I think she’s a feminist win, and troubling from a feminist perspective.  Both!

The have-to-pass-as-a-man thing is troubling on several fronts.   Mulan had to be disguised as a man to be successful/get to the point of being successful- she couldn’t define her strength through herself, as a woman.   It’s also problematic that of all the princesses, she is the most traditionally heroic and she was only able to do this by pretending to be a man, reinforcing the idea that heroism and courage is a “masculine” trait.  

However, at the same time I thought it was positive because it forced all the characters to realize that their conceptualization of gender was societal rather than biological.   Everyone in the movie assumed Mulan/women weren’t capable of a man’s job, but their acceptance of her when she is disguised shows that their ideas of what a woman was capable of was not actually based in the reality of what a woman was capable of.  

I actually like the love story more than many of the princess love stories although it is silly that they always feel a need to include it.   What I like is that, because Mulan is disguised, it becomes clear that Shang falls in love with because of her mind, determination and strength, rather than because of her “feminine charm” or beauty (not that she isn’t beautiful as a man, but it seemed like he was only able to feel attracted to her when he was able to identify her as a woman).    Their love really seemed based in a mutual admiration of each other’s strength of character.  And that seems like a great contrast to all the stories where beauty seems as important to the romance as a character’s personality.

However, I didn’t like how the romance played out with the ending, because it seemed like it allowed her family to not fully appreciate what she had done.   In the beginning of the movie they’re all, “You’re unfit for marriage,” and the ending only seems to work for them because she found a man, and not because they necessarily realized how amazing a person she was regardless of her matrimonial status.    There was this underlying tone of, “Well, I guess it’s okay you went and saved China, so long as you were finally able to get a man to be attracted to you.”  

   In movies about heroic men you never feel this sort of “justification” like, “It’s all good guys, it’s all good!   She’s not so unfeminine that she can’t get a guy!”  Or maybe that’s just me being overly cynical.  But I get the feeling she would have come off as “failing” as a character if she hadn’t been able to get a guy while being heroic, and that seems wrong.   It shouldn’t matter.  She shouldn’t have to do both in order to be considered successful as a woman and as a female protagonist. 

PS, I wikipediad this for funsies and found out this little gem:

“Mulan originally began as a short, straight-to-video film titled “China Doll” about an oppressed and miserable Chinese girl who is whisked away by a British Prince Charming to happiness in the West.”

Yeah, good thing they changed that up.   I have no idea why they ever thought that would be a good plot.

-edit in reply to response below-

I didn’t see that as being the same because I felt like the men-dressing-as-women-to-help-save-the-empire was more for the comedic effect because feminine men are considered a sort of “punch line,” rather than to actually show courage through the feminine