Mulan is one of the most underrated movies in Disney’s animated pantheon of films. It has epic fight sequences, one of Disney’s strongest protagonists but most importantly, the best song in the entire HISTORY of the house of mouse.
Disney has put out a plethora of great films with amazing soundtracks, specifically their ’90s animated films like The Lion King, Pocahontas and Aladdin but as for singular songs… Mulan‘s ‘I’ll Make A Man Out Of You’ is the best.
The song works on multiple levels, whether it’s as a storytelling device (they literally talk about their objective and where they’re coming from), as a montage song (it has a killer beat and bumpin’ lyrics) but literally both the Cantonese and English versions bang.
Think about ‘Eye Of The Tiger‘ from Rocky 3, it’s a great montage song right? It loosely tells a similar story to the characters but ‘I’ll Make A Man Out Of You’ is *exactly* what they’re doing and how they’re feeling. The song is a pristine piece of art.
And although most of us are used to Donny Osmond’s English rendition of the song, did you know that in all three Chinese dubs of the film, Jackie Chan played Li Shang and even appeared in the Cantonese music video for the track.
There are rumours that the 2020 live-action remake may try to tone down the songs and we’ve got one thing to say: “Let’s get down to business…”
