Lou on Instagram: ". Interesting Fact: Mulan 1998–Disney took major inspiration from the Chinese legend Ballad of Hua Mulan, but the studio completely reinvented the tone to fit a Western animated musical. Early versions of the film were much darker and more serious, closer to the original legend. Eddie Murphy was cast as Mushu very late in production, and his improvisation changed many scenes, adding humor that was not in the first scripts. The animators studied Chinese ink paintings to design