Summary
Shang takes off his shirt, much to the confused excitement of Mulan. He shoots an arrow into the top of a nearby pole and instructs Yao, who has been muttering under his breath, to climb to the top and retrieve it. Before Yao begins to climb, Shang attaches two weights to his body, one of which he says represents discipline, and the other of which represents strength.
Yao begins to climb up the pole, but slides down. We see a montage of all the men trying to climb and failing. He then throws smaller poles to the men and begins to sing a song about shaping up his army, "I'll Make a Man Out of You." Throughout the montage, we see Shang complete many impressive tasks, such as breaking pots with his poles, shooting 3 tomatoes into targets on a tree, and fending off rocks being thrown at him while balancing a bucket of water on his head. While Shang succeeds at all these tasks, the other men are less successful.
Mulan especially struggles with all the tasks and is ashamed to be such a disappointment, until one night she becomes determined to retrieve the arrow at the top of the post. As everyone else heads to bed, she climbs the post with the weights attached to her arms. When the sun rises, she retrieves the arrow and throws it down, just as Shang is coming out of her tent. We then see a montage of her improving as a soldier, and acting as a role model for the other soldiers.
The scene shifts and we see Shan Yu standing on the top of a tree, as his hawk brings him a small child's doll, dropping it in his hand. He goes to his fellow Huns, who inspect the doll and decide that it came from a village nearby where the Imperial Army is waiting for them.
Meanwhile, Mulan bathes in a river near the camp, while Mushu and her horse stand guard. She jumps in the water, when suddenly, Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po come and jump in the water themselves. She tries to hide, but they want to talk to her and make up for the fact that they were mean at first. To help divert the men's attention, Mushu bites Ling and they scream in fear, as Mulan sneaks out of the water, unnoticed.
When Mulan returns to the camp, she hears Shang and Chi Fu argue about whether the soldiers are ready for battle. Chi Fu says that his report is negative and will hurt Shang's chances of being captain and his troop's chances of going to battle. Mushu hears and gets frustrated, insisting that he has worked too hard to get Mulan into the war.
As Shang leaves the tent, Mulan tells him she thinks he's a great captain. Mushu accuses her of liking Shang, but she denies it. As Chi Fu goes to the river to bathe, Mushu and the cricket, whose name is Cri-Kee, go into the tent and write a fake message to Chi Fu from Shang's father, asking for more troops. Mushu then delivers the letter to Chi Fu, who falls for the trick, running to Shang and telling him they are needed at the front.
The soldiers march off to battle, singing a song as they go. Ling, Yao, and Chien-Po sing about the girls they want to fight for. In the middle of the song, Mulan suggests that maybe they should look for a girl who is smart and speaks her mind, but the men are not interested in this.
Before the song is over, they are interrupted by the sight of the Imperial Army's camp completely destroyed. They look around at the wreckage, dismayed, and Shang orders them to search for survivors. As Mulan looks around, she finds the small doll and holds it to her chest. Suddenly Chi Fu calls to them, and Shang walks over the crest of a hill to see the bodies of the fallen Imperial Army. Chien-Po brings Shang the helmet of his father, General Li, and Shang walks off, mournfully.
Shang props his father's helmet on a sword, as Mulan walks up and expresses her condolences to Shang. Shang then climbs up onto his horse, and rallies his soldiers to travel through the Tung Shao Pass in order to intercept the Huns. Before leaving, Mulan leaves the doll at the bottom of the sword that Shang put in the snow.
As they trudge forward, Mushu accidentally sets off a cannon from the wagon Mulan is dragging, giving away their position. Suddenly, Shang is struck in the arm by an arrow, falling to the ground, as arrows from the Huns begin flying towards the Imperial Army. The soldiers run, as flaming arrows run down from the sky. Mulan and the others rescue the imperial canons and shoot some at the Huns. With one cannon left, the soldiers wait for a moment, as Shan Yu appears on a nearby hill, surrounded by thousands of soldiers. "Prepare to fight," Shang instructs his men, "If we die, we die with honor."
Analysis
Complicating matters further is the fact that Mulan develops an inconvenient crush on her superior, Shang. Not only must she navigate life in the army pretending to be a man, but she also finds herself with an attraction to the man from whom she is supposed to be taking orders, which only makes her mission more difficult.
Throughout the film, the drama of the narrative is heightened by the songs the characters sing, written by Matthew Wilder and David Zippel. In this section, as he notices just how disappointing his soldiers are, Shang sings a rousing anthem about whipping his men into shape, "I'll Make a Man Out of You." The song reflects his aim to help his troops become stronger and more able-bodied, while also playing on the theme of Mulan's secret. While Shang does not know it, he is indeed making a man out of Mulan, who is in fact a woman; thus, we see that the song has two meanings, reflecting both the macho attitude of Shang and the transformation of Mulan into a soldier.
At nearly every turn, Mulan's mission seems like it will be stopped, but is not. It consistently seems like her female identity will be revealed, but she somehow manages to escape scrutiny time and again. Then, when Chi Fu threatens to tell General Li that Shang's army is not fit for war, Mushu intervenes and designs a ruse to get the troops summoned to battle. The central narrative—Mulan fighting in the army disguised as a man—is unstoppable, in a way, propelled forward not only by Mulan's desire to succeed, but also by Mushu's desire to be returned to glory among the ancestors.
Tragedy strikes when the soldiers arrive at the Imperial Army's camp to find it completely ransacked, with nary a survivor in sight. In the middle of a jaunty song about the love of women, the men find a camp that has been burnt to a crisp, and the fearless leader Shang is dismayed to find the helmet of his fallen father, General Li. In this moment, hope is lost, as the soldiers struggle to maintain their morale and decide the best course of action.
No sooner have the soldiers decided to keep going forward, bolstered by the bravery and leadership of Shang, than they run into the Huns, after Mushu accidentally sets off a cannon and makes their position known. The Huns are numerous and powerful, and they present a particularly menacing threat as they appear on the nearby hill. Meanwhile, Shang's motley assemblage of soldiers wait to do their best to fight them off, but are also prepared to "die with honor" should they lose.
