Reviewed by: mpongpun Date: 05/12/2002 If you are looking for gung fu, skip this flick. It’s a costume-Chinese Opera flick. Emphasis is on singing. The flick is about China's most famous woman warrior by the name of Hua Mu Lan (Ivy Ling Po). Mu Lan supposedly lived and fought in the fifth century AD. Mu Lan’s father (Yang Chi Ching) was drafted to go to war, but he was too sick to fight, so Mu Lan offered to go in his place. Her father rejected the offer, but she insisted. Mu Lan suggested they have a sword fight and if she won, she'd go. Of course, Mu Lan won the fight. She then cut her hair, donned her father's armor, and joined the Emperor's army using her father's name. For over a decade, she fought as a man without her true identity being exposed. Her gallantry at the front lines and amazing fighting skills impressed the hell out of her General (Ching Miao) that he offered Mu Lan his daughter's hand in marriage. Expectedly, the marriage never took place (guess why!) and Hua Mu Lan returned home and became her plain old self again.

Reviewed by: batgirl Date: 07/09/2001 Summary: classic story in Chinese opera style I saw this in the early '70s at the Shaw Theatre in Vancouver's Chinatown. If you're looking for martial arts realism, you won't enjoy this at all. But if you like Chinese Opera, spectacle and costume, this is good fun. My guess is that it's an adaptation of an opera script, because an elderly Chinese lady near me was singing along with some of the songs. It opens with Mulan being discontented, and her older sister teasing her that she must wait to be married, because the elder must marry first. Of course, Mulan doesn't want to get married, she wants adventure, and when her father is too ill to join the army, she goes in his place. After the enemy is defeated, she returns home to a woman's life, and her old comrades are very surprised when they arrive (a whole company of them) to visit 'him'. The usual cool costumes and sets, acrobatics, songs not too hard on the Western ear. Bits to watch for - Mulan is injured, and evades the surgeon's attempt to get her armour off and dress the wound; all the young officers get very drunk, and Mulan sings a sentimental song about home, complete with 'drunken style' dancing.