Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft co-directed Mulan. Cook was the first to be asked to participate in the project, and his initial contribution was adding a dragon to the story of Mulan—a comic guardian for her journey, like the Genie in Aladdin. Cook cites David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago) and Charlie Chaplin as his main influences for the film. The team used landmarks from China as inspiration for the tale and sent production assistants overseas to study the history and culture of ancient China.
Cook and Bancroft, with their backgrounds in animation, were involved in the animation process, and the visual palette was based on design and art from both the Ming and Qing dynasties. In a retrospective interview 20 years after the film's release, Bancroft discusses the resonance of the film with young female viewers: "The story was really ahead of its time in many ways...It seems to resonate more today than when we made it in 1998 in light of female empowerment and the MeToo generation. I think Mulan is the original strong female heroine.”
Part of an animated feature is not only the direction of performances and shots, but the organization of a number of different departments and areas, from animation to music, to vocal performance, to editing. For their work on the film, Cook and Bancroft won Annie Awards, awards for animation presented by the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association.
