‘Mulan’ Review: Disney’s Spectacular Do-Over Deserves the Biggest Screen Possible
Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticOf the dozen young women whom the Walt Disney Co. classifies as “princesses” — successors of sultans, chiefs and kings; kissers of frogs, beasts and princes Charming — one never quite fit the royal canon, or most conservative ideas of femininity for that matter: sixth-century Chinese folk hero Hua Mulan, who hailed from a humble family and won her family’s honor by enlisting to defend the emperor in her father’s place.Sure, questions have been raised around a few of the others, but as Maui told Moana, “If you wear a dress and have an animal sidekick, then you’re a princess.” Even by that definition, however, Mulan breaks the mold.