Film Review

Okay, so here is another movie review. This movie, unlike my last review is 20 years old come November. It was released in 1994, animated, it's NOT Disney (surprise there!), directed by ex-Disney animator Richard Rich and based on a famous ballet called 'Swan Lake' by Tchaikovsky. If you remember this movie from your childhood, I'll give you brownie points. Give up?

Okay it's...

The Swan Princess!

I first watched 'The Swan Princess' when I was around 5 or 6 years old. I had it on VHS (I'm showing my age here to all you spring chickens!) and I must have worn the tape out as I seemed to watch it a lot. I fell in love immediately with the gorgeous scenery, colourful characters and of course the catchy musical numbers.

This past week I wanted to relive my childhood and thanks to the wonderful invention that is YouTube enabled me to watch The Swan Princess as an adult.

The film was just as wonderful as I remember. In case you haven't seen it yet, I'll give you a brief outline of the plot: Princess Odette is born to King William (and a mother I presume, although you never see the mother of Odette, nor is their any mention of her) and as a baby is betrothed by her own father to Queen Uberta's son Prince Derek. If Derek and Odette fell in love and got married both William and Uberta's kingdoms would join together. Derek and Odette grow up and meet every summer, detesting each other, until when they meet as adults and then instantly fall in love with each other. However Odette calls off the wedding, as Derek presumably only wants to marry her for her beauty and she and her father King William return to their Kingdom. However, an evil sorcerer called Rothbart wants to take hold of William's kingdom and when they return home, Rothbart attacks William, Odette and his army. Derek finds out about this and goes to find Odette. He stumbles upon Odette's father who is *SPOILER ALERT* dying and asks him how this happened. William replies with a riddle, which perplexes Derek: "The Great Animal... It's not what it seems." William dies and Derek makes a search to find Odette as he believes her to be alive, despite everyone else in the Kingdom, including Derek's friend and trusted counselor Lord Rogers, who thinks she is dead.

Meanwhile, Odette has been kidnapped by Rothbart and he puts a spell on her which turns her into a swan during the day and back to her original human form at night. However she can only be on Swan Lake to turn back into a human. Rothbart asks Odette to marry him every night so she and him can rule her father's Kingdom together, however she always refuses. While Odette is trapped in the spell, she makes friends with some very special animals: Speed, who is a lazy, slow turtle, however in the water he can be very fast (hence his name), Jean-Bob, a French frog who believes himself to be a Prince and wants Odette to kiss him, so he can turn into his "true form" and Puffin, an Irish erm... puffin, who is regimented however, he is very kindhearted and protective of Odette.

Derek finds Odette and asks her to come to the ball the following night so he can make "a vow of everlasting love" to her, however Rothbart finds this out and he ensures that Odette will not attend, as at the night of the ball there is no moon. No moon equals no human form and no chance of getting to the ball. But, there is always a way to a happy ending.

All in all, The Swan Princess has a consistent plotline for a children's film and the transition between scenes moves pretty easily. The musical numbers are jazzy, romantic and Broadway Musical-esque and seem to fit into the film seamlessly and helps the viewer to relate with what is happening on the screen and what is happening at this part of the story. As a young girl, I loved Odette's dresses, they were all so beautiful and I particularly liked the black and red one she wore to the ball, when *ANOTHER SPOILER ALERT* Rothbart's hench woman went to the ball disguised as Odette. Odette I would have to say is probably my favourite animated female and definitely my favourite Non-Disney Princess, as her hair is incredible (seriously, who would love blonde wavy locks) and is strong-minded. She knows that she wants to be known for more than just her looks and that definitely shows throughout the film, with her courage, wisdom and strength which ultimately helps her to defeat and defy the spell and to get Derek, the man she loves.

Of course, every good film has to have humour in it for those lighter moments and this comes in the form of Puffin, Speed and Jean-Bob. Jean- Bob's antics to get kissed and turned into a Prince do seem a little far fetched, however at the end when he thinks he has turned into a human Prince, he tries to woo the ladies but to no avail.

I would give this film a 4 out of 5 star rating just because it's one of the best films I've seen as a child, however it still isn't as good as Disney films. I will let it slide because of the colourful scenery, characters and the songs, including 'Far Longer Than Forever' which was nominated for a Golden Globe. If you want to watch a kids film other than Disney, then The Swan Princess is the one to watch.

The Swan Princess is out on DVD.