Disney’s Mulan debuted over 20 years ago, and it remains a beloved animated classic today. With a strong female lead, a smart-mouthed dragon, and gorgeous visuals, the film has a lot going for it. That being said, Mulan isn’t without its fair share of plot holes.
Before we get started, it’s worth acknowledging that yes, we are going to be nitpicky. This doesn’t, however, change how much we really do love the film.
In honor of Mulan’s lasting impact and its upcoming live-action counterpart, it’s time to turn back the time and step into China. Here are 10 things about Mulan that don’t make sense.
No One Realized Mulan Was Missing
Mulan’s parents learn that their daughter has joined the army after discovering she left her comb by the side of their bed. Though they know where she went, you have to wonder how they explained their daughter’s absence to everyone else in their town. Was no one without question?
Mulan isn’t just gone for a day or two. I’ts suggested that she has left for a significant amount of time, as can be seen during her long and hard “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” training montage.
Why Didn’t Zhou Join The Army To Be Dismissed?
Mulan’s father is old and frail, hence the reason Mulan joins the army in lieu of him. That being said, many critics of the film have wondered why the army would have even taken Zhou in the first place. It’s clear that Zhou walks with a limp due to a previous war injury, which means he wouldn’t have gotten far during training. Shang sent home men who were unable to keep up with the rest of the group, so why didn’t Zhou go to training just to be dismissed and sent home safe?
Perhaps as a former warrior, he wouldn’t have been put through the same type of initial training, but his required service is still questionable.
What Happened To The Great Stone Dragon?
Though Mushu was at once respected, he was later disgraced by the ancestors and given the job of waking them all up.
When Mulan’s ancestors learn that she is heading off to war, they decide to recruit the Great Stone Dragon to help her. Mushu is tasked with banging a gong near the dragon that is to awaken him from his slumber. Instead, he accidentally breaks the statue’s head off.
This has us wondering why the dragon never woke up in the first place. Did Mushu not try hard enough? Also, what is to become of the dragon now that Mushu has literally ripped off his head? Did Mushu murder a dragon? Are we expected to ignore that?
The Army Changes Sizes
If you’ve got a keen eye, you’ll realize that the size of the army is constantly changing. While it makes sense in that it would have been really expensive for Disney to animate a consistently large number of soldiers, it doesn’t make sense in that so many of the guys we saw earlier disappear as the film progresses.
The camp Mulan first enters is large, and during “I’ll Make A Man Out Of You,” we see clips showing multiple soldiers. However, when Shang’s crew battles the Huns on the mountain, there are not many people left. There are also very few soldiers who try to save the Emperor of China later at the festival. Are we to really believe they all just died along the way? Is there no one else in all of China capable of defending the Emperor?
Why Was Mulan Allowed To Sleep So Far Away?
Before Mulan’s wake-up scene begins, we can see that she has set up her tent far away from all the others. While we understand that she did this to keep her feminine wake-up routine away from the men who might discover her, we’re still wondering why this was ever allowed.
Mulan tries to keep away from the guys during the rest of the movie by doing activities (like bathing) alone when she can. You’d think someone would have noticed.
Shang Is Attracted To Mulan Before Learning She’s A Woman
Before Shang and Mulan become lovers, they are at first friends. It looks as though while she is still disguised as a man, however, that he seems to like her as more than a friend. Though this is never explicitly stated, the looks he gives her are pretty clear.
While contemporary audiences have theorized that Shang is bisexual, it is doubtful that the original creators of Mulan had this in mind. It is also unlikely Shang would have recognized this based on the early era in Chinese history that he exists in. Though not a gaping plot hole, the nature of the relationship between Shang and Mulan has us wondering.
How Was Mushu Never Discovered?
Though Mulan introduces Mushu to Shang at the end of the film’s inferior sequel, he is oblivious to Mulan’s little red dragon friend through the entirety of the first film. The fact that he, along with everyone else in the army, never saw him is hard to believe.
When Mulan first introduced herself to Shang as “Ping,” she goes through a list of other names first, at the advice of Mushu who is hiding in her shirt collar. If she can hear his voice, why can’t everyone else? Additionally, there are tons of other soldiers behind her. Why can’t they see Mushu? This is just one of the many times he should have been discovered.
How Can Ping Exist?
As we just mentioned, Mulan enters the army under the name of Ping. When Shang’s advisor Chi-Fu mentions that he didn’t know Fa Zhou had a son, Mulan says that he doesn’t talk about him much.
Perhaps people were documented a little differently during this period in China, but you would think that Chi-Fu or someone else in power would have realized that Ping isn’t a real person solely because there are no records on him. Literally no one had seen him before. Where did he come from?
How Did The Huns Survive The Avalanche?
Mulan is just as smart as she is tough. This is why, against the advice of her captain, she decides to blast the snow-covered tip of the mountain away and cover the hundreds of Huns in an avalanche.
Though Mulan and the rest of the army assume the Huns have died — as they should — a later scene reveals that many of the Huns are still alive. In the words of Mushu, they “popped out of the snow like daisies.”
The sky is much darker in this scene, suggesting that a significant amount of time has passed. Avalanche victims can’t survive more than around 18 minutes, though, so this emergence isn’t very realistic.
Why Didn’t Anyone Realize Mulan Was A Woman?
Yes, eventually the gang realizes that Mulan has been lying about her identity. But logically, this should have happened way earlier. The bathing scene provided lots of opportunities for the other soldiers to realize that Mulan is a woman. Are we all just going to sit around and believe the water was really that foggy?
What about the moment Mulan first enters camp and ramps up her masculinity in a way that makes it look fake and unbelievable? Were they all just going to let it slide? Apparently.
