Mushu

articleissues
unreferenced=August 2007
plot=August 2007
in-universe=September 2008DisneyChar
name = Mushu


caption =
first appearance = "Mulan" (1998)
Sidekick = Cri-kee (Mulan's lucky Cricket)
created by = Robert D. San Souci
voiced by = Eddie Murphy ("Mulan")
Mark Moseley ("Mulan II", "Kingdom Hearts" series)

Mushu is a fictional dragon from the Disney animated film, "Mulan" and its sequel "Mulan II". He is Fa Mulan's best friend.

He is voiced by Eddie Murphy in his first appearance and Mark Moseley afterwards. Mushu also appears in the popular game series "Kingdom Hearts", and in the "Drawn to Animation" attraction at the Disney's California Adventure theme park and Disney's Hollywood Studios. Mushu is a meetable character at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as well.

Conception and creation

Personality

What this extremely small dragon wants more than anything is to be one of the family guardians again. But in the meantime he's happy to help Mulan get in and out of trouble whenever he can, even though he's the one who starts it with the help of his big mouth. He can also be selfish at times, but his heroism proves in the end that little dragons can have mighty big hearts. At the beginning of the first movie, when called a lizard by Mulan, Mushu arrogantly protests, saying "I don't do that tongue thing," and attempts to breathe fire. At first he only manages to spit sparks, but later on is able to disable Shan Yu's falcon by incinerating its feathers with a massive fireball ("Now that's what I call Mongolian barbecue").

Even though he has shown fear to danger or death, Mushu is apparently immortal, being able to survive numerous stomps from Khan, falls, accidents, explosions and even an avalanche in the first movie. He also seems to be able to understand other animals as though they are speaking in normal language, as seen when he converses with Cri-kee (Mushu's cricket sidekick). He was able to tame Shan Yu's falcon and ride it along the palace (after he "barbecued" it, giving it the appearance of a chicken deprived of its feathers), and at one point when he wanted to disguise a soldier riding a horse, when Mulan's horse didn't accept it, he rode a panda bear, which then climbed into a tree.

Appearances

"Mulan"

Mushu was once a guardian spirit of Mulan's family, but he has been demoted to the humiliating position of an incense burner and gong-ringer ever since he failed to protect the last family member (Fa Deng) that went to war (which led to the poor guy's demise by decapitation, and for some reason, the head of his ghost form is still disconnected from his main body). When Mulan runs away from home to join the army, her ancestors send Mushu to awaken the Great Stone Dragon to bring her home. When he accidentally destroys the dragon instead, Mushu goes himself to help Mulan fight the Huns and bring honor to her family. Although he tries to support and assist Mulan during training (seemingly seeing her as a daughter and calling her "my little baby"), most of his attempts cause more problems for Mulan than actual help. When Mulan is in danger of having her status as a woman discovered when she's bathing, Mushu bites the rear of a soldier that's a bit too close, causing the other soldiers swimming with Mulan to run out of the water, thinking it is a snake attack. During the battle with the Huns, Mushu accidentally sets off most of the firework rockets in Mulan's cart, giving away their position. Mulan, however, takes advantage of his limited fire-breathing abilities to light another rocket to set off a massive avalanche, drowning most of the Hun army. During the avalanche, Mushu rides a shield like a sled and tries to find Mulan. After Mulan is discovered, Mushu confesses to her that he was never supposed to go with her, and instead tried to help her so that he would selfishly be promoted to his original status. He makes her feel better, assuring her that while both of them messed up, at least she had good intentions (trying to keep her father safe). He also promises her that the two of them will return home together and look out for each other. When they see several Huns (including Shan Yu), he agrees to go to the capital with her to help warn the emperor. Mushu uses his fire to roast Shan Yu's attack hawk and ties himself to a giant firework rocket, which he launchs at Shan Yu. The attack kills Shan Yu and saves China.

"Mulan II"

In the sequel, when Mulan prepares to marry Li Shang, Mushu is at first overjoyed to the point of tears, going as far as planning the wedding himself. However, things change once the ancestors tell him that if Mulan marries Shang, his family's guardians will take over for Mulan, thus making Mushu a homeless dragon. Desperate to keep his job, he continuously tries to break the two apart to keep his position, but after several attempts at first, it only brings Mulan and Shang closer. Eventually Mushu even does a puppet show to make it look like Mulan is gossiping about him with the 3 princesses, Shang thinks that it is the real Mulan and gets angry at her. Later on, after their cart crashes off a cliff, tension starts to arise between the two fiances. Eventually, Mulan and Shang are finally driven apart and will not even speak to each other. As much as he tries to cheer Mulan up, she stays depressed. Mushu begins to feel a little guilty because of this, but once Mulan tells him that he's her most trusted friend, he loses control and admits that everything that had caused Mulan and Shang to hate each other was because of him. Mulan is furious at Mushu's mean actions and scolds him, but she quickly halts this to tell Shang what happened. Before this can be done, bandits ambush the group. To prevent them from following the thieves cut the bridge with Mulan and Shang on it. Shang, in order to save Mulan lets go and falls into the chasm, presumably dead. Now Mushu regrets everything he'd done, for it's left Mulan into mourning, and went to be married to let the princesses be with Yao, Ling and Chien Po. Mushu tries to stop her, but to no avail despite her misery. Although Shang, who survived the fall, interferes with the ritual, Mushu ultimately saves the day by pretending to be the great Golden Dragon of unity. Mulan and Shang are married, leaving Mushu having to leave. As the ancestors tease him, Shang unites his and Mulan's ancestors, thus allowing Mushu to be a guardian again. Mushu dances around and accidentally reveals himself to Shang, to whom Mulan told all about the red dragon. Shang thanks Mushu, and the dragon smugly starts to order the ancestors to resume their responsibilities to him and the film ends.

"Kingdom Hearts" series

In the first "Kingdom Hearts", Mushu became a summon gem after his home world was destroyed by the Heartless. His primary attack - Fire Breath - aided Sora and his friends in their battles. He returns to his world after the door to Kingdom Hearts is sealed.

In "Kingdom Hearts II", he is helping Ping (Mulan) get in to the Imperial Army. When Sora, Donald and Goofy show up, they quickly reminisce about their past adventures, and after telling them he was a family guardian, Sora and the others agreed to help out Ping as payback for borrowing Mushu in the first game. In a later scene, he accidentally reveals that Ping is a woman and she is discharged from the army. In the end, peace was restored to their world and he went back to being a guardian, but not after receiving a quick scolding from Sora. When Sora and Mulan use their Limit, Mushu helps by spurting fireballs.

Reception

References