This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:06] Jesse McAnally: Hello, I'm Jesse McAnally.

[0:08] Andrew DeWolf: And I'm Andrew DeWolf.

[0:10] Jesse McAnally: And I'm Liz Eston. And welcome to Musicals with Cheese, a podcast where I try to get Andrew and Liz to like musical theater.

[0:15] Jesse McAnally: I've got a bit of a dilemma, guys. I need some advice.

[0:23] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, I mean I can do my best.

[0:25] Jesse McAnally: Uh, I don't know. So you know that the Michigan Emperor has declared war on Ohio, and they're calling at least one woman from each house to represent themselves in the Midwest wars.

[0:37] Liz Eston: Oh, that's a pretty tough spot to be.

[0:39] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, your mom could just go, right?

[0:40] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, whatever your mom. She took the scroll, but then I saw her like rehearsing for war and she fell down. And I'm just like, no, that ain't gonna work.

[0:50] Liz Eston: Oh, that's a bad sign right there.

[0:52] Jesse McAnally: That isn't a good sign. What are you thinking of doing?

[0:54] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[0:54] Jesse McAnally: Uh, dressing in drag and pretending to be my mother's daughter and joining the war on.

[1:00] Liz Eston: Aren't you gonna disrespect your family doing that?

[1:03] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, that is against the channel. For a man to fight in a Michigan war is against the law as far as I'm aware. Only women fight in the Michigan Wars.

[1:12] Jesse McAnally: Yes. Um, truly, I don't know what I'm doing, but thank god I've got Eddie Murphy with me.

[1:20] Andrew DeWolf: Do you have white Eddie Murphy or actual Eddie Murphy?

[1:23] Jesse McAnally: I've got actual Eddie Murphy.

[1:24] Andrew DeWolf: You know what? I got white Eddie Murphy from Mulan 2.

[1:26] Jesse McAnally: Oh no.

[1:27] Andrew DeWolf: That's what I'm talking about. Hey, how you doing up there, man?

[1:31] Jesse McAnally: Thanks for the intro. I don't think I'm gonna figure this out.

[1:34] Andrew DeWolf: It's over for you.

[1:35] Jesse McAnally: It's over, you white Eddie Murphy.

[1:37] Andrew DeWolf: You're screwed. It's Jover.

[1:39] Jesse McAnally: In case you haven't picked up, we're throwing down just for no reason whatsoever. We were originally gonna cover Wish, but then we're like, why don't we watch something good? This week we are talking about Disney's feature animation Mulan.

[1:53] Jesse McAnally: Cue the music.

[1:54] ♪ Musical number: "Reflection" — performed by Lea Salonga ♪

[3:06] Jesse McAnally: Mulan is an animated film written by Rita Hsiao, Chris Sanders, Philip LaZebnik, Raymond Singer, Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, and with music and lyrics by Matthew Wilder and David Zippel.

[3:23] Jesse McAnally: Mulan premiered at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on June 5th, 1998, and was released in the United States on June 19th. The film was well received by critics and the public who praised the animation, plot, characters, and musical score, grossing over $304 million worldwide.

[3:40] Jesse McAnally: The plot of Mulan is a tomboyish girl disguises herself as a young man so she can fight with the Imperial Chinese army against the invading Huns. With help from the wisecracking dragon Mushu, Mulan might just save her family and her country and win the heart of the handsome Captain Li Shang.

[3:59] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, Mulan's great, right? Like, are we all in agreement here?

[4:03] Liz Eston: Yeah.

[4:03] Andrew DeWolf: I'm gonna say Mulan holds up really well. It really holds up well.

[4:07] Jesse McAnally: I'm not gonna be that guy. I think it's probably my favorite of the Disney Renaissance and the last really great one of their release. Out of all of them, it feels like the most complete and doesn't have like the weird hunchback, doesn't have the thing that really kind of ruins the movie.

[4:24] Andrew DeWolf: It feels like a complete whole, and they finally figured out the animation where I do not see a single flaw in the animation whatsoever.

[4:31] Jesse McAnally: I wanna say the only flaw I can find with it is there's no good villain song.

[4:36] Liz Eston: Yes, and I also think this is kind of the standard which they followed through the Frozens and Tangled. Instead of having a really compelling villain, we have a really compelling lead that we follow, and she's quirky and she has all the things that you'd want in a lead character, which I think might be the kind of template that they followed all the way up to Wish.

[4:58] Andrew DeWolf: For better.

[4:59] Liz Eston: It's fine. I actually like the villain too in this. Like he's just a very threatening presence, but not much else, which is fine for the story they're telling.

[5:08] Jesse McAnally: Um, though it definitely sucks losing the villain song, and it kind of sucks that this is the trend they continue to follow and they never bring back the villain, really.

[5:21] Andrew DeWolf: I get that, which is a fair complaint. However, this also brings some top-tier songs that are not quite of the vein of other Disney films. Like, there's no kind of montage Rocky style song in any other Disney film that even competes in the same territory as "Make a Man Out of You."

[5:39] Liz Eston: Honestly, the whole soundtrack to this is really good. Um, including, and this is rare, including the pop song that they release on the soundtrack as well.

[5:49] Andrew DeWolf: Yes.

[5:50] Liz Eston: Which you and I have been obsessed with for years.

[5:53] Andrew DeWolf: I love that song.

[5:54] Jesse McAnally: Shredi.

[5:55] Liz Eston: Usually, yes.

[5:56] Andrew DeWolf: Okay, just checking. Usually Disney puts out a pop song on their soundtrack, and it sucks.

[6:02] Jesse McAnally: It just fucking blows. Um, that one they put on Moana, I particularly dislike.

[6:08] Andrew DeWolf: Which one was that?

[6:10] Jesse McAnally: I think they do like a pop cover of "You're Welcome" or "How Far I'll Go."

[6:14] Andrew DeWolf: There's, I think it was "You're Welcome."

[6:16] Jesse McAnally: It was "You're Welcome" and "How Far I'll Go," I think.

[6:18] Andrew DeWolf: It was both, yeah. Alessia Cara did "How Far I'll Go." Jordan Fisher and Lin-Manuel Miranda did "You're Welcome."

[6:26] Andrew DeWolf: Just an ordinary Disney guy.

[6:29] Jesse McAnally: Okay, to the tide, the sun in the skies.

[6:36] Andrew DeWolf: It's okay, it's okay.

[6:40] Jesse McAnally: Just an ordinary Disney guy.

[6:42] Andrew DeWolf: Honestly, I could go on and on. I could explain every natural phenomenon.

[6:46] Jesse McAnally: The tad, the grass, the ground.

[6:47] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, that was me, I was messing around.

[6:49] Jesse McAnally: Even worse than like the Moana and other ones, you've got like the 90s radio pop version of "Beauty and the Beast" or "A Whole New World," and they're just so boring and so horrendous.

[7:01] Andrew DeWolf: Oh my god, that "A Whole New World." It's like they do a contemporary version of it, right? Where they just have like the symbol like "A Whole New World," and that's the only difference.

[7:21] Liz Eston: I can show you the world.

[7:26] Andrew DeWolf: Shine and shimmer.

[7:29] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, and it's just, oh my fucking, yeah, those ones suck. Those ones are truly awful.

[7:34] Andrew DeWolf: So it's incredible that they managed to make an absolute fucking banger and put this out. Also, Szechuan sauce. I mean, come on, the McDonald's Szechuan sauce. We have to talk about that, right? Everyone, Szechuan.

[7:46] Liz Eston: Is this still relevant? Do people care?

[7:48] Andrew DeWolf: I don't know. Is the "I turned myself into a pickle, Morty"?

[7:54] Jesse McAnally: I even worked at Wisecrack, who's obsessed with Rick and Morty, and I still don't care. Um, let me talk about the reasons why I think this movie works. Um, these composers, um, David Zippel, who did the lyrics for Hercules, and that was his only previous credit, really.

[8:11] Jesse McAnally: Um, as well as Matthew Wilder, who also does the voice of the tall, lanky funny character. Uh, that guy.

[8:21] Andrew DeWolf: Yes, everyone. Those characters. I love they really haven't done much since then. This is kind of their peak. Like, they did a couple, like the only thing they're credited on, especially this guy, Matthew Wilder, aside from Mulan, is Disney Mania in concert and Ashley Tisdale's "Kiss the Girl" as like producers and arrangers.

[8:44] Jesse McAnally: You gotta give him credit. They made a fuck ton of money making Mulan and they're done. You know, I'm retiring. I'm gonna live in my apartment for free. This money's in my savings account, and I'm gonna live off the interest.

[8:56] Andrew DeWolf: But the funny thing is, they were not the original composers for this.

[9:01] Jesse McAnally: Really?

[9:02] Andrew DeWolf: Really? Um, Steven Schwartz was brought in to do the score for this. Originally do the, and then he left because Jeffrey Katzenberg came knocking at his door, like, "Hey, you want to do Prince of Egypt for me?" And he's like, "Fuck yeah, I do."

[9:18] Jesse McAnally: He knew it, you knew how to get to him. You do the religious shit. Steven Schwartz loves that shit. And Schwartz had three songs already written for Mulan, one called "Written in Stone," one called "Destiny," and one called "Chinadoll."

[9:29] Andrew DeWolf: Both of those sound kind of racist in and of themselves, in my opinion.

[9:34] Jesse McAnally: Yeah. There's already some questionable-ish use of like the doo-doo-do kind of stuff going on. You know what I'm saying?

[9:45] Andrew DeWolf: But apparently, a lot of the score that would have been Mulan is in Prince of Egypt, especially in the opening. And there are like pieces of Prince of Egypt's score you can hear in the current Mulan score. Like they are kind of there are reflections of each other, no pun intended.

[10:01] Jesse McAnally: He did it, he said it.

[10:03] Andrew DeWolf: That's interesting.

[10:04] Jesse McAnally: Oh, you have to listen to some of the score and see if I can notice that. There have been people on TikTok that have like done an actual proper deep dive note by note into comparing the scores and was able to find these connections. Um, I wish I could credit them right now. Um, but I know that there is definitely ties there.

[10:20] Jesse McAnally: I do also want to talk about the proper orchestral composer of probably one of the best pieces of non-singing music ever to put in Disney. It's so good that they used it for the trailer where Mulan becomes the soldier.

[10:36] Andrew DeWolf: That scene, score alone, the synth alone, one of the best scenes ever put into a Disney animated feature.

[10:59] Jesse McAnally: I remember seeing this in theaters three years old, and that scene was an awakening moment for me of like, holy shit, you can do this. The animation in those early scenes too, especially the part where I think the scene where she has like eight reflections of herself, I was remembering like that is like wow. That couldn't have been that easy to animate, and it looks really good.

[11:25] Andrew DeWolf: Um, so the animators went to China, obviously, to learn about it, and they studied Chinese art in very subtle ways. That like there's obviously the section in "Girl Worth Fighting For," which is very obvious, but in most Chinese art, they really discovered that they're not character-focused, that they're all landscape-focused.

[11:45] Jesse McAnally: Um, so they kind of embrace the landscape but implemented character, which is why there's so many uses of silhouettes in this, where there's so many like pieces of where the characters are dark but the landscapes are bright, so that they can embrace that art but still implement their character work. And I think it works so well.

[12:02] Andrew DeWolf: It reminds me of all the best things of my favorite Disney films with none of the garbage. Like, I think this has all the things I love about Hunchback of Notre Dame in it, but without the shitty gargoyles or the wishing it could be something that it's not. This is as perfect as it can be in its current form.

[12:21] Jesse McAnally: Watching this, I really just, it made me wish that there was more 2D animation still.

[12:27] Liz Eston: Yes.

[12:28] Jesse McAnally: Yes. There's something impressive about 2D animation that even the best 3D animated films can't achieve.

[12:36] Andrew DeWolf: I feel like I never watch a 3D animated movie. Well, not never. Very rarely watch a 3D animated movie, and I'm like, oh my god, wow, how'd they do that? You know, where it's like animation, 2D animation just always feels impressive. It's like somebody sat at a desk and actually fucking drew that.

[12:55] Jesse McAnally: You know, with their hand. Not just 3D animation. They work hard, but we've removed the entire landscape of creating 2D animation anymore. Um, people inside the Disney landscape, there's no way to bring it back.

[13:12] Andrew DeWolf: They have tried, they have failed, and every time they realized that they had just fired the only people that could have trained a new generation, and no one knows how to do it anymore.

[13:22] Jesse McAnally: Like, not to talk about Wish too much, but that just came out, not doing great, not well loved, was originally pitched to be a 2D animated film, and then they just knew they couldn't do it.

[13:34] Andrew DeWolf: So the star character, they were originally gonna be alright, that'll be 2D animated, and they didn't even have the infrastructure to do one character like that. That is how dead 2D animation currently is.

[13:46] Jesse McAnally: 2D animation as well has been sort of hit with like the computerized version of it where it's like flash animation type stuff, which is what a lot of like cartoons are made with now.

[13:58] Liz Eston: Yes.

[13:59] Andrew DeWolf: So it's still, even the stuff that is 2D animated, like SpongeBob or something like that, it's not the same.

[13:59] Jesse McAnally: It's not the same as what this is, you know? Like, I think with this, you can tell that the vast majority of this was drawn with hand to paper. You know? It was probably colored digitally, but the initial drawings were definitely a physical thing.

[14:24] Andrew DeWolf: And it just feels the weight of every character. It just, it's as perfect as animation can be. And while I understand that my impact of nostalgia is affecting this a lot, and I can't remove that. Like this film obviously has issues, specifically like the way that Chinese people reacted to it was not great.

[14:44] Jesse McAnally: And I did actually read the original Mulan story, which actually dates back to like 240 AD. Like it is an old story. Um, so Mulan was really something that Disney wanted to promote to Chinese audiences because The Lion King was one of the highest grossing Western films in China ever. Um, and they were hoping to kind of smooth over relationships after their relationship with the Chinese government had soured after Kundun, which I believe was the film about the Dalai Lama that Martin Scorsese directed, and still has never been released. Fun fact.

[15:20] Andrew DeWolf: Oh wow.

[15:20] Jesse McAnally: Um, it was released in theaters by at the minimum legal and never released on home media, as far as I know. Um, so basically China was still very mad, and they released it over Chinese New Year so no one would go see it. And then also they just started pirating the movie in China and they hated the movie. They complained about Mulan's depiction as being too foreign looking and the story is too different from the myth. They felt it was very offensive, and then I think that is the sole reason why Disney went diving into the cookie jar 20 years later for Mulan 2020.

[16:01] Jesse McAnally: I watched Sideways' video on it, and then I thought I got that covered, so I never watched it.

[16:07] Andrew DeWolf: I've also seen Sideways' video, which is Sideways, a friend of the show, always does a great job. Um, but I have seen it as well. Um, I don't think I could tell you a damn thing about it. I remember I watched it a while ago and I can't remember. Mulan had the force in her. Like she literally she had a superpower. That made her good at fighting because Girlboss.

[16:31] Jesse McAnally: I mean, not to just, you know, ape Sideways, but a lot of the problem is the music's fucking gone.

[16:37] Andrew DeWolf: Yes.

[16:38] Jesse McAnally: Yeah. Like, I don't know. But well, I don't even want to talk about the fucking remake. It's just if we didn't, people would say, like, why didn't you talk about the remake?

[16:47] Andrew DeWolf: True, true. Even when we did it as a meme for The Lion King, people asked why we didn't talk about it.

[16:53] Jesse McAnally: Here's what we have to say about the remake. It fucking sucks. Sorry.

[16:57] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. I can't even say it's like well-intentioned. They wanted the money from it. And then COVID hit, um, so it never even got a proper release. I do think that the criticisms of like it's not accurate to the myth and all that is that that's probably all fair.

[17:14] Jesse McAnally: Yes.

[17:15] Andrew DeWolf: Um, there are things that bother me, but they don't bother me as much as they probably should. Like Harvey Fierstein playing one of the Chinese characters probably should bother me a lot more than it does, but as well as a lot of other folks like June Foray and Marnie Nixon playing the grandmother, um, and Matthew Wilder singing for Ling. Um, and truly the most egregious one um is BD Wong playing Lee Shang, but his singing voice is provided by the one and only Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat himself, Donnie Osmond.

[17:52] Jesse McAnally: It's such a weird transition when you know it's Donnie Osmond singing. It's like BD Wong, and all of a sudden it's like Donnie Osmond screaming. And Donnie Osmond has a gr—sorry, BD Wong has a pretty good singing voice. I think he could have pulled it off. Sincerely.

[18:07] Andrew DeWolf: You know, at the very least, though, there's no—like imagine if Rob Schneider was in this.

[18:14] Jesse McAnally: Okay, we can't compare those two things.

[18:17] Andrew DeWolf: Um, no, no, no spoilers for next week. I mean, this is totally unrelated, off the cuff. We didn't talk about this before. Like, what if Rob Schneider was in this and he was doing like a voice, you know, like, you know, I'm not gonna do it, but you know what voice I'm talking about.

[18:36] Jesse McAnally: Just play the clip.

[18:37] Andrew DeWolf: Just play the clip, just play the clip.

[18:39] Jesse McAnally: Congratulations. Now please excuse me while I go take a shower.

[18:43] Andrew DeWolf: Like, one of the things that make me—this movie makes me more emotional than most films, let alone Disney films. There are at least three moments that like get me to choke up in this film.

[18:54] Jesse McAnally: Which one are the big moments for you?

[18:56] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, what are your three? Um, the first one is obviously the decision to leave, that sequence. The entire sequence is just like an animation style alone, gorgeous. Reflection as well, that is another one. Those two sequences, just based on the beauty of animation, truly incredible. Like, oh my god, just on art alone.

[19:18] Jesse McAnally: Yes.

[19:18] Andrew DeWolf: And then there's the moment when she comes home, she gets the Emperor's sword and all the honors, and she sees her father again and presents it to him, and then he throws it to the side and hugs his daughter. That moment. Oh, tear my fucking heart out. Why don't you? That's some peak sad dad shit right there.

[19:36] Jesse McAnally: It really is. It's such good dad shit. I love it. It is an emotional catharsis. You are very rarely granted so effectively in Disney films like this.

[19:48] Andrew DeWolf: Wait, so what's the third? Is it when "True to Your Heart" starts playing?

[19:49] Jesse McAnally: True to your heart.

[19:55] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, I'm so sorry. I miss the moment when Eddie Murphy violently murders one of the dragons.

[20:01] Jesse McAnally: Oh yeah.

[20:13] Andrew DeWolf: Or when the three friends cross-dress.

[20:16] Jesse McAnally: Oh yeah, I cry. I guess the next question is, Lee Shang, did he have a crush on Ping?

[20:22] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, Hunter Senti had a crush on Ping. He was giving I love you eyes to Ping. He's a by-con.

[20:27] Jesse McAnally: Oh yeah. He's a by-con.

[20:29] Andrew DeWolf: Was he relieved to know that he had the knock gaze when he saw Mulan's tata's?

[20:34] Jesse McAnally: No, he was upset.

[20:35] Andrew DeWolf: He was pissed.

[20:37] Jesse McAnally: He was pissed.

[20:38] Andrew DeWolf: He was like, oh fuck.

[20:40] Jesse McAnally: There was a hint of relief in there though. It's like, okay, good.

[20:44] Andrew DeWolf: I will say, I saw this movie when I was three years old. I very clearly remember this. It's so strange, but I have very early memories of my childhood. It was with my godmothers and a couple of my family members. And I remember being very confused as to how they found out, because I didn't understand that boobs are something that girls only had.

[21:06] Jesse McAnally: Oh my god.

[21:09] Andrew DeWolf: So I remember her sitting up and like exposing her boobs to it, like not, and they're like, a woman! And I'm like, wait, how did that—how did they tell? What gave it away? Did her eyelashes also come back in that scene, so that is also a reasonable.

[21:25] Jesse McAnally: Oh yes. Um, we talk about one thing that I want to say, which is I think is the weirdest thing about this movie. Okay, the big—maybe not the climax, but the big battle scene, right? That scene only happens because the Eddie Murphy comic relief character decides to just do something goofy, and I find that incredibly weird.

[21:47] Andrew DeWolf: What do you mean?

[21:48] Jesse McAnally: Like, isn't it—I mean, isn't it weird that like the Eddie Murphy one-off joke thing where he accidentally lights a firework is actually incredibly plot relevant?

[21:58] Andrew DeWolf: Oh yeah, the avalanche scene.

[22:00] Jesse McAnally: Yeah. Like, that avalanche scene wouldn't have happened if Eddie Murphy didn't set off a firework randomly for no reason at all.

[22:08] Andrew DeWolf: As a joke.

[22:09] Jesse McAnally: I don't mind it. Because Mulan takes the agency to use that to beat them in the end, which is she causes the avalanche.

[22:17] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm not saying I mind it, it's just it's a weird storytelling thing, because usually you don't want your fantasy comic relief dragon character to be involved in the plot in a real way like that, where it like causes a major event, but they were just like, yeah, fuck it.

[22:35] Jesse McAnally: I think this is the only one where that's different for me.

[22:38] Andrew DeWolf: You think that's okay in this particular case?

[22:41] Jesse McAnally: Mushu is not fictional or imaginary in the same way that the gargoyles in Hunchback are supposed to be figments of Quasimoto's imagination. These are supposed to be real tangible things brought to you by the spirit world, which we see is also real in this. And if I'm following the logic, he's a real thing that is interacting and incompetent in the world of the film.

[23:03] Andrew DeWolf: Okay.

[23:03] Jesse McAnally: Yeah. No, I mean that's fair. And I'm not even saying it's a flaw. I actually don't care. I just thought it was weird.

[23:10] Andrew DeWolf: No, it is weird, but I kinda like it. It is kind of like the equivalent in Hunchback would be if the gargoyles somehow caused a plot integral event to happen. Like they revealed that Esmeralda was hiding or something, and it's like, wait, they're not supposed to do that. That's wait, what?

[23:26] Jesse McAnally: Which you're right.

[23:30] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, but I don't know if things are the townspeople during like the final scene, and it breaks the logic.

[23:36] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, that's the reason why that movie isn't perfect, like Mulan.

[23:40] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. Mulan is truly as perfect a Disney film.

[23:44] Jesse McAnally: And at the end of this, I do want to do a ranking of the Disney films really, really quickly. Um, we'll have to like speed run that shit because there's a hundred of them.

[23:53] Andrew DeWolf: Okay, so my family would go to Disney every year when I was a kid.

[23:57] Jesse McAnally: You were rich.

[23:58] Andrew DeWolf: We just—we were rich. Um, but we did that. Uh, but we went probably around the time when Mulan was like new-ish. And I vividly remember going to one of the parks. It was, I think we went to the Hollywood Studios park. It was MGM at the time. And they did like an animation tutorial, and it was hosted by Mushu. I vividly remember this. I didn't artist first direct thing about Mulan. She wasn't Mishu. And he wasn't even a dragon.

[24:25] Jesse McAnally: Thank you for it. Hold it! Hold it! What do you mean I wasn't a dragon?

[24:32] Andrew DeWolf: Mushu hosted it, and he was doing gags and stuff, and I don't—I wish I knew if it was Eddie Murphy or not, but 100% wasn't that thing. It was definitely white Eddie Murphy probably.

[24:43] Jesse McAnally: That would make sense.

[24:44] Andrew DeWolf: Okay. Um, that triggered another memory of mine. Um, we went to Disney in 1998, and the only thing I remember from that trip was a Lion King puppet show where they reenacted the death of Mufasa with puppets. And I remember that because I hadn't even seen The Lion King yet. And they're using audio clips from the movie, just having puppets reenacting, and I'm like, fuck. This movie looks dark. And they truncate the movie so it's just like little main scenes. So you just go from that to Hakuna Matata without any context over how those get to one to another.

[25:22] Jesse McAnally: Okay.

[25:23] Andrew DeWolf: So it might just be a hundred percent nostalgia glasses or whatever, but the Disney parks during the 2000s was peak.

[25:30] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, it's all been downhill from there.

[25:32] Andrew DeWolf: And no.

[25:36] Jesse McAnally: How about we compare our opinions to those of the real critics over on Letterboxd.com. It's time for the previews letterbox game.

[25:45] Andrew DeWolf: Alright. This is a game of one star, five star. Liz and Andrew, you're going head to head um to guess whether these real letterbox reviews are one star or five star based on the review alone. Andrew, you're first.

[25:56] Andrew DeWolf: Okay. Pretty ass.

[25:58] Jesse McAnally: Wow. That's very rude.

[26:01] Andrew DeWolf: Jeez, I mean one star, I guess.

[26:03] Jesse McAnally: That is correct.

[26:05] Andrew DeWolf: Liz.

[26:06] Liz Eston: Ready.

[26:07] Andrew DeWolf: The Bible.

[26:09] Liz Eston: Ooh. I love it. Hey, it's called the Bible for a reason. It's not called the straight bowl. Like just saying. Jesus likes men and women in this ass.

[26:18] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, Jesus' bi.

[26:20] Liz Eston: Uh five.

[26:21] Jesse McAnally: Yes!

[26:22] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. Needs the music. Five exclamation points.

[26:25] Liz Eston: Um, so that's about the remake. We're gonna go one.

[26:29] Jesse McAnally: That is correct.

[26:30] Andrew DeWolf: And it was not about the remake.

[26:31] Jesse McAnally: I was just confused.

[26:33] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, that's about the original?

[26:35] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, I did not understand.

[26:37] Andrew DeWolf: What? What? But it has music?

[26:40] Jesse McAnally: I know.

[26:42] Liz Eston: I'm ready.

[26:43] Andrew DeWolf: No way. No way she's not trans.

[26:47] Liz Eston: I mean, it's—I mean, non-binary is a section of the trans community, so you know.

[26:52] Andrew DeWolf: That person is not wrong.

[26:53] Liz Eston: Uh five.

[26:55] Jesse McAnally: That is correct!

[26:57] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. Be a man.

[27:00] Liz Eston: Five.

[27:01] Jesse McAnally: That is a one.

[27:03] Andrew DeWolf: Fucking what? They quoted the best song and they hated it. How dare you?

[27:06] Liz Eston: I'm ready.

[27:07] Liz Eston: Girl boss.

[27:10] Jesse McAnally: One.

[27:11] Liz Eston: That is correct.

[27:13] Andrew DeWolf: Racist yet trans.

[27:17] Jesse McAnally: Okay.

[27:17] Andrew DeWolf: That's also my review of Caitlin Jenner.

[27:19] Liz Eston: Yeah.

[27:21] Andrew DeWolf: One?

[27:22] Jesse McAnally: One.

[27:22] Andrew DeWolf: That is correct, Liz. That could have been—it could have gone either way.

[27:25] Liz Eston: That really could have gone either way. This is the last one, so Liz, this will either put you in the top or who gives a shit.

[27:31] Jesse McAnally: It's not a real game.

[27:33] Andrew DeWolf: That's true.

[27:34] Liz Eston: They are simply shapes dancing on my screen.

[27:36] Andrew DeWolf: So they were high, okay.

[27:39] Jesse McAnally: Um true to your heart.

[27:42] Liz Eston: Yes, and Liz, you won Letterbox Game today.

[27:45] Liz Eston: Woo! It must be a true to you.

[27:49] Jesse McAnally: Uh, if you're true to your heart, how about we go into a mid-show?

[28:00] Andrew DeWolf: Hey guys, sorry to interrupt you in the middle of the show, but we've got a sh—shoe at you. Today's show is brought to you by extremely kind donations over at Patreon. Andrew, tell us about Patreon and what's going on over there.

[28:12] Andrew DeWolf: Oh man, Patreon's where you can go if you want to get some extra content from us and also just give us money to keep the show running. Cause honestly, uh, you need—you need money in this world to survive. I'm sorry everyone. I hate to be the one to tell you, but money, money, money. Awful funny in a rich man's world. But anyways.

[28:34] Andrew DeWolf: Our current patrons are Melissa Goldman, Daniel Rennox, Justice Stampede, Ewan Cassidy, Monica Thoreau, Brent Black, Let's Daniel Stacey Coombe, Joseph Evans Green, Mary Louis Choquet, John Van Elles, Russ Walker, Musical Hell, Emily Gracie, Kyle Summers, Janace, Scoot and the Technical Dreamcoat, Liz Lim, nothing is certain except Beth and Taxis, Desbian, Robert Benjamin, Jessica T, Mitchell Young, Chai Teacup, Chris Marcote, Kiji Marie Anastasio, Trevi Joseph, Leela, RJ Noriga, Julia McLannan, Bjorn Hermans, Toriana Frasier, Sammy the Adequate Amount Jacobson, Angela, Kayleigh Blazier, uh, Cinemageddon Reviews, Villainous Miss, Sophina L. E. The Omega Geek, Paige Pearson, Matty Wargle, Eliza Erdman, Anna Loscatova, Sarah Den Blaker, Evan Ball, Zachary Terez, Rora Morasso, Mara Fourloyne, Lisa L. Possessed Washing Machine, Nick Rotten, Puffy Boy, uh, Julia Hardy, Sidney Hicks, Annabelle, Billy Clifton, Anna, Andrew Wright, uh, the Red Caboose Kaboom, uh, gold-plated Kiki Mora, Julia Baldur's daughter, Rex, and Jules Brown.

[29:43] Jesse McAnally: They give us money so that we don't have to go on the street and suck dicks.

[29:48] Andrew DeWolf: Um, come give us money to keep us off the street and stop us from sucking dicks.

[29:54] Jesse McAnally: It's so true, bro.

[29:57] Andrew DeWolf: Also, if you're sitting there real disappointed, like, hey, they should have probably covered Wish. You know, we have a Patreon tier where you can decide what we cover. And if you go there, we will cover whatever you decide.

[30:09] Jesse McAnally: Um, yeah. Um, you're missing out if you're not there. You can control us. You can even be on an episode of the show at a certain tier. Other people have done it.

[30:19] Andrew DeWolf: You can make us go to a theater.

[30:21] Jesse McAnally: Yeah. Um, you can come on and make us watch the boringest Disney movie ever made.

[30:25] Andrew DeWolf: Allegedly.

[30:26] Jesse McAnally: Allegedly.

[30:27] Andrew DeWolf: None of us have seen it.

[30:29] Jesse McAnally: True. Um, but I let you live here for free, and I don't even charge you rent.

[30:35] Andrew DeWolf: Damn.

[30:36] Jesse McAnally: True. Said Benny from Rent. Let's get back to the show.

[30:47] Andrew DeWolf: Every song in Mulan is an incredible song. Every song is a 10 out of 10 banger. There's no skips in this.

[30:54] Jesse McAnally: It slaps. It all slaps. Like the opening number, "Honor to Us All," is as good as "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast and does all the things. It gives us the "I want" song for Mulan. It gives us all the context, and it is catchy as fuck.

[32:06] Liz Eston: Ancestors, hear my plea. Help me not to be so above me. And to not move my family tree.

[32:06] Jesse McAnally: We are being our matchmakers. The only complaint is the really kind of sketchy lyric Mulan has.

[32:05] Andrew DeWolf: What's that?

[32:06] Jesse McAnally: Ancestors, hear my plea, don't let me make a fool of me. It's a really it's a very kind of stressful lyric. Like, obviously someone.

[32:18] Andrew DeWolf: It's very interesting. And maybe it's on purpose. Maybe they're drawing attention to it. Help me not to make a fool of me and not uproot my family tree.

[32:28] Jesse McAnally: Maybe the idea is you're expecting her to say, like, help me not embarrass my family, but she doesn't actually care about that. She doesn't want to embarrass herself.

[32:35] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[32:36] Jesse McAnally: Unless you're giving credit.

[32:38] Andrew DeWolf: I'm giving way too much credit. Maybe she just has anxiety, and she doesn't know how words work, even in songs.

[32:44] Jesse McAnally: The lyricist of Hercules. I'm not giving them too much credit. I love Hercules. The songs in Hercules are cringe as fuck.

[32:51] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, I know we all love that uh don't don't say I'm in love.

[32:58] Jesse McAnally: It's got some cringe lyrics. I don't care. And there's little imperfections that add charm to it. Like when the grandmother is like just like, I had an apple for serenity and a pendant for balance, like June Foray voice, and then suddenly it's Marty Nixon's beads of Jade and Beauty. Like it is so decidedly different voice.

[33:21] Andrew DeWolf: It it's extremely noticeable at first, but then it sort of sounds like she's trying to go back to her old voice, like halfway through the lyrics.

[33:30] Jesse McAnally: Yes. The rest of the lines. But the first one, she's like, No, I'm going off. And the end. An apple for serenity. A pen and for balance. Beats of Jade for beauty.

[33:48] Andrew DeWolf: You must draw the show.

[33:53] Jesse McAnally: It's not quite as perfect as Ming-Na Wen, um, who is we haven't talked about her as Mulan. Her voice work in this film, absolutely incredible. Truly like next level, playing like three different variations of Mulan. But when that transitions into Lea Salonga, truly seamless. Like perfect, perfect. Um, it is the way that dubbing should be done. And Lea Salonga's voice.

[34:17] Andrew DeWolf: Well, I think we should just talk about the next song, "Reflection," which I think redefined an entire generation of songs, and is banned forever in audition rooms because of how good it is and how singable it is.

[34:51] Jesse McAnally: But Lea Salonga sounds so young. Like she has this like kind of young squeak to her voice. Like it is there is not a single fault in any note throughout this entire song. And listening to it is one thing, but listening to it while you have the visuals to go alongside it, as Andrew brought up, like the room of mirrors and the end image when she just erases half of the makeup and you get like the real Mulan versus the fake Mulan. Ah, so much is going on in this scene.

[35:21] Andrew DeWolf: It's so uh like not deep in the but also it just is because the song is so good, you know?

[35:28] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, like do they they they animate exactly what you imagine they would animate, and it still just comes off like damn nice.

[35:35] Andrew DeWolf: You are still shocked. Like it's not it's not a complicated song, it's not covered in complicated things, but I think something simple done perfectly is better than most things.

[35:46] Jesse McAnally: Like looking at the lyrics alone, it is a short song. Like, I think there's not even a bridge, it's just like a verse and a chorus, and then it's over.

[35:55] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[35:56] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, that's that's all they needed though.

[35:58] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[35:59] Jesse McAnally: To make truly great art, sometimes all you need to do is the bare minimum, you know?

[36:05] Andrew DeWolf: If you do the bare minimum to perfection, you create something fantastic.

[36:11] Jesse McAnally: Well, there's also the argument of writing too much and being too specific in it coming off try hard. And they got the perfect in between of it's simple, short, but it's specific enough to work within the context. Like, I want to be a perfect I can't be a perfect bride or a perfect daughter, um, and I would break my family's heart. Three big things that we know about Mulan. Everything else can be fairly general. This is because when we think of general songwriting, we think of Frank Wildhorn where he just writes a love song that could be played on the top 40, and it has nothing to do with Jekyll and Hyde. And then he's like, Yeah, this is this is Jekyll's song. Someone like you found someone like me. Then suddenly anything, whatever be the same. That is about a prostitute singing about a guy she just met.

[37:00] Andrew DeWolf: That's from Jekyll and Hyde?

[37:02] Jesse McAnally: Yes!

[37:03] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, I didn't know that.

[37:05] Jesse McAnally: Another contest. It is okay. Did I tell you guys all right? About the wedding I shot about a year ago, last December. The um the priest turns and is like, now a hymn from our pianist. Um, just as they were getting like ready for the final kiss, and they sang someone like you from Jekyll and Hyde, and I'm like, that's not a fucking hymn. Someone like you. And it's just a guy at a piano. Someone like you.

[37:39] Andrew DeWolf: Yes!

[37:39] Jesse McAnally: What song is so? I was the only one laughing my ass off. And I'm just gonna go.

[37:49] Andrew DeWolf: I know, but I did.

[37:50] Jesse McAnally: And you were just reading the Bible. Remember when Frank Wildhorn wrote a song in the Bible? Someone like God.

[38:04] Andrew DeWolf: Speaking of God to your songs, let's talk about "I'll Make a Man Out of You." Everyone loves "I'll Make a Man Out of You," and you know why? Because it's perfect slaps.

[38:09] Jesse McAnally: It's so good.

[38:09] ♪ Musical number: "I'll Make a Man Out of You" — performed by Donny Osmond ♪

[38:33] Jesse McAnally: This is a song where I I don't want to like it because everyone loves it but I can't not like it because it's too fucking good. I remember no seeing we were doing Mulan and I was checked the version and I got so excited got to watch the scene again I'm just like yes and it just gets better it's like a song a song crescendo every moment as we build to the end the crescendo of it it is like everything that you want from like Rocky and all those things I just I just wish it wasn't sung by Donny Osmond You know he didn't do a bad job though let's be real He did a good job But do you know who sang it in the um do do do do Chinese dub Jackie Chan Yep Wait what really Yeah he even shot a music video of him singing and I'm gonna play it for you now Shinko ja won We couldn't should be my button to Honestly, I would have liked him to be the voice in America too.

[40:46] Andrew DeWolf: Jackie Chan's well known enough.

[40:48] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[40:48] Andrew DeWolf: I know he's a bit of an asshole and abandoned his children, but Yeah.

[40:52] Jesse McAnally: But he's Jackie Chan.

[40:54] Andrew DeWolf: He's Jackie Chan.

[40:55] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, yeah.

[40:56] Andrew DeWolf: In 99, that that was worth something.

[40:59] Jesse McAnally: And the way he gets stylized, the way it builds up to like this red background, the way it tells the story with Mulan, finding how she fits into this man's world and being better with them with her brain. It's effective storytelling, beautiful songwriting, add great design work, everything you want.

[41:18] Andrew DeWolf: Can you name a song in another Disney film that hits as hard as this?

[41:21] Jesse McAnally: Don't you dare say the Yoda Lady S Hawk from Oak uh Home on the Range.

[41:26] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, it's just gonna be villain songs.

[41:28] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[41:29] Andrew DeWolf: I think this is kinda the closest thing to the villain song because in Mulan, the villain is the situation she's in, less than any physical being.

[41:38] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[41:39] Andrew DeWolf: Less less than the the Mongolians who all look like um Victoria.

[41:44] Jesse McAnally: They got jaundice. Uh the Huns, the Huns with the Jaundice.

[41:47] Andrew DeWolf: It's the Huns, not the monkle. I I will say the portrayal of of uh of the Huns felt a little bit like, you know.

[41:54] Jesse McAnally: Isn't this a real group of people that actually existed?

[41:58] Andrew DeWolf: No, this is just one bad this is a few bad apples, Andrew.

[42:02] Jesse McAnally: Two bad apples.

[42:03] Andrew DeWolf: They all they all John is and they all look evil.

[42:07] Jesse McAnally: A little girl's missing her doll.

[42:10] Andrew DeWolf: I I mean, honestly though, he's he's kinda badass.

[42:13] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[42:13] Andrew DeWolf: Every single time he enters a scene, it's like in the most badass way possible.

[42:18] Jesse McAnally: There's a fucking hawk on his shoulder.

[42:19] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, he's so fucking cool.

[42:22] Jesse McAnally: It's sick. Every entrance to every scene, he's like he just like he's in shadow or he's in smoke or something.

[42:28] Andrew DeWolf: It's like, how do you how do you do that, man? Teach me.

[42:33] Jesse McAnally: And then we have the last song in the movie, and then there's no more real songs for the rest of the film, and that's "A Girl Worth Fighting For," which I think is a cute number.

[42:33] ♪ Musical number: "A Girl Worth Fighting For" ♪

[43:12] Andrew DeWolf: I think it's very funny. I think it's a fun it's a fun number, and I what I really like about it is that it just ends. It just stops. There's it just stops. And it's actually really interesting in that way, in that like it is this upbeat song, but because of the situation, they actually just have it stop and we can't sing anymore.

[43:33] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[43:33] Andrew DeWolf: There's no real ending for that song.

[43:35] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, stuff got real. We gotta stop singing. Shang Li's dad was murdered by the the the hun leader.

[43:43] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[43:43] Jesse McAnally: Wanted to give the little girl her doll.

[43:45] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, his dad and also like everyone else. All the other soldiers.

[43:49] Jesse McAnally: Literally everyone.

[43:51] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[43:51] Jesse McAnally: Well, there is one more song.

[43:53] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, yes. There is There's the reprieve?

[43:55] Jesse McAnally: No, we got "True to Your Heart."

[43:57] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, "True to Your Heart."

[43:58] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, the most important. I would say it's a credit song, but technically it starts during the movie.

[44:03] ♪ Musical number: "True to Your Heart" ♪

[44:19] Andrew DeWolf: You won't get lost with your heart and guys.

[44:25] Jesse McAnally: You must be Judy Hug.

[44:36] Andrew DeWolf: And win your should be a heart. I'm the one it's gonna be just straight to your heart. It must be true. That's when the head of the bottom. And maybe shut up under your commentary in the last. And win your trip to your heart.

[44:57] Jesse McAnally: And now, Andrew, you love this music video. I need you to tell me at what point there's a specific moment you need us to highlight.

[45:13] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, you do you want me to talk about three minutes in?

[45:15] Jesse McAnally: Yes.

[45:16] Andrew DeWolf: Um I didn't actually get to three minutes in. This is my favorite part of the music video. Open your eyes, Stevie Wonder disappears.

[45:27] Jesse McAnally: Wait, where is Stevie Wonder?

[45:31] Andrew DeWolf: Does he come back?

[45:32] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, he's just there. I think what's really great is that it's ca it's time to the open your eyes. You know?

[45:41] Andrew DeWolf: Like bro, like you guys do they know? Do they know?

[45:46] Jesse McAnally: You can't see.

[45:53] Andrew DeWolf: He looks so happy to be disappearing into nothingness. They're like, open your eyes, and he's like, Bye.

[46:02] Jesse McAnally: I ain't gonna do that. Can't do that.

[46:06] Andrew DeWolf: Have you ever seen the video? I think it was like Lady Gaga waving at Stevie Wonder, and Stevie Wonder's wife nudges him. She's waving at you.

[46:13] Jesse McAnally: And he's like, oh! And he waves.

[46:18] Andrew DeWolf: Dude, you know what my favorite conspiracy theory is is that. Stevie Wonder can see.

[46:25] Jesse McAnally: Like at all.

[46:26] Andrew DeWolf: I think it's complete horseshit, but I love that there's people who are just so intent on like proving that Stevie Wonder can see. I think there was like some interview they did where he was like, oh, you're vertical, and he is like, oh, and then he fixes it. And they're like, he can see. He can see.

[46:46] Jesse McAnally: Um yeah, I don't know. Um, Andrew, we've talked a lot about Mulan, but well, let's why don't we just rank all the Disney films right now?

[46:55] Andrew DeWolf: Uh yeah, sure.

[46:57] Jesse McAnally: All a hundred of them.

[46:58] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, that's so many. Um we just rank the ones we've talked about.

[47:02] Jesse McAnally: No, the ones we've seen. We're gonna do all of them.

[47:05] Andrew DeWolf: We'll do all the other ones we've seen. Snow White, where are we putting that?

[47:08] Jesse McAnally: B.

[47:09] Andrew DeWolf: B.

[47:09] Jesse McAnally: C.

[47:10] Andrew DeWolf: I'm putting it in B.

[47:11] Jesse McAnally: B, I guess B.

[47:13] Andrew DeWolf: Hey, come out of Mr. Toad. That's A tier because of the headless horseman alone.

[47:16] Jesse McAnally: Cinderella.

[47:17] Andrew DeWolf: I've never seen it, so I can't rank it.

[47:18] Jesse McAnally: D Cinderella C.

[47:20] Andrew DeWolf: C.

[47:21] Jesse McAnally: Alice in Wonderland, also C. Peter Pan.

[47:24] Andrew DeWolf: You'd put it in B, I'm putting Peter Pan in C then. Because it's the racism.

[47:28] Jesse McAnally: Yep. Lady of the Tramp, C for racism.

[47:32] Andrew DeWolf: Sleeping Beauty, we did cover this on our pay our Disney Plus series. I think that's A.

[47:36] Jesse McAnally: I think the Sleeping Beauty is pretty good, yeah.

[47:39] Andrew DeWolf: 1001 Dalmatian, C.

[47:40] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, Val.

[47:41] Andrew DeWolf: C for sure.

[47:42] Jesse McAnally: C, yeah. Sword and the Stone, also.

[47:44] Andrew DeWolf: Actually, I'm putting that D.

[47:45] Jesse McAnally: D.

[47:45] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, I've never seen it. Jungle Book B.

[47:47] Jesse McAnally: Pinocchio B.

[47:49] Andrew DeWolf: Aristocast.

[47:50] Jesse McAnally: We didn't cover that. I think that's.

[47:52] Andrew DeWolf: Maybe F.

[47:52] Jesse McAnally: Maybe F.

[47:53] Andrew DeWolf: D.

[47:53] Jesse McAnally: I'm putting it D. We'll move it later.

[47:55] Andrew DeWolf: Robin Hood is A.

[47:56] Jesse McAnally: Robin Hood is B.

[47:57] Andrew DeWolf: High B, though.

[47:59] Jesse McAnally: I put it, I'd say B as well. I actually might say C.

[48:02] Andrew DeWolf: I don't like Robin Hood. Robin Hood has moments, but yeah.

[48:04] Jesse McAnally: Women's boo is A.

[48:07] Andrew DeWolf: Way of Who is A. That's A.

[48:09] Jesse McAnally: The Rescuers D.

[48:10] Andrew DeWolf: A.

[48:10] Jesse McAnally: Well, it has nudity, though.

[48:12] Andrew DeWolf: It has the boobs in the back.

[48:13] Jesse McAnally: F. Although it's it's yeah, it's it's not wanted nudity, though.

[48:17] Andrew DeWolf: And it they never got the permission of the girl, so definitely.

[48:19] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, okay, definitely F, yeah. Um, all right. Then we're gonna do Fox and the Hound.

[48:24] Andrew DeWolf: Um C.

[48:25] Jesse McAnally: Never seen.

[48:26] Andrew DeWolf: Never seen it.

[48:27] Jesse McAnally: Never seen it. Black Cauldron, never.

[48:29] Andrew DeWolf: Never seen it. Bad seen.

[48:31] Jesse McAnally: Uh Great Mouse detective B.

[48:32] Andrew DeWolf: I know it's a horny mouse. That's all I know.

[48:34] Jesse McAnally: Horny mouse.

[48:34] Andrew DeWolf: Never seen it. All Ver and Computer.

[48:36] Jesse McAnally: We did a comedy commentary of it. I have no memory of it.

[48:38] Andrew DeWolf: Oliver and Company, I like like, but it's not good, but I want to put it low B.

[48:43] Jesse McAnally: Low Basically. Little Mermaid.

[48:47] Andrew DeWolf: Little Mermaid. Little Mermaid's B.

[48:48] Jesse McAnally: Oh.

[48:50] Andrew DeWolf: A?

[48:50] Jesse McAnally: It's B.

[48:51] Andrew DeWolf: B.

[48:52] Jesse McAnally: Wait, is there anything above A? Are we doing above A?

[48:54] Andrew DeWolf: Um we have nothing. We've not not put anything in S yet.

[48:58] Jesse McAnally: Are we putting anything there, though?

[49:01] Andrew DeWolf: I think we can, yes.

[49:02] Jesse McAnally: Okay. Okay, whatever. That's viable.

[49:04] Andrew DeWolf: Little Mermaid can probably go A then.

[49:06] Jesse McAnally: Rescuers Down Under?

[49:07] Andrew DeWolf: B.

[49:08] Jesse McAnally: Definitely high.

[49:09] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. Fantasia.

[49:10] Jesse McAnally: I think that's S.

[49:11] Andrew DeWolf: Vantasia's really good.

[49:13] Jesse McAnally: That's very good, yeah. Beauty and the Beast, A.

[49:16] Andrew DeWolf: I would maybe also put it S, but I'd put it S personally.

[49:19] Jesse McAnally: Aladdin A.

[49:21] Andrew DeWolf: Low A for Aladdin?

[49:22] Jesse McAnally: Low A for Aladdin.

[49:24] Andrew DeWolf: Lion King, also A.

[49:25] Jesse McAnally: I'd put it right above Aladdin, honestly.

[49:28] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, above above Aladdin. Definitely above Aladdin.

[49:30] Jesse McAnally: Pocahontas D.

[49:32] Andrew DeWolf: No, too high.

[49:34] Jesse McAnally: F F.

[49:35] Andrew DeWolf: Okay. Uh I think D. I think it's got it's got enough good stuff. I can see that it doesn't go all the way down there.

[49:41] Jesse McAnally: Hunchback. I'm putting that in A but low A.

[49:44] Andrew DeWolf: Definitely low A. For sure.

[49:46] Jesse McAnally: I want to put Hercules in A as well.

[49:47] Andrew DeWolf: I like Hercules in S.

[49:48] Jesse McAnally: I would like Hercules in A.

[49:50] Andrew DeWolf: Mulan, honestly, S for me.

[49:51] Jesse McAnally: S tier. Mulan's really good.

[49:53] Andrew DeWolf: It's fantastic. I'm putting it in S.

[49:56] Jesse McAnally: Um. Fantasia 2000, C.

[49:59] Andrew DeWolf: That's fine. Nothing for Tarzan.

[50:01] Jesse McAnally: We ignore Tarzan.

[50:03] Andrew DeWolf: B. High.

[50:06] Jesse McAnally: High B.

[50:07] Andrew DeWolf: Yes. Um Dinosaur, D for dinosaur.

[50:12] Jesse McAnally: Dumbo is C.

[50:14] Andrew DeWolf: C, but high C. Because it's like Jumbo is 40 minutes long.

[50:19] Jesse McAnally: That helps. Emperor's New Groove, A.

[50:22] Andrew DeWolf: High A.

[50:23] Jesse McAnally: Yeah. Atlantis, B.

[50:26] Andrew DeWolf: B. Low B.

[50:27] Jesse McAnally: Treasure Planet. High B.

[50:28] Andrew DeWolf: Treasure Planet, maybe A.

[50:31] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, I'd say A Treasure Planet.

[50:34] Andrew DeWolf: I'll see you skipped Leila.

[50:37] Jesse McAnally: Yeah. There's a very boring lol in the middle of it. Um Lee Wan Stitch, I put right under Ferrars' new groove in A.

[50:44] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. Brother Bear.

[50:45] Jesse McAnally: B D.

[50:46] Andrew DeWolf: D.

[50:47] Jesse McAnally: D?

[50:47] Andrew DeWolf: I'd say C.

[50:49] Jesse McAnally: I haven't seen Home on the Range, but you two have, so.

[50:51] Andrew DeWolf: Home on the Range, honestly. B.

[50:54] Jesse McAnally: Home on the B.

[50:55] Andrew DeWolf: Uh high C.

[50:57] Jesse McAnally: Alright. Above Dumbo. I think that seems bad to me.

[51:00] Andrew DeWolf: Chicken Little. Horrendous.

[51:02] Jesse McAnally: F.

[51:03] Andrew DeWolf: Meet the Robinsons. I'm actually a defender. I'm gonna put this in high C.

[51:06] Jesse McAnally: I think it could go B. I think it's a good one.

[51:07] Andrew DeWolf: I think it goes above a little bit.

[51:09] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[51:10] Andrew DeWolf: I think it's better than Home on the Range by a lot.

[51:12] Jesse McAnally: I can't agree.

[51:13] Andrew DeWolf: Bolt D.

[51:15] Jesse McAnally: Didn't see Bolt.

[51:16] Andrew DeWolf: Bolt is bad.

[51:17] Jesse McAnally: Bolt boring. Sucks.

[51:18] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. Princess and the Frog. Low B.

[51:21] Jesse McAnally: A.

[51:22] Andrew DeWolf: I'd say A.

[51:23] Jesse McAnally: A B territory. Um Bambi.

[51:26] Andrew DeWolf: Boring is thin but pretty, so it's low B.

[51:28] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, I'm I'm I have not seen it all the way through. I haven't seen it in years.

[51:32] Andrew DeWolf: Tangled. You're a big fan, Andrew.

[51:34] Jesse McAnally: A?

[51:34] Andrew DeWolf: I'm a fan of Tangle. I'm gonna say A. I think it goes in A.

[51:37] Jesse McAnally: I don't know where an A, but definitely an A.

[51:39] Andrew DeWolf: I don't think A.

[51:41] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[51:41] Andrew DeWolf: I don't think S. I don't think it belongs in S.

[51:43] Jesse McAnally: Wreck It Ralph. Low C.

[51:45] Andrew DeWolf: High C high C.

[51:46] Jesse McAnally: No, Record Ralph's a B at least. I like Red Ralph.

[51:49] Andrew DeWolf: Okay, okay.

[51:53] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, that is Mirana Sings in it, so.

[51:55] Andrew DeWolf: Uh yeah, let's just put that right there at F tier.

[51:57] Jesse McAnally: Um Winnie the Pooh, the 2015 one. I actually think this is cute. I think it's going out.

[52:02] Andrew DeWolf: I haven't seen it.

[52:05] Jesse McAnally: I was too old. If it's Winnie the Pooh, I can see it. Frozen, the original Frozen.

[52:10] Andrew DeWolf: It's fine. Um B. Somewhere in B.

[52:13] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[52:15] Andrew DeWolf: Um Big Hero 6. I'm a defender. I'm gonna put that in A.

[52:17] Jesse McAnally: I didn't see Yeah, I could see A. Maybe maybe B.

[52:23] Andrew DeWolf: You know what? I'll be put it at the top of B.

[52:25] Jesse McAnally: Yeah. Moana, I think that's A.

[52:28] Andrew DeWolf: I think Moana's great. Moana's A.

[52:30] Jesse McAnally: Moana is A, definitely Moanaze.

[52:32] Andrew DeWolf: Um Frozen 2, D for me, honestly. I really hated Frozen 2.

[52:35] Jesse McAnally: Uh, I'm I'm generous and I'd give it a C.

[52:40] Andrew DeWolf: Low C. Zootopia.

[52:41] Jesse McAnally: I actually think that's an A. I think it's.

[52:43] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, Zootopia's really good.

[52:44] Jesse McAnally: Zoo is really good, even if the metaphor kind of gets all shaky. Ryan the Last Dragon, I'm a defender. I think that's B.

[52:49] Andrew DeWolf: I've never seen it, so I can't.

[52:51] Jesse McAnally: I skipped. I heard that it's uh let I avatar the last airbender rip off, but I would never say that myself.

[53:00] Andrew DeWolf: Got that. I hate it. I hate it.

[53:03] Jesse McAnally: Um and and Kanto, I'd also put that in S. I think that movie's great.

[53:06] Andrew DeWolf: I'd say more pie A, but I don't think I've seen it enough to put it in.

[53:12] Jesse McAnally: I agree it's really good. And then we've got like Strange World, which I didn't see. Um Saludos, Amigos, The Three Capieras. I've not seen any of these.

[53:20] Andrew DeWolf: I I maybe I've I might have seen Fun and Fancy Free, but I was a tiny child, so I can't.

[53:25] Jesse McAnally: I've seen them both. They're both kind of mid. They're B's. Make my music too is B and Melody Time is B. Actually, I put Melody Time as C.

[53:31] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, that's our ranking. Um, Liz, here it is. I'm gonna send this to you, and we'll post this on Twitter one day.

[53:41] Jesse McAnally: Wow. Are you sending it to me? I don't have the login for Twitter.

[53:44] Andrew DeWolf: We did it, kids. We ranked all the Disney movies in a really fast and slap slap happy.

[53:51] Jesse McAnally: I mean, our last Patreon video was literally me and just doing teen movie rankings, so yeah, exactly. Um I think that is the most half-assed Disney ranking you'll ever see in your life.

[54:01] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[54:02] Jesse McAnally: Um there's no way that I'll look back at that and agree.

[54:05] Andrew DeWolf: As well, not except when Robinhood slander you two threw out. It is a perfect movie.

[54:08] Jesse McAnally: I was positive towards Robin Hood.

[54:12] Andrew DeWolf: I think Robin Hood is boring.

[54:13] Jesse McAnally: It is also like it's the reused animation era of Disney, which is like the worst era.

[54:19] Andrew DeWolf: I have a very, very tight. I have a very, very nostalgic relationship with that movie, so I like Mulan a lot.

[54:29] Jesse McAnally: Um, but what is our overall thoughts on Mulan and our cheese ratings? Andrew, why don't you go first?

[54:34] Andrew DeWolf: Uh Mulan, a very good movie that you should watch. But you've already seen it. What am I fucking like? What am I gonna convince you to watch Mulan? You've already fucking watched it. Um as far as a cheese rating, I'm gonna give it a uh delicious cheeseburger from McDonald's covered in that delicious Mulan Seshuan sauce. It's so good. I love the Seshuan Satz. I I've turned myself into Seshuan Sash, Morty. Rookie, I'm a pickle!

[55:05] Jesse McAnally: No, I'm not gonna give it a real cheese rating. That's my actual cheese rating. Fuck you.

[55:12] Andrew DeWolf: Uh Juliette, note that his cheese rating is fuck you.

[55:16] Jesse McAnally: Yeah. Yeah, it's literally fuck you. No, it's not. It's a cheeseburger from McDonald's covered in McDonald's McMulan Seshuan sauce. No one does that on a McDonald's cheeseburger.

[55:28] Andrew DeWolf: Uh I love Mulan. It's I grew up kind of a tomboy, so it's was nice as a kid to see like a Disney princess that was also had some like tomboy.

[55:38] Jesse McAnally: Not a princess, not royalty.

[55:43] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, but you look at the marketing.

[55:45] Jesse McAnally: Okay, I don't care about the technicalities. You you know what I'm saying. It's it's nice to see like a main character that had like tomboyish traits and was seen as positively and not mocked for it. And the movie's badass, and the songs are fucking awesome. So I love Mulan. I've loved it since I was a tiny child, and I still love it now.

[56:04] Andrew DeWolf: Uh I'm gonna give it Rushon cheese, which is apparently a fried cheese snack you can get in China. Uh it looks pretty good. So I looked up a cheese, unlike Andrew.

[56:15] Jesse McAnally: Alright. I liked and actually no fucking- I love Mulan. It's probably my favorite Disney animated film. Um the more I think about it, the more I think there's just zero faults in it. Um, as far as just a piece of entertainment. Yeah, culturally it's got issues. Yeah, it's probably a lot of my nostalgia talking, but truly I think it's great.

[56:21] Andrew DeWolf: Zero faults in it, and I just I think in my adulthood, this is the one I come back to the most and hum the most and re-listening to the soundtrack the most. All bangers, zero skips. I am giving this um Mulan's breakfast rice porridge with a little bit of cheese on top, which someone made for some reason. There's this girl that makes princess breakfastes, and this is hers, and I like it. So I'm gonna just gotta put a little shredded cheese on top of that.

[57:06] Jesse McAnally: That looks cute as fuck. I don't know how well bacon and eggs would taste on top of um, you know, porridge, but maybe if Mushu feeds it to me.

[57:18] Andrew DeWolf: Um thank you guys for listening. Please follow us on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher at Music Schools with Cheese. We're on Twitter at Cheesy Meet Schools, Patreon Music Schools Cheese, Instagram Music School Cheese, YouTube page musicals and cheese.

[57:27] Jesse McAnally: Liz is gonna put some new things up there soon. Um got a Christmas thing, and we got another thing before that.

[57:32] Andrew DeWolf: Um, pretty cool.

[57:33] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, that other thing before that should be done soon. Hopefully. I want Andrew's eyes on that because I think he'll be happy with that too.

[57:40] Andrew DeWolf: Um musical theaterlips at gmail.com to tell us how wrong we are about Mulan or whatever the fuck else. Our keeper of the cheese is Juliet Antonio.

[57:51] Jesse McAnally: Here's some ASMR for you, Juliet. And true to your heart. Gotta be true to your heart.

[57:58] Andrew DeWolf: Uh thank you to the Broadway Podcast Network for having us on the platform.

[58:03] Jesse McAnally: And I will shower you with my love. Open your eyes.

[58:09] Andrew DeWolf: And he disappears.

[58:11] Jesse McAnally: And he disappears.

[58:17] Andrew DeWolf: He's just a blank JPEG.

[58:20] Jesse McAnally: We'll see you next time on Musicals with Cheese.

[58:31] Andrew DeWolf: Let's get down to business to defeat the Huns.

[58:37] Jesse McAnally: Did they send mid daughters when I have four sons?

[58:43] Andrew DeWolf: You're the saddest bunch I've ever met.

[58:47] Jesse McAnally: And you can bet before you're through.

[58:50] Andrew DeWolf: Mr. I'll make a man out of you.