Which Disney film is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan? Mulan is based on that legend.
Disney’s Mulan, released in 1998, adapts the traditional Chinese story of Hua Mulan, best known through the poem commonly called The Ballad of Mulan. In the legend, Mulan disguises herself as a man and joins the army in her father’s place. Disney retains that central act of filial devotion while reshaping the story into a musical adventure.
The animated film follows Fa Mulan as she takes her elderly father’s place after the emperor orders a male soldier from each family. She trains under Captain Li Shang and eventually helps defeat the invading forces. The film adds fantasy and comic elements, including the dragon Mushu, while setting the plot in an unspecified imperial period.
Mulan is often confused with the 2020 live-action adaptation, but both films draw on the same traditional figure. The animated version was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and became part of the studio’s 1990s revival period.