To save her father from certain death in the army, a young woman secretly enlists in his place and becomes one of China's greatest heroines in the process.
This movie contains 38 potentially triggering events.
The main character's parents have abandoned compassion for her feelings, but they do care for her life. The father calls her an embarassment in public. Any fathers without sons will be drafted without immediate exemption (a father limps over to accept a conscription notice and the main character draws attention to it) which might be disturbing.
Sort of, even though I marked no. Mulan leaves her dog and chickens behind at home and may never see them again. There are many instances where you worry the sidekick animals may get separated.
Usually it's not directly her parents, but her mom watches as Mulan is treated roughly by other women during her makeover. Her clothes are ripped off, she's literally shoved into the bath, her hair is pulled tightly making her grimace, and this whole scene she is herded along (it could be anxiety over her being late for a life-changing event to be fair). Mushu is a terrible guardian who lies to put Mulan in danger when he realizes the conscripts won't need to fight because he's determined to make a war hero out of her. He also makes reckless choices that make things worse for her. Her parents waver between being critical and sticking up for her, so if it weren't for her abusive guardian I'd give it a soft no.
Mulan abuses her dragon (slaps, squeezes him, maybe sends him away on a firing cannon) who initially resists how he's treated, but ultimately forgives her. Mulan later admits that she cheated the system for her self-esteem instead of for her father (we later find out her father would have been exempted anyway, and the very fact that her father didn't leave to report despite being the obvious conscriptee was dangerous for everyone, Mulan was abusing her father for her self-esteem in my opinion). And despite everything turning out all right, Mulan put peoples' life at risk (her reckless sidekicks were a huge liability, and she takes battle plans into her own hands), but few grudges are held (I'm not saying we should hold grudges--I get that letting go of grudges can be freeing people, but since it's some people's trigger I'm putting it in). SPOILER the captain resists immediate full forgiveness and nearly kills her and can't even give her a real compliment (but she falls in love with him anyway), and the emperor embraces forgiveness immediately and makes other people kowtow.
Nobody is excitedly watching a woman be brutalized inside the storyline, but the premise of the movie is problematic as we watch Mulan get brutalized for our entertainment. I was babysitting some kids and the message they got was that if women weren't so lazy they'd be equal to men in battle, and that was super disturbing propaganda with real life implications someday. Mulan getting punched in the face, collapsing under weight, grabbed and pushed around, trying to balance on a cliff while having a bucket fall on her head while people threw stuff at her all for the sake of entertainment, dodging fireworks and then just trying harder and completely healing through a little determination, and outpacing all of her peers and then being able to tie a rope around a horse while falling off a cliff midair and lifting a man while being wounded was extreme and clearly for entertainment purposes. She only gets out of a SPOILER decapitation for her unexplainable superhuman abilities and given a job offer otherwise she'd be killed just for being a woman in her situation. She and her almost executioner who is sexist towards her and invades her tent when he finds out she's a woman--they fall in love!!! And the only compliment he can give her is, you fight great, she's clearly disappointed.
The dragon is slapped, he later (gets revenge on her?) plays a prank on her that nearly gets her beat up. He's also squeezed by Mulan (to force fire out) and trampled by an angry horse. He seems to be taking his anger out on the cricket and the horse after this incident. He isn't liked by Mulan's ancestors and then works to deceive them to prove he's worth something. The captain is bullied by the person over him, at one point he grabs him fiercely and says "listen you pompous windbag". Mulan is told to be quiet a lot and is publically humiliated, and she decides to do something about her compromised self-image. One day her parents wake up mortified that she put her and her father's life (he could be in trouble if it's revealed--so now he's needs to be under self-imposed house arrest) in danger. Remember--we later find out that people who are "unsuited for the rage of war" are sent home, so Mulan's so-called sacrifice is suspect. She also later admits to her sidekicks that she did this to prove her worth or something like that.
This is done for laughs, but Mushu does emotionally manipulate others. It's clear that he set off a cannon, but he points to Crickee and blames him. At another point everyone is sharing who they really are, Crickee speaks up and says he's not really lucky and Mushu gets upset even though he clearly made it seem like a safe thing to share. And although not gaslighting he's pretty manipulative towards Mulan to get her to do what he wants.
In the film a stone dragon is accidentally broken before it could be magically awoken (it is unclear if this means the dragon was killed). Mushu occasionally gets hurt (in slapstick fashion) but he does not die.
Snakes are mentioned but not seen. By virtue of being an Eastern dragon, Mushu has a long, snakelike body, but he still has limbs and the resemblance is not strong.
It's more like a punch to the face (they don't know she's a woman) but it's still very shocking as it is probably the strongest man in the army doing it. A lot of people get punched in the face during a comic scene. People seem to recover quickly. Mulan also slaps a man on the rear (she's told men like it).
Nope, but in the ballad the emperor wants Mulan as his concubine with no choice to opt out, the movie changed it to offering her a job--but the emperor seems to not mind the embrace as perhaps a nod to that.
No, but when it's discovered Mulan is a woman SPOILER her captain invades her tent to investigate, and Mulan grabs a blanket to cover up. The wrappings go over her chest (this was done by a man as she was unconscious) but it's treated as if her captain witnessed her topless and he looks away as she says she can explain.
In addition to lots of war related violence and a brawl among the men, a horse tramples a dragon, and there's a threat of it as a character tells the lady (in disguise as a man) "I'm going to beat you so bad your ancestors will be dizzy". It appears he's going to be a bully, but the behavior doesn't last very long. The matchmaker acts fairly menacing and judgy at first and eventually yells. I seem to remember her throwing something, but not directly at Mulan.
Sort of. Mulan is told that she needs to slap a man's behind because he'll like it and she does. There's also the scenes where Mulan is going to blow her cover and you worry that the captain might be grabbing her shirt to look down it, and the part where she's bathing naked and the men are coming in awfully close like they suspect. I get that most of these are a stretch, but it's super awkward when SPOILER the captain is told Mulan is a woman and he invades her privacy to check. Also in the ballad this is based off of, Mulan is eventually forced to be a concubine for the emperor and it's very distressing for her. In this movie's sequel(s?) there are arranged marriages which echo this plotline.
Someone was decapitated and is now a ghost (we see him holding his head). There are also close calls: we see a helmet of a fallen soldier (it's empty), a head is pulled up out of the snow (still attached to the body), and a firework comes for someone's face (we never see what happens to the victim). SPOILER Mulan is nearly executed by decapitation, and the emperor too.
When Mushu pretends to be the Great Stone Dragon, he falls and a large piece of stone squishes him flat cartoonishly; he shoves it off and emerges fine though. Mushu is squashed again when he first reveals himself to Mulan. The spirit of one of Mulan's ancestors holds and throws around his own decapitated head.
Not genitals, but rears get hurt (due to falls, slapping, a fire, and a dragon bite). Mulan's breasts appear to be damaged as they are wrapped up and not just her gut, but we don't see how.
When Mulan first arrives at the military camp, a fight starts and someone's teeth get punched out. Right after the leaders in a tent leave the tent, someone with missing teeth walks up to them, and a few moments later in that same scene another person with missing teeth is shown. During I'll Make a Man Out of You, someone face smashes a wooden plank and loses multiple teeth.
When Mulan makes a homemade zipline she crashes on the stairs (or at least onto people). People also fall down a pole, and off a cliff (they are rescued).
No one you really will get attached to, and almost always off-screen. But the death of a father and the near death of the emperor are treated as tense/sad scenes.
Near the end, a villain thought to be dead, appears. His hand suddenly sticks out of the snow. Intense music is played, this might jumpscare some viewers.
When Mulan first arrives at the military camp, she sees someone punch a tattooed man in the stomach, and then someone spits. After the Captain asks Mulan what her name is, she tells him and then spits out a big glob of spit. After Mushu and the cricket forge a letter, Mulan's horse spits water at Mushu.
Not trans, but there is some anger against cross-dressing. A ghost starts a fight by saying it's your fault, your ancestor was a cross-dresser. A character frustratingly calls the main girl a "little miss drag queen" who wants to take her "show on the road".
The emperor says Mulan has destroyed his palace. A sacred statue is broken. A settlement has been burned, a camp is knocked down and dishes are heard breaking. A cannon is wasted and people are afraid for the rest of the cannons and try to save them.
No but some close calls. A character was sliced across the abdomen, we only see evidence of bandages, not stitches (although I'm pretty sure stitches took place). There's also a man showing off his tattoo across his abdomen, but I don't recall someone doing the process on screen. And finally there's arrows shot--one to assassinate a messenger.
Mulan was shown in the hospital tent (or medical care) when Li Shang finds out that she's a girl after wounded by Shan Yu. But I don't think there's a hospital. It's just tent.
Yes, grandma covers her eyes and walks into the street with carts crossing as fast as cars to test her luck. This is done for laughs for the audience (but is very scary for some characters involved) and not out of hate for oneself or a desire to intentionally harm oneself, but children may get the wrong idea. Same thing goes for Mulan, not intentionally desiring to harm herself but her mother does say, "she could be killed". People also leap out of a tower out of fear.
There's typing in one scene, nobody experiencing misophonia, but someone with the condition may get triggered. If it helps to know, the scene is accompanied by funny dialogue (and the typing is done by the cricket hopping around in the ink and jumping back and forth)--this may prove distracting enough to avert one's attention from the typing.
Mulan has to pass as a man to be able to join the army. There are a few tense and comedic moments to show how she doesn't know the rules of being a man. The most noticeable moments are the lake scene where she tries to bathe alone, but is later on joined by her colleagues where she has to stay underwater to hide her body. Later on, it's in the medical tent where she is exposed. I wouldn't really call it body dysphoria, but understand it might be read as such.
We see a soldier underwater blowing bubbles, he was accidently pulled under by his foot; nobody comes to his rescue but he survives. The scene is done for laughs.
After the snow avalanche, it's quiet for a while but then there's a closeup of the snow and a hand suddenly emerges while a loud noise accompanies the shot.
People scream a little when they realize Huns are in the city, although it may be more of a gasp. Other "screams" in the movie, like those done by the villian are more of a yell of anguish. Although there is a man who says "I do not squeal like a girl" and then does just that. Grandma wakes up suddenly in shock. I put yes because all of these are close enough--but no top of the lungs scream of horror.
Closest is a moment or two where characters mistakenly stick chopsticks into rice which is a taboo gesture in Chinese culture, although it’s very likely an accident
Chi-Zu was Watched by Mushu and Cricket without his Knowlegde, before Mushu played a Soldier with Delivery letter.
Also Shang was watched by Mulan without his knowlegde.
Both of these cases are not stalkerish.
Mulan is called a "cross-dresser", and her disguise is called "her little drag show". I guess these are not slurs, but they aren't meant to be positive descriptions, either.
Near the end of the movie, three soldiers accompany Mulan and put on a women's disguise to infiltrate the palace. This is partially played for laughs. However, the belts on their dresses are used to climb the palace in a resourceful manner so it's not entirely just for laughs.
While most of the men are typically misogynistic for the time period, one male character in particular is very bitter and nasty toward women every chance he gets. He straight up claims women are worthless, and makes excuses to defy his emperor's order to install a woman on the council.
Discouragement from being sympathetic. In addition to the song about being a man ("tranquil as a forest"), characters are criticised for not being tough enough. A man says "I do not squeal like a girl" and then does just that when a panda eats his slipper. People are sad and mopey in the city when SPOILER Mulan is left behind. They were also told not to get upset or interfere when she was about to be executed. I can't remember if the captain said they should be happy or not, but he stays mad when the other characters are clearly depressed. When Mulan shows up he discourages them from being sympathetic. So I put yes because this was close enough to crying to be problematic, they weren't allowed to have these feelings for Mulan's life-even though the one scene where a man sobs about possible death he could have prevented wasn't made fun of.
For the most part no, but it is borderline. Mulan starts a romantic relationship with one of the men who was sexist against her and only avoided killing her due to a debt, invaded her privacy when he found out her gender to check for herself (she tries to cover up), and had trouble complimenting her.
Umm, I don't think there are cars honking or tires screeching existing in the movie which takes place in ancient China. (Unless if you count tires screeching sound effects. I heard 2 guys make tires screeching sounds before knock the line of soldiers. This is not very triggering!
Rickshaws and livestock-drawn carts are used as stand ins for vehicular traffic on a busy road, and these get into a pileup crash as a pedestrian intentionally wanders across the road.