Trivia for
Mulan (1998) More at IMDb Pro »

• When Mulan sings "Reflection" in her father's shrine, her reflection appears in the polished surface of the temple stones. The writing on the temple stones is the names of the Disney animators who worked on the film written in ancient Chinese.
  
  
• The scene where Mulan disarms Shan-Yu with a fan shows an actual martial art technique.
  
  
• This was the first full length movie animated only at the Florida animation studio.
  
  

• Likenesses of the directors Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook appear as the firework attendants frightened by Mushu in the climax.
  
  
• In the scene where Mushu awakens the ancestors, one set of grandparents worry that Mulan's quest will ensure her family loses their farm. This couple appear to be the couple on the farm in Grant Wood's famous painting 'American Gothic'.
  
  
• HIDDEN MICKEY: The spots on Shang's horse's neck and rump are shaped like Mickey Mouse. There are also other hidden Mickeys in the film.
  
  
• 'Bruce Willis (I)' (Shang's martial arts model) was originally casted as Li Shang.
  
  
• One of the beauty parlor ladies preparing Mulan for the matchmaker was drawn in the likeness of Rita Hsiao.
  
  
• Jackie Chan voices Shang in the Chinese release.
  
  
• The only Disney score from Jerry Goldsmith. It was also his last Academy Award nomination.
  
  
• The scene where Mulan finds a child's doll in the burnt-out Chinese village is a tribute to Hayao Miyazaki's Kaze no tani no Naushika (1984), in which an explorer/warrior finds the same doll in an abandoned village.
  
  
• The family names called out when the conscription notices are being handed out (with the exception of the Fa family) are actually family names of Rita Hsiao''s childhood friends.
  
  
• "Fa" is the Cantonese pronunciation of Mulan's family name. "Hua" is the correct Mandarin pronunciation, and means "flower". "Hua Pin" (Mulan's fake name) means "flower vase" or just "vase".
  
  
• In one of the original versions of the film, Mulan was engaged to Li Shang and matching Yin-Yang necklaces were bestowed upon them. Although that part was removed, the Yin-Yang necklaces survive in the sequel (Mulan II (2004) (V)) as wedding gifts to them after Shang's proposition.
  
  
• According to Robert D. San Souci, who retold and researched the original story, Disney didn't like the idea of putting in a dragon as a companion for Mulan; they feared it would be too big and menacing. San Souci explained to them that in Chinese lore, dragons can be any size, so a small dragon was approved. Thus, Mushu was born. This change is acknowledged when Mulan calls him "tiny" and Mushu replies, "Of course! I'm travel size for you convenience! If I was my REAL size your cow (Khan) here would die of fright!"
  
  
• The English translation of the Chinese characters on the rocket Mushu has strapped to his back is "The Big Bamboo", a place in Kissimee, Florida where the Mulan crew liked to hang out.
  
  
• The voice for the old "American Gothic" ancestor, (his only line: "Not to mention, they'll lose the farm!") was provided by an uncredited Barry Cook, one of the film's directors.
  
  
• Chi Fu's name literally means, in Chinese, "to bully".
  
  
• The movie's artistic supervisors spent three weeks in China sketching, photographing, and soaking up the culture. Computer animators used the latest technology to add detail and mimic camera techniques that were previously unavailable in animation, like crowd scenes of up to 30,000 people. They used a computer program called "Atilla" to make the sequence featuring 2,000 Huns on horseback.
  
  
• In the original Chinese legend upon which this film was based, Mulan succeeds in her deception, and leaves the battlefield with great honors. Months later, Mulan's fellow soldiers come in search of their "brother"-in-arms, and are shocked to discover that she's a woman.
  
  
• Eddie Murphy recorded his dialog, during the breaks of _"Holy Man"(1998)_ .
  
  
• Tony/Olivier Award Winning actress Lea Salonga originally auditioned for Mulan's voice but was deemed 'not deep enough' for when Mulan is impersonating a male soldier. Instead, Lea provided Mulan's vocals in the film.
  
  

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