History WesternAnimation / Mulan

* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: [[spoiler:Instead of shooting at Shan Yu and killing just him, Mulan shoots at a mountaintop and creates an [[HairTriggerAvalanche avalanche]] that wipes out most of his army, turning what could have been a rout for the Hun force

''Mulan'' is an animated film released in 1998, as the 36th film on the DisneyAnimatedCanon. It was inspired by the [[ImperialChina Ancient Chinese]] [[FolkHero folk legend]] of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua_Mulan Hua Mulan]] (花木蘭). [[hottip:*:though Disney chose to romanize the heroine's name as Fa Mulan, in effect giving her family name the typical Cantonese pronunciation, but her personal name the normal Mandarin one.]]

* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: [[spoiler:Instead of shooting at Shan Yu and killing just him, Mulan shoots at a mountaintop and creates an [[HairTriggerAvalanche avalanche]] that wipes out most of his army, turning what could have been a rout for the Hun force into a victory for the Chinese.]]
-->'''Mushu:''' [[spoiler:*flying towards the mountain* You ''missed!! How could you miss?'' He was TWO FEET IN FRONT OF YOU!!!]]
* {{Fanservice}}: Shang, shirtless and swinging a pole around while singing "I'll Make A Man Out Of You". Hilariously reviewed by ''TheDailyShow'''s CampGay film critic Frank [=DeCaro=], who responded "Yes, PLEASE! ...And bring the pole."
* {{Faux Action G|irl}}uy: Shang. He's introduced as a total {{badass}}, manages to fight circles around his recruits, trains them to perfection... and from that point on becomes consistently less competent than Mulan.
** To be fair, he does do ''some'' action sequences, but considering that Mulan's the one being focused on, [[HeroOfAnotherStory we don't really see all that much of it]], and in some places it's just implied.
* {{Flanderization}}: Mushu becomes a {{Jerkass}} in the sequel.
* FootFocus: During the bath scene.
** It's the only thing they ''can'' focus on.
** In ''Mulan II'', one of Mulan's ancestors orders Mushu to rub her ugly feet.
** FridgeLogic in this case, as Ancient China has this painful practice of binding women's feet from a young age to make it appear dainty and "beautiful" (YMMV on that one, because it is actually NOT pretty). Perhaps Disney just screwed it because it is viable NightmareFuel for kids.
* FruitOfTheLoon: The boys stuff their dresses with a variety of fruit, including... a banana.
* GentleGiant: Chien-Po
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The bathing scene, especially. "There's a couple of things I '''know''' they're bound to notice!" Featuring [[PeekABoo strategically-placed objects]] and camera angles.
** [[spoiler:When Mulan's identity is found out. She's injured in the last battle with the Huns in the ribs, and while she's being treated, the doctor discovers that she's not exactly [[SweetPollyOliver who she says she is]]...]]
-->'''Mushu:''' My powers are beyond your mortal imagination. For instance, my eyes can see straaaaaaight through your armour! (Mulan gasps, covers her chest with one arm and slaps him.)
** From "A Girl Worth Fighting For":
-->'''Soldiers:''' ''You can guess what we have missed the most since we went off to war!''
** And from the fight at the camp:
-->'''Mushu-as-Ping:''' Say that to my face, ya limp noodle!\\
'''[[CompensatingForSomething Yao]]:''' ''What'' did you say!?
** "...Miss Man had to take her little drag show on the road!"
* GirlinessUpgrade: Mulan dresses like a warrior in the original {{Disney}} cartoon but is dressed as a Chinese princess in the merchandising.
* GonnaFlyNowMontage: "I'll Make a Man Out of You".
* GoofyPrintUnderwear: Falls on poor Mushu's face.
* GoryDiscretionShot: One of the "messengers" Shan Yu sends to the Emperor is killed by an archer.
** "How many men does it take to deliver a message?" [[PreMortemOneLiner *readies bow* "One."]]
** When Mulan gets slashed across the chest, she's clearly bleeding.
* GPSEvidence: Shan Yu's falcon brings him a doll from a village to which they are ''en route''. The doll has evidence on it -- pine tar, a white horse hair -- that tells him the Imperial Army are there.
* {{Guile Hero}}ine: Mulan.
* GymClassRopeClimb: One of the training exercises is a variation of this.
* HairTriggerTemper: Yao.
* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:Mulan completely shuts down after her cover is blown and doesn't boot back up until a handful of Huns prove themselves not quite deceased.]]
* HerosMuse: The soldiers discuss this trope in the song "A Girl Worth Fighting For".
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Lampshaded with Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po in the second movie after having been told by the matchmaker that none of them would ever find matches for themselves:
-->'''Chien-Po:''' I guess I'll spend my life with you two.\\
'''Ling:''' Pass the hanky.
* HitYouSoHardYourXWillFeelIt: Mulan was told that punching and butt-slapping is a form of friendly gesture. Mulan did this to Yao in the wrong way and naturally, it caused a stir in Yao's rather short temper.
-->'''Yao:''' I'm gonna hit you so hard; it'll make your ''ancestors'' dizzy!
* HoYay: Mushu encourages it as a normal part of male-to-male interaction.
-->'''Mushu:''' Good, now slap 'im on the behind. They like that!
* HumanLadder: The soldiers form one to try and find Mulan during the avalanche.
* HypocriticalHumor: Chi Fu: "...And I do not squeal like a girl!" (''Panda eats Chi Fu's slipper and he squeals like a girl'')
* ImportantHaircut: With a ''sword'', no less.
* ImprovisedZipline: [[spoiler:Mulan uses a string of lanterns to zip down from the roof.]]
* IndyPloy:
-->'''Mushu:''' what's the plan?\\
'''Mulan:''' Uh...\\
Mushu: You don't have a ''plan?''
* [[InevitableWaterfall Inevitable Cliff]]
* InfantImmortality: Averted. When walking through the ruins of a raided village, a single doll is found, as a G-rated signal that there were children killed here.
* InsistentTerminology: "Dragon, ''dragon!'' I don't do that tongue thing."
* IOweYouMyLife: [[spoiler:Shang to Mulan. This life-debt becomes immediately useful when Mulan is found out, and the punishment for a woman joining the army is death. Instead of killing her, Shang lets her go free. In the next scene, we're shown that he did leave her a good amount of provisions and her horse, which she promptly rode back into town after learning the Huns were alive.]]
* IronicEcho: A reprise of "Make A Man Out Of You" plays with unabashed glee while Mulan's friends are getting tarted up in full concubine drag to infiltrate the palace. Later, all four of them actually use the combat moves they were shown learning during that musical number against the Huns... still dressed as women.
* IWantSong: "[[Music/ChristinaAguilera Reflection]]" and "A Girl Worth Fighting For".
* {{Jerkass}}: [[spoiler:Chi Fu is a chauvinist prick who condemns Mulan with the death penalty once her gender was found out, despite the fact she saved the army from the Hun army in the mountains. He tries this again after she and the others saved the Emperor and CHINA from the Huns. [[UngratefulBastard Some gratitude]]... ]]
** Mushu turned into this during the second film, mostly because Mulan's ancestors were jerkasses towards him and he was told he'd lose his job.
* KarmaHoudini: No one seems to notice (or possibly care) that Mushu accidentally killed the great stone dragon, though it is possible that A. it was dead to begin with or B. it was the wrong statue. But still.
** C: the statue is just a vessel to incarnate in the mortal world. The dragon got stuck in the astral plane, but he is all right.
* KneelBeforeFrodo: The greatest example in Disney.
* KneelBeforeZod: [[spoiler:Shan Yu attempts to invoke this, but [[{{Badass}} the emperor]] refuses. Shan decides to just kill him instead.]]
* LadyOfWar
* LargeHam: ''[++'''"I LIIIIIIIIIVVVVEEEE!!!!!!"'''++]''
* LastVillainStand: [[spoiler:Shan Yu after his army gets wiped out by an avalanche and his generals have been captured. He then proceeds to try and capture the emperor, and nearly suceeds.]]
* LockAndLoadMontage: Mulan leaving home. Has a bit of the flavor of a TransformationSequence.
* LongingLook: What totally gives away Mulan's crush on Shang to Mushu.
* LoveMakesYouDumb: Shang is an incredibly competent and professional soldier, not even letting his father's death distract him from the task at hand. Then he starts talking to Mulan while she's a girl. Though, to be fair, by that point he didn't really need to be focused on Huns.
* TheMakeover: Twice; once in "You'll Bring Honour to Us All" and when she "becomes" a man.
* ManlyTears: Yao at the ending.
* MaybeEverAfter: [[BeyondTheImpossible It's a Disney movie that doesn't end with a wedding]].
** ... cue sequel to 'fix' that.
* MisfitMobilizationMoment: When Mulan and her squad infiltrate the Imperial Palace.
* ModelPlanning: When the general describes the planned advance to his son.
* MoodWhiplash: [[spoiler:''[[IWantSong "A girl worth fighting-"]]'' [[OhCrap *cut to reaction shot of destroyed village*]]]]
* MortalWoundReveal: Mulan is revealed to be injured after the initial defeat of the BigBad but not mortally so. Although it could have been had she not received medical attention.
* [[MostDefinitelyNotAVillain Most Definitely Not a Girl in Disguise]]: Mulan trying to join the army.
-->'''Mulan:''' But you know how it is when you get those ''manly urges'', and you just gotta kill something--\\
[''tries to punch Shang on the shoulder and hurts her hand'']\\
...uh, fix things... cook outdoors...
* MotivationOnAStick: Mulan uses a dog and bone to feed the chickens. The bone-on-a-stick is tied to the dog's back so the bone is always in front of the dog, and the dog runs around with a feedbag leaking grain behind him.
* MrFanservice: Captain Shang.
** [[AttractiveBentGender Ping]] is also one in-universe, according to Yao:
-->"I bet the local girls thought you were quite the charmer..."
* MultigenerationalHousehold: Mulan's household includes her parents and her grandmother.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Mulan's grandmother gives her a cricket to give her luck in order to help her with the matchmaker. While Mulan wasn't performing well to start with, it's obvious that the cricket ends up being a main direct cause for her failing the matchmaking.
** Compare the fate that would have awaited her if she had succeeded in her matchmaking with what happened after she failed. Had she succeeded, she almost certainly wouldn't have joined the army in her father's place, making it very likely that not only would he have died, the Huns would have managed to succeed in their invasion. She also would not have earned the respect of the Emperor or met and won the heart of Shang, who is a better match than the matchmaker could have arranged for her. [[FridgeBrilliance Who said that cricket wasn't a lucky one?]]
* NonActionGuy: Chi Fu.
* NonHumanSidekick: Mulan has Mushu, who has his own [[NonHumanSidekick Non-Dragon Sidekick]] in the form of Cri-Kee. Shan Yu has a falcon, as well.
* NotQuiteDead: The Huns.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Chi-Fu.
* OhCrap: Shan Yu gets several. [[spoiler:He gets one when Mulan sets off the avalanche and an even better one when she launches him into a tower containing what seems to be half the fireworks in the country.]] And of course, the protagonists get two good ones. First, [[spoiler:when they find the mountain village has been utterly destroyed and that the Imperial Army led by Shang's father has been wiped out.]] Second time comes [[spoiler:when they find out just how large the Hun army really is.]]
** Mulan gets one when Shang enters her tent after she's bandaged up and she realizes that he knows she's a woman.
* OutdoorBathPeeping: {{Inverted}} and GenderInverted. Mulan is mid-bath when Ling, Yao and Chien-Po decide they want to wash up. The sequence is marked by Mulan sinking as low in the water as possible, desperately trying to make a hasty exit, maintain her disguise and avoid getting an eyeful of her nude comrades, who are guilelessly trying to befriend "Ping" with a little good-natured water fight.
* OutrunTheFireball: [[spoiler:Mulan's "Get off the roof. Get off the roof. Get off the roof!" as Shan Yu is about to be blown up.]]
** [[spoiler:A colder variant occurs earlier when everyone's outrunning the avalanche.]]
* PandaingToTheAudience: Mushu disguised as a messenger delivers a fake message to Chi-Fu riding on the back of a panda.
-->'''Mushu In Disguise:''' What's the matter? Never seen a black-and-white before?
* PapaWolf: TheEmperor is this to ImperialChina. The ancestors and the dragons to Mulan's family.
* PaperFanOfDoom: [[ImprobableWeapon Quite literal in "doom" part.]]
* ParentalAbandonment: Averted. Mulan is one of the only Disney protagonists to have both parents living. She even has a grandmother as an added bonus.
* PluckyComicRelief: Mushu to Mulan, and Cri-kee to Mushu. Mushu seems to have the ability to break the rules of reality for his gags, brushing his teeth with a standard modern toothbrush and toothpaste, and referring to a panda as a "black-and-white", a reference to a police car.
* PluckyGirl: [[spoiler:Mulan doesn't let a little thing like a bleeding chest wound stop her from saving Shang's life. Hell, aside from the initial pain, she doesn't even seem to ''notice'' it until things have calmed down. Gotta love that [[JustifiedTrope adrenaline]], eh?]]
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Averted. [[BigBad Shan-yu]] is one of the few male characters in the movie to never say anything sexist against Mulan.[[FridgeBrilliance This could be because the Huns were less sexist against women than the Chinese]].
* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Averted, many of the male characters are ''extremely'' sexist or prejudiced.
** Also played straight in a justified way, in that if the film covered the nitty-gritty reality of the time in any depth, it would have at best gotten something in the range of an R.
** ''Mulan 2'' in regard to its "arranged marriage = bad" campaign. And the fact that Mulan actually ''got away'' with practically kidnapping the princesses and allowing them to marry commoners. I'm sorry, children, but I'm afraid that that kind of thing would ''not'' fly if it were accurate history.
*** What makes it particularly egregious is that it defies previous characterization and themes from the first film. Why would Mulan have a problem with an arranged marriage? She was dutifully preparing for one in the first film; in fact, it's her failure at the matchmaker's that causes the initial conflict. Additionally, the precedent from the first movie suggests Mulan would support the unity of the two countries via marriage, since it would provide safety for the many instead of the happiness of a few. After all, she went to the palace to warn Shang about the Huns out of principle - not because there was any real benefit for herself.
* RageAgainstTheReflection: A variation, as no mirrors are broken or water splashed - it's a shiny, shiny sword.
** Reflections are a motif in the movie - the pond at her house, the multiple ones in the ancestors' shrine (where she wipes off her makeup), the ''song'', her helmet (which she throws to the ground), and of course the iconic sword.
* ARealManIsAKiller: "I'll Make a Man Out of You".
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The Emperor, who is clearly the wisest and most level headed person in the movie, especially when contrasted with Chi Fu, his obnoxious, opinionated advisor.
* RedshirtArmy: [[spoiler:Sadly, this fate befalls the supposed "elite" army, led by Shang's father. Its to [[TheWorfEffect demonstrate how vicious the Huns are]].]]
* RefrainFromAssuming: Shang's training song is called "I'll Make a Man Out of You", not "Be a Man" or "[[{{Mondegreen}} We are Man/Men]]".
* TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation
* RevealingInjury: The medic discovers that Mulan is a woman while treating her injuries.
* {{Sarashi}}: Technically bandages, since Mulan had been injured earlier. {{Inverted|Trope}} in that the scene were they are revealed is also the scene where Mulan is [[IncrediblyLamePun busted]].
* ScarilyCompetentTracker: The Huns find out that a village is being guarded using a doll, sprinkled with GPSEvidence.
* ShadowDiscretionShot: Inverted intentionally as Mushu is trying to be intimidating, but [[BigShadowLittleCreature he's not]].
* ShieldSurf: Mushu does this during an avalanche.
* ShirtlessScene: Shang, the gratuitousness of which Yao lampshades.
-->'''Yao:''' [under his breath] I'll get that arrow, pretty boy. And I'll do it with my ''shirt on''.
* ShoulderSizedDragon: Mushu is a rare [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Eastern dragon]] example.
* ShoutOut: The families Chi-Fu calls to claim their conscription notices are the names of Disney animators, Mulan's alter-ego is named after Sai Ping Lok, another Disney Studios who did background work and research for the movie.
** "Who are you?" [[BatmanTheAnimatedSeries "Your worst nightmare."]]
** The doll the huns use to find the village, and again when the Imperial Army finds the razed remains of said village, is the same as a doll found in similar circumstances in {{Nausicaa|OfTheValleyOfTheWind}}.
** An Asian ActionHero [[TheyFightCrime fights bad guys]] while paired up with a [[UncleTomfoolery wisecracking black guy]]. [[RushHour Didn't I see this last year?]]
** Shan Yu's falcon was intimidating... until Mushu barbecued it to look more like a comical chicken. A few scenes later, Mushu rides the same deformed bird.
-->'''Mushu:''' [[FullMetalJacket Now let's see your war face]].
** Two of the ancestors look remarkably like the AmericanGothicCouple.
* ShrineToTheFallen: Mushu comes from the Fa family shrine to aid Mulan in her quest.
* SmallReferencePools: Presumably how the writers had the balls to have [[HenrikIbsen "My duty is to myself"]] as the Aesop of the second film.
* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Mulan makes a move on a Chinese Chess board belonging to two old guys during the Matchmaker scene.
* SnowMeansDeath: There's snow on the ground of the massacred village. It also starts snowing after Shang creates a memorial for his father.
** [[spoiler:Averted for Shan Yu and a handful of other particularly resilient Huns after the avalanche. They pop right back out of the snow. '''[[MemeticMutation LIKE DAISIES!]]''']]
* TheSpartanWay: ''Lets get down to business...''
* StoutStrength: Chien-Po.
* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: Both Fa Zhou and The Emperor compare Mulan to "the rarest and most beautiful flower of all."
* SupernaturalAid: Mulan's ancestors send her a guardian spirit to help her. (And he does, but not quite the way they intended.)
* SweetOnPollyOliver: Shang, which obviously indicates...
* SweetPollyOliver
* TechnicalPacifist: Very technical, since she's a soldier who kills people on purpose. Still, with the BigBad right in front of her, Mulan uses the sword she's holding for every purpose but the one it was built for.
* TemptingFate: Mulan: "I never want to see a naked man again." [''cue the stampede of naked men'']
* TestosteronePoisoning: Mulan's portrayal of Ping.
* ThirdActMisunderstanding: [[spoiler:When Mulan's true gender is revealed, her friends don't trust her anymore when they ''really'' should.]]
** [[spoiler:Really, it's just Shang who's hell-bent on ignoring her warnings. Yao, Ling, and Chien Po seem like they ''want'' to believe her, but are sort of afraid to piss off their commanding officer. They're quick enough to follow her when she says she has an idea to get them into the palace.]]
* ThroughAFaceFullOfFur: An angry Yao turns red after Mulan (disguised as Ping) slaps him on the behind and gives a few other hits, which he takes as offenses, before being calmed by Chien Po with chanting.
* [[ThrowawayCountry Throwaway Village]]
* TookALevelInBadass: The "I'll Make a Man Out of You" sequence is a perfect example.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Both Mushu ''and'' the ancestors in the sequel.
* TrainingFromHell: The below training montage involved running through a field ''while being shot at by ArrowsOnFire''.
* TrainingMontage: With a great song, too.
* TrampledUnderfoot: Mulan's horse does this to Mushu.
* TwelfthNightAdventure: Although one does notice that the character is drawn differently when she pretends to be a man. Look at the movie poster where half of her face is reflected in a sword. Notice her nose and jaw. The DVDCommentary flat-out admitted it.
** TheNostalgiaChick [[http://www.thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thedudette/nostalgia-chick/12823-mulan noticed]] that her eyelashes disappear whenever she's disguised. Looking closely, you can see that they even momentarily vanish when she draws her hair back up to reveal her identity to Shan Yu.
* UncleTomfoolery: Mushu. Roger Ebert [[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19980619/REVIEWS/806190302/1023 said]] it best: "a black dude in medieval China?" This is more a function of EddieMurphy's standard roles than anything else.
* UnfamiliarCeiling: One scene gives the general impression of this, although no indication is given of how much time has passed.
* VileVillainSaccharineShow: Its as comedic as any Disney movie can get but it still can make [[BigBad Shan-yu]],a mass murdering warlord, a big terrifying threat.
* VillainSong: Averted; Shan Yu is probably the most well-known Disney Villain to never have gotten one. One of the things the animators were going for with Shan Yu was to make him a man of few words and let his actions carry the character. Giving him a song would have completely derailed that.
* VillainousValour: Ther's a reason why Shan Yu is nowadays considered one of the most badass of Disney villains: he's strong enough to easily breaking down a barricaded door or effortlessly slicing through a massive pillar with his sword. He's also very proud of his army, as shown at the beginning when he thought it was perfect that all of China knew him and his army were there after the signal fire was lit, and when he flatly refused to avoid the Imperial troops and instead opt to take them head on, despite knowing that they are the elite of China's armies.
* WarIsGlorious: ''Be a Man...''
* WarIsHell: [[spoiler:The village scene complete with EmpathyDollShot.]]
* WeaponTombstone: [[spoiler:When the commander--who also happens to be Shang's father--dies, Shang buries him. In the absence of anything else that hasn't been burned or destroyed, he marks the grave with his father's helmet, placed on his ''own'' sword.]]
* [[WellDoneSonGuy "Well Done, Daughter" Girl]]: Rather touchingly, too.
* WhamLine: [[spoiler:More like a wham silence at the end of "A Girl Worth Fighting For". Everyone's happy thinking about that certain girl that's waiting for them at home (or not!) and then... wham. Pillaged village.]]
* WhoAreYou: Mushu heads over to the fireworks area during the final battle, and is asked by the guards there, "Who are you?" He responds, "Your worst nightmare," and they flee.
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Subverted. [[spoiler:Mulan's three friends make "Concubines." "''Ugly'' Concubines."]]
** Although Mulan obviously is one.
* WorthyOpponent: Not quitely, but towards the climax when Mulan reveals that it was she who destroyed the Hun army, Shan Yu isn't at all shocked of this and refers to her as "The soldier of the mountains". When he said that the look on his face is fear instead of confusion. That might show he's an honorable leader after all and dosen't bother time in the usual "I've been beaten by a woman" stuff villains usually spots even when he faces a female opponent.
* YamatoNadeshiko: {{Invoked|Trope}}. ''"Men want girls with good taste, calm, obedient, who work fast-paced. With good breeding and a tiny waist."''
** ''Mulan'' herself plays with the trope a bit. She has the looks, is extremely devoted to her parents and desperately tries to fit in as a perfectly feminine and demure daughter... without much success. However, when she learns that her already old father will have to go to war with the Huns, she shows the core of steel part by dressing up as a male and taking his place, not for glory or to rebel against her family but to save her dad's life and the family honor.
----

''Mulan'' is an animated film released in 1998, as the 36th film on the DisneyAnimatedCanon. It was inspired by the [[ImperialChina Ancient Chinese]] [[FolkHero folk legend]] of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua_Mulan Hua Mulan]] (花木蘭). [[hottip:*: though Disney chose to romanize the heroine's name as Fa Mulan, in effect giving her family name the typical Cantonese pronunciation, but her personal name the normal Mandarin one.]]

''Mulan'' is an animated film released in 1998, as the 36th film on the DisneyAnimatedCanon. It was inspired by the [[ImperialChina Ancient Chinese]] [[FolkHero folk legend]] of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua_Mulan Hua Mulan]] (花木蘭). [[hottip:*: though Disney chose to romanize the heroine's name as Fa Mulan, in effect giving her family name the [[ChineseDialectsAndAccents typical Cantonese pronunciation, but her personal name the normal Mandarin one]].]]

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain:Averted,[[BigBad Shan-yu]] is one of the few male characters in the movie not to say anything sexist against Mulan;[[FridgeBrilliance it could be because the Huns were less sexist against women than the Chinese]].

** Compare the fate that would have awaited her if she had succeeded in her matchmaking with what happened after she failed. Had she succeeded, she wouldn't have joined the army, managed to push her way into Shang's army, gained the respect of her fellow soldiers, defeat the whole Hun army with just one rocket cannon, and then finish Shan Yu. [[FridgeBrilliance Who said that cricket wasn't a lucky one?]]

* CloudCuckooLander: "Ping" ''appears'' to be this to others, but it's caused by a combination of trying to act manly, having to hide her gender, and being sabotaged by the others after making an initial bad impression.

* NobleDemon: Not quitely, but towards the climax when Mulan reveals that it was she who destroyed the Hun army, Shan Yu wasn't at all shocked of this and refers to her as "The soldier of the mountain". When he said that the look on his face is fear instead of confusion.

* FruitOfTheLoon: The boys stuff their dresses with a variety of fruit, including...a banana.

* InfantImmortality: Averted. When walking through the ruins of a raided village, a single doll is found, as a g-rated signal that there were children killed here.

* VillainousValour: Ther's a reason why Shan Yu is nowadays considered one of the most badass of dinsey villains: he's strong enough to easily breaking down a barricaded door or effortlessly slicing through a massive pillar with his sword. He's also very proud of his army, as shown at the beginning when he thought it was perfect that all of China knew him and his army were there after the signal fire was lighted and when he flatly refused to avoid the Imperial troops and instead opt to take them head on, despite knowing that they are the elite of China's armies.

* ShadowDiscretionShot: Inverted intentionally as Mushu is trying to be intimidating, but [[BigShadowLittleCreature he's not]].
* ShakingHerHairOut: At the end of "Reflection", Mulan slowly removes all traces of the makeover she got for her meeting with the Matchmaker.

* WholesomeCrossdresser: Subverted. [[Mulan's three friends make "Concubines." "''Ugly'' Concubines."]]

* OutrunTheFireball: "Get off the roof. Get off the roof. Get off the roof!"
** A colder variant occurs earlier when everyone's outrunning the avalanche.

* PluckyGirl: Mulan doesn't let a little thing like a bleeding chest wound stop her from saving Shang's life. Hell, aside from the initial pain, she doesn't even seem to ''notice'' it until things have calmed down. Gotta love that [[JustifiedTrope adrenaline]], eh?

* RedshirtArmy: Sadly, this fate befalls the supposed "elite" army, led by Shang's father.
** Its to [[TheWorfEffect demonstrate how vicious the Huns are]].

** Averted for Shan Yu and a handful of other particularly resilient Huns after the avalanche. They pop right back out of the snow. '''[[MemeticMutation LIKE DAISIES!]]'''

* ThirdActMisunderstanding: When Mulan's true gender is revealed, her friends don't trust her anymore when they ''really'' should.
** Really, it's just Shang who's hell-bent on ignoring her warnings. Yao, Ling, and Chien Po seem like they ''want'' to believe her, but are sort of afraid to piss off their commanding officer. They're quick enough to follow her when she says she has an idea to get them into the palace.

* UncleTomfoolery: Mushu. Roger Ebert [[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19980619/REVIEWS/806190302/1023 said]] it best: "a black dude in medieval China?"

* WarIsHell: The village scene complete with EmpathyDollShot.
* WeaponTombstone: When the commander--who also happens to be Shang's father--dies, Shang buries him. In the absence of anything else that hasn't been burned or destroyed, he marks the grave with his father's helmet, placed on his ''own'' sword.

* WhamLine: More like a wham silence at the end of "A Girl Worth Fighting For". Everyone's happy thinking about that certain girl that's waiting for them at home (or not!) and then... wham. Pillaged village.
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Subverted. "Concubines." "''Ugly'' Concubines."

* ArsonMurderAndLifesaving: "I have heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan..."

* AttractiveBentGender: Played straight: "I bet the local girls thought you were quite the charmer..." is sung for Mulan's male persona, and indeed the rice pickers take a shine to "him".
** Averted later: "[It's only] Concubines." "''Ugly'' concubines."
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Shan Yu and his council are the only Huns Badass enough to come popping out of the snow! Like daisies! On the other hand, they were probably leading the charge and just might've been far enough away from the avalanche to survive.
** But the avalanche goes all the way down the mountain side and off the cliff. If they really ''were'' that far ahead they should have fallen off the cliff.

* {{Badass}}: Several. Mulan, who wipes out the majority of the Hun army with a single rocket and then flashes Shan Yu a smirk when he has his OhCrap moment. Shan Yu himself, who took the Great Wall as a challenge, deliberately challenged the Chinese Army and curb stomped them, and when he was buried in the avalanche, he just burst right out [[hottip:*: ''like daisies!!'']]. But the one who takes the cake is the ''Emperor''. He's a noncombatant and the much younger and bulkier leader of the army that just crushed his own is swinging a sword at him. He doesn't even flinch.

** Also in the scene where Shan Yu cuts Mulan across the chest causing a wound so bad that she passes out (presumably from blood loss) the moment her adrenaline rush is over after saving Shang. We see a dark stain on her armour for about an instant, but otherwise she seems to have bled out without actually bleeding out, or even damaging her armor at all.

** The way Shan Yu is disposed of would have seen the rocket ripping him apart and ash and bloody/charred jibs raining over a small part of the Imperial City.

* ChainOfPeople: Mulan's troupe forms one after she falls off the cliff. Turns into a Self-Retracting Chain Of People immediately after, when Chien Po joins in.

* ChekhovsLecture: "[[StealthPun Reflect]] before you act. This will bring you honor and glory."
* ChekhovsSkill: Pole climbing.
** Mushu's firebreathing.
** Ling uses the brick-breaking headbutt he learned in training to take out one of the Huns.
** ''Shoe throwing'', of all things. Mulan uses it to catch Shan Yu's attention, stopping him just short of chopping Shang's head off. When we saw her do the same to Khan earlier, who knew it'd come in handy?

* CryingWolf: After Mulan is revealed as being a woman, she sees that the Huns are still coming. She heads to warn Shang, but he doesn't believe her, possibly because she's a woman but also because she's a woman who has been lying to him for the whole movie, so there's some trust issues. Mulan says, "You'd trust Ping, why is Mulan any different?" Well, for one thing, for all Shang knew, Ping didn't get into the army based on a lie...

* DeadlyFireworksDisplay: The death of Shan Yu involves one of the most literal uses of this trope in cinema.

-->'''Emperor:''' See to it that this woman is made a member of my council.\\
'''Chi Fu:''' *stammers* ''What?!'' Uh... why, there are no council positions open, Your Majesty.\\
'''Emperor:''' Very well. ''[to Mulan]'' You can have ''his'' job.
* DebtDetester: Shang saves Mulan's life after she dishonors the Chinese army in return for her saving his life during the Mongol attack.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: As mentioned above, several (but not all) male characters at least start out pretty sexist because, hey, it's ancient China. Also lampshaded when Mulan, after being honored as a hero, gives the Emperor a big hug; Yao asks, "Is she allowed to do that?" (No, it would have been punishable by death.)

* DoesThisMakeMeLookFat: Said by Yao when dressed as a woman, which is also an ActorAllusion (his voice actor has performed in drag).
** Yao gets a DopeSlap for his trouble.

* EvilLaugh: Shan Yu, standing on top of the Imperial Palace's roof.
* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: Instead of shooting at Shan Yu and killing just him, Mulan shoots at a mountaintop and creates an [[HairTriggerAvalanche avalanche]] that wipes out most of his army, turning what could have been a rout for the Hun force into a victory for the Chinese.
-->'''Mushu:''' *flying towards the mountain* You ''missed!! How could you miss?'' He was TWO FEET IN FRONT OF YOU!!!

** When Mulan's identity is found out. She's injured in the last battle with the Huns in the ribs, and while she's being treated, the doctor discovers that she's not exactly [[SweetPollyOliver who she says she is]]...

* HeroicBSOD: Mulan completely shuts down after her cover is blown and doesn't boot back up until a handful of Huns prove themselves not quite deceased.

* ImprovisedZipline: Mulan uses a string of lanterns to zip down from the roof.
* IndyPloy: "You don't have a ''plan?''"

* IOweYouMyLife: Shang to Mulan. This life-debt becomes immediately useful when Mulan is found out, and the punishment for a woman joining the army is death. Instead of killing her, Shang lets her go free. In the next scene, we're shown that he did leave her a good amount of provisions and her horse, which she promptly rode back into town.

* {{Jerkass}}: Chi Fu is a chauvinist prick who condemns Mulan with the death penalty once her gender was found out, despite the fact she saved the army from the Hun army in the mountains. He tries this again after she and the others saved the Emperor and CHINA from the Huns. [[UngratefulBastard Some gratitude]]...
** For some reason, they felt the need to turn Mushu into this during the second film.
** Mostly because Mulan's ancestors were jerkasses towards him.

* KneelBeforeZod: Shan Yu attempts to invoke this, but [[{{Badass}} the emperor]] refuses.

* LastVillainStand: Shan Yu after his army gets wiped out by an avalanche and his generals have been captured.

* MoodWhiplash: ''[[IWantSong "A girl worth fighting-"]]'' [[OhCrap *cut to reaction shot of destroyed village*]]

* OhCrap: Shan Yu gets several. He gets one when Mulan sets off the avalanche and an even better one when she launches him into a tower containing what seems to be half the fireworks in the country. And of course, the protagonists get two good ones. First, when they find the mountain village has been utterly destroyed and that the Imperial Army led by Shang's father has been wiped out. Second time comes when they find out just how large the Hun army really is.

* PluckyComicRelief: Mushu and Cri-kee.

* VileVillainSaccharineShow: Its as comedic as any Disney movie can get but it still can make [[BigBad Shan-yu]],a mass murding warlord, a big terrifying threat.

* TrainingFromHell: The above training montage involved running through a field ''while being shot at by ArrowsOnFire''.

* {{Jerkass}}: For some reason, they felt the need to turn Mushu into this during the second film.

* HoYay: YourMileageMayVary, but it's sort of implied that Shang was already [[LampshadedDoubleEntendre turned on]] by Mulan when she was still Ping.
** Mushu encourages it as a normal part of male-to-male interaction.

* AnachronismStew: Pick any two things, such as having the current Emperor apparently built the great wall, which makes it difficult to understand just when in Chinese history this was happening.

** Well, the Great Wall of China was built and rebuilt several times over; the current one we see today is the fifth reincarnation, so that particular part, depending on which Emperor he's supposed to be, may be okay.

The Huns are invading ImperialChina, so every Chinese family receives a conscription order requiring one male from each household to serve in the army. Fa Mulan has no brothers, but she doesn't want her aging veteran father to go to war again, so she steals his horse and arms, and goes in his place, [[SweetPollyOliver disguised as a man]].

* AnachronismStew: Pick any two things, such as having the current emperor apparently built the great wall, which puts things at odds for when was the real-life equivalent to the Huns were invading.

* {{Badass}}: Several. Mulan, who wipes out the majority of the Hun army with a single rocket and then flashes Shan Yu a smirk when he has his OhCrap moment. Shan Yu himself, who took the Great Wall as a challenge, deliberately challenged the Chinese Army and curb stomped them, and when he was buried in the avalanche, he just burst right out [[hottip:*: ''like daisies!!'']]. But the one who takes the cake is the ''Emperor''. He's a noncombatant and the much younger and bulky leader of the army that just crushed his own is swinging a sword at him. He doesn't even flinch.
* BatDeduction: played with when Shan Yu and his men deduct from a small doll, which Shan Yu's [[BigBadassBirdOfPrey pet eagle]] managed to obtain on a scouting trip, that the Emperor's army is in a village in the mountain pass. It's unusual for this trope in that their deductive reasoning ''is'' logical, and the fact that they ''can'' deduce something like this makes sense considering that they're experts in tracking and that they live in the mountains (or at least have spent a huge amount of time crossing them).

** "Hua Ping" is also slang for "effeminate or homosexual man"
** Chi Fu's name is a pun on the Chinese word for "to bully".

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: "Ping" ''appears'' to be this to others, but it's caused by a combination of trying to act manly, having to hide her gender, and being sabotaged by the others after making an initial bad impression.

* CryingWolf: After Mulan is revealed as being a woman, she sees that the Huns are still coming. She heads to warn Shang, but he doesn't believe her, possibly because she's a woman but also because she's a woman who has been lying to him for the whole movie, so there's some trust issues. Mulan says "you'd trust Ping, why is Mulan any different?" Well, for one thing, for all Shang knew, Ping didn't get into the army based on a lie...

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: As mentioned above, several (but not all) male characters at least start out pretty sexist because, hey, it's ancient China. Also lampshaded when Mulan, after being honored as a hero, gives the Emperor a big hug, Yao asks "Is she allowed to do that?" (No, it would have been punishable by death.)

* DisneyAcidSequence: "A Girl Worth Fighting For".

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: An unusual antagonist example: if you match the story up to Real Life and accept that the "Huns" are in fact the Xiongnu, Shan Yu is not the BigBad's name but his TITLE (also represented as Chanyu, in either event roughly translates to "Majesty Son of Heaven").

* {{Fanservice}}: Shang, shirtless and swinging a pole around while singing "I'll Make A Man Out Of You". Hilariously reviewed by the Daily Show's CampGay film critic Frank [=DeCaro=], who responded "Yes, PLEASE! ...And bring the pole."

* InfantImmortality: averted. When walking through the ruins of a raided village, a single doll is found, as a g-rated signal that there were children killed here.

** C: the statue is just a vessel to incarnate in the mortal world. The dragon got stuck in the astral plane, but he is alright.

** Compare the fate that would have awaited her if she had succeeded in her matchmaking with what happened after she failed. Had she succeeded, she wouldn't have joined the army, managed to push her way into Shang's army, gained the respect of her fellow soldiers, defeat the whole Hun army with just one rocket cannon, and then finish Shan Yu. Who said that cricket wasn't a lucky one?

** Mulan 2 in regard to its "arranged marriage = bad" campaign. And the fact that Mulan actually ''got away'' with practically kidnapping the princesses and allowing them to marry commoners. I'm sorry, children, but I'm afraid that that kind of thing would ''not'' fly if it were accurate history.

-->'''Yao:''' [under his breath] I'll get that arrow pretty boy. And I'll do it with my ''shirt on''.

* SupernaturalAid: Mulan's ancestors send her a guardian spirit to help her.

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