Disney History Lesson:Mulan

In honor of the Chinese Lunar New Year that happened last week (Februrary 19th) I decided to tell you guys about the wonders of Mulan. Let's go!                                  

Believe it or not Mulan was based on a Chinese poem called the Ballad of Mulan about a girl named Hua Mulan. The film is an incredibly accurate remake of the poem. For the English translation of the poem Click here. It is rumored that the poem is true and that Mulan was an actual person since the story has been told in China for over 2000 years. In the movie Mulan's surname is Fa instead of Hua but Wei and Zhu have also been used. Also some people in China spell Mulan's name in English as Fa Muhk Lhaan. The original story is said to date back to between 386-534 B.C.E. during the Northern Wei Dynasty but the movie takes place around 180-120 B.C.E. during the Western Han Dynasty during the invasion of the Huns. 

 Mulan was released on June 15th, 1998. It was the first Disney movie to be realsed on DVD in November 1999. It was also the first animated Disney movie to openly deal with warfare. The film was also almost rated PG because the word "cross-dresser" was used. It was the first time an animated Disney movie used that word. In all about 700 artists, animators and technicians worked on the film.

Mulan is depicted as being 16 years old. She is voiced by Ming-Na Wen for talking and Lea Salonga for singing. In the scene where Captain Shang asks Mulan what her name is she replies with "Ping" which makes her soldier name Fa Ping. This translates to "flowerpot" and is an inside joke indicating that she is not actually a man. Hua is the Mandarin version of Mulan's last name and Fa is the Cantonese version.

Li Shang is said to be 19 years old. He is voiced by BD Wong for talking and Donny Osmond for singing. Jackie Chan was Li Shang's martial arts model and later voiced him in the Cantonese and Mandarin editions of the movie.

It also should not go unsaid that Eddie Murphy was the voice of Mushu. He recorded the dialogue during his breaks from Holy Man (1998). Mushu was animated by director Tony Bancroft's twin brother Tom Bancroft.

I hope you enjoyed the history of Mulan join me next time as we uncover more Disney secrets!

Click here for the full list of cast and crew members.

Disney History Lesson: Beauty and the Beast

Since yesterday was Valentines Day I decided to uncover the mysteries of the greatest animated love story of all time, Beauty and the Beast.  

Beauty and the Beast was released on November 13th, 1991. It was the first animated movie to earn over 100 million dollars at the box office and the first animated film to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, unfortunately it lost to Silence of the Lambs. The movie was also declared a "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant film" in 2002 by the Library Congress and was therefore selected to be preserved in the National Film Registry. Walt Disney himself tried to create the film twice, once in the 1930's and once in the 1950's, but his writers felt the story was too difficult to adapt.

Beauty and the Beast takes place in France in the 1700's. Beauty and the Beast was originally a traditional French fairy tale that was widely known in varying forms throughout Europe. In 1756 it was finally written and published by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. It was called La Belle et la Bete which is French for Beauty and the Beast. Other versions that inspired the film were Zemire et Azor (Zemire was the name for "beauty" and Azor was the name for "beast") which was an operatic version of the tale that was written by Marmontel and composed by Grety in 1771. There was also a play called Amour pour Amour (meaning love for love) written by Nivelle de la Chaussee in 1742 which was based off of Gabrielle Suzanne Barbot de Villenueve's version which was more complex and detailed than Beaumont's more popular version. 

However the biggest influence on the animated film was the live-action French version of Beauty and the Beast, La Belle et la Bete, which was released in 1946. The idea of a rival love for Belle (Gaston who was called Avenant) who tried to kill Beast and ultimately ends up dying originated from this movie. The objects in Beast's castle coming to life was also derived from this movie.

Belle was voiced by Paige O'Hara. Belle is portrayed as being 17 years old. Belle's personality was based off of Katharine Hepburn's portrayal of Jo March in the 1933 movie Little Women. Belle's physical appearance was based off of Sherri Stoner who was also Ariel's reference model. Belle was also modeled after Vivian Leigh and Audrey Hepburn. In the movie, Belle is the only character in town who wears blue. Animators did this to represent Belle's uniqueness and to show how she is different from the towns people. And in the scene where Beast dies, Paige O'Hara was actually crying.

Beast was voiced by Robby Benson. Beast's name is actually Adam but this is never mentioned in the movie. We can infer from the prologue that Beast (or Adam) is in fact 21 years old because it says that "the rose will bloom until the prince is 21". We can also infer that Adam was 11 years old when he was turned into Beast because in the song "Be Our Guest" Lumiere sings "10 years we've been rusting..." Animators used a number of different animals for Beast's appearance. He has the mane of a lion, the beard and head of a buffalo, the brow of a gorilla, the tusks of a wild boar, the body of a bear, and the legs and tail of a wolf. Only his eyes remained human. 

A lot of celebrities were considered for different roles in this movie, Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel from The Little Mermaid was considered for Belle. Regis Philbin, who holds the Guinness World Record for most time spent in front of a television camera, was turned down for the voice of Adam (Beast). The character Cogsworth was written specifically for John Cleese, who is a renowned British actor, comedian, writer, and film producer, but he turned down the role. Patrick Stewart from Star Trek almost voiced Cogsworth but he had to turn down the part due to scheduling conflicts. Julie Andrews turned down the role for Mrs. Pots. Rupert Everette, the voice of Prince Charming in Shrek 2 was turned down for the role of Gaston because Disney Studios felt his voice was not arrogant enough. Jackie Chan provided both the talking and singing voice of Beast (Adam) in the Mandarin version of the film.

The dancing scene at the end of the movie is reused and recolored footage from the dancing scene in Sleeping Beauty. Also, the smoke used in the scene where Beast turns back to Prince Adam is actual smoke, it is not animated. 

For a full list of cast and crew click here

For the Beaumont version of the traditional story click here

  

Tale as old as time

song as old as rhyme

Beauty and the Beast