Mulan

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

The payoff is a consistently rich piece with impressive visual vitality.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Gorgeously animated and stirringly told, Disney's Mulan is a timeless story that will delight kids and divert adults with its sweeping scope, emotional intimacy and screwball humor.

Newsweek Corie Brown & Laura Shapiro

It's the characterization of Mulan, both in voice and visuals, that makes the film a keeper.

Austin Chronicle Hollis Chacona

Disney's latest animated feature hearkens back to its heyday fare, a sweet and captivating tale that pits gentle, enduring goodness against dark, malevolent forces.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Mulan is an impressive achievement, with a story and treatment ranking with "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King."

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Mulan effortlessly blends serious, comic, and cute elements into a whole that should entertain the majority of movie-goers, regardless of race, gender, or age.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The film shines at capturing the watercolor delicacy of China's past.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

It took long enough, but Disney has finally come up with an animated heroine who's a good role model and a funky, arresting personality at the same time.

Empire Ian Freer

Mulan serves up the sort of classic entertainment the Magic Kingdom was built on: stunning animation, sharply defined characters, a smattering of catchy tunes all seamlessly woven into a simple, powerfully told yarn.

Film Threat Ron Wells

It seems as if all of the new animation competition has lit a fire under Disney's collective ass and they have something to prove again.

TV Guide Ken Fox

The folks at Disney prove that clothes -- and little else -- make a man, and do so with extraordinary style.

Salon.com Jenn Shreve

The incredible special effects, which make lush cherry blossoms as vivid as the intense battle scenes, are balanced by Disney's tradition of care and painstaking detail in developing and animating its characters.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

This high-quality Disney animation combines strong pictorial appeal with amiable voice-performances.

Variety Todd McCarthy

A rich dramatic tapestry lightly stained by some strained comedy, rigorous political correctness and perhaps more adherence to Disney formula than should have been the case in one of the studio's most adventurous and serious animated features.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Mulan may be exotic, but it's hardly a risky enterprise, what with its sentimental show tunes, wholesome morals and plucky teen heroine.

Chicago Reader Matt Roth

Disney's retelling of the popular Chinese folktale, may seem its gutsiest choice yet, but on closer examination it's obviously less a matter of guts than careful calculation.

The New Yorker Bruce Diones

While the movie sticks to the familiar Disney formula, the cute sidekicks are less intrusive and the songs are not as overbearing as usual; for the most part, it sustains an enjoyable hum and a simple, delicate glow.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Mulan is another competent effort, but it's a disappointment for anyone hoping the studio would raise the standard of the animated feature to a new level.

Dallas Observer Michael Sragow

It's nothing more than pleasant matinee fodder with some jarring tones and clunky stretches.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Stephen Thompson

Though Disney's animation department does deserve credit for shaking up its formula and delving into relatively mature drama, the movie is flawed in numerous aggravating ways.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Mulan has its accomplishments, but unlike the best of Disney's output, it comes off as more manufactured than magical.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Mulan, like all the characters in this movie, is a cookie-cutter American prototype, lazily ripped off from the Disney boilerplate that fashioned Pocahontas et al.

San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser

It's hard not to keep thinking that this movie is basically "Yentl" with a nose job.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

A film that not only breaks the cross-dressing barrier but also ratchets up the violence level for children's animation.