The Princess Blog

The twelfth and final installment in The Swan Princess franchise was aptly titled Far Longer Than Forever  in tribute to the romance theme from the original film . As some fans have pointed out, the title accurately represents how long the filmmakers have been milking the series  for almost 30 years with one awful sequel after another. Some of the later sequels had potential , but this movie did not do them any favors as a finale. Written as a direct follow-up to A FairyTale Is Born , the eleventh film in the series,  Far Longer Than Forever  ties up some loose ends after a tedious and forgettable journey that fails to acknowledge many characters and plot points that had been introduced over the course of the other eleven movies. Despite the obvious nod to the famous song that this latest installment uses as its title,  A FairyTale Is Born  seemed more suitable as a conclusion because it contained more tributes to the original film. Far Longer Than F...

Promoted on Sony's website as "Part One of the thrilling conclusion to the Swan Princess series," The Swan Princess: A FairyTale Is Born  marks the 11th film in the franchise  since The Swan Princess  came out in 1994, meaning it is expected to end with a total of 12 movies. That's still not as many as The Land Before Time , but it's close! With all the experience that Richard Rich and his team have making Swan Princess films, they had plenty of time to hone their skills with animation and plot development, which is why the last few movies have not been as nightmarish as some of the earlier CGI ones . This movie serves as a nice homage to its roots as a partial prequel that ties up any loose ends long-time fans of the series may have had about Queen Uberta's origins and the absence of Odette's mother and Derek's father along with some nostalgic orchestrations of memorable songs from the original film. Do you ever get the feeling that you've jus...

There has been much rumor and speculation about the upcoming prequel to The Swan Princess , and the wait is finally over. The Swan Princess social media team announced this morning that the latest installment will be released in exactly three weeks on May 23rd. That means we don't have much longer to wait to learn about the events leading up to Derek and Odette's birth. There's something a little fishy about that date, and that is it is the same week that Disney will premiere their live-action remake of The Little Mermaid  in theaters. Maybe that's just a coincidence, but honestly, I don't think so. Direct-to-DVD sequels like this have a lot less buildup, and it seems like they are trying to ride off the coattails of another popular princess fandom to get people to watch this while they're waiting. Either that or someone has a lot more faith in a direct-to-DVD sequel outshining what is probably the most highly anticipated Disney remake of all time than they pr...

If you're a Swan Princess  fan, you might be familiar with the Chamberg Daily News , the YouTube webseries for official announcements about the never-ending onslaught of tie-in movies  to the original 1994 adaptation of "Swan Lake."  Instead of exploring the new settings and characters that were introduced in  The Swan Princess 10: A Royal Wedding , it looks like the series is going back to its roots for its 11th installment. According to the latest video newsletter from the Chamberg Daily News, the next Swan Princess  movie will be a prequel entitled A Fairy Tale Is Born  that will explore the events before and leading up to the original film. I've been pretty vocal about my thoughts on the pointless CGI sequels that spat all over the beautiful hand-drawn animation of the original trilogy. As such, I'm not too thrilled about adding a prequel to the mix that would further soil the imagery of the original film. To be fair, it has not been officially co...

Like them or not, the endless CGI sequels to The Swan Princess  are here to stay. The only thing we can hope for at this point is that the movie's creators  are capable of continuing to add fresh new stories to the franchise and improving their skills in what was once a brand new style of animation for Princess Odette and her friends. After seeing the last two installments, I believe that they have. A Royal Wedding  is the tenth movie in the Swan Princess series  and a direct sequel to the previous film, Kingdom of Music . I found both of these sequels more enjoyable than the older CGI sequels that began in 2012 with The Swan Princess Christmas , which was so bad that there was really nowhere to go but up. The improvements to the latest sequels were accomplished by introducing original new mythology that was inspired by "Swan Lake"  and allowing Odette and Derek to step into the background for supporting roles, something that was well deserved after eight...

Odette turned into a swan. Ariel turned into a human. Tiana turned into a frog. Thumbelina turned into a faery . Transformation is such a huge theme among fairy tales that it is practically embedded into their DNA. If you think beautiful transformation sequences are just a visual motif, you would only be half right. This theme is so common among fables because it represents a storytelling technique that has existed ever since stories started being told. Every good story takes a character on a complete journey, whether physical or metaphorical, that changes them by the time they reach its end. Likewise, each princess or prince who has transformed into their final form by the end of the movie leans a powerful lesson from their experiences. We see that lesson visually through the magic of animation and visual effects. For me, transformation sequences are the ultimate high point of traditional animation . Every fairy tale princess begins her story as a sheltered ingenue  who i...

Yesterday was November 18th, which was dubbed National Princess Day  in 2017 in honor of the anniversary of The Swan Princess . To celebrate the 25th anniversary of this underrated classic, the filmmakers got together to create a concept trailer that would give its fans an idea of what a live-action remake might look like. Don't get too excited though. There are no concrete plans for a live-action "Swan Lake" adaptation as far as we know. The team behind The Swan Princess  is extremely enthusiastic about the film, even 25 years later and are looking into every avenue they can find to keep its legacy going. Earlier this year, they released the ninth sequel  in The Swan Princess  franchise and are currently working on the tenth. Executive Producer Seldon Young  is eager to keep the fandom going through any means possible. Yesterday, he released this concept trailer for a live-action remake in the hopes that it might attract enough interest to set such a project ...

Princess anniversary celebrations seem to be an ongoing theme this year, but nothing can compare to the one I experienced last night. I was invited to the 25th anniversary celebration of The Swan Princess  as a social media influencer. This event was everything a Swan Princess  party could be and more. From the sprawling pink carpet outside the W Hollywood Hotel  to the ice swan sculpture in the lobby, no stone was left unturned for this massive celebration of the 1994 animated classic . The elegant reception lasted for roughly two hours before moving to the Arclight Hollywood  for a 4K Ultra HD remastered screening of the movie preceded by a speech and award ceremony from producer Seldon Young . Cast, crew, and fans from all over the world blended together in their Sunday best to celebrate their love of The Swan Princess . Reporters, videographers, and cosplayers lined the pink carpet as Seldon conducted interviews for the press. The carpet was pink in ...

The Swan Princess  has released yet another sequel  in their never-ending franchise . Fortunately, the last one  was such an unfathomable disaster that the story had nowhere to go but up. I was pleased to find that Kingdom of Music  was an improvement over the last few CGI direct-to-DVD sequels. This is in part thanks to its throwbacks to the original "Swan Lake" inspired story  as well as cultural diversity, which is trending right now in the world of fairy tale princesses , and the coming of age for Alise, Odette and Derek's adopted daughter. Actually, I think they could have generated more interest among the Swan Princess  crowd if they had made her grow into a teenager a bit earlier, since that is the classic age for fairy tale princesses. They decided to go the Sofia the First route instead by making her an ordinary little girl who falls into royalty without the obstacle of romance getting in the way. However, Lucas, the orphan boy Alise met in Pri...

Two years ago today, I thought about how far my professional career had strayed from my true passion now that I was in my 30s . What was I doing to create my own happy ending? Sure, I had written a few books  and had recently gotten married , but I didn't feel like I was living my life to the fullest and celebrating my love of fairy tales and storytelling. That's when I decided to start a blog. The topic for my blog was obvious. I've loved princess stories my entire life, and there are more of them out there now than ever. Starting The Princess Blog  not only gave me an excuse to continue indulging in my fandoms, but it also forced me to write every day. I now have over 300 posts about everything from movies to books to lifestyle guides . It's gone through a few changes over the past couple of years, such as posting every week instead of every day as well as one major cosmetic makeover, but its basic philosophies remain the same as they have always been for the last ...

I was thinking about writing a review of Netflix's sequel to A Christmas Prince , but it really speaks for itself. It's a cheap sequel  to an already low-budget movie that isn't worth anyone's time. A better thing to discuss is why Netflix bothered making a sequel to A Christmas Prince  at all, especially after they already contributed a low-budget movie  to the princess-filled month of November , which, while not exactly original, was at least not a sequel. Netflix produces a ton of content. Even Disney Legend Glen Keane is working for them  now! Even though everything they produce is not guaranteed to be a high-quality blockbuster, this unwanted and unnecessary sequel is just the tip of the iceberg. A bigger problem lies below the surface. The best new princess show Netflix has made is actually a reimagining of something from the '80s , and almost every Disney movie in production right now  is either a sequel or a live-action remake . Are there trul...

I've never been much of a makeup person, but I am obsessed with my nails. I started growing them out in high school, and I get very sad when one breaks. Since I get so many compliments on my nails, I decided to write a little guide to help you have princess nails too! With the recent advancements in nail wraps, there have never been more easy princess and affordable princess nail options than the are now. You never know when having long nails will come in handy for something. If you use a computer a lot, you tend to look at your fingers fairly often. That's why I try to find the best designs to make my nails look as princess-like as possible. If you like how your nails look, you'll smile every time I look down at your keyboard. Check out these amazing Swan Princess  nail wraps I just got from Espionage Cosmetics ! These Moonlight Transformation  nail wraps are officially licensed by The Swan Princess  and portray the effect of moonlight over the waves on Swan La...