The Swan Princess: Difference between revisions

[[File:Swanprincessposter.jpg|frame|"Far longer than forever, I'll hold you in my heart."]]

 

'''Derek:''' No. Much longer, Odette. Much longer. }}

 

While no blockbuster, it did spawn two sequels: ''The Swan Princess II: Escape from Castle Mountain'' (1997) and ''The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Kingdom'' (1998). The first pits them against Rothbart's old partner Clavius, the second against his mentor Zelda, and poor Odette keeps getting turned into a swan and back again the whole way.

----

* [[Alternate Animal Affection]]: Lt. Puffin has no problems kissing the back of Odette's hand in a very humanlike manner.

* [[Amusing Injuries]]: The animals, fairly often - after they steal the map from the tower, for example. The human characters generally don't get these, with the notable exception of one point in the opening montage where you have the main characters - [[Slapstick Knows No Gender|including Odette]] - as kids getting involved in a goofy and haphazard accident and cutting away to the group of them in the traditional amusingly exaggerated slings and bandages.

* [[Award Bait Song]]: "Far Longer Than Forever" and "Eternity" (latter is over the end credits only).

** The third film also had "Because I Love Her".

* [[Beauty Equals Goodness]]: Oddly, given that part of the film's moral is "Looks aren't all that matters", the bad guys are ugly and the good guys pretty (though the hag does a [[Heel Face Turn]] at the end which extends to the sequels, thus proving the moral right).

* [[Big No]]: Odette has one when Derek professes his love to the disguised hag.

* [[The Cast Showoff]]: Howard McGillin (Derek) is just about the only cast member to do all of his own singing, being a respected Broadway alumni.

* [[Catch Phrase]]: Puffin as "No fear!" which even gets it's own song, which itself has reprises through the series. He most often says it to Jean Bob, who constantly lampshades it throughout the second movie.

* [[Chekhov's Boomerang]]: Derek's bow.

** [[Chekhov's Skill]]: Brom's shooting an arrow at Derek whose back is turned to him.

* [[Curse Escape Clause]]: If Derek can make a vow of love to Odette and prove it to the world, that will be enough to break the curse.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Rogers delivers most of the best lines in the movies as this.

** Jean-Bob is also a prime example.

** Don't forget Speed, who has fewer lines but is voiced by ''Steven Wright'' in the first film.

* [[Disappeared Dad]]: It is mentioned in the prologue that Uberta was a widow, so Derek's dad is assumed to be dead. The original ballet even has her character as a Queen Mum sort of figure, only ruling as Sovereign Princess until her son is able to take a wife.

* [[Disneyfication]]

* [[Distant Duet]]: "Far Longer Than Forever"

* [[Dub Name Change]]: The French version changes many names: [[King Arthur|Arthur]] (Derek), [[Romeo and Juliet|Juliette]] (Odette), Albéric (Rothbart), Aldo (Jean-Bob), Rapido (Speed), Capitaine Anatole (Lt. Puffin), Melchior (Rogers).

* [[Duck]]: Done during the song "Practice, Practice, Practice" when Derek launches (harmless) arrows at a group of servants acting as targets. Cue the musician dressed as a duck popping his head up to say "Yes?" and then getting hit.

* [[Evilly Affable]]: Rothbart may be a sadistic [[Jerkass]], but ''man'', does he have style! He never loses his temper (fully) either.

* [[Evil Sorcerer]]: Rothbart in the first movie and Clavius in the second one.

* [[Failure Is the Only Option]]: Jean-Bob's attempts to become a prince.

* [[Final Love Duet]]: "Far Longer Than Forever", the reprise (though it's not sung on-screen).

** Specifically, the choreography for [[Villain Song|"No More Mr. Nice Guy"]] is... ''suspiciously'' similar to Aladdin's "Friend Like Me".

* [[Foreshadowing]]: Young Derek gives baby Odette a locket with a swan on it and when they grow into young adults, he tells her she's as beautiful as a swan. Later in the movie, she's cursed to become a swan each time the moon sets.

* [[Hair of Gold]]: Odette.

* [[Happily Married]]: Derek and Odette, at the very end of the first film and in the sequels.

* [[I Have You Now, My Pretty]]: Rothbart won't lift the curse unless Odette marries him.

* [[Insufferable Genius]]: Lord Rogers.

* [[Ironic Nickname]]: Speed, the turtle. {{spoiler|Subverted. While Speed is pokey on land, he's a blindingly fast swimmer.}}

** [[Truth in Television]]; semi-aquatic turtles are ''much'' faster on water than on land.

* [[Keep Circulating the Tapes]]: Subverted for the second movie. Parts I and III came to DVD in 2004, but fans had to wait five years to get the installment that came in between.

* [[Large Ham]]: Rothbart.

* [[Mistaken Declaration of Love]]: Rothbart disguises his henchwoman as Odette so Derek will do this.

* [[Mythology Gag]]: At least one of the sequels refers to the lake outside Derek's and Odette's castle (originally Rothbart's) as Swan Lake.

* [[Never Trust a Trailer]]: the trailer of Swan Princess 3 shows Roger falling from a spatial height towards the Earth, implying that something of epic proportion will happen. Sadly, it's just a part of a [[Disney Acid Sequence]].

* [[Obviously Evil]]: You'd think that Derek would notice {{spoiler|Bridget's disguise}}, considering he's known Odette his whole life to dress in white, whereas {{spoiler|Bridget}} is wearing an [[Obviously Evil]] red/black outfit.

*** And is played by the same ballerina who is cast as Odette.

* [[Off-Model]]: In the third movie, Odette is constantly switching back and forth between wearing a white and green tight dress, a white and green puffy sleeved dress, and a blue palette swap of the latter, all within the same scenes.

* [[The Renaissance Age of Animation]]

* [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]]: Rothbart's alligators. On the other hand, one of the good guys is a [[Turtle Power|turtle]].

* [[Say My Name]]

* [[Shallow Love Interest]]: Near the beginning of the first movie, Derek calls for wedding arrangements upon seeing how beautiful Odette has become. Odette promptly breaks off their engagement thinking that Derek only wants to marry her because of her beauty. In his own words "Well, what else is there?" He [[Character Development|gets better]] after this.

* [[Skyward Scream]]: "THE VOW I MADE WAS [[Narm|FOR HUUUUUEEEEEEEERRRRRRRGGGGHHH!!!]]"

** {{spoiler|[[Lampshade Hanging|"There's no need to shout."]]}}

* [[Smart People Play Chess]]: Somewhat [[Subverted]] in that the only two we seeing playing are Derek and Bromley, the former, while not stupid, is not the sharpest sword in the armory, and the latter loses ''while cheating''.

* [[Species Surname]]: Lieutenant Puffin. The almost-certainly-not-canon-but-still-extant bonus features on the most recent DVD claim that his parents were [[Animal Jingoism|so proud of being puffins,]] they simply named him "Puffin."

** Every closeup of Derek and Odette kissing looks exactly the same, except for some changes in the background and/or costumes. This doubles as an [[Every Episode Ending]].

** Odette often changes from a swan into a human through stock footage.

* [[This Was Her True Form]]: Even though Odette doesn't land in the lake after Derek's vow to Bridget starts killing her, she still turns human to share "final" words with Derek.

* [[Training Montage]]: "Practice, Practice, Practice" is a musical number built around this.

[[Category:Animal Title Index]]

[[Category:The Swan Princess]]