MULAN

JERRY GOLDSMITH

Rating:

Original Review: Mulan is quite probably the most disappointing soundtrack release of a Disney animated movie since the current Golden Age began with The Little Mermaid back in 1989. I must counterbalance this by also saying that Jerry Goldsmith's score is far and away the best animated score for many a year, but it's treatment on this CD is nothing short of disgraceful. It's a sign of Disney's increasing desperation that, after the comparative flops of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Hercules, they have dropped Alan Menken from scoring duties, who was for so long their golden boy, the winner of umpteen Oscars for both songs and score.

Jerry Goldsmith, scoring his first animated movie since The Secret of N.I.M.H way back in 1982, has successfully stepped into Menken's vacant shoes inside the magic kingdom and, in my opinion, has written one of his greatest scores this decade. Mulan overflows with vibrant, heroic battle sequences, emotionally charged drama and Oriental-styled ethnic melodies, and features an utterly incredible choral finale which I personally think ranks as one of his finest-ever compositions.

Mulan is the story of a strong-willed young Chinese girl (voiced by Ming-Na Wen) who disobeys the traditionalists, joins the Chinese army and defeats the invading Huns, all to save the honour of her father and her family. Along for the ride is a tiny dragon named Mushu (Eddie Murphy), with severe delusions of grandeur; a typically lantern-jawed hero, Captain Shang (B.D. Wong), who provides the love interest, and a gaggle of dysfunctional conscripts who prove their worth in battle. In the film, Goldsmith's score is its emotional heart, its passion, and its driving force. It accompanies the impressive animation and makes it come alive, endowing the awesome sight of the advancing Hun army with a sense of epic drama. In short, it's magnificent. On CD, though, it is a shadow of its former self.

Despite being butchered almost beyond recognition, it does give a passable representation of the majesty of Goldsmith's work, but is still forced to be deferential to a series of banal songs courtesy of Matthew Wilder and David Zippel, and a couple of pointless pop tracks included only for marketing purposes. The six cues amount to just about 30 minutes of a 60 minute score and, admittedly, do give a fairly decent introduction to the score. It is built around a powerful recurring seven-note motif for Mulan herself, and encompasses every musical style in the book, from huge orchestral set-pieces ('Mulan's Decision' and 'The Huns Attack'), to slightly more introspective pieces ('Blossoms', which reminds me of parts of The Ghost and the Darkness), laced with tragedy ('The Burnt-Out Village') and occasional humour (the latter half of 'Attack at the Wall').

Many of the cues are augmented by Goldsmith's trademarked unobtrusive electronics but, for the most part, this is a score for a full orchestra. The concert hall 'Suite from Mulan' provides an effective seven-minute summary of all the major themes, including the Mulan theme, a gentle rendition of the Reflections theme and a romantic melody reminiscent of his work on Star Trek First Contact or Lionheart. However, it is the music not present on the CD that is most unforgivable: the entire finale, including the fight between Captain Shang and the Hun leader Shan-Yu, and the incredible choral piece as Mulan is presented to the Emperor inside the Forbidden City, is inexplicably and disgustingly missing.

Wilder and Zippel's songs are, for the most part, awful and, with the exception of the quite lovely 'Reflections', which is a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination, scrape the bottom of the proverbial barrel. 'Honor To Us All' adheres to every Oriental musical cliché ever invented, as well as having stupidly anachronistic lyrics. 'I'll Make A Man Out Of You' is admittedly quite clever and catchy, but has the dubious honour of returning Donnie Osmond to Hollywood, while 'A Girl Worth Fighting For' tries and fails to emulate South Pacific and proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the gravel-voiced Harvey Fierstein should never be allowed to sing again. For some reason, the CD I have differs from many of ones I have seen reviewed on the Internet: there are two extra tracks included on mine - an instrumental version of 'Reflections' performed by famed violinist Vanessa-Mae, and the vibrant electronically enhanced cue 'Haircut', which underscores the scene where Mulan finally makes her decision to join the Army.

Personally, I feel very hard done by with this CD. If it wasn't for the sheer brilliance of Goldsmith's music, I would have ripped Mulan and Disney to shreds in this review. As it is, we will have to be thankful that the music, however abridged it may be, is out there for us all to enjoy. I have a feeling that Mulan will bring Jerry Goldsmith a second Oscar, for Best Musical or Comedy Score. Any accolade he received for this score will be well and truly deserved. Not so Disney, however, who need to be told a thing or two about how to put together a soundtrack release.

Track Listing: Running Time: 56 minutes 25 seconds

Walt Disney Records 606312 (1998)

Voice cast Lea Salonga, Donnie Osmond, Harvey Fierstein, James Hong, Jerry Tondo, Matthew Wilder, Beth Fowler and Marnie Nixon.

Original music score composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith. Original song score composed by Matthew Wilder. Lyrics by David Zippel. Songs conducted by Paul Bogaev. Orchestrations by Alexander Courage, Paul Buckmaster, Douglas Besterman and Matthew Wilder. Recorded and mixed by Bruce Botnick and Frank Wolf. Edited by Ken Hall. Mastered by Bruce Botnick. Album produced by Jerry Goldsmith and Matthew Wilder.


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