. Neither was used. He had also [[http://www.stephenschwartz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/other-shows-and-songs.pdf begun work]] on two other songs. Also, "Written in Stone" is used in ''Mulan Jr.'', a children's theater production of ''Mulan''.
44	** Tony Bancroft lobbied hard to ''not'' make the movie a musical, feeling it was inappropriate, but the higher-ups didn't want to deviate from their then-still-massively successful musical format. The finished film has both approaches: During the first half, when everyone's eager to fight the Huns, the film is a musical to show off how everyone's preparing. During the second half, when it becomes clear how brutal the Huns are (the destroyed village), that's when the singing stops as the threat of the Huns is now clear (save for a brief reprise of I'll Make a Man Out Of You).
45	** Harvey Fierstein almost didn't take the role of Yao, as he didn't want to potentially steal a role for a more deserving Asian actor. He was swayed when he was told that the rest of the cast was predominantly Asian.
46	** [[https://animatedviews.com/2013/o-brother-bear-where-art-thou-why-disney-channel-turned-down-brother-bear-the-series/ Along]] with some other potential animated series that would have spun off from other Disney animated movies, the linked article makes mention of a ''Mulan & the Treasures of Qin'' that was to be edited by Matt Barrios (''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'').
47	** According to the writers, the original plan was that Mulan joining the army was supposed to be based on her not wanting to conform to the gender role expected of her. However, they realized how predictable this would be and make Mulan seem more selfish than they wanted it to be, and so they decided that Mulan joining was to protect her father, and made her mostly okay with the idea of getting married at the start.
48	** An [[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54fc8146e4b02a22841f4df7/1569535662500-R885LLZLSY745K03XICW/Art+of+Mulan+F+-+6.jpg?format=1500w alternate]] [[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54fc8146e4b02a22841f4df7/1569535663643-4YO998KQVKJEHHFQM8ZG/Art+of+Mulan+F+-+7.jpg?format=1500w opening]] [[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54fc8146e4b02a22841f4df7/1569535665003-AWXH0PT69ZD0ZA6JRP4D/Art+of+Mulan+F+-+8.jpg?format=1500w sequence]] [[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54fc8146e4b02a22841f4df7/1569535666118-98MUA41RESWFJBT7P6JG/Art+of+Mulan+F+-+9.jpg?format=1500w featured]] a shadow puppet play being put on for the soldiers during the Huns' attack on the wall. It went far enough to have a model [[https://twitter.com/pumbaaguy1/status/777928011437871106 sheet]], but was likely cut for pacing reasons (and because it features much more [[GoryDiscretionShot implied murder]] than the final version).
49	** Creator/BillMaher was the first choice to voice Mushu.
50	* WorkingTitle: ''China Doll'' and ''The Legend of Mulan''.

Context Trivia / Mulan