Lisa Dawn's Blog: The Princess Blog, page 65

Review: Cinders, Stars, and Glass Slippers

I don't enjoy writing negative reviews, which is why I put this one off for about a month. I've read quite a few books by Brittany Fichter, so I'm used to her stories being dark and religious without even a hint of comic relief. In the case of the Autumn Fairy trilogy and Clara's Soldier , the melancholy thematic elements are often redeemed by touching star-crossed romances that overcome all obstacles. That was not the case for Cinders, Stars, and Glass Slippers , the sixth book in her Classical Kingdoms anthology. Whenever I read a new take on "Cinderella," it feels as though someone is trying to reinvent the wheel. It's a simple fairy tale with a simple message that doesn't always work under the scrutiny of modern feminists. Yes, Gail Carson Levine did it right with Ella Enchanted back in 1998, but even that was turned into an overly complicated movie in 2004 that made a mockery of her simplistic story-telling techniques. Anyway, let's get back to this book.


Cinders, Stars, and Glass Slippers takes place in Brittany Fichter's Classical Kingdoms universe where many famous fairy tale characters live. It takes place after the events Silent Mermaid, her adaptation of "The Little Mermaid," which I did not particularly enjoy as a retelling of my favorite fairy tale. This version of "Cinderella" names the titular character Elaina instead of Ella. She gives herself the nickname "Cinderlaina" at a pivotal point in the story, which does not roll off the tongue nearly as well as "Cinderella." Elaina is not an orphan but instead the daughter of an admiral on a ship. She grew up climbing sails and charting stars with a lot more freedom than other ladies from her era. Her lack of a ladylike upbringing and competitive nature are what attract Prince Nicholas to her. Their relationship bothered me because it felt very one-sided for the majority of the book. I didn't find myself wanting Elaina to end up with him because I never got the impression that was what she wanted.

The thing that bothered me the most about this book was the development of the world where it took place. Brittany Fichter has a tendency to dive into elaborate fantasy worlds without any explanation of the rules or magic work. For me, this was the biggest detriment to her "Frog Prince" adaptation, The Green-Eyed Prince . Cinders, Stars, and Glass Slippers takes place in a world that is very reminiscent of Marvel's X-Men in which random people are gifted with supernatural abilities at birth and hunted down by the government. This would have made for a story if we actually got to see any of these abilities in practice instead of just hearing about them. Elaina's ability, in particular, was so mediocre that it took me half the book just to figure out what it was. She has the ability to talk to stars. It was useful to her on her father's ship because it would help her father navigate and warn them of incoming storms, but the instances in the book where she uses this ability seem completely arbitrary. The stars give her nothing but vague fortune cookie proverbs that made me wonder why the villain would want her for such a useless ability.

The second half of the book sees Elaina kidnapped and forced into slavery, which is where Fichter's version of the "wicked stepmother" character comes into play. Prince Nicholas makes it his mission to rescue her from this life, which would have been a terrific update to the "Cinderella" story if she had been stuck in that situation for longer than she actually was. Elaina was tormented for such a short time that I couldn't feel sorry for her in the same way that I do for the original Ella, who was abused for most of her childhood by the only family she had. Cinders, Stars, and Glass Slippers had so much wasted potential. The dry narrative and static characters made it nearly impossible to connect with emotionally. I thought Elaina's ability to talk to the stars might play into the Grimm version of the fairy tale in which Ella prays at her mother's grave for a ballgown and slippers to rain down on her so she could go to the ball, but instead the "Fairy Godmother" character turned out to be an ordinary woman introduced later in the story who was not nearly as interesting or magical.

I wanted to enjoy this book, but there was so little in it for me to connect with. Elaina's supernatural ability was vague and unimpressive in the grand scheme of things. I didn't feel like she loved Prince Nicholas and only needed him to help her escape the life she was kidnapped into. The narration was dry and static and never took the time to fully immerse the reader in what could have been a fascinating world full of people with miraculous abilities. If you are a fan of the original "Cinderella," I am sorry to say that I would not recommend this book as an alternate version.

She-Ra Returns Next Week!

It's only been three months since the disappointingly short second season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. The show is coming back to Netflix next Friday with what is touted as its third season. Hopefully, this won't just be the other half of season 2 because then it would only need six episodes in order to add up to a full 13-episode season. At this time, the number of episodes in the upcoming season remains unknown. However, there was a panel for it at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend, where series creator

The trailer begins with She-Ra asking the robotic hologram Light Hope about her past. It would be nice for this season to reveal her backstory as He-Man's twin that got kidnapped as a baby, but I wouldn't count on this show introducing He-Man lore any time soon. That backstory would consummate her status as the princess of Eternia instead of just having the title "Princess of Power," but unfortunately, that's not what this show is about. As usual, Hordak is up to another evil scheme that threatens the lots of people's lives, and Adora is determined to stop him. A new character is going to be introduced this season as another throwback to the original show. Huntara, a violet-skinned warrior woman, is the leader of a new group of enemies called the Crimson Waste who must "reluctantly" help She-Ra and her friends. She will be voiced by
Even though DreamWorks Animation waited for Comic-Con to launch the new trailer, they've been doing plenty of other work to promote the series in the meantime. Over the past few weeks, a series of shorts premiered on YouTube featuring Swift Wind, Adora's loud-mouthed alicorn companion. The first short, "Unicorn Warrior Training," showed Swift Wind attempting to help Perfuma train her warriors. "Arm Wrestling Challenge" had him arm wrestle a purple alien to help Sea Hawk win back his boat. My favorite short was "A Princess Birthday Party," in which Swift Wind helped Adora choose a birthday gift for Frosta. "Grounded Glimmer Jail Break" pokes fun at Adora and Swift Wind's naivete about what it means to be grounded. The fifth and final short is "Hero Horse Transformation," which spoofs some popular magical girl tropes while exploring what it means to be a cartoon hero.


In addition to the new shorts, Mattel launched a brand new doll collection to accompany the new season that they also previewed at Comic-Con. The new dolls include Adora, Bow, Glimmer, Catra, a proportionally larger She-Ra, and Swift Wind. They have a cutesy look that matches the newer

DreamWorks has made every plausible effort to give She-Ra and the Princesses of Power the full princess treatment. From dolls to theme parks to new episodes, this show is super trendy right now. I'm eager to watch the new season in the hopes that it will live up to all the hype. The episodes will drop on Netflix next Friday, August 2nd. Here's hoping for a full story arc instead of the handful of filler episodes that the last season brought us!

Review: Dead Princess Walking

I was recently offered an opportunity to read Dead Princess Walking , the first book in a new series by L.M. Schukraft. The book is an original adaptation of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," but reads more like a cross between the movies Snow White and the Huntsman  and The Wizard of Oz . It is a high fantasy adventure featuring a magically inclined Snow White at the forefront. There were lots of fun and colorful characters that reminded me of Disney sidekicks. The biggest downside to the book is that it doesn't have a conclusive ending. However, it doesn't end on a cliffhanger either, which is good because the next book isn't out yet.


Dead Princess Walking introduces us to a unique fae world that reminds me of Oz due to its sleep-inducing poppy fields, magical inhabitants, and history of powerful women. It follows the journey of an empowered Snow White, who awakens her inner magic upon learning about her fae blood. Snow White discovers pretty quickly that her magic can do just about anything that she wants it to, so she can come off as a bit of a Mary Sue at times. There are no spells to learn or scrolls to study for her to invoke her abilities, so her only limit is her own self-confidence. She is a more active heroine than many of Snow White characters we have seen in the past. The Huntsman character joins her for the majority of her journey, which parallels the version of Snow White that
What really sold this book for me was the sidekicks. When Snow White leaves her castle to escape her evil stepmother and discover her enchanted kingdom, she encounters the wood sprites, pixie-like creatures decked out in plants and flowers. Their leader, Binks, is a spunky know-it-all that advises Snow White about her mission in his own blunt and comedic way. He reminded me of an animated that
Dead Princess Walking is one of those adaptations that doesn't really need to be an adaptation because it stands up so well on its own. There's no poison comb, corset, or apple. In fact, we see very little of the evil queen outside the book's introduction. Most of it is about Snow White's magical quest to save the kingdom that is reminiscent of Dorothy's quest down the yellow brick road in The Wizard of Oz. There is also very little romance. Snow White does not fall in love with a prince and seems far more likely to fall for the Huntsman if the author continues to take the Snow White and the Huntsman route. A significant difference between those two versions is that the Snow White in Dead Princess Walking uses magic to defend herself against her enemies, which is more interesting than a sword and armor in my opinion.

If you're looking for a new and original interpretation of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" or a magical adventure story about a faery princess, Dead Princess Walking is for you. It's a lot of fun and never takes itself too seriously. The Snow White in this story has unlimited magical potential that she is always improving with the help of her zany and colorful friends. Binks and the other wood sprites gave the book a comedic spin that made me wish I could read more about them. It's also great for fairy tale lovers in general because the book makes references to other fairy tales that exist within the same magical world. I predict this series will have seven books for the seven dwarf-like creatures that Snow White must find. However, this is the only one available for now, so check it out if you can!

Five Times Disney Race-Bent a Princess and Nobody Complained

With all the controversy over Halle Bailey getting cast as Ariel, I wondered why nobody made such a big deal out of all other times Disney race-bent a fairy tale princess. This is not intended to be another post about why we should support Halle but instead an analysis of all the other times this happened in a Disney production. This is such a hot button issue right now that people are talking about it when they don't even have all the facts. ABC's The View aired an episode in which Whoopi Goldberg claimed that Halle was voicing the character for an animated production, and other people are making videos where they claim that Ariel isn't a princess or that she had green skin in the original fairy tale. Let's take a moment to get our facts straight while we explore how this is something that Disney has been doing for over 20 years.
Cinderella - 1997
This is the one that people remember the most fondly, and for good reason.
In 2001, Hallmark Entertainment did an adaptation of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" starring
You're probably thinking "But Tiana was an original character!" You would be half right. The Princess and the Frog was Disney's original interpretation of the Grimm Brothers fairy tale "The Frog King," more commonly known as "The Frog Prince." Before this movie came out, the princess in most adaptations of this fairy tale was portrayed by a white actress. Some notable ones include Tales from Muppetland in 1971 and the Faerie Tale Theatre production in 1982. That's why I find it hilarious when people look at the casting for The Little Mermaid and say "How would you feel if Tiana was white?" She was white many times! Disney could easily do a new adaptation with a white actress, and I doubt many people would complain. Something interesting that I learned about Tiana recently is that her character was based on a real person named Leah Chase who opened a restaurant in New Orleans in the 1940s. In that aspect, Tiana's race was inspired by Leah's roots. If Disney were to do a biopic that focuses more on Leah Chase's life, they would need to cast an actress who looks like her. However, if we are looking at Tiana as a new interpretation of the spoiled princess from "The Frog Prince," she is a wonderful example of culturally diversifying a classic story.Sleeping Beauty - 2015
With Descendants 3  just around the corner following the tragic death of actor
Color-blind casting is nothing new for the Great White Way. Broadway has been casting actors and actresses based solely on their ability to sing and dance without paying attention to the color of their skin for decades. I chose Anna for this example because Frozen  is still a massively popular hit for Disney. People who have not seen the Broadway version of the show might not realize that the opening cast's actor for Kristoff was Jelani Alladin, a performer of African American descent, and the understudy for Patti Murin, who played Princess Anna in the opening cast, was Aisha Jackson, an actress who is also of African American descent. Famous singer Toni Braxton was among the many lucky actresses to play Belle in Disney's long-running Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast in 1998. The musical Aida, which is about a Nubian princess, is also a Disney production that always casts a black actress in the lead.Bonus: Once Upon a Time - 2011-2018
As a bonus, I am giving an honorable mention to ABC's Once Upon a Time, which portrayed many classic Disney characters under the guise of a primetime drama. These series had an ensemble cast with diverse actors portraying these famous fairy tale archetypes. In the seventh season, the show did a reboot of sorts in which it recast new versions of many of the characters we had already seen. Among these, there were two princesses that now had alternate counterparts in the show. Cinderella, who had previously been played by blonde actress
Anyone who thinks it's a big deal that Disney is race-bending Ariel for their live-action adaptation simply has not been paying attention. This is something that Disney has been doing for many years, and they are unlikely to stop any time soon. It is especially prevalent in Broadway productions since they are constantly getting new actors for old roles. There is nothing wrong with showing the world that princesses come in all colors. I can't wait to see which princess Disney will bring to life next!

Review: Peas and Princesses

I was recently offered an opportunity to read and review the new book Peas and Princesses  by up-and-coming author Aleese Hughes. Just as it sounds, the book is an original adaptation of the fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea." However, the cutesy title is somewhat misleading when it comes to the tone of the story. The book's villain is truly terrifying and does some awful things, so I would hesitate to recommend it for younger princess fans. Outside of that, it's a quick and fun read for young adults who enjoy fairy tale adaptations. The protagonist is easy to relate and winds up in a similar situation to the main character in last year's Netflix movie, The Princess Switch .

Peas and Princesses is about a village girl named Milly who is forced to enter a competition to replace the kingdom's princess after she ran away. In that respect, it is reminiscent of Shannon Hale's Princess Academy but much darker. This book focuses on the common desire for princesses to be free by placing a cold and heartless king in charge of their fate. King Leopold is among the most wicked villains I have ever encountered in a fairy tale adaptation. I wished there was more substance to his character. From the very beginning of the book, he kills without mercy and seems to have no justification for his actions. It's no wonder Princess Amelia ran away! If this book were longer, I would have liked to see more interactions between Amelia and her father so I would have a better grasp of his human side as well as her motivation to get away.

From Milly's perspective, Peas and Princesses feels like a horror story, which is an unusual, though not unheard of, choice for a fairy tale adaptation. Milly is kidnapped, exposed to the suffering of those she cares about, and forced to replace the princess against her will. There were times that I felt her reactions to witnessing such traumatic events are underplayed, but her situation improves later when she meets the prince that she is betrothed to. I wish Milly had been a more active protagonist. It seems like she only did something if another person suggested it to or coerced her. Princess Amelia is more active in her decisions, even though we barely got to see her. I think I would enjoy reading a spin-off book from Amelia's perspective.

I think that the gratuitous deaths in this book make it inappropriate for anyone under the age of 16. If you enjoy things like Game of Thrones and want to read a story with a softer protagonist, this book might be good for you. The romantic elements of the story are clean and sweet, but I found myself wishing that Milly had wound up with her first love interest instead of the boring and predictable one. There were some magical elements in the book, but they were few and far between, so I wouldn't compare it to authors like J.M. Stengl and A.G. Marshall, whose stories are bursting with magic. There was one mysterious side character who was revealed to be a Fairy Godmother of sorts, which leaves room for future fairy tale adaptations if Aleese decides to turn this into a series.

Overall, Peas and Princesses is a quick and enjoyable read about the trials and tribulations of becoming a princess. It is more of a gender-swapped retelling of "The Prince and the Pauper" than it is "The Princess and the Pea" because of the focus on a common girl switching places with a princess. The villain is pure evil, making for some gruesome deaths that younger readers might want to avoid. If you can get past that and enjoy princess stories, this book might be a good fit for you.

Maleficent Fights Against Love in the New Trailer

Is Disney ever going to run out of princess news this month? Just a few short days after the Halle Bailey controversy, they released the first teaser for their Mulan remake. Barely 24 hours have passed since then, and we have a new trailer for Maleficent: Mistress of Evil . This trailer reveals a lot more about the story than the last one did. We now see that the movie's central conflict revolves around Princess Aurora's engagement to Prince Phillip. As irritating as it is to have a sequel to a remake instead of introducing new characters and stories, this movie is shaping up to be quite good for what it is. Initially, I wasn't particularly excited for this sequel that nobody asked for, but the plot is surprisingly inspired and unlike anything that we've ever seen before from a princess story, not to mention that exciting revelation from the end of the trailer. You can see for yourself below.


What makes this different from other stories about princesses falling in love is that the parental figures are fighting over ownership of Aurora instead of her letting her follow her own heart. Maleficent takes on a role similar to King Triton from The Little Mermaid in that she intends to keep Aurora away from the man she loves in a misguided attempt to protect her from the heartache that Maleficent herself experienced in the first film. Phillip's mother, Queen Ingrith, on the other hand, is staunchly in favor of the marriage. Even though Prince Phillip was not a very memorable character in the original Maleficent , the legendary role that he provided to the animated Sleeping Beauty has made him one of Disney's most beloved princes of all time. Hopefully, some of that will translate into this film instead of depending on nostalgia for his character development. I like that Disney has opted not to forgo the love story for this movie, which is something that they have done a lot with their newer princesses. To remove the romance from the princess genre entirely would take away too much of what makes these stories appealing to young women, especially the "Sleeping Beauty" fairy tale in particular.

In this case, Phillip and Aurora's love creates a wedge between the relationship of the enchanted kingdom of the Moors, and Phillip's non-magical human kingdom. The trailer features Queen Ingrith telling Maleficent that she wishes to become the mother figure that Aurora never had. It is interesting that she claims to believe that Maleficent raised Aurora when in the context of the first film and the animated Sleeping Beauty movie, Aurora was raised by the Three Good Fairies, who we also see briefly in this trailer. Though the first movie in this series portrayed them as bumbling and incompetent fools, most of what Maleficent did to aid in Aurora's upbringing was behind closed doors. The only plausible explanation for people believing that Maleficent raised Aurora is that Aurora told everyone that Maleficent was her adoptive mother. After this statement, the trailer escalates into what appears to be a war of the two queens over ownership of Aurora, although we know that her heart truly belongs to Phillip.

What I really liked about this trailer is that the movie seems to be an exploration of the nuances of love, and much like the show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, it refuses to present it as black and white. The first Maleficent rewrote the story of "Sleeping Beauty" to make Maleficent good and King Stefan evil, but in this case, everyone seems to have good intentions. Maleficent thinks that what is best for Aurora is to protect her from the betrayal that she experienced in her past when she fell in love with Stefan, while Queen Ingrith thinks that Aurora needs the love of a "real" mother and to learn the ways of her human culture that she was sheltered from for most of her life. Meanwhile, Phillip and Aurora just want to be together and claim independence from their parents. If that's not nuanced enough, the end of the trailer features a surprise shot of other faeries that appear to be from the same species as Maleficent. A common question in the original film was why Maleficent didn't look anything like anyone else living in the Moors, and it appears this movie will have the answer. Now we can finally learn where these human-sized faeries with feathered black wings and horns atop their head come from and simultaneously force Maleficent to make a choice between her own kind and the human princess that she wishes to protect.

I just loved everything about this trailer, and I hope the movie doesn't stray from it in the same way that The Nutcracker and the Four Realms did. There are so many fascinating ideas presented here about love, independence, and cultural acceptance. I am absolutely stoked to learn about where Maleficent came from, how she was separated from her own kind, and to see how Aurora and Phillip's love for each other will overcome a new challenge. I'm glad to see that Aurora is presented as shy and submissive next to the two powerful queens because the "Warrior Princess" archetype has taken over too many Disney movies as of late. It is more realistic to show that not all princesses are physically strong. Plus, it gives Aurora that much more room for character growth by showing her struggle with the need to assert herself and claim her independence as a young woman. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil will hit theaters on October 18th, and I plan to be among the first in line to see it.

Thank the Ancestors! Mulan Has a Teaser!

So little has been revealed about the production of Disney's live-action remake of Mulan  since Chinese actress

The first thing I noticed about this teaser was the pacing. I could watch the original Mulan a million times without ever getting bored because it didn't linger on any one scene. It jumped straight from Mulan failing her matchmaker interview to singing about how she didn't fit in with society's expectations to disguising herself and joining the army in her father's place. This teaser feels a lot more patient and focuses more on building up the atmosphere and emotion than moving the story along. A lot of time is spent on showing how disappointed Mulan is to become a bride and how hard she trains later to become a warrior. It is tonally similar to the 2005 movie Memoir of a Geisha . Of course, this is a teaser and not a trailer, so I understand that a lot of the movie probably hasn't been shot yet. Still, if this teaser is any representation of what we can expect from the movie, it seems like there might be a lot of bored children in the audience.

I had to watch this teaser a few times before I was able to catch the quick flashes of Mulan in disguise as a male soldier. I wish we could have seen some of the hilarious scenes from the original where she awkwardly pretends to be a boy, but I suppose they are saving all of that for the theater. There is also a lot more footage of her fighting as a girl in this teaser than I recall from the animated version. Her green robes have been replaced with the more culturally sound Chinese color of red, and we see her performing acrobatics, archery, and swordplay with her long hair swirling around her. This poses the question of whether or not this version will contain the iconic scene of her cutting off her hair with her father's sword in order to disguise herself as a man. It would be a tragic loss to forgo this beautifully crafted sequence from the animated classic. Losing that and the "Reflections" song sequence would eliminate the emotional core of the film. From what I've seen so far, I don't expect this version to hold a candle to the original.


In addition to seeing Mulan fight more as a woman than she did in the animated version, the dialogue in this teaser reveals that the matchmaker finds a suitor for her to marry. In the original, she never gets that far because her initial meeting with the matchmaker turns out to be such an epic disaster. This implies that one of the many new characters announced for this adaptation might be a "Gaston" type that expects to marry Mulan regardless of how she feels about him. This could be an interesting twist, but it overcomplicates the simple elegance of the story. It is also possible that we will never meet this potential suitor in the film and that he will merely be used as motivation for Mulan to run away and join the army as quickly as possible so she doesn't create false hopes for him to marry her.

All in all, we need to keep in mind that this is only a teaser and that the movie probably still has a long way to go before its release in March of 2020. Still, I found myself somewhat bored with the way that Disney chose to present it at this early stage. Even though the original Mulan only had four songs, they were beautifully composed and essential to expressing the themes of identity and growth, which is something that every woman struggles with at some point in her life. 's emotional performances will be sorely missed. Mulan is set for release on March 27, 2020. I plan to see it in theaters because she is one of my favorite Disney Princesses, but from what I've seen so far, I don't expect to enjoy it nearly as much as the original.

We Need to Talk About Princesses and Racism

I can't believe I need to post about this again. The response to my post about the actress chosen to play Ariel in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid  was quite frankly appalling. In fact, Disney removed the post announcing her casting from many of their official Facebook pages yesterday. People are judging

The main reason I find this behavior disturbing is that these are people who grew up with Disney Princess movies and the lessons that they preach of love and acceptance. To be a modern princess means to treat people with kindness and respect, regardless of who they are or where they came from. Saying a black girl can't play Ariel is not fitting of someone who grew up with the Disney Princesses, and especially those who watched the animated Little Mermaid series, in which Ariel spent most of her time helping outcasts make friends and feel accepted by those who ostracized them. The entire point of the song "In Harmony" was that we should all embrace our differences because they are what make us beautiful! If these people were truly fans of Ariel and wanted Disney to maintain the essence of the character, they would understand that being Ariel means being different, defying expectations, and not fitting in with the status quo, which I believe is why Disney made the decision that they did.


I have also heard the argument that it isn't racist to want the character to look the same as she did in the movie, and that brings up a different issue. Disney's live-action remakes have been a controversial topic for years now because most fans of the Disney classics are uncomfortable with taking a work of art and removing all the artwork (unless you count CGI) to recreate it with real actors and environments. Fans have been complaining about this for years even though they still pay to see these monstrosities. If Disney remaking your favorite movie is such a big problem, then why do you care who's in it at all? Shouldn't you just not see it? For me, the worst remake Disney has done so far was Beauty and the Beast , in which they cast
The Little Mermaid  is such a difficult movie to shoot in live-action due to the underwater talking, singing, and swimming that I don't think there's any way it could look as magical in real life as the animated version did. The Filipino series Dyesebel attempted to create a live-action underwater world that looks pretty ridiculous if you focus on the visual effects too much, but the costumes, characters, and emotional story arcs kept me interested in spite of all that. I'm so glad that Disney is trying to do something fresh and original with this remake so I won't constantly think about it as the inferior Little Mermaid movie. Instead, it will be an opportunity for girls who look different from me to have a chance to relate to Ariel as much as I do. In fact, I hope they change even more from the original film because I love "The Little Mermaid" as a fairy tale. The animated Disney movie is only one interpretation of it, and it isn't even the most accurate one. I've actually written a novella inspired by the original fairy tale called Of Land and Sea: The Untold Story of The Little Mermaid  because I love it so much.

What it comes down to is the fact that any girl can be a princess in her imagination if she is kind, loving, and takes charge of her happy ending. For me, "The Little Mermaid" is the quintessential story of this. It is about a girl who didn't fit in with her society and selflessly saved someone's life, fell in love, and took a huge risk to chase after her own happiness. Even though this risk did not pay off for her in the original fairy tale, Disney decided to reward that character for her passion and spirit in their version and gave her the happy ending they thought she deserved. Now, Halle Bailey is being rewarded with this role for the same reasons, and if we truly wish to behave like the princesses we love, we would be happy for her.

We Have Our Ariel!

Love them or hate them, remakes are flooding Disney's market. One of their most highly anticipated upcoming live-action remakes just happens to be my favorite movie, The Little Mermaid . There has been a great deal of speculation behind who Disney might cast to play Ariel, the passionate redheaded mermaid, especially after they announced that they were focusing mainly on actresses of color for the role. A long-standing rumor was that they had their eye on

I never watched the show Grown-ish, which is a spin-off of Black-ish that Halle stars in with her sister

The first question everyone seemed to have about Ariel being cast as an actress who is not a natural redhead is whether or not she will change her hair for the role. The biggest issue is that a wig or a poorly done dye job could come off looking too unnatural. There were many complaints about the appearance of Mera, an underwater queen with hair nearly identical to Ariel's, in the latest Aquaman movie. The complaints revolved around the fact that her wig was too bright and fake, while arguments in favor of it pointed out that chlorine and other chemicals in the water could damage hair in underwater scenes, especially if it's been dyed, and that even professional mermaids use wigs to protect their own hair. In this case, it depends how much CGI Disney will use to create the underwater imagery. Hopefully Halle is a good swimmer! Ironically,
There have been other rumors flying around about the remake as well recently. Gilmore Girls actress
As much as I wish Disney would focus more on original animated movies instead of turning all their old ones into live-action, I am eager to see what new direction they might take with my favorite fairy tale. Congratulations to Halle Bailey for landing such a dream role. I hope that her sister Chloe can share the spotlight with her as one of the other daughters of Triton. Even though there is very little known about this movie right now, it is already beginning to look very different from the 1989 classic, which is a good thing in my opinion because I'd rather have something entirely new than a carbon copy that will never live up to the original. I do like the choice of Awkwafina as Scuttle, but I hope they pick someone who can act like more of a diva than Melissa McCarthy to play Ursula. Now I will leave you with a lovely video of Halle Bailey, our new Ariel, belting out the classic song "Unforgettable."

Saban Princesses

A few weeks ago, I received a comment on my YouTube channel to check out a '90s cartoon called Princess Sissi. I was never one to pass up the opportunity to discover a new princess show, so I did a quick YouTube search and commenced binging. The animation and acting were nothing to write home about, though Sissi's American voice is notably dubbed by

Marina and Sissi are very much two sides of the same coin. They're both adventurous '90s heroines who love having fun and aren't afraid to break a few rules in the process. They care deeply about their friends and even more deeply about their princes. They are women of action who make enemies just as easily as friends. Marina's biggest enemy is Hedwig the wicked sea witch, who greedily stole the Golden Tablet that has the potential to unite mermaids and humans for good. For Sissi, it's Counselor Zotornick, who is determined to prevent her alliance with Prince Franz that would potentially bring peace to Bavaria. They also have rivals in love, though Marina's rival, Cecily, only shows up in one or two episodes after Prince Justin rejects her in the show's pilot, while Sissi's rival, Helena, is in practically every episode of the show with a new scheme to get Franz to marry her. Her catchphrase, "Ridiculous!" seemed like it was repeated a dozen times per episode. Marina had talking animal sidekicks such as Winnie, her flying seahorse friend, while Sissi's sidekicks were children such as Tommy, an orphan boy who went on spy missions for her and eventually learned the truth about his past.

The biggest difference between Saban's Adventures of The Little Mermaid and Princess Sissi is that one is inspired by a fictional fairy tale while the other is inspired by historical events. Princess Sissi is essentially what The Little Mermaid would have been without the magical elements. Marina is separated from Prince Justin due to being a mermaid who lives in the sea and must use magic to be with him, whereas Sissi is separated from Prince Franz due to political scandals and must use espionage techniques and secret messages to be with him. Though the shows have a lot in common, The Little Mermaid ended abruptly after 26 episodes with no resolution to the story, and Princess Sissi ran twice as long with 52 episodes and concluded exactly where it was supposed to with her wedding to Franz. Both shows were somewhat slow-paced and required a great deal of suspension of disbelief, but Princess Sissi picked up a lot toward the end with some exciting story arcs involving her father getting exiled and Franz thinking she had died. The Little Mermaid, unfortunately, has little to no particularly memorable episodes even though it was a fun concept in theory.

It is rumored that Saban's Adventures of The Little Mermaid ended early due to the popularity of Disney's The Little Mermaid series, which came out around the same time. The shows were quite different since the Disney series took place before Ariel met Eric and focused on her adventures with other undersea inhabitants instead of romance. It also had much stronger stories, characters, and animation. Princess Sissi probably outlived its parent show because there was no other animated princess show out at the time that also taught kids about history. Princess Sissi told a dramatization of the story of Duchess Elisabeth of Posse, whose nickname was Sissi. Yeah, I'm confused about that too. There were some things from it that were not only historically inaccurate but also confusing, such as why her rival Helena referred to Sissi as a peasant when she was the daughter of a duke who owned a great deal of land. The show's villains, Count Arkas and Counselor Zotornick, were such Saturday morning cartoon stereotypes that they were probably heavily exaggerated or made up entirely. Still, I learned a lot more about the history various European nations from this show than any other animated princess show I've seen. It wasn't until over a decade later that the CW released its primetime drama, Reign, which told a dramatized version of the story of Mary, Queen of Scots. Of course, Reign had a very different feel due to its older target audience and live-action format.

Though Saban International's two animated princesses are not particularly memorable in personality or design, I will always remember the way they made me feel. Saban's Adventures of The Little Mermaid and Princess Sissi are both forged from classical romantic themes of true love surpassing all obstacles. That's why it's such a shame that we never got to see how Marina ultimately would have ended up with Prince Justin. Princess Sissi's wedding to Prince Franz was well earned after 52 episodes, but the best story arcs of the show did not take place until the last couple of seasons. Saban International Paris was eventually shut down in 2009 after being bought out by Fox and later Disney. Today, we have lots of other princess adventures shows to enjoy on Disney Channel, such as Elena of Avalor and Tangled.