These days, when I listen to any Disney soundtrack, I tend to
\nget an urge to see the movie that it is part of. I reviewed
\nThe Jungle Book<\/i> a few months ago, and not long afterwards, I
\nended up buying the movie – which should make my friends at Walt
\nDisney very happy with me.<\/p>\n
In the case of
\nMulan<\/i>, the latest release, anyone who listens to the 12
\nsongs on this disc will want to go see the film. Undoubtedly the
\nprettiest soundtrack for a Disney movie in some time, the songs and
\nscore capture the essence of 10th Century China without losing any
\nlinks to modern day.<\/p>\n
The story of a young girl who dresses like a man to take the
\nplace of her father in a war with the Huns,
\nMulan<\/i> establishes a musical theme with the story quickly and
\neffectively. From the preparation of Mulan for an eventual
\nmatchmaking, “Honor To Us All” acts as both a starting point for
\nthe story and a history lesson about the culture of the time. But
\nMulan wants to break free from the boundaries of her culture and
\nsociety, as evidenced on “Reflection” (with vocals by Lea Salonga,
\nbest known as the singing voice of Jasmine in
\nAladdin<\/i>).<\/p>\n
The two songs focusing on Mulan’s time in the army have both the
\nstrongest moments and the weakest on the album. Donny Osmond puts
\nin an incredible performance on “I’ll Make A Man Out Of You,” a
\nsong that could easily be a hit down the road. “A Girl Worth
\nFighting For,” a song that could easily have been applied to any
\narmy longing for female companionship, is brought down a peg or two
\nwith the singing of Harvey Fierstein – if that’s what you can call
\nit. The gravelly-voiced actor just doesn’t fit in the traditional
\nmold of a vocalist for a Disney film, and his performances tend to
\ngrate on the ears.<\/p>\n
Another cultural lesson is learned on “A Girl Worth Fighting
\nFor,” where Mulan dares to suggest that men look for a woman with
\nintelligence and opinion, not just a good body who can cook.
\nUnfortunately, not much has changed since then – hey, wasn’t that
\nlong ago I was single, I know what it was like in the singles
\nbars.<\/p>\n
The biggest disappointment of
\nMulan<\/i> is that there aren’t more numbers with vocals; I could
\nhave easily listened to a whole album filled with songs like
\n“Reflection”. However, the score of Jerry Goldsmith is a more than
\nfitting substitute. Goldsmith, a veteran of film scores, works his
\nmagic on
\nMulan<\/i> – and makes a strong argument that such music could
\neasily be considered classical music.<\/p>\n
The film’s closing song, “True To Your Heart,” doesn’t seem to
\nfit the mood of the rest of the album with its r&b flavor, but
\n98\u00b0 and Stevie Wonder do create an entertaining track that is
\nsure to be a successful single. Likewise, relative newcomer
\nChristina Aguilera does a solid job on her single version of
\n“Reflection”.<\/p>\n
Prior to listening to this soundtrack, I honestly don’t think I
\nwould have been interested in seeing
\nMulan<\/i> in the theater; it’s been a very long time since I
\ntook myself to see a Disney movie. However, after hearing the
\nsoundtrack, I am very curious to see how the film interacts with
\nthe music, and will most likely be in line soon with my
\ntwo-year-old – that is, as long as she’s quiet during the film.<\/p>\n
\nMulan<\/i> is easily the best soundtrack Disney’s created since
\nThe Lion King<\/i>, and is a disc that will entertain the
\nlistener (as well as educate them if they’re careful). If this
\nalbum is any indication of how the film is, this could be another
\nmasterpiece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5993],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39061","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-original-motion-picture-soundtrack","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39061"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39061"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}