It turns out I wasn't the only one who was excited to learn that the 1997 version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella was coming to Disney+ last week. Everyone involved in the making of this classic film from over 20 years ago got together for interviews, a live watch party on Twitter, and more. The biggest surprise of this celebration was a brand new music video from Disney aficionado Todrick Hall featuring the leading lady herself, Brandy Norwood. It starts out as a fun little singing session between Brandy and Todrick as they serenade each other with songs from the classic musical. Then, something magical happens as Brandy is transformed into a slightly updated version of her princess look from the 1997 film and returns to the ball with Todrick as her prince. The video comes to a "happily ever after" with socially distanced cameos from several of the other cast members in the film.
Todrick Hall is no stranger to producing professional-quality Disney fan videos. I was particularly impressed by his "Spell Block Tango" mash-up video of Disney villains with the musical Chicago back in the day. It's evident that his "Cinderella" video was a labor of love by all the wonderful little touches in the background of his studio. There are countless Broadway posters lining the walls, a classic storybook from Disney's animated 1950 version of the story, and dolls of both Brandy and Whitney Houston in their iconic gowns from the 1997 movie. The costume that Brandy wears when she transforms into Cinderella at the ball is slightly different from the in the original film. It is a darker shade of blue and made of more shimmery material, adding to the magic of the music video. Her crown is also larger, implying that she has evolved from a princess into a full-blown queen. The choreography during this scene is on point and every bit as magical as it was in the original film.
What I enjoyed the most about this video was the look of sheer delight on Brandy and Todrick's faces as they performed these classic songs. You could tell that the video was made as a result of love and enjoyment for the original and not as a forced promotion for Disney (even though Whoopi Goldberg throws one in at the end). It's adorable how amazed Todrick Hall looks when Brandy walks into the room. She also seems to be having the time of her life adding her own soulful spin on iconic songs like "In My Own Little Corner" and "Impossible." The rest of the cast, including Bernadette Peters, Jason Alexander, and Paolo Montalban, who dressed up for his cameo, show their appreciation for the movie by appearing in the "Cinderella" storybook at the end. It was delightful to see that all of these performers still remember their roles in this gorgeous movie.
Todrick Hall isn't the only one who blessed us with new "Cinderella" music last week. On the same day that Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella launched on Disney+, Andrew Lloyd Webber released another song from his Cinderella musical called "I Know I Have a Heart." This song is thematically similar to "Far Too Late." It expands upon Cinderella's regrets toward not telling Prince Sebastian about her feelings for him and running away from the ball. The song emphasizes her heartbreak after he picks a different woman to be his bride with the line "I know I have a heart because you broke it" and deconstructs today's feminist princess trope that encourages girls to suppress their femininity and hide their emotions. This version of Cinderella embodies the modern princess trope of being rebellious and independent and denying her feelings for the prince. "I Know I Have a Heart" enunciates the dangers of this attitude by showing us that no matter how tough a woman may act on the outside, she is just susceptible to pain and heartbreak on the inside.
"Cinderella" is a story that was once considered outdated. With these two musical revivals, it seems to be back in fashion. It makes sense that all of the people falling on hard times due to the current state of the world would want to embrace the fantasy of having their problems magically disappear. Personally, I've never grown tired of this story and am happy to see it make a comeback in any form. I think that the currently airing Disney+ series, WandaVision, is another example of a modern deconstruction of the "Cinderella" trope, but I will expand on that after the season ends.
Only one month after my recent obsession with Find Me in Paris , the time-traveling ballerina princess drama dropped its third and final season on Hulu today. Though somewhat predictable, this season offered a satisfying conclusion to the show's unique concept that combined dance with science fiction and tied up all remaining loose ends from the previous seasons. We finally learned the truth about Lena's birth and why she's always being chased by anyone remotely interested in time travel. Nearly every character got paired off at the end, even if it meant some questionable decisions on behalf of the writers. The season also offered some of the most beautiful dance sequences in the show yet for its key story moments. While I could have done without the repetitive recap sequences, the final episodes made it clear that this was always meant to be the end and gave the cast and crew many happy memories to look back upon. The final season of Find Me in Paris incorporated the ...
Today is a major accomplishment for me. I started this blog 100 days ago, and I've managed to write a new post in it every day since then. Some of the topics were easier to come up with than others. I also had to go back and edit some after the fact due to poor proofreading. Speaking of which, I'm really sorry about the disastrous short story from my first Story Saturday post . The whole thing was written on my phone on the way to a Mermaid Art Show event in San Diego, so I was a little distracted. I promise to put more effort into future Story Saturdays, which should be easier now that I will no longer be writing new posts every day. Don't worry, though. I will still keep everyone informed of the latest princess news and review all the new princess movies and specials. Without further ado, in celebration of my 100th post, here is a list of 100 princesses with all of the posts I've made about them (in no particular order). Thank you so much for reading my blog. 1-11:...
Yesterday, the Starz network released the series finale of The Spanish Princess , concluding The White Queen trilogy of miniseries that began in 2013. Based on a book series called The Cousins' War by Phillippa Gregory , the trilogy covers the women who stood behind the men in power in the English monarchy from 1464 to the 1530s, preceding the first two sovereign queens, Mary and Elizabeth. The White Queen , The White Princess , and The Spanish Princess grant us a rare opportunity to see what life was like for medieval monarchs. Watching them reminded me of why I prefer the fairy tale versions of royalty. Those stories do not contain the gory deaths, gruesome births, and invasive politics that historical dramatizations like these exemplify. In fact, I had very little interest in watching the second season of The Spanish Princess until I watched some historical videos and learned that the king that Catherine of Aragon was married to was none other than King...
It's been ten years since LoliRock first took the stage on Netflix, and rumors of a potential third season inspired me to watch the show again as I did with Winx Club , which recently previewed its upcoming reboot in Italy . LoliRock is a French Magical Girl show about a lost princess who must master her new powers while trying to liberate a mysterious faraway kingdom. It hits all the right plot notes to fit the Magical Girl algorithm, but poor writing prevents it from being a memorable entry in the genre. One thing that makes LoliRock unique is its focus on music. The three main characters aren't only magical princesses from other worlds but members of a hit rock band that performs full-length music videos at the end of each episode. Unfortunately, the overly synthesized sound of these songs is not very appealing to me, and I ended up skipping over them during my rewatch. The main character in LoliRock is Iris, a beautiful girl who loves to sing that was r...
The holiday season has begun, but like many other things this year , it is a mere shadow of its former self. That's why I was so pleased when one of my readers referred me to an animated version of "The Nutcracker" that I had missed during my childhood. The Nutcracker Prince is by far the most accurate version of E.T.A. Hoffmann's "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" that I have ever seen. After my overwhelming disappointment with Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms , I thought that the Barbie movie was the closest I'd ever get to an accurate feature based on this classic fairy tale. I was wrong. The Nutcracker Prince is an animated film released in 1990 with a surprisingly impressive cast of voice talent. Sadly, there's no chance of seeing it on Disney+ any time soon because it was distributed by Warner Brothers , one of the only major film studios that Disney does not own (yet). However, it is free to watch on YouTube for those o...
I've been seeing several viral posts recently about historical fashion lately. One was a gallery of women's fashion every year from 1784 to 1970 , and another was a video re-enactment of how women got dressed in the 18th century . These got me thinking about some of my favorite princess fashions. Though princesses are not known to be historically accurate , their fashions drew inspiration from many different places, and history is one of them. If you take a look at the way fashion has evolved over time, you can get an idea of which parts inspired the princess movies and which parts were altered. Something that surprised me in the re-enactment was how many pieces were assembled on a woman to give the appearance of a single dress. Today, most dresses are a single piece, but historically, gowns consisted of a corset bodice and a large skirt with a crinoline underneath. This was something I also noticed about Disney's theme park princesses . Though they look like one ...
Right after last month's triple whammy , Time Princess released another visual novel called Ancient Dreams. This is the third story to take place in China following Tang Dynasty Hunter and White Snake . The plot of Ancient Dreams is similar to Tang Dynasty Hunter. Both stories are about young ladies who can see spirits that reside within inanimate objects and must help the spirits resolve issues from their pasts through the reincarnations of their previous owners, but I enjoyed Ancient Dreams more. Its three chapters allotted plenty of wiggle room for additional character development and depth. The story takes place in a different era than Tang Dynasty Hunter, which allows for lots of fun new outfits. I didn't notice if the year was stated in the book, but the fashion and technology are reminiscent of the early 20th century, the same era that TaishÅ Adventures and Gotham Memoirs take place. The protagonist in Ancient Dreams is Gu Yunting, the granddaughter of a renowned res...
Almost two years ago, Disney announced that they were working on a spinoff series to Sofia the First . The best place to reveal new updates about this mysterious series would have been the D23 Expo , which took place in Anaheim last weekend. Instead, Disney Jr. quietly posted on Instagram today that we can expect to see the new series, Sofia the First: Royal Magic on Disney+ in 2026. This is fantastic news if it's true, but Disney has broken promises on many other upcoming shows over the upcoming years, so it's a good idea to take all their announcements with a grain of salt until there is something more substantial like a trailer or release date. Still, it's exciting to have a title and more information about the series. Unlike the original announcement about it being a spinoff like Elena of Avalor , the show will now be a direct sequel that continues Sofia's adventures after graduating from Royal Prep . The official summary is as follows: "Sofia the Firs...
Warrior princess fans, rejoice! There's a new team of action girls out today, and they're called the Mysticons . Never heard of them? That's not too surprising. They had a pretty small promotional campaign that I only found about by chance through a post on an animation blog I follow. Now that we're all on the same page, I have some exciting news. To kick off the series, this magical girl power team is going to have a new episode every night this week on Nickelodeon! Keep reading to find out everything you need to know. As you can see from the promo art, Mysticons is an animated series about four female warriors with magical abilities. In the first episode, they learn that they were chosen as the fabled warriors when all four of them touch the ancient Dragon Disk at the same time. While they do get a brief transformation sequence that is more akin to Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders than a magical girl anime, the Mysticons' abilities are more ac...
Several months ago, I expressed concerns about Disney retconning their version of The Little Mermaid with the prequel novel to the live-action adaptation and the rumor of an accompanying animated series . Today, Disney confirmed that rumor at the Annecy Animation Festival. Featuring cutesy CGI animation in the style of Doc McStuffins and Sofia the First , Disney Junior's Ariel boasts a brand new design for the character, which vaguely resembles Halle Bailey from the live-action movie , with a seashell and pearl-accented outfit that is similar to the Merroway Cove mermaids from Sofia the First. She is accompanied by a younger-looking version of the 1989 animated Flounder as opposed to the more realistic CGI one from the new film, which has raised some eyebrows due to the mixing and matching of designs between the movies. Another concern is how much younger Ariel and Flounder look in this version compared to the other three opposing narrations of how they met, which wer...
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