The Princess Blog

The latest princess movie on Netflix is inspired by an old Japanese legend, but it isn't a direct retelling \like The Tale of Princess Kaguya . Instead, Cosmic Princess Kaguya  takes place in a futuristic world where most young people are obsessed with a popular virtual reality game, similar to the anime movie  Belle . It also follows the recent trope of modern musicals like  Six  and Between the Lines  of taking back the narrative by attempting to give Kaguya a happier ending than she had in the fairy tale. Many aspects of the movie are fun and interesting, but it tends to jump around between too many different ideas. Cosmic Princess Kaguya  tells the story of Iroha, a teenage girl whose mother all but abandoned her, leaving her to grow up quickly at a young age. When she finds a baby trapped in a utility pole, she struggles with the decision to take it in or bring it to the police. The baby magically grows into a preteen overnight and bonds with Iroha, wh...

The holiday season  is upon us, which means it's almost time to start a new year filled with new princess content. Within the past few weeks, there has been a slew of announcements regarding upcoming princess properties, and very few of these came from Disney. Netflix is currently the best place for original animated content . They have at least two new animated princess movies coming out in 2026. On the gamer front, a trailer was recently released for a tie-in video game of the new Winx Club reboot . The upcoming Super Mario Bros. movie has also been confirmed to introduce a popular princess from the franchise who has yet to make her theatrical debut. Let's dive into a new year of princesses. Last week, Netflix released the first screenshot from Steps , a fractured retelling of "Cinderella" focusing on one of the ugly stepsisters . Although a similar made-for-TV movie came out in 2002 based on the Gregory Maguire novel, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister , this ada...

The Tale of Princess Kaguya  is an anime movie that was released by Studio Ghibli in 2013. It is based on the Japanese folktale "The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moon-Child."  The themes of the story pertain closely to my recent  analysis of vanity in princess movies. Just like every other fairy tale princess, Kaguya has a legendary striking beauty that is renowned for miles, bringing her many suitors who are willing to do the most difficult of tasks for the chance to gaze upon her. However, she assigns them these tasks not because she thinks that they need to prove themselves worthy of beauty, but because she has little interest in being seen as a valuable treasure. Kaguya's wish to be treated like an ordinary girl in spite of her privilege is nothing new. Most Disney Princesses who are born into royalty resent the life they were given and wish to live a normal one. Aurora flings herself onto a bed and cries when the three good fairies tell her that she is a princess be...