This is a movie I'm really not looking forward to watching. I don't mind watching sequels because I used to love them so much when I was a kid but Mulan is one of my all-time favorite movies ever and this sequel is like on a Maleficent level of ruining original characters.

Tonight's rewatch: Mulan 2
Last time watched: 2005-2006

How much did I like this movie as a kid?
I saw the commercial for this movie when I was 11 and I was excited because, again, Mulan is one of my all-time favorite movies. I didn't actually watch the movie until I was 13 or 14 because I was starting middle school when this movie came out and that's the time where you're told that people will make fun of you for watching Disney movies and that they're for babies. I finally bit the bullet and watched this movie and...okay at first I did sorta like it. I didn't love it but I didn't actually hate it yet. But then watching it one or two more times I didn't like it at all. I bought Mulan on blu-ray a few years ago and I absolutely hate the fact that the sequel came with it. I guess it wasn't a good enough movie to sell on its own.

How much of this movie have I forgotten:
The animation is so bad. Like, I know that's a thing for sequels but all I did was watch two seconds of the opening and that was enough for me. Like, okay the characters don't look that bad but the backgrounds and the clouds don't look as beautiful as the original

I know I've brought up before about the characters being ooc but I forgot how ooc they were. Like the ancestors acting like they have to serve Mushu just because he's a guardian again. And I still don't understand how just because Mulan is getting married Mushu can't be a guardian anymore. I know he was being a jerk after becoming a guardian but it's not as bad as him causing the last person he watched over to be executed.

I like the song Lesson Number 1 but I'm wondering when she could have learned about balance when she was training to be swift as a coursing river with all the force of a great typhoon with all the strength of a raging fire
mysterious as the dark side of the moon. The song didn't seem to have a point like the songs in the original did. At least the other two songs in the sequel had some point.

I'm never going to forgive this sequel for how Mushu was portrayed. Yes, he had a selfish motive in the original but when it looked like they were going to go home in dishonor they were going to be in it together. In this one he decides to break Mulan's heart just so he can keep his guardianship. He even almost killed Shang a few times by having a bear chase him and causing a mini explosion when Shang was cooking.

And I know I'm watching a movie about Mulan but...I didn't feel like I was looking at Mulan at all. Her personality felt off. The same with the other characters. Yao, Ling, and Chien Po didn't make me laugh as much as the original, especially Ling. He was trying way too hard to be funny and he was obsessed with telling jokes which is something he didn't do in the original. They were the funny sidekicks in the original but they didn't try so hard, it came naturally.

As nice as it is that we get to see Mulan and Shang together more but, again, it felt so off. I felt like I was watching a cookie cutter couple instead of familiar characters. And then they randomly got into a fight about the map and asking directions and stuff. I know they were bound to be frustrated but after going through an entire montage of them being happy together without an issue and then a random fight over maps? And then him actually falling for the lame set up Mushu did where it looked like Mulan was gossiping about him? That is something I'd see in a cartoon show for kids, not a Mulan movie. At least in the original when Mushu was playing soldier to give Chi Fu the fake message it was actually funny.

I at least like the princesses, I think Ting Ting is my favorite of the three. The only scene they were in together that I lost interest in was their musical number because it felt so out of nowhere.

I think the only time things were actually interesting for me was when they were in bandit country and Shang sacrificed himself. That was the closest thing to being a Mulan movie this movie got. It had the right amount of seriousness and it was emotional. I remember I actually thought he was dead for a minute when I watched this movie the first time until I remembered the commercial spoiling Mulan and Shang's reunion later in the movie.

I keep forgetting that the reason for this alliance is because there is a threat for another war and even watching this now I still forgot about it because it's never brought up again.

And I still don't understand how combining the family temples allows Mushu to still be a guardian. I wish there was a real explaination for for it instead of just saying "Mushu keeps his job."

Movie:
I was bored the whole time I watched this movie. At least with Pocahontas 2 and Cinderella 2 I had a few laughs in but in this one I just felt...meh. It felt like I was watching this movie for homework instead of entertainment.

Rating: -5/10 (yes, I know it's a scale of 1-10 but I don't care. I hate this movie that much)

How much has my opinion changed?
Not at all.

Would I watch it again?
NO

Next movie will be Beauty and the Beast!