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In one of the opening scenes of this film, “The Swan Princess”, a prince commits the blunder of complimenting a princess by referring to her as ‘beautiful.’ The answer to the question, “Is that all?” is “What else am I?” As this is a politically correct age, this can get quite confusing. Who has to say that she is also very smart? The princess stomps out of his life for good, gets into a load of trouble and simply assumes that the prince, who she is familiar with since her childhood and which does not take a genius to understand, was unable to even try and say that she was clever.
Given that princesses in fairy tales, with the sole exception of being beautiful, were as a certain stupidly dreamy, I am now convinced that it’s positive. Princess Odette from Richard Rich’s animated cartoon is not particularly bright because she gets invested in Rothbart’s magical spells, who becomes her father’s opponent and wishes to defraud him of his kingdom by deceitfully gaining Odette’s hand in marriage. His magical powers transformed her to a swan who can only be a princess when the moon shines on the lake.
The most recent of a long line of Disney copycats, this one attempting to “swan lake”, is “The Swan Princess”. It is probably the best out of the bunch. To summarize, I would say that it fails to meet the standard set by Disney’s most recent wonderful works like “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” and “The Lion King” in fully capturing the audience’s attention with it still animation and music. However, it is far more entertaining than Disney’s video blockbuster “The Revenge of Jafar.” I would say the animation is nowhere near as supple and detailed, nor are the songs as memorable, but considering my comparison, it does do quite well, especially when put under the holiday family entertainment bracket. The people behind it really understood Disney’s recent success. And so their main character, Princess Odette, has traits of Ariel, the little mermaid. Princess Odette was loved by a man, but wished to be with him as long as he could see her worthless self. Thankfully she does have some great supporting characters, a turtle, frog, and puffin.
There are some large numbers with a production. The climax, like in “The Little Mermaid,” portrays her wishing to make herself known to the unsuspecting Prince who is about to be fully tricked into something.
My favorite is Jean-Bob the Frog, voiced by John Cleese, simply for his name. He has this silly escapade concerning a castle’s moat that is guarded by two alligators who try to bite his head off as he tries to swim.
I think Rothbart was good too, voiced by Jack Palance. The Prince, as he does in most stories, has the personality of a fashion model in a commercial for an underarm deodorant.
The story begins with Odette and young Prince Derek being born from neighboring kingdoms and their parents hoping they fall in love later in life. As children, they are completely repulsed by each other, but after some time, they do fall in love. Derek, however, makes the blunder of describing her as simply beautiful. Rothbart then sets off to act on his evil plans.
Though “Thumbelina” and “Rock-a-Doodle,” Disney’s latest competitors in animation, lacked color and flair, “The Swan Princess” with its stunning visuals and captivating storyline stood out.
Even with relatively smaller budgets, Richard Rich clearly grasps the recent Disney animated renaissance better than other directors and achieves some of the same magic. The film may not be at the same level of Disney’s big four, nor does it crossover to adult appeal as much, but it is certainly upbeat, lively, and has its moments as family entertainment.
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