The Princess Blog

Another Aladdin  production , another Jasmine song. With the recent addition of "Speechless," Jasmine has had a different solo song in every incarnation of the story. Yes, "A Whole New World"  is consistently used as the romantic duet, but it is not seen as Jasmine's signature song in the same way that "Part of Your Wold," "Someday My Prince Will Come," or "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" is associated with their respective princesses because it is just as much Aladdin's song as it is Jasmine's. While Ariel and Rapunzel have many original solos scattered throughout The Little Mermaid and Tangled series , the Aladdin series sadly did not contain any original songs . As a result, Jasmine's songs are buried within so many different productions of Aladdin  that even die-hard fans might have trouble finding them all. That's why I decided to compile this list of my top three Jasmine solos along with a little backgrou...

I think it goes without saying that Disney's 1992 Aladdin  was a childhood staple for anyone who grew up in the '90s, and I am no exception. Therefore, my initial reaction when I found that they were doing a live-action remake  was rather cynical. I have  not been a fan of the remakes Disney had done in the past, and the last original live-action princess movie I saw from them left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Therefore, I went into the Aladdin  remake with high hopes and low expectations . Is it possible to recapture the magic of the original film without coming off as lifeless clone like the 2017 remake of Beauty and the Beast ? Spoiler alert: The answer is an enthusiastic yes. After seeing one Disney disappointment after another and spending a great deal of time studying the art of screenwriting this year,  I was beginning to think that perhaps I was becoming jaded. Maybe the sense of wonder I felt after seeing a new movie for the first time si...

Today I'm going to talk about a show I have barely ever mentioned before in my blog. Star vs. the Forces of Evil  is an animated Magical Girl Princess series that premiered on Disney Channel in 2015. I watched the first few episodes, decided it wasn't my cup of tea, and ignored it for the next four years until they announced that series was about to end. I caught up with the last few episodes leading up to today's finale  so I could determine if it got any better. This is not a traditional review because I don't consider myself a fan of the show. I skipped over most of the episodes leading up to the finale, including the entirety of the second and third seasons. If you are a long-time fan of the series, you are welcome to comment below and correct me on any inaccuracies that you will likely find in this post. I would love to hear about why the show appealed to people in ways that it did not appeal to me. This is Star vs. the Princess Blogger. Game on! My first i...

I posted not too long ago about how fed up I was with all the Disney live-action remakes , sequels , and sequels to live-action remakes. Then I pointed out that many of the new clips from the upcoming live-action Aladdin  movie look amazing ( and they keep getting better ). That movie has a week to go before the general public will be able to see it, but Disney has already gotten down to business in promoting Maleficent: Mistress of Evil  with our first teaser trailer earlier this week. I have to say, it looks promising. The teaser reveals virtually nothing about the plot, but it does drop some hints about the new setting and thematic elements. A lot of plot devices will need to be created from scratch after the conclusive ending of the original film in which Maleficent became a mother figure to Princess Aurora, who was crowned queen of the Moors to unite the magical and non-magical kingdoms It would be impossible to tell the same story again after how much has alre...

I've written before about how princesses inspire me  during daily life, but I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to these stories when it comes to my creative endeavors. Fairy tales have been evolving for hundreds of years . The solidarity between the storytellers who pass these tales along to new generations so we can retell them in unique ways is incredibly motivating to me as an aspiring writer. It sets an idea in place to get the creative gears turning while opening up possibilities to create something entirely new and original. Being that today is Mothers Day, I'd also like to point out that mothers who share princess stories with their daughters empower them with endless potential to play make-believe in a world where anything is possible and girl can be anyone or anything they desire. It isn't just the stories themselves that act as a catalyst for creative minds. Mythological, royal, and fairy tale women have been portrayed in artwork for just as long as their st...

Well, the verdict is in. "Black Vortex, Part One"  is out on Disney XD, and we finally have the full story of that clip where Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy  gets trapped in a Disney Princess nightmare. The "Black Vortex" arc is likely inspired by the Netflix series Black Mirror . It portrays the famous Marvel guardians getting trapped in worlds that look familiar at first but have something that's a more malicious just below the surface. Unlike Black Mirror, these are worlds that remind us of different types of classic animated media instead of the world we live in. Each episode is split into two vignettes, so the princess storyline does not cover the entire 20 minutes. The second half of "Black Vortex, Part One" covers the Guardians of the Galaxy  character Drax, who gets trapped in a motion comic that contains pokes fun at several other well-known superheroes including Spider-Man and Superman. The Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout! ca...

Just when I thought I wouldn't have anything else to talk about until the Aladdin  remake  comes out, the magical world of the internet surprised me yet again with two charming new YouTube shorts. Technically, neither of them are about princesses, but both are related to some of the most well-known Disney Princesses . The first is a new music video  from PattyCake Productions , the dream team that brought us "Princess Academy" and "The Grande Mermaid."  The second video is a clip from an upcoming episode of the animated  Guardians of the Galaxy  series on Disney XD called Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout! (not to be confused with the ride at Disneyland of the same name). This episode will premiere this Sunday with the clip below featuring Gamora, the green-skinned Avenger. Just in time for Mothers Day, "Tough Love"  is the second episode of PattyCake Productions' Villains Lair web series. It features three of the most ...

By now, I'm sure I've made my feelings about Disney's live-action remakes perfectly clear. In fact, when I saw the first trailer they released for their upcoming live-action Aladdin  remake , it only reassured me that this would be a bland shadow of the original 1992 animated classic . However, Disney's clever marketing team  has been stealthily dropping TV spots and other campaigns for the film over the past few weeks that make it look like it might be worth watching as its own entity. That's not to say that it won't be comparable at all since it does still feature the same songs, characters, and plot. Yet, there appears to be a bit more creativity in this remake than the watered down Beauty and the Beast  clone they released in 2017. Of course, that could also be the result of a very well edited commercial. This "Rags to Wishes" promo shifted many of expectations about the movie I will be seeing on May 24th in a good way. The promo starts wi...

Oh, She-Ra, She-Ra, She-Ra, why must you let me down? There were only seven episodes this season. For comparison's sake, that's actually shorter than the runtime of the new  Avengers: Endgame  movie. Noelle Stevenson could have taken advantage of that to turn the season into an extended movie with an ongoing story arc. Instead, it followed in the footsteps of its predecessor  by releasing five irrelevant filler episodes and two character-driven backstory episodes before ending with a cliffhanger that was almost--but not quite--as frustrating as the ending of the Tangled finale . I should have predicted something like this from the mediocre trailer they released, but I was hoping they were just trying to keep the plot under wraps to avoid spoilers. It was particularly disappointing after the incredibly strong first season the show delivered only six months ago. While the first season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power excelled at character growth, these episodes...

Did you know that the Tangled series might be in trouble? Despite boasting beautiful music, breathtaking artwork , and top-notch storytelling , it is reportedly one of the lowest rated shows on Disney Channel right now. Executive producer Chris Sonnenberg  has been diligently reaching out to fans via Twitter  to spread more visibility for the show. Loyal fans have also created a new Twitter page  to share and discuss news about the series. Don't worry; we're still getting a third season . I just have no idea when. In solidarity of the recent efforts to promote the show, I did some research and discovered that there was a second tie-in novel released last year called Rapunzel and the Vanishing Village . I had already discovered the first tie-in novel, Rapunzel and the Lost Lagoon , when it was released thanks to an aggressive advertising campaign on Facebook. It did a fantastic job of bridging the gap between the original film and the series. Rapunzel and the Vanishing V...

The final book in the Autumn Fairy Trilogy  was released a few weeks ago. I've been reading these books since the beginning, so I knew exactly what to expect from this one. Like the rest of Brittany Fichter's work , it was pretty dark for a faery princess  story. The main characters were tortured through the entire book until they were ultimately saved by their divine faith in Atharo, who is this world's version of God. For me, the best thing about this series was the beautiful imagery of the magical naturalistic world that the fairies lived in and the elegant floral fashions that they wore. The final book cut back on most of those pleasantries in favor of even more character torture leading up to the final conflict. Therefore, The Last Autumn Fairy  was the weakest book in the trilogy for me. The Last Autumn Fairy  chronicles the logical next step in Katy and Peter's star-crossed relationship as well as all of the obstacles that inevitably come with it. Since ...

The rest of the second season of the Tangled series  flew by like a whirlwind  over the past six weeks and concluded today with the season finale special,  Destinies Collide . Due to the show's  erratic air schedule , I was hoping the season wouldn't end on a cliffhanger, but it did. I would be really upset about this if it hadn't been for all the great stuff in the episode leading up to it. All of the big revelations and parallels to the  Tangled  feature made  Destinies Collide  a satisfying conclusion to the season. We know that everything will be fully wrapped up after the third and final season airs, whenever that may be, leading into the short  "Tangled Ever After."  There is a lot to unpack in this finale. It's hard for me to talk about it without spoilers, so I suggest that you  go ahead and watch  Destinies Collide  before reading this if you haven't seen it yet. I'll wait. To start, I really have t...