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Mulan has returned to her parents' home, enjoying less adventurous days performing chores that don't require mortal combat. Her reputation has spread throughout the middle kingdom and it's not uncommon for young girls to worship at her feet, begging to be taught some of the combat skills she learned while impersonating a male soldier. She and her family have been patiently waiting for Li Shang (B.D. Wong) to formally propose marriage, and now that he's been promoted to the rank of general, he feels worthy to ask for her hand. Alas, nuptials will have to wait. The Emperor (Pat Morita) has summoned them to his palace; China is again threatened.

An imminent invasion, one that may destroy the middle kingdom, must be stopped. The Emperor has decided that a political alliance with a kingdom to the North will offer such a strong, unified defense, that the invaders will be forced to back off. But to cement unification requires the blending of two royal families; he arranges for his three daughters - Mei (Lucy Liu), Su (Lauren Tom), and Ting Ting (Sandra Oh) - to marry the princes of the Northern Kingdom. Mulan and Li Shang are tasked with the safe escort of the princesses through bandit- infested wilderness. General Li Shang proposes that a small stealthy escort rather than a show of force might be the better approach. And who would be better than three veterans of their previous campaign to act as bodyguards?

Yao (Harvey Fierstein), Chien-Po (Jerry Tondo), and Ling (Gedde Watanabe) haven't been able to leverage their fame. These lonely misfits have a knack for discouraging the most optimistic matchmakers. And the Disney animators couldn't possibly have telegraphed where this tale is going any clearer. And speaking of leveraging fame, Mushu (Mark Moseley) has been spectacularly annoying; he's been as demanding as a petulant child, and the ancestors have felt obligated to spoil him as reward for helping save Mulan and the honor of the family. Ah, but their patience is wearing thin. They welcome the news of Mulan's impending marriage; it will transfer spiritual oversight to the groom's ancestors. After her wedding, Mushu will be back on gong duty. What's a selfish little dragon to do? Break up the engagement, of course. And that sets up the last of this film's three story arcs.

This film isn't as satisfying as the original, not because the production values have slipped, or the visuals any less pleasant. The problem is that the film shifts its emphasis away from Mulan and onto the three misfits and their remarkably unbelievable romantic aspirations. The invaders remain invisible throughout; the only threat to our hearty little band is a run-in with some nasty bandits who are more interested in thievery than doing harm. And there's more. Mulan's modern ideas would have had little traction in ancient China's highly structured society, but one of her heartfelt aphorisms drives one storyline forward. And Mushu's scheming goes beyond his previous egocentric self-involvement to a mean-spirited selfishness. This film is clearly directed at a younger audience than the original, and on that level it is quite effective. Audiences who have yet to reach their eleventh birthday will be very happy with the bright pastel world of Mulan 2 and the inclusion of several new songs. This release may be considerably better than the usual direct- to-video fare, the film will be of limited interest to adults.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The direct-to-home release is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic video. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of two other recent Disney releases, Aladdin and this film's predecessor, Mulan. Each had virtually banished edge halos and each was sharp and detailed, Aladdin in particular. With Mulan 2, the halos have returned; they are minor and don't intrude very much, but they are present and that makes this release a step backward. The bit budget certainly could have supported less compression; the feature is only 79 minutes long. Despite the halos, small object detail is reasonably good and the fine textures of the lovely background plates that resemble Asian watercolors are nicely delineated. Color rendition is superb, from the bright primary colors to the subtle pastels. Shadow detail in the night scenes is revealed by the backgrounds rather than the more simply colored characters; it's very good indeed. I did not notice any compression artifacts.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track can be quite lively, immersing the viewer in a rainstorm or placing off-screen action in the surrounds. EX decoding helps more than hinders and enabling it is recommended. There are several missed opportunities to mix gut thumpingly deep bass into the track; I found the bottom octave to be rather thin. This doesn't affect the score, but it does reduce the visceral impact of those few scenes that could have been enhanced by a good swift audible kick. Sound effects are nicely conveyed. The sound effects, like the dialog, are recorded exclusively in the studio, and each is quite transparent, with great presence and fidelity. The score by Joel McNeely and the songs are equally pleasing to the ear.

Alternate languages are in French and Spanish. Optional subtitles are offered in English, for which Closed Captions are also included.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

When DVD premiered during the seven-city rollout of 1997, the discs were programmed to emulate the motion picture experience. Load the disc and, perhaps after the display of the studio's logo, the film would start. When supplements became part of the package, the studios decided that opening menus were necessary, even though a mere press of your remote control's menu button would have taken you to the Main Menu immediately. And don't get me started on forced trailers and unavoidable and interminable warning screens. So notably, this is the first disc I've seen from Disney that offers a new express playback of the program. You cannot avoid having to skip through some warning massages, but instead of a Menu, the opening screen gives you the option of selecting FastPlay. When you do, every video feature is shown sequentially, skipping all subsequent menus. Trailers, feature film, and supplements are shown in that order. And even though the motion picture theater experience always begins with "forced" trailers, I was grateful that I could skip the DVD's opening trailers with the next chapter button. This is a nice feature that is only flawed by mixed video formats; when the supplements began, I had to pause the disc to switch my display from anamorphic video to full screen video. Is Buena Vista listening? Make the supplements anamorphic or windowpane 4:3 supplements in an anamorphic frame and this concept would be so much better.

Whether you choose FastPlay or proceed to the Main Menu, the program begins with trailers for Bambi 2-Disc Special Edition and Pooh's Heffalump Movie (3:08 aggregate). The Main Menu has a FastPlay option as well, in case you've changed your mind. And the Fastplay program may be interrupted with the remote control's Menu button. Let's move on to the supplements, which are all presented in full screen.

There is a collection of four deleted scenes with a "Play All" option. They are Battle Sequence (4:32), Mei Flirts (1:45), The Escape Part 1 (1:58), and The Escape Part 2 (1:46). Each is an animatic of key-frame drawings. Each is introduced by the filmmakers, who explain the nature of the scenes and why they were abandoned.

Next is a Music Video (2:39) of "I Wanna Be Like Other Girls" by Atomic Kitten. (I'm not making this stuff up.)

On the Games and Activities Screen, youngsters might enjoy the Mushu's Guess Who Game. From a vaguely shaped shadow cast through a tent covering, the player is to identify the character from three choices. The operative word here is youngster.

There are two extras under Backstage Disney. The first is The World of Mulan. Choosing the Fan takes you to a discussion of a few aspects of ancient Chinese culture (2:28). Click on the Yin/Yang symbol for a description of its significance (1:53). Select the Bowl of Noodles for a bit of superficial information about Chinese food (1:50). Watch all three and Mushu provides a bonus. Want to know under which animal of the Zodiac you were born? You can find out here.

And then there is a featurette entitled Voices of Mulan (2:53) in which we get to see some of the principal players in action: Ming-Na, Pat Morita, Jerry Tondo... even Michelle Kwan, who had a vocal cameo as the shopkeeper, is seen. Oddly, Mark Moseley, who replaced Eddie Murphy as Mushu and who had such a large part in the film, is not to be seen.

And there is a screen that invites you to register your DVD at www.DisneyDVD.com/support.

From the Main Menu page, you can also visit Sneak Peeks. In addition to Bambi (1:32) and Pooh (1:36) from the DVD's opening, you'll also find Lilo & Stitch 2 (1:01), The Incredibles (1:45), and, two promos for the Princess series (1:06 and 0:31, respectively).

The 79-minute feature film is organized into sixteen chapters.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.

Final Thoughts