Lisa Dawn's Blog: The Princess Blog, page 33

The Comprehensive D23 Expo Princess Announcement Post!

If you're a Disney fan, you are probably aware that this weekend is the D23 Expo, a massive fan convention that happens once every two years where they make the biggest announcements and reveals of upcoming Disney content for the next couple of years. This was the first Expo in three years, so Disney made sure to pull out all the stops to celebrate their upcoming 100-year anniversary. As usual, I am here to fill you in on everything princess that happened at the expo. Get your tiaras ready because this is going to be a big one!

DisenchantedFriday afternoon was the biggest panel of the event, and no announcement since then has come close to the level of excitement I felt for these upcoming films. First up was Disenchanted , the sequel to Enchanted that will launch on Disney+ in November, which dropped not only a new poster but also the movie's very first trailer! I had been curious about this movie for a while as I'm sure many other fans were, and this trailer did not let us down. It confirmed many plot details that had already been revealed, such as Giselle getting fed up with the real world (Aren't we all?) and wishing her life could be more like a fairy tale again as well as a fun reunion with Edward and Nancy, who were last seen getting hitched in Andalasia.

The trailer went into a few more specifics regarding how the spell Giselle cast turned her run-down rural home into an enchanted Storybrooke-like town. The catch is that the spell also turned Giselle into an evil stepmother, which wouldn't have been too difficult since marrying Robert made her a stepmother to Morgan. Morgan, who is played by a different actress in this movie, takes on the Disney Princess archetype and gets locked in her room by Giselle just like Cinderella. There is also a delicious throwback to the original in which Giselle pushes Morgan into a well just like Queen Narissa did to her at the beginning of her own movie, launching the main storyline. This leads us to wonder where the well will go from the real world if that was already the exit point from Andalasia. Perhaps she is using it to send Morgan back to the fairy tale world, which doesn't seem like such a bad punishment at all.The Little MermaidThis was the announcement that I personally was the most excited about, and the Expo did not let me down. For the first time since the casting was announced in 2019, Disney has finally given fans of The Little Mermaid  their first official look at Halle Bailey as Ariel. Lucky Expo attendees were treated to a full clip of Halle performing "Part of Your World," which faithfully recreated all of the choreography and effects from the animated movie. Just like Ariel, Halle swims around her grotto showing off all of her gadgets and gizmos, lies in the sand, and reaches up through an opening at the top lit by angelic sunlight. Shortly after the reveal at the panel, Disney released a short teaser online, which shows quick flashes of the film's underwater sequences and the final few notes of "Part of Your World." This trailer gave me goosebumps as the music and animation were so reminiscent of my memories of the film from childhood.

I have mixed feelings about Halle's costume as Ariel. She looks amazing in it and was perfectly cast for the part, but I think Disney should have had the budget to make her a real tail like the ones used in H2O: Just Add Water and Mako Mermaids. The CGI tail is reminiscent of the ones the mermaids had in Once Upon a Time, but with more extravagant details such as the shimmery effect and the extra set of transparent fins attached to her tail that flutter like a chiffon gown with every swish. As beautiful as it looks, it's obvious that it was created by a computer. Her purple top looks similar to the one in the film at first glance, but it is made of a softer and more delicate material than clamshells, which sets it apart from the Ariel costumes worn in the theme parks. It was an absolute thrill to hear Halle's lovely voice performing this iconic song and to see her passionate acting that perfectly matched the look and feel of the original film.WishOf the original movies announced at the Friday afternoon panel, I am the most excited about Wish, a movie created specifically to celebrate Disney's 100th anniversary. In it, a new princess named Asha goes on a quest to discover the truth behind the wishing star that so many Disney characters (including many princesses) have wished upon the past. The movie was described as "taking easter eggs to the next level," and the IMDB summary claims that Asha will travel "through various worlds" on her quest. Between these two descriptions, it sounds like the film might have some callbacks to Kingdom Hearts with a character traveling through various Disney movies and befriending their protagonists. The panel concluded with a beautiful performance of a song from the film called "More Than Us," which was performed by Asha's award-winning voice actress, .

Limited Edition DollsThe D23 Expo is traditionally the place where you can find all the best Limited Edition Disney Princess designer dolls, and this year was no exception. There were four lovely princesses on display in a Limited Edition shopping area--Merida, Giselle, Jasmine, and Snow White. The Snow White Doll is by far the most gorgeous one I have ever seen of this character. I loved the elegant details of the cascading curls behind her head, the understated veil, and the wedding dress that combined gorgeous new floral accents with hints of her original costume. The new Jasmine doll looks much nicer than the first one that was released for the Ultimate Princess Celebration. Purple is definitely more her color than red, and the little magic lamp adds just the right touch. Giselle gave us a faithful recreation of her iconic wedding dress from the film, which hasn't been portrayed on a doll since its release, and the Merida doll is the first designer release for this character, so that was exciting. Megara also had some extravagant new golden accents on her costume alongside Hercules to celebrate the film's anniversary.

Merida, Giselle, Jasmine and Snow White Limited edition dolls #D23 exclusives #D23Expo2022 pic.twitter.com/PBhwBPXx41

— Mario ˣ🧜🏽‍♀️ (@mmdisney200) September 9, 2022

Theme ParksThe show floor at the event had several new princess theme park attractions on display, including Tiana's Bayou Adventure, the new revamp of Splash Mountain. While I wasn't a huge fan of the industrialized look of barrels of food shipments and unfinished signage, I was very excited for the announcement that Tiana's Palace, the restaurant featured at the end of The Princess and the Frog , is coming to New Orlean Square in Disneyland! This seems like the perfect addition for our hard-working restaurateur princess with the potential to allow guests to step right into the animated film!

Detailed look at Tiana’s Bayou Adventure model. #D23Expo pic.twitter.com/iliUveeKtv

— Matt Dobrovolsky📍#D23Expo (@darthvader92) September 9, 2022

Another display contained a scale model of a 16-foot tall Te Fiti statue that will be set up near the front gate of Epcot in Walt Disney World for a new fountain display called Journey of Water, which will greet guests entering the park. This attraction will replace the park's previous entrance fountain display that did not have any distinctive Disney theming.

Here’s a look at a scale model of Te Fiti at #D23Expo that will be in Journey Into Water at Epcot at 16 feet tall. pic.twitter.com/EnCVXKQcwo

— Attractions Magazine (@Attractions) September 9, 2022

Finally, the Tangled and Frozen rides that were announced all the way back in 2018 for Tokyo DisneySea are finally coming to fruition. The cars for each ride were on display at the Expo's show floor. They look like traditional dark ride vehicles with subtle details from their respective films.

There were some fantastic mock-ups of the ride vehicles for the #Tangled and #Frozen attractions coming to Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySea! #D23Expo pic.twitter.com/EADKjL0kVz

— ThrillGeek (@thrillgeek) September 9, 2022

OtherIf that's not enough princess content for one weekend, there were several smaller announcements a the D23 Expo as well. The Friday afternoon panel included a spot for Disney's Snow White, but no footage from that was released to the public. The costumes were described as "traditional," meaning the leak from a few months ago was likely Rachel Zegler's actual costume from the film. They are pushing that the movie will have a "modern twist" when it comes to the story, but that's already been done countless times before, so it probably won't be anything we haven't seen already.

We just watched the first teaser for the live-action Snow White, with Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. Coming 2024. #D23Expo pic.twitter.com/AQbjZPaKlD

— IGN (@IGN) September 9, 2022

Some new cast members were announced for the upcoming Beauty and the Beast live special on ABC. It was already revealed that R&B performer H.E.R. would be starring as Belle, but the Expo panel added to the list Josh Groban as the Beast, Rita Moreno as the narrator, and Joshua Henry as Gaston. Some smaller princess references included a new Simpsons short released on Disney+ the day before the Expo called "Welcome to the Club," in which Lisa Simpson wants to become a Disney Princess but ends up joining the villains instead. The short featured an awkward musical number performed by all the Disney Princes in which they sang about how they have no personality and only care about their wives pushing out heirs, so it's better to be a villain. Needless to say, I wasn't a fan. Finally, a brief clip from Saturday's panel revealed an upcoming episode of The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder in which the leading ladies throw a princess party and dress up in various Disney Princesses costumes. Oh, and there was also an expo-exclusive performance of Disney Princess: The Concert. Whew, that was a lot!
I had a lot of fun attending the D23 Expo virtually this year as the process seems to have gotten more complicated than it has in the past, making it even more difficult to attend panels in person. The hype and announcements for these new movies are very exciting whether you are sitting in the room with everyone or not. Are you as overwhelmed by all of this news as I am?  Which announcement are you the most excited about? Have you ever attended the D23 Expo or plan to in the future? Let me know in the comments! 

Review: Barbie - Mermaid Power

Barbie: Mermaid Power is a direct sequel to two of the four Barbie movies from the new generation, Dolphin Magic and Big City Dreams. For full disclosure, I have not seen Big City Dreams or Barbie and Chelsea: The Lost Birthday, which came out before it. I also haven't seen Dolphin Magic in five years, so my memory of it is patchy. Like most people from my generation, I am a bigger fan of the Barbie movies from the early to mid-2000s, which focused primarily on fairy tales and roleplay. However, since this one had mermaids in it, I had to check it out since I quite enjoyed the Mermaid Tale films.

Since the Barbie movies have moved to Netflix, their runtimes have gotten shorter. Both Mermaid Power and Princess Adventure come in at a little over an hour, but Mermaid Power does a lot more to fill that time. The plot is similar to Avatar: The Last Airbender, only with mermaids. Due to a natural phenomenon that occurs once every hundred years, all the mermaids in the sea gain the ability to bend one of the four elements as they seek the Avatar (they called it something different, but it's the same concept), who can control all four elements and save them from a giant mound of pollution. Isla, the mermaid who Barbie met in Dolphin Magic, seeks out Barbie and her new companion, who is also named Barbie, to fill two additional slots in the mermaid games to find their equivalent of the Avatar. Barbie's sisters come along for the ride as well, and they all transform into mermaids whose hair colors change underwater like the Winx Club's Sirenix forms.

My favorite thing about this movie was the aesthetics. I loved how bright and colorful all the underwater worlds were from previous Barbie mermaid movies, and this one was no exception. These films bring the fantasy of visiting a magical underwater kingdom to life with glowing seashells, glittering tails, and fun fish companions. I also loved the different tiaras that appeared on each mermaid's head after she discovered her secret power. What I didn't like was the music. Instead of belting out siren-like melodies, the soundtrack and vocals changed to an electronic modulation for each song, which really took me out of the film. I know Barbie is trying to be more modern now, but when a character's voice turns robotic every time she starts singing and nobody questions it, it's a little off-putting, especially for a fantasy story.

I have to give this film props for being very pro-disability. This isn't the first time a Barbie movie has celebrated fantasy disabilities since Barbie starred as a handicapped fairy with no wings in Fairytopia in 2005. This film handed the reigns to a new character who wasn't portrayed by Barbie. Aquaria is a young mermaid who was born with a non-functioning tail, so her family provided her with a prosthetic tail that allows her to swim normally. My only qualm with this is that the prosthetic tail is not noticeably different from other colorful mermaid tails in the film and allows her to function no differently from any other mermaid, so it's easy to miss that she is handicapped if someone isn't paying attention to the dialogue. However, this could play into the fact that not all disabilities are visible. Aquaria makes fast friends with Chelsea and proves herself by the end of the film. Since the villain is essentially a giant heap of pollution, the movie also has a strong environmentalism message, rounding out its theme of love for all forms of life.

Overall, Barbie: Mermaid Power is fun for a modern Barbie movie and has better pacing than Princess Adventure due to its large cast of characters. The colorful visuals have a few instances of sensory overload, but that's what makes Barbie movies so fun in the first place. It places value on positive concepts like acceptance of people who are different and protecting the environment. The only thing I wish it had done differently was using more natural-sounding vocals for the musical sequences or taking out the songs entirely. What's your favorite Barbie movie? Let me know below!

Princess Knight Is the Most Progressive Anime You've Never Seen!

Princess Knight was referred to me as the anime that started the "shoujo" (girl-oriented) genre in Japan. That seems like a pretty big claim considering how immensely popular that genre has been over the years and the fact that I've never heard of this show. It came out in 1967, which was well before anime became popular in America. Upon watching it, I found it contained many similarities to one of my favorite anime series, Revolutionary Girl Utena. I thought Utena was pretty progressive for a '90s series, but I had no idea something similar had already been done all the way back in the '60s and had likely inspired it.

By today's standards, Princess Knight would probably be considered transgender or queer even though she has a male love interest. The show begins with an in-depth explanation of why she feels obligated to pretend she's a boy. As the daughter of a queen and king, she has a responsibility to inherit the kingdom of Silverland, whose law states that only a male heir can descend the throne. Her parents decided to raise her as a boy under the name Prince Knight so the people of Silverland would take her seriously as the heir. There's also a more supernatural reason she feels comfortable as a boy, which delves into some of the show's religious aspects that probably would never have been touched upon today. When the princess's soul was in Heaven waiting to be born, Choppy, a playful little angel who later becomes her sidekick, handed her a male-gendered heart before learning that God intended to make her female. Because of his mistake, he is later sent to Earth to assist Princess Knight on her adventures and find a way to make her accept her identity as a girl.

Nowadays, it is common for princesses to be physically strong and fend off evil, but back then, the only way for a princess to have daring adventures and exciting swordfights was by pretending to be a prince, and Princess Knight is just fine with that. She does all the things that a prince of that era would have done, including rescuing damsels and occasionally even fighting Satan. If one of the main characters is an angel sent by God, why not throw Satan in as a villain? Princess Knight's masculine traits are balanced out by Satan's feminine daughter, Zenda, who was one of my favorite characters in the show. Zenda becomes fast friends with Princess Knight because she secretly wants to be good despite being pressured by her parents to be evil. I wish the show had devoted more episodes to her story because I found it very interesting.

The main conflict for the first half of the show is Princess Knight trying to hide her identity as a girl from two scheming nobles, Sir Nylon and Duke Duralumin, who want the throne for themselves and believe the easiest way to get it is by proving the prince is really a princess and is therefore ineligible for the throne. What makes this show stand apart from something that might be created today is that Princess Knight is pretty feminine despite regularly pretending to be a boy. Her character design is similar to Disney's Snow White, which makes sense since she was the only Disney Princess with short black hair in 1967, and her American voice dub sounds like an impression of , which makes it a little hard to swallow that so many people believe she's a boy at all. Princess Knight occasionally wears long dresses as disguises and is often described as beautiful by those who see her in them. One of these disguises attracts the interest of a prince named Frank, who suspects Prince Knight is a girl and attempts to court her but is met with scorn until she is able to reveal her true identity later.

I was so pleased to learn about this forgotten anime from before my time because it was a lot of fun! Most episodes are inspired by a well-known fairy tale, myth, or legend, so it was fun trying to figure out the inspiration behind them and to see how the series put its own spin on it. It's also cool that there was a princess character back in the '60s who didn't need to be rescued and went on all kinds of heroic adventures. You should check this series out if you're looking for something that feels both nostalgic and progressive at the same time. I can see how it set the standard for many shows that have come out since then, including Nickelodeon's similarly titled Nella, the Princess Knight.

Story Saturday: The Forbidden Kingdom (Once Upon a Time)

"The Forbidden Kingdom"
Once upon a time, there was a princess who was named Briar after the magical kingdom of Briarwood where she resided. The princess liked her kingdom as much as any other princess would, but she was fascinated by the other kingdom that was hidden just on the other side of a portal deep in the woods. This place was filled with people who used technology instead of magic and had presidents and prime ministers instead of kings and queens. She visited often and liked to pretend that she was an ordinary girl who attended what they called high school. She stopped wanting to pretend after she met Mark. Princess Briar was certain that she and Mark were soulmates, so she told him all about her realm and how traveling between the two worlds was forbidden.

Mark could not have visited Briarwood even if he wanted to, for the portal was only accessible to those who possessed the potential for magic, meaning that only people from Briarwood could travel freely between the worlds. However, Princess Briar's travels were soon forced to come to an end because she had a duty to begin her training as queen after her parents were tragically slain in the Ogre Wars. Her time with Mark became more and more precious as it drew to an inevitable close, and the princess decided that if she could never see him again, she would leave him with a parting gift.
Briar, like many princesses, had a Fairy Godmother who she consulted often about such matters. Though her Fairy Godmother never judged Briar for her feelings toward Mark, she encouraged her to place her duties as princess first in order to keep her people safe. When Briar asked her godmother for a magical gift to bring to Mark, the godmother saw this as an opportunity to keep Briar and the people of Briarwood safe in case of an emergency. She gave Princess Briar a magical ruby ring that would be activated if she were ever in danger. This ring would allow Mark to cross between the worlds and guide him through the portal to wherever Briar was.
Princess Briar agreed that this was a wonderful gift and presented it to Mark the next time she saw him. She told him the sad news that she would not be able to visit him anymore now that she needed to devote all her time to training to become queen. Mark held Princess Briar in his arms, trying to memorize everything about her before they parted ways for the last time. Though Briar explained the rules of the ring to Mark, he attempted many times to activate it and find her again but to no avail. He missed her so much that he could barely focus on his mid-term exams.
Meanwhile, Princess Briar worked hard on her training under the tutelage of many noble elves, mages, and beasts. When it came time for her to ascend the throne, her uncle, who had been training her on royal duties, called her into the study for one final lesson. After he made certain no one else was nearby, he gave the princess an enchanted quill to sign a document that would end the Ogre Wars that had killed her parents. However, he handed her the quill upside-down, causing her to prick her finger on the tip, and spread poisoned ink through her body that placed her into a deep sleep. Her uncle, the duke, carried the unconscious princess into a secret room and locked her away. Then he told the people of Briarwood that Princess Briar had met an unfortunate end while protecting a baby unicorn from a dragon, making him next in line for the throne.
The people were horrified for they knew the duke would rule with an iron fist. He was known throughout the land for his greed and selfishness. Soon, they would all starve to death and the magic of the land would be depleted to fill the duke's endless thirst for power. Still, Briar's Fairy Godmother knew that there was hope. This event activated the ruby ring that she had given the princess to present to her love in the forbidden kingdom.
As soon as Mark knew Briar was in danger, he raced through the thorny woods, trudged through swamps, and hiked up mountains until he found the castle. The ring led him to a secret entrance where he was undetected by the guards and found a locked door at the end of a passageway. He banged on the door until his knuckles bled, and soon, the ring's power unlocked it with an unassuming click. Mark's heart skipped a beat when he found Briar lying lifeless on the ground with the color drained from her cheeks. Luckily, he came from a world where fairy tales were popular and knew that true love's kiss often broke spells like this. He knelt down and gently kissed Briar, which caused the poison ink from the quill to race toward her mouth. He instinctively jumped aside as she coughed up the black ink, spilling it onto the floor of the dark room. Princess Briar was elated to see that Mark had successfully crossed through the portal from the forbidden kingdom and insisted that he join her when she went to confront her uncle, who was still at the coronation ceremony.
When the people saw that Princess Briar was still alive, the duke knew he had been thwarted. He begged the new queen for mercy, but she and Mark agreed that the best punishment was to lock him in the hidden chamber just as he had done to her and hope that someone as brave as Mark would rescue him.
Some of the people of Briarwood began to panic when they realized someone from the forbidden kingdom had passed through their gates, but Briar's Fairy Godmother explained that Mark was the princess's true love and that she had granted him an enchanted ring that would only let him pass during a time of crisis. The enchanted item saved them all.

The people were so impressed with Mark's bravery that they agreed to let him stay and rule Briarwood at the princess's side. The rest, as they say, is history.

Review: Beacon

Beacon by Camille Peters is the second "Little Mermaid" adaptation I've read this summer that doesn't actually contain any actual mermaids. The other was The Silent Songbird by Melanie Dickerson. Between the two, I must admit that I prefer the latter. Beacon struggles with many of the same shortcomings as other books from Camille Peters' series such as slow pacing and an overall lack of conflict. It's a pleasant enough love story that gets bogged down by concepts that are difficult to swallow involving the main character. Like the previous book in this series, Forgotten, the magical elements of the setting are underdeveloped, which causes issues with the believability.

Though Beacon is listed as inspired by "The Little Mermaid," the story seems to draw more inspiration from other sources such as Moana  and Frozen . Like the films themselves, the Moana elements work better than the Frozen ones. The main character, Marisa, is the daughter of a lighthouse keeper who was chosen by the ocean to have extraordinary abilities. She uses those abilities to send her voice away to the ocean to escape her childhood trauma like Moana did with the heart of Te Fiti during her moment of weakness. This plot point could be quite compelling to someone who has tried to bury away their own trauma. However, the trauma that she tries to bury is where the book starts to lose me. The abilities that she has over the sea are so powerful that she caused an enormous storm as a child that sunk a ship her mother was on. I see how this parallels with Elsa's powers in Frozen and how she tried to conceal them after hurting Anna as a child, but that was on a much smaller scale than controlling an entire ocean. Marisa is ridiculously overpowered with no explanation as to where the abilities came from. They don't run in her family nor were they granted to her by some sort of relic. She is intimidated by the dangers of these powers and believes that by giving up her voice, she will no longer be able to hurt anyone again.

While the exploration of why and how Marisa has these unique abilities could have made for a compelling story, the majority of the book focuses on her relationship with a prince she rescued from drowning, and I'm sorry to say that it just isn't that interesting. Prince Owen is immediately taken with Marisa after she rescues him and does everything in his power to find ways to communicate with her. The problem is that he's way too good at it. He instantly knows everything she's thinking from a few gestures, so once he starts teaching her to read and write, there is little payoff. I also found Marissa's method of writing confusing. Despite being a complete novice, she was able to spell every world perfectly with one exception, yet she constantly skips words. When I think of a child who is learning how to write, I imagine they would try to sound out the words and write a sentence such as "You are a nice man" like "U r a nise man." Marisa writes it as "You nice man." To me, this sounds like someone who doesn't understand English as opposed to someone who has never written before. She grew up in a lighthouse with her father speaking to her all the time, so there doesn't seem to be a reason for her to be unable to conjugate a sentence even if she doesn't know how to spell the words.

The book has some touching moments. I was amused to see the return of the duplicitous Princess Lavena from one of my favorite Camille Peters books, Identity, and to learn that she was still jumping from one royal engagement to another. It was also nice that this book humanizes her by providing more of an explanation as to why she is the way she is, which will likely be explored further in a future book. The guilt that Marisa held inside her for years is relatable to anyone who has experienced trauma in their past, and I appreciated the metaphor of getting her voice back as acceptance of what can't be changed and willingness to move on. Owen's unconditional support of Marisa despite her refusal to reveal her secret was endearing if not somewhat trite. The book is compelling from a psychological standpoint but has very little action, which seems like a waste for a story about a girl who has the ability to move an entire ocean. Even Lavena, who was supposed to be Marisa's romantic rival, was completely in favor of her relationship with Owen and had very little interest in marrying him herself.

Overall, Beacon is pretty similar to the other books in The Enchanted Kingdom Chronicles. It's a slow romance with some interesting fantasy elements that never get explored to their full potential. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been so perplexed as to why Marisa was so ridiculously powerful and why she didn't seem to know how to construct a sentence despite her lack of ability to speak. If you enjoyed Camille Peters' other books, you would probably like this one. It may also be therapeutic for people who struggle with past trauma since the story is so tame and non-threatening.

The Best Tabletop Games for Princess Fans

Too much screen time can lead to eye strain and cause headaches, so I've been researching some fun  princess board game options to save my eyes. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that many of the games I played as a child are still around. If you're throwing a princess party and need some fun activities to do with your friends, here are a few of my favorites. Unfortunately, not all of these games are available right now, so I'll start this list with the ones that are.

Pretty Pretty Princess
This game was a staple of my childhood. I was amazed to see that they still make it as I perused the game aisles of a book store. It looks a little different from the mint green box I remember as a kid, but it's still very much the same game. Each player must collect every piece of jewelry available in her preferred color and top it off with the bedazzled crown to win. Not only is the classic game still available with some minor updates to the crown, but there is also a Disney Princess Edition that allows players to become Tiana, Belle, Jasmine, or Aurora, and a Unicorn Edition, which won me over in the end with its extra sparkly playing pieces, glistening horn crown, and unicorn-themed charms on the jewelry. Pretty Pretty Princess is the quintessential board game for princess fans of all ages.Once Upon a Time Card Game
You might recognize this one from my recent Story Saturday posts. Once Upon a Time by Atlas Games is a wonderful tool for lovers of fantasy to get together and weave their own fairy tales. It's one of my favorite tabletop games of all time. The stories can be drastically different depending on the age group of the players. Each player gets a number of story cards that determine various aspects of the fairy tale along with one secret ending card. The goal is to drive the story in the direction of your ending. You win if you successfully play all of the cards in your hand and then use your ending card to complete the story. "Interrupt" cards allow other players to take over and attempt to drive the story toward their endings. Another way to take over the story is if the current storyteller inadvertently mentions something on a card in another player's hand. The game can get competitive at times, but the main goal is to tell a compelling fairy tale.Disney Princess Editions of Classic Games



Ever since , they've been recreating loads of classic '90s games with Disney Princesses. If you search for Disney Princess board games on Amazon, you'll find loads of familiar titles such as Pretty Pretty Princess, Yahtzee, Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, Guess Who?, Trouble, and Monopoly. For the most part, these are the same games we grew up with, but the boards and playing pieces are covered in princess imagery, which makes them even better. If you had a favorite board game as kid, there's likely a Disney Princess version of it available somewhere. Keep in mind that many of these are "junior" versions of the original games, which might may be less fun for grown-ups, so make sure you read all of the fine print before making a purchase. Since most of the Disney Princess Monopoly games are Junior editions, I ended up ordering the Disney Parks Theme Park Edition Monopoly Game from Shop Disney, which has a giant pop-up castle in the middle!Finding Anastasia
Before you get too excited about the rumor in St. Petersburg, you should be aware that this game is not currently available to the public. Finding Anastasia from Good Knight Games is an indie project I backed on Kickstarter many moons ago that is supposed to ship early next year. If you are interested in this gorgeous-looking game, they are still taking late pledges, so you might be able to get a copy of your own once it ships. I have literally been waiting years for this game. I was drawn in by the gorgeous artwork as well as the idea of acting out the amazing 1997 animated film in real life. This is a social deduction game in which players are given a random invitation to a party being thrown by the Dowager Empress to find her lost granddaughter, Anastasia. The invitations contain a secret persona that determines how each player will behave at the party as they pretend to be Anastasia. Certain players will win if the real Anastasia is revealed while others must try to sabotage her.

While I am still waiting for the hard copy of this game, I have watched a digital playthrough on YouTube and tried out the Print and Play version, which was sent to me already as a backer reward. The gameplay is similar to Clue only instead of trying to guess a killer, weapon, and crime scene, the players must determine how Anastasia escaped the revolutionaries, where she escaped to, and what she brought with her. Though the game has a solitary version that can be played with one to three players, I feel that it can only truly be enjoyed with five players or more because that allows each player to assume a character with one person taking on the role of the Empress and asking all of the questions. The version for one to three player is quite different and involves a lot of card flipping with none of the players taking on a character role because Anastasia's identity would be too obvious with such few people.Enchanted Palace
This last one is not being produced anymore as far as I can tell, but it was my absolute favorite game as a kid, so I had to include it. In Enchanted Palace, you play as one of four princesses on a quest to rescue the Good Queen who was locked in a tower by the Evil Witch. The game includes glittery princess playing pieces, a magic wand that lights up, and an AI battery-powered hostess that tracks each princess's location based on which room you press the wand into on the 3D castle board. The AI tells you whether you find something helpful or harmful in each room, and you win when you collect all of the magic objects you need to defeat the witch and rescue the queen. The princess playing pieces had little removable bows on their heads that could be interchanged with plastic crowns once the winner of the game was determined. I was amazed by the level of detail as well as the technology. It seemed so magical to me as a kid, but it must be considered outdated since it's no longer available today. I suppose someone who wants to have a similar experience in modern times would need to visit a fantasy-themed escape room.
I hope I included enough games in this list that are still available that you weren't too disappointed by the ones that aren't. With any luck, we'll all be receiving copies of Finding Anastasia next year and hosting fun parties to recover the long-lost princess. Have you played any of the games in this list? Which one is your favorite? Let me know in the comments! Please also tell me if you have any princess board game recommendations that I might not know about. Happy gaming!

Review: Lost in Averell

Lost in Averell by Tara Grayce is a portal fantasy where no one dies or takes over anyone else's body for a change. The book was recommended to me, and I figured out why when I realized that Tara Grayce was one of the authors who participated in the Villain's Ever After series. Lost in Averell is the first book in a new series called Princess by Night about a girl who travels between the real world and a fantasy land where she's a princess. I've read similar series in the past such as Avalon: Web of Magic and The Tail of Emily Windsnap, and this one has the same level of magic and charm. I love these books because they encourage us to imagine that the magical worlds we love to fantasize about may be just within our reach.

Half the time, Amy is an ordinary girl from Michigan. The other half, she's a princess of a fairy tale kingdom called Averell. Amy's story differs from many other portal fantasies about regular teenagers traveling to enchanted worlds because she grew up in both places and feels comfortable with both of her identities. Her mother is from Earth, and her father is from Averell, giving her the capacity to thrive in both worlds. Amy's time is split equally between the two realms by a portal hidden in the basement of her modest Michigan farmhouse. Her only job is to keep the two realms a secret from each other in order to maintain the balance between the worlds, something she fails to do when her high school crush, Brett, wanders into the portal by accident after visiting her house to work on a science project together.

Typically, this type of story would take place from Brett's perspective as he discovers the new world and its dangers while Amy would be a side character who guides him along the way. In that respect, Lost in Averell diverges from books with similar plots. Instead of the wide-eyed dreamer discovering the new world, Lost in Averell focuses entirely on Amy's quest to find Brett and bring him home before his body breaks down due to its incompatibilities with Averell's atmosphere. Fortunately, she already knows how to keep people from Earth alive in Averell thanks to her earthling mother. However, knowledge alone is not enough to help her when Brett is taken captive by one of an enemy of Amy's kingdom. The gender reversal trope of the brave princess rescuing her love is similar to the plot of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, except that in this case, Brett is more of a crush than true love, and he is not the only one Amy needs to save.

This book is short and to the point. It gives readers an opportunity to understand the rules and magical inhabitants of Averell without launching into too many boring explanations. The most interesting thing about Amy is her humility when it comes to her identity as a princess due to her other life as a simple high school student. She is very relatable to introverted girls who want to spread cheer and goodwill but have trouble asserting themselves. Brett, on the other hand, comes off as rather one-dimensional. I found myself wishing the book gave more of Brett's perspective by demonstrating his reaction to being stuck in a fairy tale world. Not only is this trope less common for men, but Brett had the added danger of dying if he couldn't return to Earth's atmosphere quickly enough. I think a few extra chapters told from his point of view could have added a lot to the story. As it stood, he suffered from the same "damsel in distress" trope that many people once complained about female characters having.

Overall, Lost in Averell feels nostalgic and new at the same time. I appreciate that it's a safe book for younger readers that can be finished pretty quickly. What makes it stand apart from similar series like Avalon: Web of Magic or The Tail of Emily Windsnap is that the main character is not discovering the magical realm for the first time. She already has a unicorn best friend and knows the rules for getting water, what areas have more magic than others, and what that means. It's an interesting story from a biracial perspective as well since the protagonist speaks two different languages and knows two different sets of etiquette. The only thing that could have made it better is if some of it had been told from Brett's perspective about his initial reaction to Averell. I think this could make for an interesting series since there is a lot of potential for more of Amy's adventures between both worlds.

Story Saturday: The Queen's Lapdog (Once Upon a Time)

"The Queen's Lapdog"

Once upon a time, there was a wolf who longed to be as beautiful as her keeper, Queen Cecily. The wolf, whose name was Moonbeam, was fiercely loyal to her master. She was willing to do anything that was asked of her, even if it meant fending off the queen's enemies from time to time. Cecily was no ordinary queen. She possessed an enchanted mirror that she used to enslave her enemies, but only if she believed they posed a threat to the kingdom. Moonbeam had always been curious about the mirror's powers, especially the one that granted its users the ability to transform into those who were trapped within it, an ability that Cecily rarely used.

One day, Cecily came to greet Moonbeam with a thrilling announcement. She had found a new king for the land! Her royal guard, Sir Peter, had been courting her for some time and finally asked for her hand in marriage. Cecily was beyond thrilled. She pet Moonbeam's muzzle and brushed her fingers through her fine fur with glee. Moonbeam was not nearly so excited about the match. She knew that Sir Peter had his eyes on the throne for years and did not care about Cecily at all. As a wolf, it was difficult for her to communicate this to her master, so she decided to take matters into her own hands. For the first time in her life, Moonbeam lashed out against the queen. She bore her teeth and began to growl, frightening poor Cecily into submission. With a great heave of her furry head, Moonbeam pushed Cecily into the magic mirror, trapping her there so she could take advantage of the mirror's unique ability. Howling the incantation she had overheard Cecily recite once before, Moonbeam's fur melted away, and her posture shifted to two legs instead of four. She was now a perfect replica of Queen Cecily.

Cecily banged upon the inside of the mirror, shocked by Moonbeam's betrayal, but it did no good. Moonbeam had already made her decision. For the next few days, she continued to impersonate Cecily, planning a grand royal wedding and keeping an eye on Sir Peter to find proof of his ill will. Yet, Peter only responded to Moonbeam with suspicion. He knew immediately that there was something wrong with his beloved queen. At first, he suspected illness, but the false queen was far too energetic for that, basking in the thrill of becoming human. She spent countless hours swathing her new body in luxurious gowns and jewels in her new massive wardrobe. To be human was a wonderful feeling indeed!
On the eve of the wedding, Sir Peter was convinced that the woman he was about to marry was not the queen. He found his way into the private corridor where the queen hid her enchantments. Moonbeam tried to stop him by baring her fangs and lunging at him, but none of these things had the same effect as they once did now that she was no longer a wolf. In fact, she found that she was rather powerless in this form, having so little time to get used to it.
When Peter entered the hidden chamber, he found Cecily crying for help on the other side of the mirror. Her cheeks were stained with tears, her dress was tattered, and it was clear she hadn't eaten in days. Moonbeam tried yet again to claw at Peter and keep him away from her master, but her paws were now a soft pair of hands, and her claws had shrunken into thin fingernails. She began to think that maybe being a wolf wasn't so bad after all. Peter raised his sword to the mirror as Moonbeam looked on in horror, powerless to stop him. The mirror cracked, and all her evil was undone.

Peter was very surprised indeed to see the imposter queen grow fur and shrink down to all fours as the true Queen Cecily escaped the confines of the mirror into her the arms of her brave guard. A few of the kingdom's enemies escaped the mirror with her, but those who had survived were so happy to be free that they no longer posed a threat. Cecily determined that Moonbeam had learned her lesson as well when she saw her whimpering on the floor in fear of her master's wrath. From that day forth, Moonbeam decided she never wanted to be human again. She held the train of Queen Cecily's wedding dress in her teeth as she walked down the aisle to live happily ever after with Sir Peter.

The Cinderella 1997 Reunion Wasn't What I Expected

When I learned that 20/20 was having a reunion of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella from 1997 to celebrate World Princess Week, I was expecting a journalist like  to show up in a big room with the cast and lead a discussion about their memories of shooting together and what they've been up to since then. What I got instead was a mash-up of individual interviews from various people involved with the film from the past and present day talking for an hour about what a great movie it was. Don't get me wrong; it was great, but that isn't what comes to mind when I hear "reunion." Not only was there never more than one person on camera at a time, but there was also no host to introduce and close out the special. If someone tuned in without knowing anything about it, they would have no idea what they were watching. The biggest highlight for me wasn't even part of the special. It was a clip of Brandy giving a live performance of "Starting Now" in Disneyland during a commercial break as a promotion for World Princess Week. You can watch the full video below.

Maybe I'm being a little too harsh. There was some decent footage in the special, particularly for people who didn't own the DVD, such as clips of the making of the film and some early interviews with the late . The motherly relationship between Whitney and Brandy was a big highlight of the behind-the-scenes footage both on the DVD and during the special. Brandy idolized Whitney, and being able to work with her was a dream come true. There was a touching moment near the beginning in which Brandy talked about how she never thought she was pretty and was amazed when she got cast as Cinderella. She also revealed that the shots of her feet in the glass slippers weren't really her feet because they looked too big on camera. It isn't easy being Cinderella! The only two people interviewed who weren't part of the film were , who acted as a stand-in for Whitney Houston since he played the Fairy Godmother in another recent Cinderella film, and Todrick Hall, who provided limited footage from the music video he created to honor the movie last year.

Another highlight was footage of what appeared to be some sort of exclusive Disney Princess party with a group of little girls playing dress up in various princess costumes and answering questions about their favorite Disney Princesses. If they had answered more in-depth questions, this section could have easily been a full special on its own to provide a deeper investigation of how princess culture affects society. As it was, it served as break between the monotony of all the one-on-one interviews for the "reunion." I would have loved to see Brandy inspire the little girls with a surprise visit, but this was a very socially distanced special. Even in the wake of Covid, there were numerous reunions of TV shows and movies that took place over Zoom, so I don't see any reason that the producers couldn't get at least some of the actors together for a discussion, virtual or otherwise. Instead, it acted as an hour-long commercial for Disney's Ultimate Princess Celebration, which was odd because I thought 20/20 was a news show.
Another thing I expected from this special was some sort of memorial for Whitney Houston. There was plenty of dialogue about how great she was, which is true, but no one mentioned how they were affected by her tragic death in 2012. I also learned through the Twitter hashtags that , who played Cinderella's stepsister Minerva, had also passed away two years ago, something that was not mentioned in the special at all. Maybe they thought these things would be too depressing for a peppy reunion that would re-introduce the film to a new generation. Still, I thought reunions were supposed to be about celebrating everyone who worked on the project and paying tribute to those who couldn't be there.
In case you were wondering, I did stick around for the live presentation of the movie even though I already have it on both DVD and Disney+. I've been so spoiled by streaming that I forgot how many commercials live TV had! There was a lengthy commercial break after almost every song, which I sang along with loudly, pleased that I still remembered most of the lyrics. Seeing the movie with fresh eyes reminded me of how magical it was the first time I saw it and how solid the story, pacing, choreography, set, and costume designs were. It was clear that a lot of love went into it, and I'm glad everyone involved had an opportunity to reminisce about it 25 years later. Let me know in the comments if this reunion special lived up to your expectations or if you were hoping for something different.

This Archivist Found the Lost Sailor Moon Pilot!

A very merry World Princess Week to you all! The festivities of the week kicked off a little early with a YouTube video that took the internet by storm and surprisingly had nothing to do with Disney. As I've shared in the past, I've always had mixed feelings about Sailor Moon, but it's difficult to deny the impact that it had on for '90s kids. It was one of the first anime series that became popular in America and many people's first introduction to the Magical Girl genre. If things hadn't played out the way they did, our memories of this show could have been something completely different. Back in the early '90s, ToonMaker Studios teamed up with Renaissance-Atlantic Entertainment to create an animated/live-action hybrid of a brand new Americanized version of Sailor Moon. A music video of this cheeseball show was recorded at a convention sometime later, and for a very long time, that was the only evidence we had that this version of Sailor Moon ever existed. Until now, that is. No one has searched harder for the unaired pilot of what fans lovingly dubbed "Saban Moon" than YouTube archivist Raven "Ray Mona" Simone. Last weekend, her efforts finally paid off.

In this two-hour docudrama, Raven takes us on a journey through time, effort, and passion, as she contacts every lead she can find related to the Americanized Sailor Moon project until she ultimately discovers it in the last place she looked--the copyright archives of the Chamber of Commerce. This is the second documentary that this skilled YouTuber has shared about her search. I remember watching Part 1 of The Western World of Sailor Moon with great interest five months ago as she showed us the trials and tribulations that an archivist of lost media must face as she traced back the show's footstep in a fruitless attempt to find the original unaired 17-minute pilot. With her soothing voice and intimately relatable footage of typing away on her keyboard in a dark room, Raven is a talented filmmaker that got many princess fans invested in her journey to locate this lost footage even if it pales in comparison to the original. Princess fans around the world rejoiced in her success this past weekend when her efforts finally bore fruit, and we saw the adventures that could have been of Sailor Moon and her warrior princess friends.
Despite showcasing cheap-looking animation, hokey dialogue, and a cheesy '90s soundtrack, the show has some qualities that make it stand out from other Magical Girl series of the time. Had it been released on schedule, it would have been the only series that I am aware of to feature characters traveling between a live-action and animated world until Mia and Me, which came out in 2011, nearly 20 years later. Renaissance Atlantic was also involved with Power Rangers, another Japanese property, but the initial seasons of that show borrowed footage from its Japanese counterpart for the fight scenes. Sailor Moon would have been the only Japanese property of the time period to feature entirely new animation and live-action footage created exclusively for an American audience. The live-action high school superhero setting also would have also made for an easy conversion of Power Ranger fans over to Sailor Moon.

The plot of this series, in which the five princess warriors must recover the Jewels of Power from Queen Beryl to save the universe while trying to live as ordinary teenage girls, is similar to many other shows that were out at the time, including Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders, Sky Dancers, and Princess Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic. If this series had aired on network television, I probably would have invested in it from time to time as a guilty pleasure. It was also big on diversity, featuring many different races and physical abilities, which has only become more relevant today. I have to admit I was a little disappointed that the girls missed their school dance to save the world in this short pilot since I always enjoyed those episodes in '90s sitcoms. The live-action bits were reminiscent of other sitcoms from the time period including Blossom, Saved By the Bell, and Sister, Sister. It's probably better that things turned out the way they did since releasing a dub of the original Japanese animation opened the floodgates for Americans to explore Japanese culture and entertainment, which has had a huge impact on the media we have access to today.

Raven is a fantastic role model for fangirls everywhere who fear that they will never see long-lost projects from some of their favorite franchises. She teaches us that all it takes to reach for the moon is a little patience and perseverance, a lesson that was also taught to us by many Disney Princesses of the past. This discovery is a great way to kick off World Princess Week, which Disney is celebrating by adding Raya to their official lineup and airing a reunion on 20/20 of the 1997 adaptation of  Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella tomorrow night. How excited were you to learn about the recovery of this long-lost pilot?