The Princess Blog

A few weeks ago, I received a comment on my YouTube channel  to check out a '90s cartoon called Princess Sissi . I was never one to pass up the opportunity to discover a new princess show, so I did a quick YouTube search and commenced binging. The animation and acting were nothing to write home about, though Sissi's American voice is notably dubbed by Terri Hawkes , who is known for playing the most famous Magical Girl princess  of the '90s, Sailor Moon . I found that her voice was far more suited to a mature duchess than an immature middle school student. What stood out to me about Princess Sissi was the overarching theme of romance. While princess movies often focus on true love , princess cartoons rarely incorporate it into their episodic storylines. For that reason, I was reminded of Saban's Adventures of The Little Mermaid , another '90s cartoon about the trials and tribulations of a blonde princess struggling to be with the man she loves. I did a little resea...

I just got back from Florida, and my trip would not have been complete without a visit to the Magic Kingdom! Ever since the 2013 Fantasyland expansion, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom has become the ultimate destination for theme park princesses . I noticed some changes to the princess attractions since my last trip.  Unlike Disney Springs , these changes were all improvements. Instead of waiting in a long line to meet three princesses at random and hope to get the one you want, the princess meet'n'greets have been streamlined to specific spots for specific princesses, eliminating the guesswork and frustration of learning your favorite princess just got swapped with another one when you reached the front of the line. As usual, Ariel is in her grotto next to her ride . You can meet her in mermaid form at Walt Disney World, as opposed to Disneyland in California, where she only makes appearances as a human. Belle comes out in the secret library through the magic portal ...

We now have our first official full-length trailer for Frozen II . This trailer expands on some of the images we saw in the teaser  along with strategically chosen dialogue to keep us guessing about the story. Though it does not contain any additional footage of the mysterious girl and boy from the initial teaser, we do see a new character in the form of an underwater horse spirit revealed to be a Nokk , a mythological creature from various European cultures. Reminiscent of the will o' the wisps from Brave  or the blowing leaves from Pocahontas , this shapeshifting spirit appears to be Elsa's guiding force to the magical elements of the film. We see a similar horse appear again later in the form of glittering lights alongside illusions of other creatures that later transform into sparkling silver leaves. The Nokk's magic will likely lead Elsa to her mysterious destiny that will be presented in this film. A major focal point of Frozen II  is the inception of Elsa's...

You may recall my recent review of the Cahraman trilogy  by Lucy Tempest , a gender-swapped adaptation of "Aladdin"  with an overly complicated backstory. Needless to say, I wasn't particularly eager to read her latest book, Beast of Rosemead  until I was offered an advance copy in exchange for my honest review. As it turned out, I was pleasantly surprised. Beast of Rosemead  is the first part of a two-book saga, which is an improvement over the slow pacing of the lengthy three-part Cahraman trilogy. As the next story in Lucy Tempest's Fairy Tales of Folkshore series , it contains plenty of references to the Cahraman books. While it certainly helps to read those first, it's not hard to figure out what's going on in Beast of Rosemead even if you have no prior knowledge of the series. Beast of Rosemead  is the story of Bonnie, Adelaide's best friend from Thief of Cahraman . Unlike Adelaide's story, this "Beauty and the Beast" adaptation ...

The first teaser trailer for Pixar's Onward  dropped a few days ago, and it got me thinking. Onward  has a typical fantasy setting of mermaids , faeries , and unicorns , but instead of taking place once upon a time, it takes place during our  time. Therefore, these mythological beings whose ancestors lived in the days of magic and adventure now live in your average suburban neighborhood watching TV and surfing the internet. The combination of magic and technology is not entirely new. Series like Mysticons and Winx Club  also take place in modern settings, and the characters are shown to take advantage of computers and technology just as much as we do. However, most princess stories are set in the medieval or Renaissance era, long before such things were heard of. Sometimes it's fun to imagine how they might behave if they were brought up with access to all of the modern conveniences we have today. The first time I saw a traditional princess use modern technolog...