Former Disney animator Tom Bancroft recently shared a video that showcased various early design sketches for Eddie Murphy's Mushu from 1998’s Mulan. Murphy voiced the tiny but fierce dragon, the former guardian of the famous Fa family featured in the animated musical classic. Murphy starred alongside cast member Ming-Na Wen, who voiced the main heroine in the iconic film.
1998’s Mulan drew inspiration from the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan. This film follows the main character Wen Mulan as she is forced to fill in for her father’s place in the Chinese army once he is suddenly drafted. Mulan must go to extremes in order to fulfill this request, involving her having to disguise herself as a man so that she can even join the ranks of the Imperial army in the first place. The Imperial army is preparing for an epic battle against the Huns and throughout her journey, Mulan comes across Mushu. Mushu finds himself feeling somewhat shunned, isolated, and degraded when he ends up crossing paths with Mulan.
In an incredibly hopeless place, Mushu's sole mission is to somehow gain the acceptance and honor of the spirits of the Fa family ancestors by assisting Mulan on her adventure. Although the 2020 live-action remake completely discarded the character of Mushu, he was an essential part of the original 1998 feature. Mushu served not only as a source of comic relief for fans but also as a much-needed guide and companion for Mulan. It’s hard to picture Mulan ever reaching her goal without the loyal support of the lovable dragon.
Mulan recently passed the 24th anniversary of its release. In order to celebrate, one of the animators gave fans a quick peek at Mushu's design transformation throughout the years. In a video posted to his personal TikTok account, animator Bancroft revealed a number of sketches from Mulan's beginning stages of production back in 1991. Within the video, fans can see Bancroft's process of trying to go about ensuring that Mushu's expressions and mannerisms somehow reflect or match up to Murphy's stellar performance.
In some sketch sheets, it's evident that Mushu's horns at one point were much more prominent and highlighted, featuring a longer and enhanced curve. However, Bancroft didn’t stop at just Mushu, he also shared some early designs of him accompanied by Mulan and Cri-Kee (Frank Welker). He even added in a quick preview of multiple early sketches of Pocahontas (Irene Bedard) that had been stockpiled near the Mulan illustrations.
It’s clear from Mushu's progression visually that Murphy's presence had a huge impact, and that the character would have ultimately looked and sounded quite different had someone else been cast in the role.
Mulan is now available on Disney Plus.
Source: Tom Bancroft/TikTok