I don't think she's amazing as people make her out to be. Brave, smart, a

great personality. I don't see all of that in her. She's pretty brave, but I

think there are braver characters out there than just her. She's smart, but

I don't think she's THAT smart, quick-thinking and smart are different. I

don't find her personality appealing. She's pretty lazy and gave up too

easily at the beginning of the movie. She only works hard when she's

forced. Then by the end of the movie, she's completely perfect and is

able to save all of China.



I also don't see how she's so INCREDIBLY

relatable to everyone. She's not confident that her parents will like who

she really is. Well, at that point in the movie when she sings Reflection,

who she really is, is a lazy, non hard working person. Well, then why

should her parents find her to be this amazing person, if that's who she

is? They are her parents and all, but seriously? She needs to shape up

first. And by the end of the movie she's basically a flawless character.



She sure goes through a huge character development, but she goes from

someone who is far too flawed, to someone who's no where near flawed.

It's like she's not even the same person. They transform her because

they want to fix the problem they made in the first place, but made it

worse. Overall, she's uninteresting, boring, basically uneccasary, (I

personally think the whole movie should have been about Shang.) is over

flawed in the beginning, and a Mary-Sue in the end. She expects

everyone to think she's great when she's really not. Her parents, and

basically everyone. She says she tries to be herself, but she really

doesn't. She's too afraid to. She claims she tries when she doesn't, she

makes people do things for her, when she thinks she's doing it for herself.

I'll make a man out of you, is a perfect example of how lazy she is. She's

just forced, and there we go. She can do it. It's a quick sequence that

shows.. She can be lazy, and not do anything until forced, and still

succeed in everything she does. How is this relatable? Interesting? Doubt

it. She's pretty boring throughout her movie.



Like Ariel, she complains about her life a lot, especially considering how

there were Disney a Princesses with MUCH WORSE lives, and she was

one of the lucky Disney Princesses, both parents alive, not having any

tragedies, she just messed up her life some, and made it worse by

complaining about it, and being lazy, and not fixing things herself. Who

cares if she's badass? That's not all there is to her. Behind that, there's a

lazy, (and lazily written.), uninteresting, over flawed turned Mary-Sue,

character that is frustrating to watch. I don't know why everyone says she

has the best character development. Since when? Her character

development isn't well-written. It's unrealistic. She changes too much, too

quickly.



They focus too much on her and not enough on more interesting

characters, like Shan-Yu and Shang. Many people seem to ignore all the

bad qualities in her. "She's a great role model because she develops!"

"She's really smart because she made a few quick thinking decisions!"

And everyone seems to think that she is the best Disney Princess there

was, I still don't understand how.


She's not that relatable to me, I find her uninteresting, boring, lacking

character and special qualities that other Disney Princesses have, and

isn't special at all. What makes her so great? I never said that she was

perfect when she went to the army. I'll make a man out of you is where

she's forced, and does what she's forced to do. She's pushed to

do things. Oh, and then, when she could have just LEFT, (her goal was to

help her father anyway, not make more trouble for herself.) she doesn't

think, finds herself pushed to leave, (despite that fact that this is actually

a good thing for her.) and acts without thinking. I hate all of the, "Mulan

doesn't need a man." Talk as well. She doesn't need a man? Maybe

because she's a Mary-Sue by the end of the movie, she's pretty lucky,

Shang is FAR more experienced than her, yet she is still shown to be

more skilled than he is, despite her not even being experienced.

*cough.*Mary-Sue.*cough.*


Sorry for the long rant, I spread it out so it doesn't look as cluttered. ^-^

I've never found Mulan lazy. I've found her inept and clumsy on the whole. I don't believe she's forced to do anything!! I think she struggles with physical strength--- being a woman is different in terms of body strength than being a man, after all. I do love that she uses her brain, which is something that some of the other princesses forget or neglect to do. Most of the DPs do not see very far ahead, and look out for what might happen to them and others. Mulan does. Mulan has foresight. I don't get how Mulan is forced to leave for her father's sake. She was not forced to leave. She left of her own free will, and was very brave to sacrifice herself to protect her father's life.

My initially neutral feeling towards Mulan has started to turn into dislike but mostly frustration (it probably doesn't help that I've been reading all of avatar's comments ;p). for all people constantly treat her as vastly superior in every single way to the other girls, save for Tiana and Pocahontas, she is not that interesting. I admire her humbleness and love for her family, but she's too freaking perfect. She's only "bad" at things portrayed as silly or less important in the movie (ie finding a husband/passing the mean matchmaker's test), while she's quite unrealistically fantastic at everything else she tries. She's smarter than all the guys, she got the arrow down while none of them could, she single-handedly defeated the Huns while they are a bunch of physically bigger, better trained, bloodthirsty warriors. Even Shang, with his military experience, fighting skills and sharp mind, couldn't do it! I hate that the other princesses' stories are called "unrealistic" just for having magic because if you ask me, Mulan is the most impossible character to emulate as a role model. Men and women simply cannot be equal at EVERYTHING, and this movie teaches not only is this untrue, but girls can be BETTER at boys at everything, even when they're physically weaker, they can beat you in a fight; even when they have better training, you can outsmart them. She saved China because of luck and Disney's new politically correct agenda. And it kills me that in so many ways she's so similar to Aurora, yet these two are always pitted against each other in a very misogynist way, obviously with Aurora compared negatively as the stupid, weak, flat character who can't measure up to flawless Mulan who saved the day and doesn't want no man! And she DOES get rescued- twice- but we're supposed to ignore that.

^ that is my one issue with the movie, that she is shown as even better than Shang who's had a LIFETIME of training.

@AudreyFreak: Aurora gets rescued, too. All of the princesses/DPs get rescued. It's common. Every DP gets rescued in her movie. Even Elsa.

^But people act like Mulan doesn't get rescued. That point about Elsa again? We get all the princesses get rescued. I was going to talk about my love for Mulan but I see no point since some people can't see her flaws and if I said all the things I dislike about her people will just hound me I see, since their are things I dildike about her character. I remember voting on AudreyFreaks poll that people don't force people to love Mulan but since then my mind has been changed.

@Sk8r_grl: My comment was not meant to inflame you about Elsa. It was to establish the common thread in all of the Disney Princesses. They are all rescued by their princes, or by their families! It's built into the fabric of the story! Please don't think I'm trying to tell you that Mulan is better. I'm not. Why use princes, if they don't do anything for the princesses in the movie? Just saying.

Wow, it seems a lot of people on fanpop hate Mulan, didn't really expect that. I for one love her. When we first see her, she's one of the most flawed character's on the Disney lineup. She's lazy, clumsy, a procrastinator and never knows where her place in society is. She is constantly disappointing her family, who love her with all her heart, but can never see her being the daughter they need. And Mulan realizes she can never be the daughter they need too. Sure, she tries, but everytime she does, she never succeeds. As a result, when Mulan leaves, we are seeing a character who knows she will never be able to honor her parents as a daughter. The only way she can is as a son, and she loves her family so much that she is willing to die in the place of her father.

The Mulan that first enters the soldiers camp is the exact same one as the one we saw in the beginning of the movie: clumsy, awkward, a procrastinator (she didn't even think of a name!) and someone who has absolutely no concept of where she should be. And she's a horrible soldier, so much so that she is almost literally thrown out of the camp. But here is where we see one of her most admirable traits, her intelligence. It's something that we've seen throughout the movie, first with her attempting to cheat by writing on her arm and then by helping a man beat his rival in a game. Because the thing is, no matter how Mulan tries there is one thing she can never stop being, a woman. And that fact forces her to look at the world in a different way, solely due to her not having the physical mass of a man. Her physical stature itself does not give her the strength to climb the poles, and after failing multiple times she learns not to approach the situation with the brashness of a man, and uses her differences to embolden her. And the rest I suppose, is in the movie.

But that's what I love about Mulan. Like many of us, what she needs most, is motivation. A lot of the time you aren't going to know what needs to be done until it's staring at you right into the face. And only then, will you be able to learn how amazing you are, but you also have to keep trying. So I don't get the argument that she was lazy. If she was lazy she would have just given up once Shang told her to. She could have very easily just pack up camp and gone home, or just faked her death and gone to a random city so her parent's wouldn't have to live with the dishonor. But she didn't, she has another great strength, perseverance. If she sets out to do something, this girl will do whatever she can to accomplish her goal. But most of all I love her character growth, from the unsure and disheartening young girl to the proud warrior who can save China. Mulan's amazing in my opinion.

(Sorry for the jumbled mess. I went on a rant and couldn't stop ^^)

I agree with Aang_Lite :)
How is Mulan mary sue at the end of the movie? She still stumbles when Shan Yu was after her, she's not some Kim Possible or cat woman etc. And in my opinion she didn't expect anyone to think high of her, she expected the emperor to execute her. She seemed very surprised and uneasy when everyone bowed her, and when she returned home she looked very worried and apologetic when she met her father. She acted humble and practically pleaded her father to accept her back home by bringing gifts to honor their family. And again she looked very surprised when Fa Zhou just tossed the gifts aside and hugged her instead.
Another thing is that whenever Mulan saved the day she couldn't have done it without her friends' help, she has crazy, unusual ideas which would have killed her too if it weren't her friends around. In palace Mulan was merely only responsible of the plan, gang of three and Shang took down Shan Yu and saved emperor. Mulan beat Shan Yu on the roof but even there she had Mushu's help. I think Shan Yu lost because he underestimated her, because he thought her just as a girl. If he had been like with Shang I'm pretty sure Mulan couldn't have stood a chance.
I actually agree that movie could have worked even without Mulan, focusing on eg Shang, although I love it as it is.
Well it's just my opinion, how I see it.

Two people who don't adore her is a lot of people hating her? See what I meant in my "there's a pressure to like Mulan" poll? And one big Mary Sue trait, btw, is that she's so humble and totally unaware of how wonderful and beloved she is.

and of course Aurora gets rescued- what does she have to do with anything? You're stating what *I* have said plenty of times and even wrote an article about. But people constantly hate on Aurora for being put under a spell yet ignore when the "cool" princesses need rescuing too. they act like Mulan is too good for a man's help and magically never needs rescuing ever, which is untrue.

Aang_lite, oh, I'm the only one who hates her. Audreyfreak is neutral about her. She's actually the most loved DP on here.

Guys Aang_lite is new here, so she just saw this poll and she normally assumed that people don't really like Mulan, so calm down, all the old users know that Mulan is loved in fanpop. Anyway, I agree with anyone who spoke in favor of Mulan and for those who said that it's unrealistic how she saved the whole China e.t.c., you need to remember that like fiina said, Mulan wouldn't have made it without Mushu and her other friends, her ideas were far too crazy. Also, I don't really see how she's a Mary sue, she still has the flaws that we see at the beginning of the movie, it's just that in the end we have no chance to see them again because of the circumstances. She is still lazy, awkward, a procrastinator and shy, but how do you expect to see those traits during a war? Then it was the chance for her good characteristics to shine. Also, she doesn't succeed in everything from the beginning, she FAILS many times before she manages to become a good soldier and I understand that it seems like a short time for someone like her to improve so much, but come on, it's a Disney movie, time passes fast. It's true that the fact that she won Shang, who is far more experienced and skilled than her is very weird and unrealistic, but I don't believe it's such an important thing, they just wanted to emphasize how much she improved from the beginning where she was completely useless.

What's more, I'd like to say something about the comment Mary made on how Mulan complains about her life, while all the other princesses had much worse lives. Excuse me, but do you complain only when your parents are dead or your step family abuses you e.t.c.? Mulan is an awkward teenager who wants SO MUCH to make her family proud and she ends up completely disappointing them. She humiliated herself, they told her she was a dishonor to her family and useless, pretty much she felt like a big failure. I understand that we should be grateful for what we have and appreciate the things that we take for granted, like our health, family e.t.c., but you have to be perfect to not feel sad about something like what happened to Mulan. Hell, I cry for way less important things in my life (actually all the teenagers do). You can't blame Mulan for feeling so sad after that disastrous day and it's not like she started crying or screaming "MY LIFE SUCKS I WANNA DIE!", she was just disappointed in herself.

Love her. I especially love how she isn't immediately perfect in everything, but has to overcome her own tendency to procrastinate and taking short-cuts. I love that he motivation is to make the people she loves proud instead of being all rebellious. And I love that she constantly fails when she tries to fulfil gender expectations and stereotypes, never mind if they are female or male ones, and only succeeds when she starts to use her own strengths.
I don't think that the one kick she landed on Shang necessarily meant that she had become that much better than him, just that she is now skilled enough to land a hit, too. Shang is still a great fighter in his own right.

^Well there's the whole scene where Shan Yu defeats Shang in about .5 seconds and then Mulan defeats Shan Yu in about .5 seconds sooooo