To say the least, it was a disappointment watching the sequel to the famous Mulan. Instead of an adventurous comeback the sequel was melodramatic!, dealing with the theme of arrange marriage v/s love marriage in ancient China (much to the horror of Mulan fanbase. yikes!). Less than 5 minutes of action, a few tears, some silly flirting and the huge debate over the opposites, good or bad in a relationship, Darrell Rooney and Lynne Southerland present to you Mulan II.
The movie starts with general Shang proposing Mulan. Mushu with the fear of losing his job as the guardian dragon after Mulan gets married, takes up the job of parting the two. Mulan and General Shang are then called by the Chinese emperor to take his 3 daughters- Mei, Su and Ting Ting to the kingdom of Qui Gong. They are supposed to get married to the 3 princes of the kingdom (whom the haven't ever seen) so that an alliance could be formed between the two kingdoms to fight the upcoming Mongol forces. General Shang, Mulan alongwith along with Chien-Po, Ling and Yao (the three soldiers from the first film) move ahead with the mission of escorting the princesses safely to the kingdom Qui Gong. On the journey the princesses and the soldiers fall in love. Mulan jumps with joy when she comes to know about it while General Shang is outraged. They both learn that they are extremely different and decide to break off the wedding. Shang tells his soldiers that the mission is still on and they are supposed to stay away from the princesses and only obey their duty of protecting them on the way. Seeing Mulan unhappy after the breakup, Mushu confesses to Mulan that he created all the misunderstandings between Shang and her. Mulan sets out to tell Shang that she still loves him but by then the bandits attack them. Shang while fighting with the bandits falls down the bridge and is presumed to be dead. Mulan asks the soldiers and the princesses to run away and abandons the mission. On reaching Qui Gong, she makes up a story of a fatal accident on the way resulting in the death of all others and instead of the princesses offers herself to marry one of the Qui Gong prince so that the alliance could be formed. Meanwhile Shang emerges from the river alive and heads to Qui Gong to stop Mulan from marrying the prince. Mushu helps the cause by voicing the Chinese God of Alliance leading General Shang to marry Mulan.
The charm and distinctiveness that its prequel bore is completely lost. The movie does not deal with the concept of arrange v/s love marriage in an interesting way. The approach is melodramatic instead of a logical one only emphasizing ''following the heart''. The custom of arrange marriage in ancient China has not been condemned but simply questioned. Moreover why love marriage is better than the arranged one has not been mentioned. Mulan II started out on a promising note but after about 20 minutes the same conventional and sappy plot took over the film and carried till the end. If not to anyone else, Mulan II at the most could probably serve the pre-teen audience seeking out to know something about the customs and rituals in the ancient world.
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