Oh. My. Goodness.
You know, when you think of Chan, you think of comedic action, kung fu and jujitsu, Rush Hour and Shanghai Knights, Snake in Eagle's Shadow, you compare him to other oriental action stars like Bruce Lee (I believe he was, at one time, being groomed to replace Bruce Lee, but Chan was more fond of having the combat being entertaining not just awe inspiring) and if you look out for his movies, you think of old school chinese films, or the blooper reels for his later movies like the Tuxedo, or instances where he's broken his leg or nose or arm, in the middle of shooting a movie because he does all his own stunts. One thing, however, that you are near guaranteed -not- to think of when Jackie Chan is mentioned is ....music.
My goodness. I really really really cannot like this hard enough. I am having a total fangirl squee moment over this clip. I adore Mulan in general (Mulan 2 is kinda bleh but hey, sequels usually are) and that is my favourite song out of the entire movie (though, it is a fairly close battle between that and 'A Girl Worth Fighting For') and encountering Jackie Chan who has a completely different fangirl squee spot in my heart SINGING it. Oh god. I am near about to explode. So. Awesome. :D
For those who are unfamiliar with -either- of the Mulan movies here is a quick (very quick and basic) synopsis of them both.
Mulan: The Hun are advancing on China, so the Emperor sends out conscriptions for one male member of every family to join the army and defend China. Mulan is an only daughter, her father has already fought in a war and has an injury from it. She isn't dealing so well with being the perfect porcaline doll that makes a good chinese bride to bring honour to her family, so... she leaves her comb behind, cuts her hair, steals her fathers armour and horse and joins the army! ...Because that is so much better. Along the way she meets up with Mushu, a teeny little lizard dragon that was 'sent' by the ancestors (Okay, he was supposed to wake up the stone dragon, but instead accidentally destroyed it and went off himself to try and help the girl). Mulan falls head over heels for the drill sergeant (and let's be honest here, he -is- pretty hunky) while worriedly trying to keep her secret from getting out.
They encounter the Huns and discover that this band of ill-trained attempted soldiers that weren't ever -meant- to see real battle, are all that remains of the Imperial Army. Uh-oh. Avalanch and Mulan and her horse save whatsisname, the sergeant. Unfortunately, she gets injured in the process, the doctor discovers that she has boobs, is horribly traumatised and tells the general. Sergeant. He spares her life when he should have executed her, because she saved his. Him and the army march back to the Imperial Palace to say 'whoo we won'.
Except they didn't. Mulan races off, after discovering there's a plot to kill the emperor and the Hun leader is still alive aaaaaaaah! But we are forgetting. She is a GIRL. A woman, and will never be worth anything (thank you Imperial scribe) so she is thusly ignored. Fight fight explosions and fireworks and she defends the emperor, saving his life with a stint of crossdressing by her trio of friends from the army and the hunky man-love (though, he doesn't cross dress, just uses his cape) and the Emperor bows to her which has everyone -else- drop down to grovelling of Oh Em Gee big honour. Her and Mr Hunky That I can't Remember The Name Of separate, she goes home, and then he comes to visit! Yay! And they supposedly get married and live happily ever after.
Yay for female empowerment in China without completely devaluing the Chinese value system!
Mulan 2: Blech. Alrighty, now that my opinion of it is out of the way, well, mostly, please be aware that I did not think very highly of this movie, so take this review/synopsis with a grain of salt.
It is x amount of years after the war, Mulan is a war hero and she's teaching kids how to defend themselves while she works in the yard, Mr Hunky is her fiance (it would seem) and visits regularly when his duties to the army and Emperor allow. He, and Mulan, get invited to guard/escourt the Emperors 3 daughters to some other kingdom for viewing to marry the eldest son there and thereby procure peace for the two kingdoms. Yay! It's fairly common occurance, royal females used as bargaining chips in treaties, so that was no real biggie on my opinion, there is a period during the travel that the three women meet up with Mulan's trio of friends and start to explore their own personalities outside of what was expected of them as princesses. ...This is where it starts to fall apart for me. Much as I'm all 'yay true love!' it is not exactly ...allowable... in the Chinese culture. You do your duty to your family, first and foremost, even when that duty is distasteful, it is even -more- important when your family is the Emperor! Suffice to say, each of the three princesses is a perfect match for each of the male soldiers, and they thusly run off to have babies, and Mulan accepts the responsibility to marry the prince (spoiled 12 year old brat that complains that she is OLD). Stuff happens and that marriage promise is annulled, as is the other treaty promises etc etc and it ends with a happy ever after.
And a complete betrayal of Chinese ethics. Ugh.
You know, when you think of Chan, you think of comedic action, kung fu and jujitsu, Rush Hour and Shanghai Knights, Snake in Eagle's Shadow, you compare him to other oriental action stars like Bruce Lee (I believe he was, at one time, being groomed to replace Bruce Lee, but Chan was more fond of having the combat being entertaining not just awe inspiring) and if you look out for his movies, you think of old school chinese films, or the blooper reels for his later movies like the Tuxedo, or instances where he's broken his leg or nose or arm, in the middle of shooting a movie because he does all his own stunts. One thing, however, that you are near guaranteed -not- to think of when Jackie Chan is mentioned is ....music.
My goodness. I really really really cannot like this hard enough. I am having a total fangirl squee moment over this clip. I adore Mulan in general (Mulan 2 is kinda bleh but hey, sequels usually are) and that is my favourite song out of the entire movie (though, it is a fairly close battle between that and 'A Girl Worth Fighting For') and encountering Jackie Chan who has a completely different fangirl squee spot in my heart SINGING it. Oh god. I am near about to explode. So. Awesome. :D
For those who are unfamiliar with -either- of the Mulan movies here is a quick (very quick and basic) synopsis of them both.
Mulan: The Hun are advancing on China, so the Emperor sends out conscriptions for one male member of every family to join the army and defend China. Mulan is an only daughter, her father has already fought in a war and has an injury from it. She isn't dealing so well with being the perfect porcaline doll that makes a good chinese bride to bring honour to her family, so... she leaves her comb behind, cuts her hair, steals her fathers armour and horse and joins the army! ...Because that is so much better. Along the way she meets up with Mushu, a teeny little lizard dragon that was 'sent' by the ancestors (Okay, he was supposed to wake up the stone dragon, but instead accidentally destroyed it and went off himself to try and help the girl). Mulan falls head over heels for the drill sergeant (and let's be honest here, he -is- pretty hunky) while worriedly trying to keep her secret from getting out.
They encounter the Huns and discover that this band of ill-trained attempted soldiers that weren't ever -meant- to see real battle, are all that remains of the Imperial Army. Uh-oh. Avalanch and Mulan and her horse save whatsisname, the sergeant. Unfortunately, she gets injured in the process, the doctor discovers that she has boobs, is horribly traumatised and tells the general. Sergeant. He spares her life when he should have executed her, because she saved his. Him and the army march back to the Imperial Palace to say 'whoo we won'.
Except they didn't. Mulan races off, after discovering there's a plot to kill the emperor and the Hun leader is still alive aaaaaaaah! But we are forgetting. She is a GIRL. A woman, and will never be worth anything (thank you Imperial scribe) so she is thusly ignored. Fight fight explosions and fireworks and she defends the emperor, saving his life with a stint of crossdressing by her trio of friends from the army and the hunky man-love (though, he doesn't cross dress, just uses his cape) and the Emperor bows to her which has everyone -else- drop down to grovelling of Oh Em Gee big honour. Her and Mr Hunky That I can't Remember The Name Of separate, she goes home, and then he comes to visit! Yay! And they supposedly get married and live happily ever after.
Yay for female empowerment in China without completely devaluing the Chinese value system!
Mulan 2: Blech. Alrighty, now that my opinion of it is out of the way, well, mostly, please be aware that I did not think very highly of this movie, so take this review/synopsis with a grain of salt.
It is x amount of years after the war, Mulan is a war hero and she's teaching kids how to defend themselves while she works in the yard, Mr Hunky is her fiance (it would seem) and visits regularly when his duties to the army and Emperor allow. He, and Mulan, get invited to guard/escourt the Emperors 3 daughters to some other kingdom for viewing to marry the eldest son there and thereby procure peace for the two kingdoms. Yay! It's fairly common occurance, royal females used as bargaining chips in treaties, so that was no real biggie on my opinion, there is a period during the travel that the three women meet up with Mulan's trio of friends and start to explore their own personalities outside of what was expected of them as princesses. ...This is where it starts to fall apart for me. Much as I'm all 'yay true love!' it is not exactly ...allowable... in the Chinese culture. You do your duty to your family, first and foremost, even when that duty is distasteful, it is even -more- important when your family is the Emperor! Suffice to say, each of the three princesses is a perfect match for each of the male soldiers, and they thusly run off to have babies, and Mulan accepts the responsibility to marry the prince (spoiled 12 year old brat that complains that she is OLD). Stuff happens and that marriage promise is annulled, as is the other treaty promises etc etc and it ends with a happy ever after.
And a complete betrayal of Chinese ethics. Ugh.
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