I'm going to be honest, I haven't seen any of the movies in the Swan Princess series. Its newest film, The Swan Princess: Princess Today, Pirate Tomorrow, is the sixth film in the franchise. It's a weird place to start, not knowing what came before. Heck, I don't even know the story of The Swan Princess to begin with. I imagine that it started with a Princess that was turned into a swan and back into a Princess.
This installment centers around Princess Alise, whose parents are away for the summer. The Princess is left with Lord Rogers and Queen Uberta, who has plans to train her to be a proper Royal. But the adventurous Alise would much rather be a swashbuckling pirate than a stuffy Royal. Lord Rogers decides to take her out on the high-seas and show her the ropes when they become stranded on an island and meet Lucas, a boy who has been living alone on the island. From there, it's all about staying alive, avoiding some nasty meat-eating reptile creatures, and getting home safe!
I'm not sure how well-received the previous films were, but this installment (for adults at least) falls a little flat. While kids will most suredly enjoy it (and the ones I showed it to did), it doesn't feel as clever as most animated films are these days. The film's songs were a hit and miss affair; the first musical number, featuring the reptile creatures singing about eating meat (animals and humans) after chasing Lucas, was super creepy and kind of awkward for a children's film. Alise's first song about being a pirate wasn't Disney memorable, but it was a pretty good song, catchy and fun.
The CGI film felt a bit stiff, but I find that most cartoons of this ilk seem to be. It feels like a very very early CGI film, it lacks the fluidity of something Pixar would create. Overall, it's a fine film for children of all ages/genders, but it's not a film that parents would enjoy seeing/hearing for the thousandth time.
**Sony Home Video provided me with some of the materials I used on this blog post. The opinions I share are my own.**
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