The Swan Princess

Discussion of non-Disney entertainment.
User avatar
Linden
Special Edition
Posts: 672
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:24 am
Location: United States Gender: Female

Post by Linden »

I particularly enjoyed the part of the trailer when Derick goes snowboarding. That's when I started laughing and didn't stop until it ended.

But seriously, it's bizarre that they decided to make another sequel, CG no less. Is it cheaper now to do CG animation than hand-drawn?

The animation in it looks way worse than the Barbie movies, and that's saying something.
User avatar
Mooky
Platinum Edition
Posts: 3043
Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 2:44 pm
Gender: Male
Contact:

Post by Mooky »

The Swan Princess Christmas came in the mail yesterday and honestly, it's not that bad. That said, it's not good either: it's boring, sappy, and hideous to look at, but it has a few redeeming points. Namely, the characters are true to their prior incarnations (at least personality-wise), the story's solid if recycled, and it did manage to bring out a few chuckles out of me.

As pointed out before, the animation is the worst part of the movie. Contrary to what it says on the back cover, the animation is not "beautiful" in the slightest. On the other hand, it's not really Barbie-movies atrocious either. The characters look and move like rubber, but they have been given some subtle mannerisms that are sadly underplayed. Some effort was made for the leads' hair – it's more realistic than the hair of other characters, but it has a tendency to move on its own, even when the leads are standing still. Odette looks dreadful – she's constantly off-model compared to Odette from the previous three films; her dried grass-like hair (both in color and looks) doesn't help things either. Background characters are even worse; they move like they're made out of pudding.

Story is a mix of the original Swan Princess, The Return of Jafar and probably every other Christmas movie ever made. In other words, a typical holiday cheese-fest (the villain gets defeated by the Christmas spirit, joyously expressed in a song sung by a distressed Odette. Gag). Still, there are some good characterizations and characters aren't as stupid or daft as they tend to get in these DTV productions; they actually make some in-movie meta-references and address some of the movie's more obvious plot-holes, which really took me by surprise. It has been given a PG rating ("for mild violence and threat"), though I don't think there's anything in it that would scare or disturb even the littlest of children (except maybe seeing Chamberlain and old hag/Bridgit kiss three times over the course of the movie :p, or this ;)).

Continuity-wise, I'm not really sure where this would be placed in regards to the rest of the series. End credits identify it as a "Swan IV" production (btw, the production team is the same as for the other three movies), but the actual story plays out as if it happens some time after the original (Odette and Derek celebrate their first Christmas together, whereas they celebrated their first marriage anniversary in Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain). Anachronisms are everywhere: light-bulbs and snowboarding play a part in the plot, and black people apparently lived in medieval European kingdoms like it was not a big deal (to be fair, it's something the original Swan Princess suffered from as well - yay for political correctness!).

The music… Ugh, the music… It's beyond horrendous. Mushy, moronic lyrics and auto-tune abound. Fortunately, the songs don't last for long and the original Swan Princess theme makes a short appearance.

Also, CGI Jean-Bob is now a mascot of Nest Animation.

Overall, it's a generally weak effort that is further bogged down by ugly visuals. It's not a bad way to spend an hour and a half, but you'd probably get bored quickly. It is meant for kids after all. As for older crowd, I'd recommend it to fans and completists only.
User avatar
Linden
Special Edition
Posts: 672
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:24 am
Location: United States Gender: Female

Post by Linden »

Kudos to you for sitting through the whole thing. I loved the original (and sequels) as much as any other girl growing up in the 90s, but even that wouldn't be enough to sit through the whole thing. The trailer was painful enough.

I do hope Nest gets some money off of this though, so they can make more quality productions. The more animation studios, the better.
User avatar
Mooky
Platinum Edition
Posts: 3043
Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 2:44 pm
Gender: Male
Contact:

Post by Mooky »

Yeah... For all the crappiness of the movie, it really was kind of fun seeing familiar faces again. Too bad it wasn't a better project, but oh well.
User avatar
Sotiris
Ultimate Collector's Edition
Posts: 19913
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:06 am
Gender: Male
Location: Fantasyland

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by Sotiris »

The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale will be released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital on February 25, 2014. You can watch the trailer, here. This marks the first title in the film series that will be released on Blu-ray. It's sad that the original hasn't been released on Blu-ray, yet this one gets the Blu-ray treatment.
Synopsis wrote:Shortly after the Royal Family adopts a young girl named Alise, she is taken away into the forest. Princess Odette, Derek and their woodland friends, Jean-Bob the Frog and Speed the Turtle, must work together to find a way to bring her home to the castle.
Source: https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/the ... familytale


Poster

Image
Source: https://moviesanywhere.com/movie/the-sw ... amily-tale


DVD

Image
Source: https://www.amazon.com/Swan-Princess-Ul ... 00UGPZYQY/


Blu-ray

Image
Source: https://www.amazon.com/Swan-Princess-Bl ... 00GMV8F6M/


Soundtrack

Image
Source: https://www.amazon.com/Swan-Princess-Ro ... 0737X8FL1/


I'm actually surprised The Swan Princess Christmas was successful enough to warrant another sequel. Who buys these movies? Well, I know someone who does and I think he'll buy this one too. :mischief:

Isn't that right, Mooky?

Image
ImageImageImageImageImageImage
User avatar
disneyboy20022
Signature Collection
Posts: 6867
Joined: Tue Aug 23, 2005 2:17 pm

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by disneyboy20022 »

I stopped watching at the 51 second mark. Derek and Odette look horrible. They hardly resemble their 2D versions. Honestly Derek looks like Camilla The Duchess of Cornwall with brown hair :P
Want to Hear How I met Roy E. Disney in 2003? Click the link Below

http://fromscreentotheme.com/ThursdayTr ... isney.aspx
User avatar
Disney Guru
Platinum Edition
Posts: 3294
Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2003 5:31 pm
Location: Utah

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by Disney Guru »

The first Swan Princess was amazing, 2nd okay third one was pushing it. Can't think of how awful the newer ones must be.
"I have this tremendous energy. I just loved and love life. I love it today. I never want to die."
~Jayne Meadows Allen~
User avatar
Cruella
Member
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2013 12:41 pm

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by Cruella »

Why... are they doing this now?

The first three hold sentimental value for me. True, the Christmas movie was more likable the second time I watched it, but the animation wasn't any more likable. Why they're making more Swan Princess movies now is a mystery to me.
User avatar
Musical Master
Anniversary Edition
Posts: 1528
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2013 12:53 pm
Gender: Male

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by Musical Master »

I have some pretty nice nostalgic memories of the first film when my family bought the original VHS of The Swan Princess and I remember that I liked the characters and the animation. The songs were okay and the villian was decent. The second and third films were nice for direct to video sequels and I can't imagine how awful the new ones are though from what everyone on here is saying.
Disney, Pixar, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Cinema fan
User avatar
thedisneyspirit
Anniversary Edition
Posts: 1503
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 11:42 am

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by thedisneyspirit »

I like the CGI
Last edited by thedisneyspirit on Thu Mar 09, 2017 1:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Atlantica
Signature Collection
Posts: 5445
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2006 3:33 am
Location: UK

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by Atlantica »

The original worked, but as almost always in these sorts of sequels, these just don't. And I especially don't understand doing it so much later and so randomly in CGI?!

Looks like they are trying to directly compete with the Barbie Movies now over Disney. I'm sure Barbie has even been the swan princess at some point?
User avatar
Linden
Special Edition
Posts: 672
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:24 am
Location: United States Gender: Female

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by Linden »

Oh. My. Gosh! I think I almost peed reading the summary. I don't know why cheesy things entertain me so much. :D

I'm really surprised they had the money to make this.

Atlantica, there is a Barbie Swan Lake. It was one of the first Barbie CG movies put out.
User avatar
Warm Regards
Special Edition
Posts: 851
Joined: Wed May 22, 2013 9:09 pm

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by Warm Regards »

Linden wrote:Oh. My. Gosh! I think I almost peed reading the summary. I don't know why cheesy things entertain me so much. :D

I'm really surprised they had the money to make this.

Atlantica, there is a Barbie Swan Lake. It was one of the first Barbie CG movies put out.
They also made a reboot called Barbie In the Pink Shoes.
User avatar
Mooky
Platinum Edition
Posts: 3043
Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 2:44 pm
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by Mooky »

Sotiris wrote:I'm actually surprised The Swan Princess Christmas was successful enough to warrant another sequel. Who buys these movies? Well, I know someone who does and I think he'll buy this one too. :mischief:

Isn't that right, Mooky?
Image
You know me all too well 8)

*pre-orders the DVD*

I have a few questions about the cover though... Why does Odette look like Hilary Duff? Why does that kid look like Lindsay Lohan circa 1998? Why does Derek look like Wendie Malick's ugly twin brother?
User avatar
MeerkatKombat
Special Edition
Posts: 672
Joined: Tue Oct 08, 2013 12:48 pm
Location: UK

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by MeerkatKombat »

I always enjoyed this film when younger. I don't think it quite stands up so well now I'm older. The music was rather good, I'll give it that. I've never seen the sequels and the farther 'The Swan Princess Christmas' stays away from me, the better.

I don't understand why they got Liz Callaway to dub Odette's singing voice when Michelle Nicastro was a Broadway singer. Hearing her sing, it is quite obvious she didn't suffer from voice dissonance. Was very sad to hear of her death a few years ago.

Wikipedia tells me 'The Swan Princess V: A Royal Family Tale' is coming. I'll be skipping this one in much the same way I skip nearly all sequels.
Settling Soul mates? That is grim. And I've played Monopoly alone.
User avatar
Sotiris
Ultimate Collector's Edition
Posts: 19913
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:06 am
Gender: Male
Location: Fantasyland

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by Sotiris »

A DVD box set of all 5 films will be released on April 01, 2014.

Image
Source: http://www.amazon.com/Swan-Princess-Sec ... 00HXWF4X6/


On a related note, a CG-animated Swan Princess TV series seems to be in the works.

Image
Source: https://in.linkedin.com/in/tushar-hote-7377784a

Image
Source: https://in.linkedin.com/in/madhuri-ananthaneni-31a7683b
ImageImageImageImageImageImage
User avatar
Musical Master
Anniversary Edition
Posts: 1528
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2013 12:53 pm
Gender: Male

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by Musical Master »

What's funny is that the "The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale" is written by the original writers of the first movie, but it does look bad.
Sotiris wrote:A DVD box set of all 5 films will be released on April 01, 2014. On a related note, a CG-animated Swan Princess TV series is in the works.

Image
WOAH!!! THAT'S NOT ODETTE! :huh: :huh: :huh: :huh:
Disney, Pixar, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Cinema fan
User avatar
Sotiris
Ultimate Collector's Edition
Posts: 19913
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:06 am
Gender: Male
Location: Fantasyland

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by Sotiris »

In The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale, they've actually recreated in horrible CG animation abomination, an iconic scene from the original for a flashback. :headshake:

ImageImage
ImageImage
ImageImage
Source: https://lisab1991.tumblr.com/post/76771 ... ood-%C2%BD

ImageImage
ImageImage
ImageImage
ImageImage
Source: https://lisab1991.tumblr.com/post/76771 ... -childhood


They also copied the ending scene in Enchanted. :shock:

ImageImage
ImageImage
Source: http://goofyzachial.tumblr.com/post/152 ... -crappy-cg
ImageImageImageImageImageImage
User avatar
Musical Master
Anniversary Edition
Posts: 1528
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2013 12:53 pm
Gender: Male

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by Musical Master »

Sotiris wrote:In The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale, they've actually recreated in horrible CG animation abomination, an iconic scene from the original for a flashback. :headshake:
No.......Just.......No... :x
Disney, Pixar, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Cinema fan
User avatar
Jules
Diamond Edition
Posts: 4573
Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 9:20 am
Gender: Male
Location: Malta, Europe

Re: The Swan Princess

Post by Jules »

Sotiris wrote:In The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale, they've actually recreated in horrible CG animation abomination, an iconic scene from the original for a flashback. :headshake:
Gah. It's particularly painful because Michel Gagné's effects animation in the original film was pretty darned good. :smack:
Post Reply