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The Swan Princess (Special Edition)

The Swan Princess (Special Edition)

List Price: $14.94
Your Price: $13.45
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Classic Fairytale
Review: This classic fairytale story is based on possibly the most famous ballet of all time - Swan Lake. It is loosely based however, and follows the traditional Disney pattern of storytelling with romance, adventure, slapstick, musical numbers animal sidekicks, and of course with love conquering all.

Princess Odette (Michelle Nicastro)and Prince Derek (Howard McGillin) are betrothed from an early age by their parents in the hopes that their two kingdoms will be united. The only problem is - the two can't stand each other. However, unlike most other romance movies where the hero and heroine go through many trials before realising they're in love, Odette and Derek fall for each other within the opening five minutes of the film as they grow from child to adult during the opening song. However, due to Derek's claims that Odette's beauty is the only thing that matters to him, Odette rejects his marriage proposal and she and her father return home to their kingdom. They do not get far however - the evil Count Rothbart (Jack Palance) is waiting for them, and transforms into a terrifying beast and kidnaps Odette, changing her into a swan. At the reclusive lake that Odette is taken to, Odette learns that she is a swan every day, except for an hour each night when she changes back into human form. The only way to break this curse is for her one true love to make a vow of everlasting love and prove it to the world. Rothbart's reasons for kidnapping Odette are to force her into marriage so that he might take over the kingdom. Odette refuses, convinced that Derek will save her, and with her animal friends Speed the turtle, Jean-Bob (John Cleese) the frog and Puffin the (what else?) puffin they lure Derek to the lake to witness her metamorphosis for himself. Reunited, the lovers make a plan - tomorrow night at his mother's ball Derek will give Odette his vow of everlasting love. However, Rothbart is one step ahead of him and imprisons Odette, sending his disguised servant to the palace in her place...

The protagonists Odette and Derek are a satisfactory hero and heroine for the story. Odette is the typical fairytale princess (blonde hair, blue eyes, etc) but has some very twenty-first century ideals - she refuses to marry Derek if all he sees is his beauty (though strangely enough she is singing a few minutes later about how much she loves him) and takes it into her on hands (or wings) to bring Derek to the lake. Derek, however is an imbecile. Among other things he insults his bride-to-be, nearly kills her, and then confesses his love to another woman. His redeeming features are his singing voice and his heroic athletic abilities with a bow and arrow.

The secondary characters are far more enjoyable - Odette's animal friends will appeal mostly to kids - the heroic Scottish Puffin, the slow but steady Speed, and (cleverly following the fairytale of the Frog Prince) the snobbish and proud Jean-Bob who believes all he has to do to be transformed into a prince is to be kissed by a fair maiden. Adults should warm to Derek's flustering and hysterical mother Queen Uberta, who comes across as the typical interferring and meddling mother, and Derek's consort, the wry and sarcastic Rogers. Also worth noting is Derek's best friend, the cowardly Brom who inevitably swallows his fears to save the day.

The Swan Princess is on the whole an enjoyable, traditional fairytale with all the components one would expect. Great songs, good animation, successfully funny jokes and an interesting story with only a plot holes all contribute to this. A few scenes got on my nerves, such as Rothbart's techni-colour, disco-like musical number and the down-right tacky beauty-pagent style of the ball, but the last twenty minutes of the movie - including Odette's escape from the prison, the imposter-Odette drawing Derek's attention from the desparate swan at the windows, and Derek's final fight with Rothbart more than make up for it. This movie is a must for all fairytale lovers.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: swan princess roxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx!
Review: this could be one of the greatest movies in the world! the voices are hilarious, and some of the lines are the funniest i've ever heard! this movie should be viewed by everyone in the world. if you havent seen it, your life can not possibly be even close to complete! you have got to get this movie!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Love the movie, hate this DVD
Review: THIS DVD IS NOT IN WIDESCREEN. If you want widescreen and you have a way to play Region 2 DVDs, get the UK verson. (The same is true for The Last Unicorn.) I guess Americans aren't good enough for widescreen cartoons!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This will a timeless fairy tale story! Great!
Review: This is one of the best stories I have seen in a long time. I love the characters and how they interact with each other. I would rate this story top in my list of movies to own and watch with my kids. I've also shared it with all my friends and family.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fairy tale parody
Review: This is truly a fairy tale worth watching. The humor and romance are the strengths of this movie. My favorite character is odette and Jeanbob. If you love fairytales watch this. This movie is worth viewing. P.S. Avoid the sequels ......

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Love the movie, hate this DVD
Review: What a terrible movie! This doesn't even deserve one star, but Amazon wouldn't let me give it zero. Not only was the animation low rate, but it was boring at that. After years of being played on Cartoon Netowrk and Disney, they finally decided to put this on SE DVD. What a waste of time. Now it can befoul the retnas of our children with better resolution and brightened color. Seriously, this heep of crap so many called a movie had like two more sequels, obviously no one's buying them because the animation studio that made all of them is now making terribly animated school videos about "American Heroes" including: Thomas Edison, Helen Keller, Alexander Grahm Bell, the Wright Brothers. I think everyone should walk outside right now and burn their copy of this movie, because surely if anyone got a hold of this in the future the end of the world wouldn't be too far away seeing as how our childrens intellegence gets diminished more and more every day by stupid Disney shows and bad movies. Sorry I blasted that so bad, but I haven't ranted in a while, and I felt a need to express my opinion.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Oh God! Did this suck? Yes, it did!
Review: What a terrible movie! This doesn't even deserve one star, but Amazon wouldn't let me give it zero. Not only was the animation low rate, but it was boring at that. After years of being played on Cartoon Netowrk and Disney, they finally decided to put this on SE DVD. What a waste of time. Now it can befoul the retnas of our children with better resolution and brightened color. Seriously, this heep of crap so many called a movie had like two more sequels, obviously no one's buying them because the animation studio that made all of them is now making terribly animated school videos about "American Heroes" including: Thomas Edison, Helen Keller, Alexander Grahm Bell, the Wright Brothers. I think everyone should walk outside right now and burn their copy of this movie, because surely if anyone got a hold of this in the future the end of the world wouldn't be too far away seeing as how our childrens intellegence gets diminished more and more every day by stupid Disney shows and bad movies. Sorry I blasted that so bad, but I haven't ranted in a while, and I felt a need to express my opinion.


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