Part of the problem is that Mulan reads like a children's story instead of the more adult fare of Pocahontas or The Hunchback of Notre Dame or Hercules. As the only child of Fa Zhou and Fa Li, Mulan is headed to the Matchmaker in the hope that she'll make a fine marriage and bring honor to her family, but she's a bit of a tomboy (like so many Disney heroines), and when the crib notes she's brushed on her wrist get all over the Matchmaker, she's sent home in disgrace. Meanwhile, invading Huns are pouring over the Great Wall of China, and bad goes to worse when an emissary from the Emperor arrives at Mulan's village to conscript an able-bodied man from every village: Zhou is no longer able-bodied, but if he doesn't go, the family will lose face. So Mulan cuts her hair, grabs his commission, and rides out to take his place, aided by a feckless jive-talking red dragon (he's sent, sort of, by her Ancestors) named Mushu (Eddie Murphy) and a good-luck cricket named Cri-Kee. (No, that's not Chinese for "cricket.") There's a humorous section where she survives boot camp by using brains as well as brawn, but the story quickly turns grim as the wicked Shan-Yu (Miguel Ferrar) and his Huns destroy a village and kill General Li (James Shigeta), the father of Mulan's hunky commanding officer, Li Shang (B.D. Wong). The rest of Mulan is standard good-triumphs-over-evil fare soured by some implausible plot developments (Li Shang wouldn't really abandon her and then take the credit) sweetened with a sugar dusting of romance.

The best thing about Mulan is Mulan herself: the "Gotta be me/Gotta find out who I am" formula may be rote, but she has her own style, as when, on her way to the Matchmaker, she finds the move that unlocks a café game of Go (this is one smart fortune cookie). There's some inspired Disney lunacy: the "Chinese Gothic" pair of Ancestors; the dragon rockets; Mushu going through an entire tube of toothpaste after biting a butt to save Mulan; a cameo appearance by a giant panda (who should have had a bigger part); Cri-Kee jumping into a pan of ink and then hopping about on a sheet of paper (to a typewriter soundtrack) and producing perfectly brushed Chinese characters; Mulan using the firebreathing Mushu to launch a rocket; Mushu toasting Peking ravioli over a fire; the celebrating Ancestors ordering eggrolls. There are also moments of moving tenderness: Mulan sitting with her father (mothers, as usual in Disney, get short shrift) under a canopy of cherry blossoms; Shang sitting alone under the moon, wondering whether he'll ever be a leader; Khan drooping his horse blanket around a shivering Mulan after she's been abandoned in the mountains; Mulan hugging a surprised Emperor (a very huggable Pat Morita). The red, Bosch-like shots of the destroyed village are horrific and unforgettable; so is the scene where Shang thrusts his sword into the snow and places his late father's helmet on top, and Mulan leans a child's doll against the sword.

Like Mulan itself, the soundtrack (on Walt Disney Records) is pleasing but rather tamer than what Disney did for Hercules. There are just four songs: "Honor to Us All," which the makeover artists chirp as they're preparing Mulan for the Matchmaker; "Reflection," Mulan musing sadly to herself after having failed with the Matchmaker; "I'll Make a Man out of You," Li Shang's boast to his troops; and "A Girl Worth Fighting For," which Mulan's army comrades Yao, Chien-Po, and Ling sing to keep their spirits up. The closing-credits single, "True to Your Heart," is performed by Stevie Wonder and 98° accompanied by that ancient Chinese instrument, the harmonica; it's so catchy I almost didn't mind that it has nothing to do with the film.

The two army numbers play off Mulan's secret: Shang is unaware that one of his soldiers isn't even a guy, and Mulan's friends don't realize the girl they're fighting for is right there with them. But apart from a hint of the 1812 Overture at the end of "A Girl Worth Fighting For," the wit that pervaded Hercules is in short supply. David Zippel, who did the lyrics for Hercules, uses the bland "Go the Distance" rather than "Zero to Hero" as his model, giving us "Let's get down to business/To defeat the Huns/Did they send me daughters/When I asked for sons?" (from "I'll Make a Man out of You") and "Bet the local girls thought you were quite the charmer"/"And I'll bet the ladies love a man in armor" (from "A Girl Worth Fighting For"). Even "Reflection" rides on Matthew Wilder's music rather than the likes of "Now I see/That if I were truly/To be myself/I would break/My family's heart." Singing Shang's number, Donny Osmond shows some grit, but he's still the voice of the Whitebread West. And though Lea Salonga, as Mulan's singing voice, is at least Asian, it's symptomatic of Disney's thinking that she also did the singing for Aladdin's Jasmine -- one Third World voice fits all.