The Swan Princess Christmas Review

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The Swan Princess Christmas picture image
The Swan Princess Christmas

If there are one thing I hate it’s a Disney knock-out holiday video. The Swan Princess Christmas is not so much a knock-off, it’s a super knock-off as Swan Princess was a Disney knock-off. The style of animation is in the style of those Barbie and Tinkerbell movies that came out round the same time and it doesn’t have the same charm or artistry of the original but 3d is faster and cheaper.

I would say the fact it’s a Christmas movie makes it so much worse but the sad truth is that it anchors it into an insipid and trite plot.

Odette and Derek The Swan Princess Christmas picture image
Odette and Derek

The Plot

It’s Derek and Odette’s first Christmas together. This sets the movie before the first sequel, Escape from Castle Mountain. Everyone is in super high Christmas spirits and there is all the cliche trite stuff that make Christmas important and yet so easily ruined. There is three decorating, a pageant and wind chimes. Christmas Wind Chimes are a least something new.

The ghost of Rothbart wants to come back but the Spirits of Christmas is stopping him. So to be restored he has make everyone grumps. The only thing that is keeping him at bay are the Christmas wind chimes. So because Odette and Derek have some plot contrive super Christmas Sprits, it’s up to them to save Christmas and the world.  At the end Rothbart changes Odette into a Swan because it’s customary at this point.

I don’t even recall what the Pond Pals’ roles were in this movie. I think Jean-bob was using mistletoe to get girls to kiss him.

Rothbart The Swan Princess Christmas picture image
Rothbart

This movie is a standard evil guy wants to ruin Christmas story but sans the redemption arc. If I’m being honest the Disney’s Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas was better and I didn’t enjoy that one either. I’m a holiday grump.

The Swan Princess Christmas picture image
Odette

None of the voice actors are back but more than that they made decent voice actors sound third rate. This might be why Laura Bailey is credited as Elle Deets. The director just sucked the talent right out of people.

I don’t think I need to mention how worthless and bland the characters are in this movie, if they didn’t have it when people were trying they sure the heck don’t have it now.

Odette The Swan Princess Christmas picture image
Odette

The most notable feature of this movie is the 3d animation. There is a lot artistry that can achieved with the medium but this not in this movie. The visuals in this movie are shoddy. If I’m being charitable, this movie was a direct-to-video release and there just wasn’t a budget to craft much more beyond what they could with their allotted resources.

That being said the visuals can be weird with the characters making expressions that make them look like they are high. The animation is just blocky with sparse details. I guess it more representational, you can tell that it’s the character designs from the from the original movie and that is enough.

If you thought the animation was bad well then there is the music. They used modern music and it just doesn’t mesh with the tone. The use of modern song was more likely another budget friendly choice.

Odette as a Swan The Swan Princess Christmas picture image
Odette as a Swan

The Swan Princess Christmas is awful but the nicest thing I can say is that trite plot made the movie more boring.

Update 2023 – an attempt was made to fix the grammar and toning down some vitriol since I no longer subscribe to the angry and bitter critic. It was a regrettable phase. I have not rewatch this movie since this review so I do not know if my opinions on it have changed or not.

Hypothetical Casting for Frollo; Michael McElHatton

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Michael McElHatton picture image

Michael McElHatton

Michael McElHatton plays Roose Bolton on Game of Thrones  and since its Sixth season is starting up agian and it has a plethora of awesome actors I thought let’s cast from that pool. To be honest I was between picking McElhatton or Stephen Dilane who played Stannis but picked McElhatton first because of reasons but mostly I just thought of him first.

Michael McElHatton picture image

Michael McElHatton

 

So why would McElHatton make a good Frollo? Well he’s got the right look. He has an austre yet elegant look and has some good angle going on in his face.

Michael McElHatton picture image

Michael McElHatton

Second, his speaking voice, it’s amazing. It’s very cool yet smooth. If a movie ever did Frollo’s monolouge, his voice would be ideal for just saying those lines. And if not can he just do a Hunchback of Notre Dame audio book?

Michael McElHatton as Roose Bolton in Game of Thrones picture image

Michael McElHatton as Roose Bolton in Game of Thrones

Aside from Game of Thrones, McElHatton hasn’t done much film work (though GoT is a TV show). He mostly does TV, shorts and Voice work BUT the acting he has done on Game of Thrones is very good. Roose Bolton is a horrible person and he captures Roose’s cold and calculating persona perfectly. Frollo and Roose don’t have much in common of an acting front but it’s clear that McElHatton has the acting to pull off Frollo.

Michael McElHatton picture image

Michael McElHatton

What do you think?  Would Michael McElHatton make a good Frollo?

Game of Thrones Hype.

Songs of Hunchback of Notre Dame Musical Review; Part 6

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One Song this week!

Hunchback of Notre Dame Musical performing Esmeralda picture image

Ensemble performing Esmeralda

Esmeralda –  Before I start, can I just say that watching the La Jolla performance of this song was bat-shit stupid.  It was dumb to  have Frollo stab Phoebus, then blames Esmeralda for it and yet he just condemned Phoebus to die and Esmeralda is already wanted. It like what the hell? What is the point of Frollo stabbing Phoebus? Musical, I respect what you’re doing but you can’t just insert the stabbing scene from the book  into your show like that. You just seem like you want to add things even though they don’t make sense with the narrative you’re telling. And while I’m mentioning the La Jolla recording, there are a lot of differences from the La Jolla version of this song vs the cast album. Do you have any idea how tasking these reviews are? I have to deal with the Disney Movie Version, the book, the German version, and two versions of the English musical version.

As you may know, Esmeralda is the Act 1 closer from the German version. This is where Frollo is on a man-hunt for Esmeralda and is burning Paris because he is super  obsessed. It’s also where Phoebus says No to Frollo for not burning  a Family in a Mill, though in this musical version it’s a brothel that harbors Gypsies. I think the change is so they could make some sexual connotations about Phoebus visiting and that Frollo shouldn’t be there.

Esmeralda was my favorite song from the German version as it’s both very dramatic and speaks to the basic theme of the story, the differences of the hearts of three men. I will say that it’s not my favorite song in this version as the I slightly prefer the Tavern song but it’s on point with the German. I do however have some issues with it though.

For starters, I hate the lyric “He held the Torch that Crackled like the Gypsy’s Voice.”   Even if Esmeralda in these Disnye-ish versions has a smokey quality, crackled is a terrible word choice. I understand Phoebus is supposed to be reminded of her in this instant and in the German version he hears her singing in his head but really Menken? Crackled?  A Crackling voice is indicative of an old person or someone with a cold.

And there is another issue I have. When Phoebus hears Esmeralda sing in his head in the German version, she sings a few lines from a song she sang to him in Notre Dame. This is the case in La Jolla performance though it’s a chorus and not Esmeralda herself. He then throws the Torch and say I’m just a fool though the line in German is I think I rather be Good than right.  In the cast album it’s FREAKING God Help the Outcasts, which yes is pretty BUT Phoebus never heard that song! It’s wouldn’t be important to him as the other song was because Esmeralda sung it directly to Phoebus. They just replaced  because the audience knew it better. That choice annoys. It also annoys that they just didn’t have Esmeralda sing it because she even reveals herself to Frollo and crew while in the German version she stays out of sight like in the Disney movie. This choices are really ill-conceived.

Weird choices asides, this still a great song that is much like German version in term of its powerful grand scale and is a great song to end Act I.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure Review; The Hunt for the Notes on a Plasma Nebula Ball

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The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure picture image
The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure

The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure the third Swan Princess movie and the second of the sequels. It came out in 1998 and is sadly the last hand-drawn Swan Princess movie. This was also the last time Michelle Nicastro voiced Odette. It also sometimes called The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Kingdom. It also pretty much has the same plot as the first sequel.

Odette, Derek, and Rogers The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure picture image
Odette, Derek, and Rogers

 A former partner of Rothbart wants something that is hidden in Derek and Odette’s castle. But instead of a discount Saruman who wants an orb, it’s a lady, Zelda, who wants notes on a magic spell that can do the same thing as the orb, which is create, change and destroy.

Derek however ripped the last word off the notes, so Zelda kidnaps Odette. It’s the same plot except the subplot is a festival and not Uberta’s birthday.

Zelda and Whizzer The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure picture image
Zelda and Whizzer

Odette and Derek are still bland boring characters so let’s just discuss the new characters, Zelda and her forced minion Whizzer, a frighten yakey-bird who can mimic voices.

Unlike the villain in the last movie, Clavius, Zelda gets into the castle with deception and flirts with Rogers. Rogers’ crush on her does led to a legit silly joke. After she gets what she wants and leaves, Rogers is beside himself and says maybe he read her good bye-note wrong, he then reads said note. which is is like “Dear Muffin, I Hate you, Love Zelda.” That may not be 100% correct but the timing by Rogers was great. Other than that Zelda is boring, she just wants power and that last word on the stupid destroy spell.


Whizzer, the bird minion does get a minor arc. He is scared and then the pond pals drill in the “No Fear” mantra and yay No Fear. It’s not great but what fuck do want from a Swan Princess Sequel? And Still this is still at least semi-watchable.

One issue I have with Whizzer is that he mimics Rothbart’s voice to trick Zelda but when did he ever hear Rothbart’s voice to mimic? I would question this more if I cared. Also since I’m on the topic of nitpicking, if Derek was in the position to rip the notes, why didn’t he destroy then like Odette had wanted? I mean yes plot but still so dumb.

Rogers and Brom The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure picture image
Rogers and Brom

I would say I recall the songs better in this movie a little bit more than the first movie but that could be because Derek’s love song basically just repeats animation from the original movie. Zelda’s song is also very derivative of the Rothbart’s song in tone. The songs are meh. The animation is on par with the first sequel, dull, muted and not special.

Rogers missing his lady love, Zelda The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure picture image
Rogers missing his lady love, Zelda

The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure is by no means a good movie or even a sequal. It had one good joke and that is pretty much it. It’s not the worse thing you can watch and is by no means even the worse of The Princess Swans movies because they just get so much worse after this one.

Hooked on a Hunchback Reference

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Quasimodo in Animaniacs hooked on a ceiling picture image

Quasimodo in Animaniacs

It’s another Hunchback of Notre Dame reference from Animaniacs. This one occurs in Season 1 episode  4 called Hooked on a Ceiling. The episode is the Yakko, Wakko and Dot help Michelangelo help painting the ceiling of the  Sistine Chapel. During the episode the bells start ringing which annoys Michelangelo and he goes to yell at the hunchback bell ringer who is claiming Sanctuary. You can tell it going to be Quasimodo the second the bells ring.

Songs of Hunchback of Notre Dame Musical Review; Part 5

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Patrick Page as Frollo singing Hellfire, Papermills Hunchback of Notre Dame, Picture image

Patrick Page as Frollo singing Hellfire, Papermills

Heaven’s Light – There isn’t much to say on this version of the song. Arden performs it very well and is a better singer that Hulce in the movie. Though I would say, at least in the cast album, it seems like Arden is fighting the impulse to sing in that broadway nasal style, which doesn’t work with the soft, light quality of stye song. Not saying he doesn’t capture the song because he does.  Anyway solid version of the song and the last note Arden holds is lovely.  I can understand if people prefer Arden’s version to the movie version, he puts passion into it and not that school boy crush of the movie.

Hellfire –  The Disney movie’s Hellfire is a hard act to replicate as it one of the highlights of the movie and is one of best songs in the Disney Pantheon. I would say the musical should have made this song more of its own instead of trying to emulate the movie. In stage show they did, to a point, I mean they striped it down to just Frollo and a red lighting effect but the song is just Hellfire with Patrick Page singing instead of Tony Jay. Jay’s version is just so perfect that this version feels lukewarm at its hottest. No disrespect to Page, he is a great singer but much like Norbert Lamla in the German version of the musical, he is channeling too much of Tony Jay.  Though to be fair, people want  Hellfire and that is what the musical gave them. It’s a damn if they don’t and damn if they do since the animation and Tony Jay made Hellfire.

However there is another issue with Hellfire in this version that bridges the movie and the book. In the Disney movie, Frollo is a more in touch with his anger and how it relates to his control over the city, so it makes sense that his lust is channeled through his anger IE Hellfire. In the book, Frollo valves his purity as means to keeping his control over himself and his lust is channeled out through self-loathing till it explodes with stabbing Phoebus.

As it is in the  musical there is a disconnect between Frollo’s personality and Hellfire. Yes, he does get mad when Esmeralda calls him out on the way he looks at her but then he goes out searching for her and his part in Tavern Song sounds more desperate than mad which makes Hellfire seem more out of place in the scheme of things.  I think the idea is that Hellfire at first showcases his desperation for control and he gets more consumed as the song goes on. Though in the book Frollo wasn’t that mad that Esmeralda was dragging him off to Hell, he rather welcome it, sure it made him go crazy to the point where he wanted to kill her but he was more mad that she going to give her virginity to someone who didn’t deserve her and that she didn’t want him. I don’t think book Frollo would sing this song. I will say that it’s a tough task merging Book Frollo with Disney Frollo since they are very different from each other but the causality of it seems to be Hellfire.

Or this could all be my head and I’m seeing an issue that isn’t there, or I didn’t explain my point very well. Both are possible. As it stand this a very tepid version of the song though the chorus is great.

 

 

The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain Review; The Hunt for a Plasma Nebula Ball

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What is worse than a Disney Sequel? A Diet Disney Sequel! The Swan Princess from 1993, which was reviewed already got FOUR direct to Video/DVD sequel, so since there are four Thursdays let’s review them.

The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain picture image

The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain

Before we start let me just say that on the spectrum of these movies the original Swan Princess is the best of the movies but as the number sequels goes up the quality gets so much worse. Far more terrible than you can imagine and the original was by no means a Good movie.

The first of The Swan Princess sequel movies is called The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain. It was released in 97 and had some, and I do mean some a few of the original voice actors   Like I said, of all the Swan Princess Sequels, it’s the best but that isn’t saying all that much. It’s still bad but at least it’s the shortest.

Odette and Bridget The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain picture image

Odette and Bridget

So ever still bland Odette  and Derek are celebrating their anniversary together but Derek as been ignoring Odette and his Mother’s upcoming birthday because some one has been vandalizing and burning things around the castle.  As it happens, Odette and Derek moved into Rothbart hideout from the first movie and Rothbart’s former partner, a dicount evil sorcerer named Clavius wants the Forbidden Arts which is hidden in the castle. The Forbidden Arts looks like one of those Plasma Nebula Ball novelty toys that were super cool in the 1990s.

To get leverage on Derek, Clavius kidnaps Uberta on her birthday. As Derek races off to save Clavius shows up and locks up Odette and learns that Derek is walking into a trap.  While Clavius is dealing with Odette Rothbart old Minion, Bridget and the Pond Pals get to the Forbidden Arts however on trying to free Odette they too get locked in her room/cell. Odette asks Bridget to change her into a Swan so she can warn Derek.

Clavius then gets the Forbidden Arts orb and being a villains wants to take over the world or some stuff nonsense, hijinks ensue and Derek, Odette, and the Pond Pal managed to break to the Forbidden Arts orb and kill Clavius and his minion Knuckles.  Odette however is  still a Swan and Jean-Bob was injured in the fight. Moonlight on the lake fixes them both so hooray.

Clavius and Uberta The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain picture image

Clavius and Uberta

To be honest this sequels exist in that zone of just mediocrity. There is nothing remotely special or interesting about the movie  in either a good way or bad way. This makes my job ever hard though not impossible, I mean it’s not rocket science or math.

Let’s just take about the only character worth talking about, Clavius and Uberta, the rest are boring and very forgettable.

Clavius is more of less a shadow of Rothbart except Rothbart had a level of interest. What made Rothbart a little interesting is that he had the power to take over but wanted Odette’s kingdom legally. He didn’t want to be a usurper.  Clavius wants power in the orb thing and then wants to take over the world. This is your standard paint-by-numbers villain. All Villains want something and it typically the world. Wanting somethign else would require too much thought. World and power is a easy and lazy way to give a villain motivation.

The there is Uberta, the immature Queen of Country unknown. Uberta was somewhat funny in her demand when she was prisoner but alas that is not why I mentioned her. I bring her up because of her age. You see, Uberta is turing 50 and at first her hates it but then accepts her, at least she gets an arc. But here is the the thing, her character design is the exact same a when Odette was a baby or a toddler. So let’s just say Odette was a baby when Uberta and William had the idea for the marriage pact  and when Odette and Derek were like 18 when Derek said “what else is there” in regards to Odette’s bland personality and the plus a year, that mean Uberta was 31 at the start of the original movie. Meaning she aged prematurely or it was a misguided character design. Things like this take me out of the movie.

Odette and Jean-Bob The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain picture image

Odette and Jean-Bob

Another thing that bothered me, a little because a sane person wouldn’t waste their brain cells think about this movie, is at the end Odette is stuck as Swan and Jean-Bob is either dead or has a massive boo-boo but the question is how did they know the moonlight on the lake would fix things? I guess because it undid Odette’s original spell that moonlight on the lake is the on thing that can undo the Forbidden Arts‘ power?

And another thing, Odette as a swan can talk to Derek! The Fuck? If that wasn’t a issue why couldn’t see either go to the ball as a Swan or fly away from the lake and TELL SOME ONE? I’m willing to believe they just forgot that little plot point of communication.       However I do give this movie a point for giving a plot base reason to turn Odette back into a Swan, spoiler the other ones don’t.

Stupid Sequels

Odette and Clavius The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain picture image

Odette and Clavius

 

I don’t think I have to mention the technicals, but since I already did I might as well. The animation is bad even compare to original which wasn’t that bad but wasn’t amazing either. It’s fair to point that of the four Swan Princess Sequels this one, if you haven’t noticed, is one of the hand-drawn one, and let me just say now they are better than the CG ones, you don’t even know yet. However just because they are hand-drawn the colors are still muted and dull, seems to be a standard look of any off-brand sequel.  They also repeat animation from the first movie, this is standard in the these sequel so get used to it, even in CGi movies they just rehash it.

The songs are SUPER forgettable and I mean that, I can’t remember any of them. There might have been a long song and friendship song but I don’t remember.

Oh and they say No Fear all the time. That I recall but that has nothing to do with songs, unless they did another No fear song.

Uberta The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain picture image

Uberta

The best thing I can say about The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain is that  while its mere existence just shouldn’t be as it added nothing to humanity at least it was harmless and merciful short at just a little over an hour, that’s a positive.

Songs of Hunchback of Notre Dame Musical Review; Part 4

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One thing before I start the songs, I will discuss the La Jolla performance a little when I’m done with the album because the scene prior to this was so much of a combo of the 1939 version and the Disney version plus the scene after Top of the World is such a massive change from the movie that I have to talk about the show itself even if the show was changed from the La Jolla version and the Papermill version.  Also there are one two songs this week for dramatic reasons like Heaven’s Light and Hellfire are meant as a set.

Ciara Renee and Micheal Arden in the Jolla Production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Ciara Renee and Micheal Arden in the La Jolla Production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame

 

Top of the World – This song is from the original German version. It’s a very nice little song about viewing things from a different preceptive and Quasimodo and Esmeralda bonding. In the German version, the Gargoyles sing the part where the Chrous of Quasismodo’s imaginary nameless pals sing. There is a fundamental difference between this version and the German version, this version is a lot slower paced and seems more serious. The German version had a more upbeat, faster and light take on this song. This could because the Gargoyles were the comic relief and this version has distanced itself from the silliness of the movie to be more serious like the book. Though the book did have some funny parts.

I mean the song is pretty enough but I do prefer the German version even with the Gargoyles.

Tavern Song (Thai Mol Piyas) – This song is another original song to this musical and can I just say in listening to the album first I was very confused of how this song came after Top of the World but it makes some sense with the show. Anyway this song takes place at the Pomme d’Eve* which is from the book where Esmeralda and Phoebus have their meeting which Frollo ruined with his stabbing Phoebus. Instead of all that it just seems like Frollo was stalking her   for a few months**,  hears her in bar dancing and flirting, in the show she kisses Phoebus, and Frollo gets more hot and bothered than he already was.

This song is very fun. It has a very distinct sound from the rest of the songs (so far) though Frollo’s part is sounds more like Out There rather the Sanctuary leitmotif, which is ironic since he is looking inside a buidling.

Oddly I really like the whisper singing of this song.  It’s a fun upbeat songs, I really enjoyed it.

One Source said that Thai Mol Piyas it means “And we Drink wine” in Romani.

 

Side of Note – This is the 130oth Blog Post!

*Correction, Pomme d’Eve was not where Esmeralda and Phoesbus met. They met at a Falourdel’s. Pomme d’Ever is a a better name though.

**Frollo first saw Esmeralda on January 6th and the song mentions “Winter is dying” which means it has to be mid March at the earliest. But also this is a very subtle nod to the book. In Book 7 Chapter 4 of the novel, Hugo makes mention of the date, March 29th. And this chapter occurs about the time of the Pomme d’Eve scene.  So kudos Musical.

 

So many side notes on this post.

Jim Henson’s The Frog Prince Review; Frogs don’t Doggy-Paddle

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Jim Henson's The Frog Prince picture image

Jim Henson’s The Frog Prince

This is the last Fairy tale movie of the review set, this series was supposed to be done back in December 2015 originally but I kept extending it to the point of madness.

Jim Henson’s The Frog Prince is from 1971 and if you can’t guess from the title it’s a Muppet retelling of The Frog Prince. The only well-known Muppets to appear in it are Kermit, Robin and Sweetums. I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t know this one prior a guess made by Esmee  see here.

But is it that good even for a TV Muppet special from the 1970’s?

Trudy Young as Princess Melora with Robin Jim Henson's The Frog Prince picture image

Trudy Young as Princess Melora with Robin

 

Kermit is your typical frog living in a well near a castle, along with many many other frogs. One day a new frog arrives named Robin the Brave. Robin claims that he’s really prince that was cursed by a evil witch and nearly eaten by her ogre. He says the only way to break his spell is to befriend a Princess, live her castle and get a her to kiss him. Kermit is sympathetic to Robin but doesn’t believe him. But Kermit does teach Robin to swim somewhat at least though Robin favors the doggy-paddle.

At the same time King Rupert II is announcing that since his daughter, Princess Melora is of age, which is 19, he will step down as King and she will became Queen. This makes Robin happy as there is Princess nearby that might help him turn back to a human.

Melora comes to the well and Robin learns that she too is under an enchantment that prevents anyone from understanding her as her speech is mostly spoonerisms. Like she says fretty plower instead of pretty flower. However when he father tells her she is to be the Queen she is happy though her father can’t understand her. She then sits at the well and sings and then drops her golden ball into the well. Robin offers to get it for her if she becomes his friend and takes him to palace to live. She agrees though with some hesitant and despite Robin’s lack of swimming skills he gets her ball back. As she places Robin in her basket he sees the witch that cursed him, Taminella, who now is posing as the King’s sister and she is also the one that cursed Melora so she couldn’t tell her father that Taminella wasn’t the King’s Sister. Kermit also follows them to palace to keep an eye on them.

As it turns out Robin can understand most of what Melora says. The only thing he can’t figure out is the way to stop Taminella, which Melora says is “bake the hall in the candle of her brain.” Taminella then stops Melora from giving Robin a kiss.

At lunch the King tells Melora that since no can understand her the King has decided to crown Taminella as Queen. Melora and Robin try to tell the king that Taminella is a wicked witch that cursed her. Taminella takes Robin way to the Sweetums who wants to eat him. Robin convinces Sweetums to eat his tomorrow and lulls him to sleep. Kermit appears to help Robin escape but can’t lift the latch. Kermit then convinces a sleeping-walking Sweetum to free Robin. It works but Sweetums walks up and trashes the place and is knocked unconscious by a pillar.

Kermit and Robin get to coronation as it starting. Robin struggles to figure out what bake the hall in the candle of her brain means. To buy time Robin has Kermit get the other frogs from the well to create a distraction. Robin the figures the clue out which is “break the ball in handle of her cane” so he bites her causing her to drop the cane and breaks the ball. This causes her to explode and become a bird. And Melora’s spell is broken, she the kisses Robin and he turns back into a prince. The King is confuse but recongize it has a happy ending and crowns Melora.

Queen Melora and Prince Robin get married but they still visit their friend Kermit and even named their baby after him, pretty good for a frog.

Trudy Young as Princess Melora kissing robin Jim Henson's The Frog Prince picture image

Trudy Young as Princess Melora kissing robin

This movie or more accurately Special is adorable. It’s the right blend of Muppet wacky yet dry humor and fairy tale elements. It’s not forced. Though I have to ask with Melora curse was her writing effected too? Because it would have be easy if it wasn’t and it wasn’t even mentioned. Mostly it didn’t bother me because all the other elements were delightful.

Robin with Taminella Jim Henson's The Frog Prince picture image

Robin with Taminella

Kermit is his typical self but that isn’t a fault, who doesn’t love Kermit! Sweetums is in a antagonist role which is different for him but it worked. Robin is Robin though he kind of fun to see him as a romantic lead or romantic deuteragonist.

I do like how they show that Robin is love with Melora because he can understand her it’s not just to break the spell, they form a connection. I also like the juxtaposition of Robin with the dashing Prince.

Taminella Grinderfell is not exclusive to this. She debut in 1962 and stared in Tales of Tinkerdee, which was the unaired pilot. She was revived for this and she is great. She just a mean witch who wants power. Nothing wrong with that. She also has a cool design and concept art. Also I should add that it seems that Taminella was the source of nightmares for young kids who watched this special. It understand as she as a human shape body as a result of how the puppet is operated but does look human. That sort of combo can be scary. Also she reminds me a little bit of the Groke from Moomins who was also a source of terror for young children.

King Rupert II is great, dumb but fun. I love the scene where it’s revealed how Taminella tricked him, very silly. He also sounds like Rolf the dog.

Melora is great too. She doesn’t have much of personality but she is nice but not a push over. She tries to tell her father about Taminella and she does figure out to break the spell. It also refreshing to see that she wants to be a Queen and is not fighting fate.

Trudy Young as Princess Melora & Gordon Thomson as Sir Robin the Brave with Kermit and the other frogs Jim Henson's The Frog Prince picture image

Trudy Young as Princess Melora & Gordon Thomson as Sir Robin the Brave with Kermit and the other frogs

As is standard with muppets project the technicals are great, they have to be or the muppets wouldn’t be believable. Are they perfect? No but are what they need to be for project.

The songs are also cute.

Got to give it to Trudy Young as Melora for making her lines feel natural. I’ve seen worst acting and diction with lines that make sense. Melora’s line are all messed up but she makes it work.

Kermit Jim Henson's The Frog Prince picture image

Kermit

It’s about self-awareness, Jim Henson’s The Frog Prince know exactly what it is and everything about it coalesces to fit it’s identify. It’s silly yet smart and wacky yet heartfelt.

I wish it was on DVD.