Mark Swan's The Princess and the Pea is an imaginative and surprisingly original take on the old fairy tale that suffers from a lack of budget and a weak heroine. Like most Disney movies, it seeks to pad a relatively simplistic story with villains, extra characters, and a deeper plot, and in that area it succeeds very well. The script is strong, blending elements of classic animated films, the dark undertones of Grimm fairy tales, and its own charm and flair. However, as I mentioned before, the heroine is rather weak, and the central romance a bit too clichéd to be taken seriously by a modern audience.
The film begins shortly before Laird, the wicked and selfish crown prince, is to be coronated. He cannot find his golden shoes, which are still in the throne room after he threw them at young Prince Rollo from a neighbouring kingdom. Determined not to look like a fool by wandering into his own coronation barefoot, Laird sends his younger brother Heath to fetch his shoes. However, unbeknownst to Laird and Heath, an old law states that whichever prince enters the throne room first shall be crowned king. Heath enters and is crowned King in his brother's place. He makes Laird Lord of the Pig Country, much to Laird and his wife Helsa's displeasure. Shortly after, both Helsa and Heath's wife give birth to baby girls. Heath's wife, unfortunately, dies in childbirth. Laird decides to switch the girls, leaving Helsa as a nurse to their daughter, Hildegard, while Heath's real daughter, Daria, is sent to live with the Pig People. Years later, an adult Rollo returns to the kingdom to seek a wife. He is turned off by Hildegard's shallowness, but is smitten with Daria, whom he meets in the woods one day. But their love will soon be interrupted by Laird, determined to take back his kingdom. Meanwhile, Heath's faithful friend, Sebastian the Crow, is desperately searching for the key to the Legend of the Pea, which he needs to find before the end of Heath's reign, or the kingdom will be destroyed.
This film suffers a great deal from the animation, which isn't *too* terrible, but looks very off-putting in a few places and almost looks as if it were done on Flash. The songs were for the most part catchy, well-sung, and worked seamlessly into the film; however, the love theme "Kingdom of the Heart" was rather cheesy and halted the story. A lot of the imagery (and songs, in one case) seemed to be taken from other films; the reflection of Daria in the pond that aged as it rippled was taken directly from Quest for Camelot, for example, and the song "Kingdom of the Heart" sounded suspiciously like "Dreams to Dream" from An American Tale: Fievel Goes West.
Daria herself is supposed to be the pure-hearted, sensitive and kind princess that Hildegard couldn't be - however, she's a little *too* sweet. There's nothing wrong with her being a good person, but she was very 2-dimensional; her only personality trait seemed to be that she was nice. All of her hopes, dreams, and dialogue seemed to focus on one of two things; everyone in the world getting along and being good, and her finding the perfect man. Her and Rollo's relationship was a little too quick, and since they only shared about 5 lines of dialogue and a dance together, the quality of the time didn't quite override the quantity. This might fly in a '50's cartoon like Cinderella, but this film was made in 2002, after more than 10 years of cartoon heroines becoming more dynamic and their relationships with their true loves becoming more deep. Considering how imaginative the rest of the movie was, Daria's personality and her romance with Rollo seemed a bit underwritten and lazy.
However, this does not diminish the fact that the movie had a very original set-up. The original Princess and the Pea is a simple story, and this film managed to give it an interesting plot as well as a fun, foppish villain whose humorous moments never distracted from the real threat he posed. Characters like Helsa were given a bit more depth than can usually be found in secondary characters; she was shown to have a good heart underneath her cruel and selfish ways. Sebastian was a fun character and Heath had a real nobility to him. Even the animal side-kicks, Daria's three pet pigs, were enjoyable to watch; and unlike other films featuring animal side-kicks, the pigs weren't mere distractions and filler.
All in all, this movie suffers in a few spots that keep it from being perfect. If it had gotten a bigger budget and they had rewritten Daria's character, it could've been a much better film. However, it is still a great little gem and a lot of fun to watch. It hasn't got a lot of notoriety, and if it hadn't been for YouTube I probably never would've seen it; but if you can get your hands on it, I'd highly recommend you watch it!
The film begins shortly before Laird, the wicked and selfish crown prince, is to be coronated. He cannot find his golden shoes, which are still in the throne room after he threw them at young Prince Rollo from a neighbouring kingdom. Determined not to look like a fool by wandering into his own coronation barefoot, Laird sends his younger brother Heath to fetch his shoes. However, unbeknownst to Laird and Heath, an old law states that whichever prince enters the throne room first shall be crowned king. Heath enters and is crowned King in his brother's place. He makes Laird Lord of the Pig Country, much to Laird and his wife Helsa's displeasure. Shortly after, both Helsa and Heath's wife give birth to baby girls. Heath's wife, unfortunately, dies in childbirth. Laird decides to switch the girls, leaving Helsa as a nurse to their daughter, Hildegard, while Heath's real daughter, Daria, is sent to live with the Pig People. Years later, an adult Rollo returns to the kingdom to seek a wife. He is turned off by Hildegard's shallowness, but is smitten with Daria, whom he meets in the woods one day. But their love will soon be interrupted by Laird, determined to take back his kingdom. Meanwhile, Heath's faithful friend, Sebastian the Crow, is desperately searching for the key to the Legend of the Pea, which he needs to find before the end of Heath's reign, or the kingdom will be destroyed.
This film suffers a great deal from the animation, which isn't *too* terrible, but looks very off-putting in a few places and almost looks as if it were done on Flash. The songs were for the most part catchy, well-sung, and worked seamlessly into the film; however, the love theme "Kingdom of the Heart" was rather cheesy and halted the story. A lot of the imagery (and songs, in one case) seemed to be taken from other films; the reflection of Daria in the pond that aged as it rippled was taken directly from Quest for Camelot, for example, and the song "Kingdom of the Heart" sounded suspiciously like "Dreams to Dream" from An American Tale: Fievel Goes West.
Daria herself is supposed to be the pure-hearted, sensitive and kind princess that Hildegard couldn't be - however, she's a little *too* sweet. There's nothing wrong with her being a good person, but she was very 2-dimensional; her only personality trait seemed to be that she was nice. All of her hopes, dreams, and dialogue seemed to focus on one of two things; everyone in the world getting along and being good, and her finding the perfect man. Her and Rollo's relationship was a little too quick, and since they only shared about 5 lines of dialogue and a dance together, the quality of the time didn't quite override the quantity. This might fly in a '50's cartoon like Cinderella, but this film was made in 2002, after more than 10 years of cartoon heroines becoming more dynamic and their relationships with their true loves becoming more deep. Considering how imaginative the rest of the movie was, Daria's personality and her romance with Rollo seemed a bit underwritten and lazy.
However, this does not diminish the fact that the movie had a very original set-up. The original Princess and the Pea is a simple story, and this film managed to give it an interesting plot as well as a fun, foppish villain whose humorous moments never distracted from the real threat he posed. Characters like Helsa were given a bit more depth than can usually be found in secondary characters; she was shown to have a good heart underneath her cruel and selfish ways. Sebastian was a fun character and Heath had a real nobility to him. Even the animal side-kicks, Daria's three pet pigs, were enjoyable to watch; and unlike other films featuring animal side-kicks, the pigs weren't mere distractions and filler.
All in all, this movie suffers in a few spots that keep it from being perfect. If it had gotten a bigger budget and they had rewritten Daria's character, it could've been a much better film. However, it is still a great little gem and a lot of fun to watch. It hasn't got a lot of notoriety, and if it hadn't been for YouTube I probably never would've seen it; but if you can get your hands on it, I'd highly recommend you watch it!