Can we appreciate at least that Hildegarde (or however her name is spelled) instead of looking exactly like her mother actually looks like BOTH parents? Eyes, coloring, and mole of her mother, hair and face shape of her father.
@@0deadx21 Yeah. Usually you see kids who are little clones of their parents, especially in anime. Clannad- Ushio looks exactly like Nagisa Kanon- Nayuki looks exactly like Akiko Sunday Without God - Ai and Ulla look so identical to their mothers that At one point, Ulla’s mother is shown in a flashback wearing the exact same outfit her present day fourteen year old daughter is wearing, as well as the same hair length and style. The only physical difference is the bust size. As for Ai, the SINGLE thing differentiating her from her mother is the bangs are slightly different. That’s not how genetics work!
11:08 Ya know, just once, I wish we could see a villain actually be SMART and leave the child with good parents that will make the kid happy and therefore less likely to try and get away from them and take their rightful place. If the kid is complacent and happy, the return becomes a much less likely threat.
Or just outright kill the child. Most completely evil people have no problems murdering children, and also it's foolproof. But we won't have a story if he did.
Considering the fact that Daria was apparently forced to sleep in a barn on a bed of hay for most of her life, I don't think it'd make sense that she'd be bothered by a single pea that's under a stack of mattresses. If anything, she'd probably have the best sleep she's ever had regardless of how sensitive she is towards other people.
You want an example of a good “childish villain”? Prince John from Robin Hood. He is childishly comedic and prone to tantrums... but his punishments are BRUTAL. He strangles his assistant, throws a whole village in jail, steals from a church and arrests the friar who runs it, and then plans to hang the Friar in order to set up an ambush on a fugitive who was obviously gonna stop this unjust execution (essentially intending to kill both the fugitive AND The friar). And that isn’t including the (unfortunately) cut ending where he planned to sneak into the church, where the fugitive has sanctuary, to assassinate the fugitive and the woman treating the guy’s wounds. (Why was this scene cut? It was a lot better than the original :/) All of this in a G-rated film, mind you.
You left out the part where he ordered the immediate execution by beheading of the protagonist in front of his love interest despite her efforts to beg for mercy and her confession of love.
Honestly, I think my favorite retelling of the Princess and the Pea was the book by Gail Larson Levine (author of Ella Enchanted) where she lays out exactly how taxing it would be for someone to be sensitive enough to feel a pea under 20 mattresses. The heroine (who is born a commoner) can't do anything because she'd hurt herself doing anything other than embroidering, she can't wear anything not made of the purest silks because anything else would hurt her sensitive skin, she can't eat anything other than food made with the purest ingredients otherwise she'd get sick, etc. The point of the story was that the ONLY thing she could do was become a princess because her condition left her unable to do anything else!
CorruptCorpseCorps I really enjoy the Princess Tales books, too! They provides such good twists on bad fairy tale logic. My favorite example of that may be in The Fairy's Mistake.
Yeah, I always disliked the Princess and the Pea story for that reason. Like how could she possibly even be effective at anything if she was that hypersensitive? It would be annoying to be her or be around her. And the whole "princesses must be delicate" thing is annoying to start with.
+Jordan Green that's what i was thinking >.> some places were genuinely very pleasing to the eye, all smooth and nice. but then you start to notice that the characters don't actually interact with the background....
Jordan Green it kind of reminds me of some anime where they have guest animators come in during certain scenes and it's super obvious because their style is completely different haha.
If princesses are so sensitive to other people's feelings, shouldn't this apply to Hildegard? She's the niece of the king, so she's still a princess. Or are they using a different definition of princess?
It's more or less established through Rollo's speed-dating song that being a "true" princess is a matter of compassion and selflessness rather than being born into the title. Which probably would have rung clearer if Daria had been an actual commoner rather than misplaced royalty, but there you go.
Maybe they can tell Daria has a heart of pure light, free of darkness? But if she’s one of the New Seven Hearts, I think the multiverse is doomed… Hey, if this movie is gonna flashbang me with a Kingdom Hearts reference, I’m gonna do my own too.
You ever think maybe getting abandoned/switched out in infancy and raised by peasants is actually a good thing for these kids? Think about it. They're raised in hands-on contact with the peasantry they're supposed to lead and protect, giving them a vital ground-up view of the kingdom. Because they aren't raised surrounded by luxury and bowed to by everyone, that reduces the chance they get a massive ego, and since the asshole adoptive parents make them do everything, that might instill a healthy work ethic. Not saying it's something I'd put Prince George through, but still.
On the other hand, it also means they're never prepared for the job. Don't get me wrong, standard succession gives you a decent chance of ending up with someone who doesn't care how well they rule (since Diva made lots of GoT references, let's use Viserys as an example), but at least they have the capacity to judge that they don't care. Someone who was raised among peasants doesn't know the difference between a levy and a liege, won't have met any trustworthy advisors to help with matters outside her skillset (aside from having a much narrower skillset), and probably doesn't even know the _names_ of all the important lords in the realm.
That is the same kind of messed up logic that Dumbledore used to force Harry to be raised by his abusive relatives. Dumbledore didn’t want Harry to get an inflated ego by knowing his status as being the savior of the magical community before he was old enough to deal with it, so he left him with his non magical relatives. But those same relatives abused him to such a horrifying degree that he still most likely bears the emotional scars from that experience. There are ways to teach someone to humble without throwing them into a situation that could scar them both physically and mentally. Also being royalty takes more than just being a good and kind person, they need to know how to lead a country which is something they will never get by being forced to live the peasant life.
@@morganyoung3557 Your argument requires you to assume Dumbledore is an asshole, which, frankly, requires a very specific and misguided view of Dumbledore.
@@RealParadoxBlues it doesn't require you to assume he's an asshole to understand the point. Some of the worst things are done with the best intentions, that doesn't always mean the person who did them was an asshole in the end. The point is that even though the choice to leave him with his aunt and uncle kept Harry from developing an unbearable ego about being "the chosen one" and all, it also put him in a situation where he was abused. That's not assuming Dumbledore was an asshole, that's saying he made a poor choice that hurt Harry in another way.
I like how the totally nice king just drops the girl he raised and loved as his own daughter for a total stranger just because she isn't his bio one. I get it, this is a fairy tale set in a time where that's important, but come on. And Hildegard sounds way more compelling as a character if anyone with enough writing sense had seen the conflict that would arise from raising a girl with conflicting values plus constantly comparing her to her dead mother.
That's not why he dropped her. It was because of her selfish attitude, he felt she wouldn't be a good Queen. Remeber that he planned to disinherit her well before he learned about the switch. And when he did find out, he also found out that she was party to the conspiracy as well, making her guilty of treason.
@@stevenhiggins3055 You'd still think raising her as his daughter for that long would've left more of an impression. Of course, we can clearly see he wasn't a good father - he couldn't correct the bad behavior taught by her mother AND he constantly compared her to his dead wife to a point that would likely be very damaging for a child.
@@moonstruck8245 I get what you mean, even Tangled did that better; when Gothel fell from the tower at the end, Rapunzel was visibly upset by it and even reached out to her and this was after finding out she was never her real mother.
I think this whole story would have worked better if, instead of swapping the babies, the bad guy arranged for the princess to be kidnapped. With his wife dead and his daughter vanished the king could have invited the niece to come to the palace as the next heir to the throne. That way the king wouldn't look so stupid for being fooled by the switch. Also, if they hoped to find the kidnapped princess it would make a lot more sense to research magical true-princess-detector tests.
Yeah and instead of mean adopted parents she's been rasied by nice adopted parents and the nice adopted parents were told she was an orphan. Which becomes a conflict later. And Rolo and her meet while they are kids and become secret friends. Which leads to them falling in love over time. The niece has no idea what her parents did and is genuinely concerned for her cousin's safety and jealous of her cousin because even in her absent everyone loves her cousin more than her. The king while still hoping to see his baby girl is in despair that he will never see his daughter again. When one day by chance Darla unknowly meets her cousin. The two talk and become friends. Mainwhile Sebestian finds the whole pea test thing. And every girl Darla's age is taken to the castle and takes the pea test. Darla takes it because there is money being offered for anyone who comes. When she passes. The uncle frames her adopted parents for kidnapping her. The king arrests them. Darla is heartbroken because she views them as being her family as well. The uncle uses this to his advantage claiming that the adopted parents were monsters and hurt Darla. The people call for justice. Hilda while this is happening meets Rollo and falls for him but realizes he loves her cousin. So in fit of rage she rips up the royal blanket while the uncle uses as more proof saying the adopted parents tried to hide the fact that Darla is a princess. The king is split about what to do. The uncle secretly plans for Darla to reject her crown allowing his daughter to take the crown. And if that doesn't work while there's always plan B. The unlce is less silly and more sinister. He always seems to be prepared and sees Darla as nothing more then a pawn
“Any tradition that guarantees coronation day looks like a Black Friday door buster sale is a bad idea.” This is startlingly close to how Ottoman sultans were chosen. Most of the time, their sons were in different parts of the empire, and when word of the sultan’s passing was announced, they’d run to the capital to be the first one there and establish themselves as sultan and kill their rivals/brothers. This movie would’ve been much better with more fratricide.
Okay I know I already commented on this video but my thoughts cannot be contained within one post: Hildegarde and Daria being born at the same time means that, very shortly after being declared rulers of the pig kingdom and vowing revenge, Helsa and Laird did the absolute NASTY out of rage. Anger-banged so hard it curled the ends of Laird's golden shoes. Went full Gordon Ramsay and made mushy peas through a stack of mattresses. LOVE that for them.
When I'm not a bitter hell-fiend stuck in a crappy infernal job, I live in the hometown of Focus on the Family. That has certainly left a bad taste in my mouth regarding the phrase.
"Won't somebody please think of the children?" Focus on the Family is not the only Fundamentalist organization in Colorado Springs, the whole city is called The Evangelical Vatican due to the Christian organizations it attracted in the 1980s. I can imagine that the city is full of those for whom "family values" means turning the clock back to the 1950s, possibly earlier.
For someone who eats 4 square meals a day plus snacks, Helsa is actually quite snatched in the waist with a shape that won't quit. Girl what is your secret?!?! Are the 4 meals just variations on chicken and broccoli?!?!?
Yeah I think what would have been stronger is if when Hildegard was at age her parents would come in and tell her that King Heath forced them give her up and makes everyone pretend that she is his daughter. At least that would show her behavior as being resentful towards her supposed kidnapper and wanting to be close to her so called real parents.
*checks date film came out* ...You know, I was going to say how badly integrated the CGI is with the 2d animation was, but given that it came out in 2002 and was direct to DVD so would have had no appreciable budget, that's actually bloody impressive.
I was 12 back then, and let me just tap into my age 12 mindset and Honestly I don't care at all if it's supposed to be impressive, CGI is ugly at best and it would be better if they stuck to 2D animation! The only reason they are throwing in so much CGI everywhere is because no one cares if shows and movies aimed at kids look like shit.
I literally said, "YEAH HAAA!" when I found this. I want a princess swap movie where the "lost princess" is not a super nice and perfect waif. "The Perfect Princess for Me" makes Rollo look like a superficial idiot. What is Rollo's relationship to Heath? Did his original parents just abandon him at a random kingdom? Funny review as always. Will you ever do The Scarecrow (2000) movie? It's in the same line as this. Disney rip-off with campy villains, odd musical moments, and bland romantic leads of Not!Belle and Not!Aladdin.
No it's been years since you made this, but definitely agree. So many of these princess swap movies have her living as a peasant why not make the Lost Princess look and act like a peasant? Give her strong arms and shoulders from years of manual labor skint and from being outside all the time and hand callus from working with them. Make her talk and behave in a way that's a little bit more rougher around the edges I'm not saying you have to make her loud boisterous and masculine but try to have her personality reflect her upbringing a bit.
Instead, Hildegard is the biological child of Heath and Marianna, but is still the same greedy, selfish, and shallow character she is in the original movie. Dad is on the other hand is just a peasant with no special lineage, but Marianna sees her as worthier of the throne than Hildegard could ever be. So it is decided to bring Daria into the palace and train her to be the next Queen. This angers Hildegard immensely, so she goes to Uncle Laird and offers to join forces to conquer Croymore ( "Great Heart" in Scottish Gaelic). In the end, they're undone when Daria unifies the people of the realm to protect their home and also because Laird and Hildegard only care about themselves and can't actually agree on no to lead their armies let alone rule Croymore afterwards.
I thought she looked like Kayley from Quest for Camelot. Her aging up scene even matches Kayley's at the beginning of the movie th-cam.com/video/S2ao2-rHC_U/w-d-xo.html Maybe she's Kayley but she grew up into Thumbelina
- Daria looks physically like Thumbelina; - Sebastian is a Sidekick Bird, like Jacquimo from Thumbelina; - Daria's reflex growing on the water is similar to Kayley's reflex growing on the water in Quest for Camelot; - Daria sings an "I Want Song" about the world while doing farm jobs, like Kayley in Quest for Camelot; - "The Perfect Princess" Song is similar to the Song "Princesses on Parade" from The Swan Princess; - "My Kingdom of the Heart" scene is similar to "Once Upon a December" from Anastasia. Wow! This Movie isn't just coping Disney, it's coping other Disney Copy Movies.
Slight flaw in the premise: any woman who can’t tolerate the nuisance of a single pea underneath a stack of 20 mattresses, is not likely to survive the rigors of childbirth. Which just might be worth the king bearing in mind, considering HIS WIFE DIED IN CHILDBIRTH.
You know, the I Want song could have worked if the animation had the soaring energy to match the music. It sounds so grand and sweeping, but she’s leaning on a fence to sing. Her running through the fields, or sweeping cinematic camera movements, or anything to fill it with a zest for life.
I just noticed that, as well as the kingdom's emblem literally being a pea and a heart, Heath's crown is studded with small, round emeralds. All hail the Pea King!
You know, if they'd had the scene if Rollo and Daria meeting _after_ the scene of him trying to find a princess, that would have been a lot less stupid.
+DaemonenprinzessinXD That's exactly my thought too. The fact that Anastasia itself (though very well-made) is kind of a Disney Renaissance rip-off as well makes Princess and the Pea even more desperate.
"The Perfect Princess" seems like a rip-off of "Princesses on Parade" from Swan Princess... except Prince Derek had NO interest in any other princess EXCEPT Odette.
Rewatching this is great, but I just thought of something that I want to see that could be interesting. What if the foster parents in these "situations" turned out to be a nice couple or maybe overtime grow to love their daughter wouldn't that be a change (and I am talking about in these types of stories with a switch and princesses) and the daughter for the most part in content with her life. Just thought since many foster/step parents within fairy tales are portrayed as evil. Wonderful video by the way :)
What if the foster parents don't want to give up the child because they genuinely love and are unsure if royalty or peasant life is good for her and are worried they'll never be able to talk to the girl they raised ever again if she goes, or the kingdom will fall into the wrong hands or the parents will be executed, that is a deep and compelling story I want to hear
@Katie Lewis and that's just the concept, spitballing here, an evil is predicted to destroy the kingdom and it could only be killed with love and it so happens they target the baby princess so and the parents are told not to tell the princess of what's supposed to happen in the future, okay it sounds sappy but there is great potential
I once watched a movie where the biological dad was convinced his wife cheated, so he sold their baby daughter to a random thief who got caught breaking into the mantion, so -and I quote- she'll be raised to become scum on earth. Years later, he finds out she WAS his daughter after a series of hijinks and ever slightly regrets his crimes of human trafficing and spousel abuse, and spents the rest of the movie acting entitled for the girls forgivness. Of course they all become a family again in the end, because he's a rich handsome doctor or something, and only blood relatives counts no matter they're fucking monsters. For the record, the girl's foster criminal family treated her hella better than the bio dad. They did made her steal, but it was pretty much they all get by and really wished they could've given her a better life in the end.
@@KrugerBabadook They could've even done something where her uncle gave her to the couple to be killed however, the couple couldn't bring themselves to kill an innocent child and decide to keep and raise her as Daria until the uncle learns and sends his soldiers to execute the couple for betraying him, and in one final show of love towards their adoptive daughter, they manage to get her out of there before their farm is destroyed and their killed.
....The name of the kingdom is Corazion? Did they seriously take the Spanish word for "heart", put an i between the z and the o, and go "yes this is a good name for the kingdom. i have never done anything wrong ever."?
In their defense (kind of), there's a fair chunk of place names which are much less creative when you look back at what they actually mean. I love seeing nicely-named places and finding out they're slightly altered versions of another language where somebody just said "we just built this place on creek full of mud, let's call it Muddycreek." Still not an excuse, but it puts it into perspective a bit.
@@AllyGatorAnimator It's probably the most laziest I've seen. I appreciate it with things like Draco Malfoy, but this is probably the most laziest I've seen it.
Are we not going to talk about how the Kingdom of my Heart thing at 15:02 with the big empty space full of imaginary ghostly people is just a shitty Once Upon a December ripoff sequence?
You should have mentioned that the original Broadway musical "Once Upon a Mattress" had music and lyrics by Mary Rodgers, the daughter of Richard Rodgers (as in "and Hammerstein") and was a vehicle for a comic genius named Carol Burnett as a princess named Fred--and a star was born. It's still a fun show.
Overthinking It: Helsa is probably wearing a corset (well, technically a "pair of bodies," but basically a well-boned corset) under that dress, given that she's nobility and the visual style of the clothing here is more-or-less European Renaissance, with a few late-medieval headpieces thrown in. As a fat woman who's worn corsets, the general effect would be a smooth, somewhat thin-looking torso atop a large, Sir-Mix-A-Lot-pleasing derriere (which, in turn, would be FURTHER enhanced with a bumroll or bustle if it didn't look huge enough already). In other words, a fat woman in a corset and accurate late-medieval/early-Renaissance clothing looks...basically like Helsa. The only reason her dress isn't covered with tons of embellishment like a REAL noblewoman of the period is that elaborate clothing is hard to animate.
I do at least really enjoy how much Laird's voice actor, Ronan Vibert, hams it up. That is something you really need to do in a second-rate animated film like this, to at least make it memorable. It's also quite weird hearing him going at it like this after seeing him in Rome HBO, The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Borgias were he's usually has this very emotionless, sly and evaluating manner to his character. Eve Karpf and Nigel Lambert (Helsa and Sebastian) are also voices from my very British childhood. :D
Awesome review--the "Donkeyskin" comment at the end cracked me up! :D Also, nice reference to "Once Upon a Mattress"--it's my favorite show I've ever been in (I played the Minstrel, who was cut out of the film).
+Amie Fortman I was actually expecting Once Upon a Mattress (at least the 2005 version) to appear as an episode for Musical Hell itself (namely I was a little underwhelmed by it), but it's a much better musical take on Princess and the Pea.
With Sebastian trying to guide the pig, I'm surprised you didn't include the clip from the End of Time with the Doctor screaming out "WORST! RESCUE! EVER!"
+harrietamidala1691 Good one! While we're on the subject of Whovian references, I also would have accepted a "Flatline" shout-out with regard to the "Kingdom of the Heart" musical number.
9:50 Well, they're clearly aping Disney so they had to check off the "dead parent" cliche. 12:50 It would have been equally interesting if Daria had grown up to be wicked and mean while Hildegarde was charitable and kind and the "pea test" was ultimately proven to be stupid because despite being the true princess Daria was still a mean, spiteful b1tch. 15:00 So they're not just aping Disney, they're also aping Don Bluth.
You know what would fix one of this movie’s major issues? Putting “Kingdom of the Heart” after “The Perfect Princess for Me.” The movie would still be deeply flawed, but at least Rolo would look like slightly less of a shallow idiot.
That’s a very good point. The pacing was all over the place, it also would’ve made more sense if they switched the songs in place because Rolo was just adventuring through the forest randomly for no reason.
I feel like a black-and-white moral story can work if it's done well (like some Disney movies like The Lion King and Lord Of The Rings). This movie doesn't really try. Great review, by the way. :)
After fully seeing this movie, I have a slight rewrite of the ending that could've made Helsa a bit more likeable and built on that moment early on. Hear me out, when Daria is taken away by Laird, Helsa wants him to put her with a good family. Imagine this: when she finds out how her niece has been treated, she turns on Laird and reveals the truth instead of having the dog reveal that Hildegard is a fraud. It wouldn't completely fix the plot, but it would build on Helsa's bit of vulnerability.
So true, Helsa could’ve had so much character development after showing sympathy to baby Daria. The writers just wanted to prioritize her appetite as a joke that wasn’t really funny to begin with. 😔
@@surraciddac170You know her gluttony could have worked if seen as a serious thing where she overeats because it is a coping mechanism that she does to endure her miserable marriage.
"Upon a pea, atop of will be put twenty matresses, the maiden, shalt sleep. If she cannot sleep, it is that she is has the sensitivity of the function!" Peagent woman: Lemme try! *can't sleep because it is far more soft than she's used to* Pretender princess: Lemme try! *pretends to have disturbed sleep* Insomiac librarian: Lemme try! *is insomniac* Congrats, you made a trial legitimately anybody can pass without even knowing (I mean... At least in the original story the princess doesn't know anything and she has to state that she feels *something* under the mattress that disturbs her sleep.)
I find their portrayal of Helsa a little insulting because, well, that’s MY body type. I’m not thin, I’m not fat, I’m just kinda average. And apparently that’s a bad thing
Is it just me, or does Daria's design look just like Thumbelina and there's a bird guide? Wow, this movie not only rips off Disney but other Disney knockoffs as well. What a low. "Family Values" now that's a laugh. And wow these characters are idiots. I can't remember the last time I've seen characters act that stupid and generic. I refuse to refer to this movie as "The Princess and the Pea", because I enjoy that story and this movie has little to nothing to do with it. And even when it does, it's just painfully shoehorned in. It's more like "The Kingdom of Fools" or "The Good, the Bad, and the Moron".
family owned company promoting family values with a movie that is obsessed with being nice and promotes women's need to be near perfect to marry as her main value and encourages men to treat women as such? Yep. This is a mormon movie.
Why not make the helsa the nice one who try’s to talk sense into her husband who manipulates her and she cares about her niece and she wants to raise her daughter right but her husband is always watching but hey screw character development
I'm about three years late on this one, and someone might have probably already pointed this out, but here we go anyway. The idea of having a hero/heroine who is really nice (like Daria and the king) isn't (in my opinion) that bad. If you do it right. Overly niceness can be an interesting trait. Let's say we have a character who has grown up being told that the most important thing is to be kind towards the people around you. This character takes that message to their heart and follows that through. The consequences though is that the character faces people who tend to walk over them, straight out bully them, or maybe just day or do things that hurt the character but the character is too afraid to tell them the truth. Okay, it's a little over the top maybe, but if you write the story right it can turn out pretty good. I do realise now that Cinderella is this type of character, who I believe is a better written character than anyone in this mess (even though she's not that deep). I guess the key is to make the character more fleshed out than just overly nice. Make them face the consequences of overly niceness, make them feel the pain that comes with their choice of never talking back. And maybe having a lesson to the kids that as great as it is to be nice towards all people around you (or animals), you need to stand up for yourself (and other people) even if it does hurt other people in the progress. Make them understand the balance of nice and rude. Maybe you could have a whole lesson about how no one is pure good or pure evil, especially since so many fairytales have the good vs evil theme. I don't know. Just me sharing my thoughts. Btw, I'm not a native english speaker, so if there are spelling mistakes or just weird frases, sorry for that.
Honestly, part of me just wonders if whoever wrote this movie just had no idea how babies worked, or if there was some lack of communication between the writers and animators, since the way the story works and the dialogue would seem to indicate that Daria and Hildegard were switched very shortly after birth (Laird gets the news of Heath's wife's death and Daria's birth immediately after Hildegard was born, and I don't see why he'd wait so long to pull the switch), while the animation makes Daria out to be at least old enough to sit up on her own at the time. So, either someone thought a newborn baby could do all the stuff Daria was doing, or else someone didn't tell the animators that Daria was supposed to be younger in those scenes.
Darria was shown to be worked to the bone. She would not have time to run a farm, take care of her slothful parents, befriend the "nice" animals and find a ruined cathedral. The first two items would take all her time, but that's my nitpick.
Sorry to reply when your comment is a year old, but THANK YOU. I thought that immediately and went comment scrolling to see if anyone else had noticed. It really does sound like Tanya's ballad.
I know, right? Just picture a super young Janeane Garofalo with absolutely zero fucks left to give: "Hey, it's about damn time you guys got her-....Oh. Just you, huh? Perfect. I was just thinking to myself how nice it'd be to die horribly today."
my father worked on this movie way back in the day as a musician I haven't seen this movie in years but i remember the boxcase being in the bottom shelf of our entertainment center for so long it's probably still there even
One thing I've learned trying to write for things like this is the cheaper the production, the less time writers have to work with. Sometimes HOURS instaed of the days minimum needed to make a craft like screeen writing needs to work. For shit pay. It encourages a "just get it done" mentality.
I've been curious about how bad this movie is since it looked like such a massive Disney knockoff when I first heard of it, so I'm glad to see your take on it. Without a doubt Once Upon a Mattess is the superior musical (it was also the last show I did in high school before graduating so I have more than a bit of a soft spot for it) Interesting how you mentioned Donkeyskin, I discovered that a few years ago and while I like the music (even though it's in French), I'd like to see you review that because of how weird and often messed up it is.
Hildiguard’s life is pretty depressing when you think about it, basically a pawn in her biological father’s game. And her adoptive father constantly compares her to his dead wife
Dear god. So many cute cartoon animal sidekicks! Guess the filmmakers thought they could just entertain the kids with cute animals over story… or the animators begged for cute animals to animate between its conventional human animation.
15:25 When you try too hard to make your movie scene look like a gorgeously animated and written Anastasia scene but it turns out looking more like Alice in wonderlands acid trip on a acid trip.
11:02 I like how you put "You're Standing on My Neck" by Splendora when you say the princess is named Daria. I was shocked that I discovered that Princess Daria shares the same name as my wife Jane's best friend Daria Morgendorffer.
I remember that my family used to get movies from Feature Films For Families. The only one that sticks in my head is one where a kid and his friends somehow get the capital to buy out their dad's toy factory and teleconferencing with him, giving him a job which is better about hours off and stuff. Also, his sister is a teen genius who has some kind of computer chip that gets put into their newest toy or something? It was a weird movie.
Musical buff that I am, I also happen to be an animation geek. WHAT is up with the flagrant copying of "Secret of NIMH" at 2:05-2:07? Tell me that isn't the same image from the opening of NIMH?!
+Brandy Loutherback Referring to Daria and Hildegarde? It's why I hate the king character--he's so stupid! How can he not see that Hildegarde is clearly not his daughter because she didn't inherit his red hair or his wife's blonde hair. The science of genetics may not have been around yet, but come on, even the village idiot can tell she's not his natural daughter (I almost said not related, but I realized they are related, but as uncle and niece).
If she'd favored Laird, it might have passed because at least there was some blood tie there--but that still wouldn't solve the basic problem that they should be able to tell the babies apart by the time they're old enough to sit unassisted (and probably earlier--I was able to distinguish my kids' cries from other babies by the time they were a few weeks old).
15.04 This song is the song from Fievel Goes West that the big sister sings and the main cat falls in love with her voice! Not the words but the melody.
Quick question: did Hildegard always know that she wasn’t Heath’s daughter, or did she learn at the end? Did that have much bearing on the plot? Was it left unaddressed?
She's told about halfway through the movie. It has absolutely zero bearing on the plot or her character and she's mostly pissed off that she was born in the Pig Kingdom.
This seems like its great material for rewrite-style fanfiction authors. Take the characters, give them the development they should have had in the first place, maybe change how certain (all) plot points were delivered. I would love to see the "Daria is a witch" thing played around with. What if she really was a witch? How would that affect her claim to the throne? I want to see raised-poor-as-dirt Daria interact with spoiled-rotten-princess Hildegarde, especially before it's revealed that Daria is the real princess. I also want to see Kingman (whose name I have forgotten because he was pretty dang forgettable and generic) interact with Hildegarde. How would seeing his own daughter be raised by his mortal enemy affect him? Especially with his childish, somewhat possessive behavior.
I agree it is annoying when writers confuse basic niceness with goodness and rudeness with evil. It's just unreasonable to expect people to be nice all the time. Even if they are genuinely good people, everyone's said or done inappropriate things at some point in their lives. It's our actions in important matters that are really count in the end.
i literally yelled YES! when you said "ruler of the pig kingdom ranks right up there with prince of the land of stench" cause that's exactly where my mind went too
Such a pity. This film has actually good animation for a DTV movie, and I like the idea of expanding the original short tale with a plot about betrayal, kings and succesions. Too bad the execution sucks.
Can we appreciate at least that Hildegarde (or however her name is spelled) instead of looking exactly like her mother actually looks like BOTH parents? Eyes, coloring, and mole of her mother, hair and face shape of her father.
Ivan-Alexander Petlev Hildegarde is Helsa and Laird’s child. Black hair + black hair = black hair.
They did a really good job with the character designs for Hildegard and Daria. They do look like both of their respective biological parents.
Character designs of Daria and Hildegard are the best. They look like the kids of their parents, unlike the son of Pheobus and Esmeralda.
@@0deadx21 Yeah. Usually you see kids who are little clones of their parents, especially in anime.
Clannad- Ushio looks exactly like Nagisa
Kanon- Nayuki looks exactly like Akiko
Sunday Without God - Ai and Ulla look so identical to their mothers that At one point, Ulla’s mother is shown in a flashback wearing the exact same outfit her present day fourteen year old daughter is wearing, as well as the same hair length and style. The only physical difference is the bust size. As for Ai, the SINGLE thing differentiating her from her mother is the bangs are slightly different. That’s not how genetics work!
@@SitaraAleuBayonetta is virtually a clone of her mother that I often forget that they are two different people.
11:08 Ya know, just once, I wish we could see a villain actually be SMART and leave the child with good parents that will make the kid happy and therefore less likely to try and get away from them and take their rightful place. If the kid is complacent and happy, the return becomes a much less likely threat.
And, you know, there might be more internal conflict. "Do I go to my 'real' parents or stay with the ones who raised and loved me?" Good drama fodder.
I mean... you could argue that the Lion King did that. All in perspective.
One of the Barbie movies did something like that.
Waifu Laifu Like what happened in the Truman Show
Or just outright kill the child. Most completely evil people have no problems murdering children, and also it's foolproof. But we won't have a story if he did.
Considering the fact that Daria was apparently forced to sleep in a barn on a bed of hay for most of her life, I don't think it'd make sense that she'd be bothered by a single pea that's under a stack of mattresses. If anything, she'd probably have the best sleep she's ever had regardless of how sensitive she is towards other people.
You want an example of a good “childish villain”? Prince John from Robin Hood.
He is childishly comedic and prone to tantrums... but his punishments are BRUTAL. He strangles his assistant, throws a whole village in jail, steals from a church and arrests the friar who runs it, and then plans to hang the Friar in order to set up an ambush on a fugitive who was obviously gonna stop this unjust execution (essentially intending to kill both the fugitive AND The friar).
And that isn’t including the (unfortunately) cut ending where he planned to sneak into the church, where the fugitive has sanctuary, to assassinate the fugitive and the woman treating the guy’s wounds. (Why was this scene cut? It was a lot better than the original :/)
All of this in a G-rated film, mind you.
Excellent example. I wonder also add that in the climax, he drops his childishness and goes batshit crazy.
You left out the part where he ordered the immediate execution by beheading of the protagonist in front of his love interest despite her efforts to beg for mercy and her confession of love.
As Always good point! That's where he stops being childish and is a very real threat
You mean Trump's fursona?
@@PhoenixRising87 DAYUM!
Honestly, I think my favorite retelling of the Princess and the Pea was the book by Gail Larson Levine (author of Ella Enchanted) where she lays out exactly how taxing it would be for someone to be sensitive enough to feel a pea under 20 mattresses. The heroine (who is born a commoner) can't do anything because she'd hurt herself doing anything other than embroidering, she can't wear anything not made of the purest silks because anything else would hurt her sensitive skin, she can't eat anything other than food made with the purest ingredients otherwise she'd get sick, etc. The point of the story was that the ONLY thing she could do was become a princess because her condition left her unable to do anything else!
CorruptCorpseCorps I really enjoy the Princess Tales books, too! They provides such good twists on bad fairy tale logic. My favorite example of that may be in The Fairy's Mistake.
Thats such a cool idea!!!
Yeah, I always disliked the Princess and the Pea story for that reason. Like how could she possibly even be effective at anything if she was that hypersensitive? It would be annoying to be her or be around her. And the whole "princesses must be delicate" thing is annoying to start with.
dragongirl7978 There was a Norwegian audio play that is a comedy about the prinsess going on a quest to make apotion to become thick skined.
I love that aruthor she has so many wonderful books and storys.
I'm a little pissed because the animation is so well done in places and crappy in others and the story doesn't help even it out.
+Jordan Green that's what i was thinking >.> some places were genuinely very pleasing to the eye, all smooth and nice. but then you start to notice that the characters don't actually interact with the background....
Exactly. I wonder if they ran out of money part way through. Or if some animators got fired.
Jordan Green it kind of reminds me of some anime where they have guest animators come in during certain scenes and it's super obvious because their style is completely different haha.
Jordan Green I wouldn't be shocked if some parts were animated by former ACOM employees.
I think the lack of shading and shadowing is also a big part of the animation often seeming "good" but "off."
If princesses are so sensitive to other people's feelings, shouldn't this apply to Hildegard? She's the niece of the king, so she's still a princess. Or are they using a different definition of princess?
It's more or less established through Rollo's speed-dating song that being a "true" princess is a matter of compassion and selflessness rather than being born into the title. Which probably would have rung clearer if Daria had been an actual commoner rather than misplaced royalty, but there you go.
@@MusicalHell I guess the title of that one song wasn’t the only thing they shamelessly stole from Kingdom Hearts…
It's bc she's ugly and therefore no
@Dreigonix how is the title stolen from Kingdom Hearts?
A princess is a title not an ethnicity what do these fairytales not understand about this.
Classism in the Middle Ages was extreme.
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Say this for yourself dude, do you see how those woman just smiles all the time? Princesess are a whole different breed
Maybe they can tell Daria has a heart of pure light, free of darkness? But if she’s one of the New Seven Hearts, I think the multiverse is doomed…
Hey, if this movie is gonna flashbang me with a Kingdom Hearts reference, I’m gonna do my own too.
Darla looks like a bizarre amalgamation of every Don Bluth heroine.
**Daria
She reminds me of Thumbulina
thumbalinAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, they're always red heads with rosy cheeks and even skin tone.
@@cityman2312 and are all from denmark
You ever think maybe getting abandoned/switched out in infancy and raised by peasants is actually a good thing for these kids?
Think about it. They're raised in hands-on contact with the peasantry they're supposed to lead and protect, giving them a vital ground-up view of the kingdom. Because they aren't raised surrounded by luxury and bowed to by everyone, that reduces the chance they get a massive ego, and since the asshole adoptive parents make them do everything, that might instill a healthy work ethic.
Not saying it's something I'd put Prince George through, but still.
On the other hand, it also means they're never prepared for the job. Don't get me wrong, standard succession gives you a decent chance of ending up with someone who doesn't care how well they rule (since Diva made lots of GoT references, let's use Viserys as an example), but at least they have the capacity to judge that they don't care. Someone who was raised among peasants doesn't know the difference between a levy and a liege, won't have met any trustworthy advisors to help with matters outside her skillset (aside from having a much narrower skillset), and probably doesn't even know the _names_ of all the important lords in the realm.
That is the same kind of messed up logic that Dumbledore used to force Harry to be raised by his abusive relatives. Dumbledore didn’t want Harry to get an inflated ego by knowing his status as being the savior of the magical community before he was old enough to deal with it, so he left him with his non magical relatives. But those same relatives abused him to such a horrifying degree that he still most likely bears the emotional scars from that experience. There are ways to teach someone to humble without throwing them into a situation that could scar them both physically and mentally. Also being royalty takes more than just being a good and kind person, they need to know how to lead a country which is something they will never get by being forced to live the peasant life.
@@morganyoung3557 Your argument requires you to assume Dumbledore is an asshole, which, frankly, requires a very specific and misguided view of Dumbledore.
@@RealParadoxBlues it doesn't require you to assume he's an asshole to understand the point. Some of the worst things are done with the best intentions, that doesn't always mean the person who did them was an asshole in the end. The point is that even though the choice to leave him with his aunt and uncle kept Harry from developing an unbearable ego about being "the chosen one" and all, it also put him in a situation where he was abused. That's not assuming Dumbledore was an asshole, that's saying he made a poor choice that hurt Harry in another way.
Guards! Guards! By Terry Pratchett
I like how the totally nice king just drops the girl he raised and loved as his own daughter for a total stranger just because she isn't his bio one.
I get it, this is a fairy tale set in a time where that's important, but come on. And Hildegard sounds way more compelling as a character if anyone with enough writing sense had seen the conflict that would arise from raising a girl with conflicting values plus constantly comparing her to her dead mother.
soniadenotte There is a book I read that had this premiss. It wasn’t bad, just can’t remember the name.
Cinderella 3 actually handled that well with Anastasia's character development.
That's not why he dropped her. It was because of her selfish attitude, he felt she wouldn't be a good Queen. Remeber that he planned to disinherit her well before he learned about the switch. And when he did find out, he also found out that she was party to the conspiracy as well, making her guilty of treason.
@@stevenhiggins3055 You'd still think raising her as his daughter for that long would've left more of an impression. Of course, we can clearly see he wasn't a good father - he couldn't correct the bad behavior taught by her mother AND he constantly compared her to his dead wife to a point that would likely be very damaging for a child.
@@moonstruck8245 I get what you mean, even Tangled did that better; when Gothel fell from the tower at the end, Rapunzel was visibly upset by it and even reached out to her and this was after finding out she was never her real mother.
I think this whole story would have worked better if, instead of swapping the babies, the bad guy arranged for the princess to be kidnapped. With his wife dead and his daughter vanished the king could have invited the niece to come to the palace as the next heir to the throne.
That way the king wouldn't look so stupid for being fooled by the switch. Also, if they hoped to find the kidnapped princess it would make a lot more sense to research magical true-princess-detector tests.
Yeah and instead of mean adopted parents she's been rasied by nice adopted parents and the nice adopted parents were told she was an orphan.
Which becomes a conflict later.
And Rolo and her meet while they are kids and become secret friends. Which leads to them falling in love over time.
The niece has no idea what her parents did and is genuinely concerned for her cousin's safety and jealous of her cousin because even in her absent everyone loves her cousin more than her.
The king while still hoping to see his baby girl is in despair that he will never see his daughter again.
When one day by chance Darla unknowly meets her cousin. The two talk and become friends.
Mainwhile Sebestian finds the whole pea test thing. And every girl Darla's age is taken to the castle and takes the pea test. Darla takes it because there is money being offered for anyone who comes. When she passes. The uncle frames her adopted parents for kidnapping her. The king arrests them. Darla is heartbroken because she views them as being her family as well.
The uncle uses this to his advantage claiming that the adopted parents were monsters and hurt Darla. The people call for justice. Hilda while this is happening meets Rollo and falls for him but realizes he loves her cousin. So in fit of rage she rips up the royal blanket while the uncle uses as more proof saying the adopted parents tried to hide the fact that Darla is a princess. The king is split about what to do. The uncle secretly plans for Darla to reject her crown allowing his daughter to take the crown. And if that doesn't work while there's always plan B. The unlce is less silly and more sinister. He always seems to be prepared and sees Darla as nothing more then a pawn
@@mamabear1394 I like that. Well done👍
@@kaldurskipper6821
Thanks
@@mamabear1394 No problem. Do you think that you might want to become an author, or are you already?
@@kaldurskipper6821
I do want to be an author
If the pea thing was actually about the girl's "sensitivity to others' feelings", then wouldn't she lie and say that she slept great?
Judging by the clips Sebastian watched her during her whole nap and she was pretty restless during it, so he would know she was lying
“Any tradition that guarantees coronation day looks like a Black Friday door buster sale is a bad idea.”
This is startlingly close to how Ottoman sultans were chosen. Most of the time, their sons were in different parts of the empire, and when word of the sultan’s passing was announced, they’d run to the capital to be the first one there and establish themselves as sultan and kill their rivals/brothers.
This movie would’ve been much better with more fratricide.
Okay I know I already commented on this video but my thoughts cannot be contained within one post: Hildegarde and Daria being born at the same time means that, very shortly after being declared rulers of the pig kingdom and vowing revenge, Helsa and Laird did the absolute NASTY out of rage. Anger-banged so hard it curled the ends of Laird's golden shoes. Went full Gordon Ramsay and made mushy peas through a stack of mattresses. LOVE that for them.
Beautiful descriptions.
3 years after this comment was posted I find myself having to compliment to you for this haunting depiction.
1:20 You're not the only one who finds the phrase "family values" eyebrow-raising. It's basically the callsign of the Helen Lovejoys of the world.
When I'm not a bitter hell-fiend stuck in a crappy infernal job, I live in the hometown of Focus on the Family. That has certainly left a bad taste in my mouth regarding the phrase.
You live in Colorado? Are you like the only liberal family in a conservative neighborhood? Are they still active?
"Won't somebody please think of the children?" Focus on the Family is not the only Fundamentalist organization in Colorado Springs, the whole city is called The Evangelical Vatican due to the Christian organizations it attracted in the 1980s. I can imagine that the city is full of those for whom "family values" means turning the clock back to the 1950s, possibly earlier.
boxorak yeah I’m the same too, when you hear it you know it will either preachy or just obnoxious
A FAMILY pictcha. (Nostalgia Critic, anyone?)
For someone who eats 4 square meals a day plus snacks, Helsa is actually quite snatched in the waist with a shape that won't quit. Girl what is your secret?!?! Are the 4 meals just variations on chicken and broccoli?!?!?
I'd wager she's got a corset on under the several layers of dress and assorted undergarments.
Great message in this film.
You are evil by your blood not how you are raised or your personality
Takumi Doutou actually diva mentions that in the film hildagaurds mom got a job as a wet nurse to influence her to be evil sooooo
Yeah I think what would have been stronger is if when Hildegard was at age her parents would come in and tell her that King Heath forced them give her up and makes everyone pretend that she is his daughter. At least that would show her behavior as being resentful towards her supposed kidnapper and wanting to be close to her so called real parents.
*checks date film came out*
...You know, I was going to say how badly integrated the CGI is with the 2d animation was, but given that it came out in 2002 and was direct to DVD so would have had no appreciable budget, that's actually bloody impressive.
I was 12 back then, and let me just tap into my age 12 mindset and
Honestly I don't care at all if it's supposed to be impressive, CGI is ugly at best and it would be better if they stuck to 2D animation! The only reason they are throwing in so much CGI everywhere is because no one cares if shows and movies aimed at kids look like shit.
Please tell me Rollo is Prince of another kingdom, cause otherwise that means Rollo and Daria are cousins.
Ew.
He is, though honestly they don't talk much about it--his parents never even show up for the coronation at the beginning.
Fairy tales and myths have a theme of incest, such as All Furs, Arthuruan legneds, and Greek myths
Musical Hell Well that's insulting.
I thought the same thing!
Of course fairy tales and myths have incest, but that doesn't mean modern fantasy should. Especially not "family values" stories.
Give it this much, the animation is pretty decent. It's not Disney or dream works, but for church basement film production, it's pretty damn good
I actually thought it was animated by A. Film, even though it is Danish and not Hungarian.
@Katie Lewis Really? I mean I remember seeing it as a kid, but I had no idea.
I literally said, "YEAH HAAA!" when I found this.
I want a princess swap movie where the "lost princess" is not a super nice and perfect waif. "The Perfect Princess for Me" makes Rollo look like a superficial idiot. What is Rollo's relationship to Heath? Did his original parents just abandon him at a random kingdom?
Funny review as always. Will you ever do The Scarecrow (2000) movie? It's in the same line as this. Disney rip-off with campy villains, odd musical moments, and bland romantic leads of Not!Belle and Not!Aladdin.
No it's been years since you made this, but definitely agree. So many of these princess swap movies have her living as a peasant why not make the Lost Princess look and act like a peasant? Give her strong arms and shoulders from years of manual labor skint and from being outside all the time and hand callus from working with them. Make her talk and behave in a way that's a little bit more rougher around the edges I'm not saying you have to make her loud boisterous and masculine but try to have her personality reflect her upbringing a bit.
AU where Queen Marianna survives childbirth and almost immediately figures out that the Baby Swap has occurred and this plot just does not happen.
Instead, Hildegard is the biological child of Heath and Marianna, but is still the same greedy, selfish, and shallow character she is in the original movie. Dad is on the other hand is just a peasant with no special lineage, but Marianna sees her as worthier of the throne than Hildegard could ever be. So it is decided to bring Daria into the palace and train her to be the next Queen.
This angers Hildegard immensely, so she goes to Uncle Laird and offers to join forces to conquer Croymore ( "Great Heart" in Scottish Gaelic). In the end, they're undone when Daria unifies the people of the realm to protect their home and also because Laird and Hildegard only care about themselves and can't actually agree on no to lead their armies let alone rule Croymore afterwards.
Thanks. This movie could have been fun and enjoyable if the writers had done more than mindlessly copy the Disney Renaissance playbook.
*Looks at Daria* Don Bluth's Thumbelina? The heck are you doing here? You're too good for this movie!
...The hell did I just say?
I was gonna say Anastasia but that works too.
I thought she looked like Kayley from Quest for Camelot. Her aging up scene even matches Kayley's at the beginning of the movie
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Maybe she's Kayley but she grew up into Thumbelina
@@Panthersclaw oh yeah, I thought I had seen that somewhere before.
Thumbelina: I should have married the mole!
- Daria looks physically like Thumbelina;
- Sebastian is a Sidekick Bird, like Jacquimo from Thumbelina;
- Daria's reflex growing on the water is similar to Kayley's reflex growing on the water in Quest for Camelot;
- Daria sings an "I Want Song" about the world while doing farm jobs, like Kayley in Quest for Camelot;
- "The Perfect Princess" Song is similar to the Song "Princesses on Parade" from The Swan Princess;
- "My Kingdom of the Heart" scene is similar to "Once Upon a December" from Anastasia.
Wow! This Movie isn't just coping Disney, it's coping other Disney Copy Movies.
Slight flaw in the premise: any woman who can’t tolerate the nuisance of a single pea underneath a stack of 20 mattresses, is not likely to survive the rigors of childbirth. Which just might be worth the king bearing in mind, considering HIS WIFE DIED IN CHILDBIRTH.
You know, the I Want song could have worked if the animation had the soaring energy to match the music. It sounds so grand and sweeping, but she’s leaning on a fence to sing. Her running through the fields, or sweeping cinematic camera movements, or anything to fill it with a zest for life.
I just noticed that, as well as the kingdom's emblem literally being a pea and a heart, Heath's crown is studded with small, round emeralds.
All hail the Pea King!
Prince Rollo? You should totally meet his cousins, Princess Caramel, Lady Éclair, Prince Mint, Lord Hazelnut, Queen Fudge, and King Sticky Toffee!
It's funny because Rollo is a kind of candy.
Dead right you are!
and Vanelope.... ( I don't remember her last name.... )
Then there's the Jester; He's Regular.
You know, if they'd had the scene if Rollo and Daria meeting _after_ the scene of him trying to find a princess, that would have been a lot less stupid.
I'm stealing "magical what's-it's-butt" as an insult.
Mystical what's-its-butt.
I'm using it as a euphemism for wonderful bedroom partner skills for when people are looking over my shoulder when I type.
Like now, for instance.
The leading man is named Rollo? I guess the writers were a hard core fan of the caramel filled chocolate.
LadyOfBroadway333 There's also another character named Heath. I guess someone on the team had a real obsession with chocolate.
Maybe he was named after the great-great-great-grandfather of William the Conqueror.
The Kingdom of the Heart scene seems like a bad attempt to copy Once upon a december from Anastasia.
+DaemonenprinzessinXD That's exactly my thought too. The fact that Anastasia itself (though very well-made) is kind of a Disney Renaissance rip-off as well makes Princess and the Pea even more desperate.
ultraofrahfan1 Yeah, but it was Fox that wanted a Disney style musical. Bluth and Goldman already had their own style.
"The Perfect Princess" seems like a rip-off of "Princesses on Parade" from Swan Princess... except Prince Derek had NO interest in any other princess EXCEPT Odette.
ha
A copy of a copy of a copy. That's like such a RIP off it's almost original
Watching this in 2020, the second Game of Thrones reference hasn't aged that well... Oh, poor Diva from the past, you're in for a treat...
Diva: makes two innuendos back to back
Also Diva 5 seconds later: "Minds out of the gutter, please"
Rewatching this is great, but I just thought of something that I want to see that could be interesting. What if the foster parents in these "situations" turned out to be a nice couple or maybe overtime grow to love their daughter wouldn't that be a change (and I am talking about in these types of stories with a switch and princesses) and the daughter for the most part in content with her life. Just thought since many foster/step parents within fairy tales are portrayed as evil.
Wonderful video by the way :)
@Katie Lewis oh yeah
What if the foster parents don't want to give up the child because they genuinely love and are unsure if royalty or peasant life is good for her and are worried they'll never be able to talk to the girl they raised ever again if she goes, or the kingdom will fall into the wrong hands or the parents will be executed, that is a deep and compelling story I want to hear
@Katie Lewis and that's just the concept, spitballing here, an evil is predicted to destroy the kingdom and it could only be killed with love and it so happens they target the baby princess so and the parents are told not to tell the princess of what's supposed to happen in the future, okay it sounds sappy but there is great potential
I once watched a movie where the biological dad was convinced his wife cheated, so he sold their baby daughter to a random thief who got caught breaking into the mantion, so -and I quote- she'll be raised to become scum on earth. Years later, he finds out she WAS his daughter after a series of hijinks and ever slightly regrets his crimes of human trafficing and spousel abuse, and spents the rest of the movie acting entitled for the girls forgivness. Of course they all become a family again in the end, because he's a rich handsome doctor or something, and only blood relatives counts no matter they're fucking monsters.
For the record, the girl's foster criminal family treated her hella better than the bio dad. They did made her steal, but it was pretty much they all get by and really wished they could've given her a better life in the end.
@@KrugerBabadook They could've even done something where her uncle gave her to the couple to be killed however, the couple couldn't bring themselves to kill an innocent child and decide to keep and raise her as Daria until the uncle learns and sends his soldiers to execute the couple for betraying him, and in one final show of love towards their adoptive daughter, they manage to get her out of there before their farm is destroyed and their killed.
....The name of the kingdom is Corazion? Did they seriously take the Spanish word for "heart", put an i between the z and the o, and go "yes this is a good name for the kingdom. i have never done anything wrong ever."?
It's almost clever, since Daria's dream was to make a "Kingdom of the Heart"
@@stevenhiggins3055 It might also have something to do with the fact that the kingdom's emblem, a heart, is emblazoned everywhere. SUBTLETY!
In their defense (kind of), there's a fair chunk of place names which are much less creative when you look back at what they actually mean. I love seeing nicely-named places and finding out they're slightly altered versions of another language where somebody just said "we just built this place on creek full of mud, let's call it Muddycreek."
Still not an excuse, but it puts it into perspective a bit.
Again- literally all this does is make me wish I were playing Kingdom Hearts instead.
@@AllyGatorAnimator It's probably the most laziest I've seen. I appreciate it with things like Draco Malfoy, but this is probably the most laziest I've seen it.
Are we not going to talk about how the Kingdom of my Heart thing at 15:02 with the big empty space full of imaginary ghostly people is just a shitty Once Upon a December ripoff sequence?
You should have mentioned that the original Broadway musical "Once Upon a Mattress" had music and lyrics by Mary Rodgers, the daughter of Richard Rodgers (as in "and Hammerstein") and was a vehicle for a comic genius named Carol Burnett as a princess named Fred--and a star was born. It's still a fun show.
Overthinking It: Helsa is probably wearing a corset (well, technically a "pair of bodies," but basically a well-boned corset) under that dress, given that she's nobility and the visual style of the clothing here is more-or-less European Renaissance, with a few late-medieval headpieces thrown in. As a fat woman who's worn corsets, the general effect would be a smooth, somewhat thin-looking torso atop a large, Sir-Mix-A-Lot-pleasing derriere (which, in turn, would be FURTHER enhanced with a bumroll or bustle if it didn't look huge enough already). In other words, a fat woman in a corset and accurate late-medieval/early-Renaissance clothing looks...basically like Helsa. The only reason her dress isn't covered with tons of embellishment like a REAL noblewoman of the period is that elaborate clothing is hard to animate.
I always love it when good family friendly productions also insist that goodness and evilness are 100% genetic.
I do at least really enjoy how much Laird's voice actor, Ronan Vibert, hams it up. That is something you really need to do in a second-rate animated film like this, to at least make it memorable. It's also quite weird hearing him going at it like this after seeing him in Rome HBO, The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Borgias were he's usually has this very emotionless, sly and evaluating manner to his character.
Eve Karpf and Nigel Lambert (Helsa and Sebastian) are also voices from my very British childhood. :D
Drag this movie all you want but let us not forget the epic line of-
"Sebastian has been telling me about the birds and the peas."
Awesome review--the "Donkeyskin" comment at the end cracked me up! :D Also, nice reference to "Once Upon a Mattress"--it's my favorite show I've ever been in (I played the Minstrel, who was cut out of the film).
+Amie Fortman I was actually expecting Once Upon a Mattress (at least the 2005 version) to appear as an episode for Musical Hell itself (namely I was a little underwhelmed by it), but it's a much better musical take on Princess and the Pea.
With Sebastian trying to guide the pig, I'm surprised you didn't include the clip from the End of Time with the Doctor screaming out "WORST! RESCUE! EVER!"
+harrietamidala1691 Good one!
While we're on the subject of Whovian references, I also would have accepted a "Flatline" shout-out with regard to the "Kingdom of the Heart" musical number.
The weirdest thing to me is how competent and fluid the animation is for this film.
So the two human male protagonists are named after candy?
@@satireknight Lord Snickers?
😂😂
@@stevenhiggins3055 I'm *Snickering* at that one!
There's a Rollo candy?
@@ilikecurry2345
Yep! It's a caramel-filled chocolate!
9:50 Well, they're clearly aping Disney so they had to check off the "dead parent" cliche.
12:50 It would have been equally interesting if Daria had grown up to be wicked and mean while Hildegarde was charitable and kind and the "pea test" was ultimately proven to be stupid because despite being the true princess Daria was still a mean, spiteful b1tch.
15:00 So they're not just aping Disney, they're also aping Don Bluth.
You know what would fix one of this movie’s major issues? Putting “Kingdom of the Heart” after “The Perfect Princess for Me.” The movie would still be deeply flawed, but at least Rolo would look like slightly less of a shallow idiot.
That’s a very good point. The pacing was all over the place, it also would’ve made more sense if they switched the songs in place because Rolo was just adventuring through the forest randomly for no reason.
I feel like a black-and-white moral story can work if it's done well (like some Disney movies like The Lion King and Lord Of The Rings). This movie doesn't really try. Great review, by the way. :)
goldblaze93 especially if the focus of the story isn't the morality, but about the consequences of said morality
After fully seeing this movie, I have a slight rewrite of the ending that could've made Helsa a bit more likeable and built on that moment early on.
Hear me out, when Daria is taken away by Laird, Helsa wants him to put her with a good family. Imagine this: when she finds out how her niece has been treated, she turns on Laird and reveals the truth instead of having the dog reveal that Hildegard is a fraud.
It wouldn't completely fix the plot, but it would build on Helsa's bit of vulnerability.
So true, Helsa could’ve had so much character development after showing sympathy to baby Daria. The writers just wanted to prioritize her appetite as a joke that wasn’t really funny to begin with. 😔
@@surraciddac170You know her gluttony could have worked if seen as a serious thing where she overeats because it is a coping mechanism that she does to endure her miserable marriage.
"Upon a pea, atop of will be put twenty matresses, the maiden, shalt sleep. If she cannot sleep, it is that she is has the sensitivity of the function!"
Peagent woman: Lemme try! *can't sleep because it is far more soft than she's used to*
Pretender princess: Lemme try! *pretends to have disturbed sleep*
Insomiac librarian: Lemme try! *is insomniac*
Congrats, you made a trial legitimately anybody can pass without even knowing (I mean... At least in the original story the princess doesn't know anything and she has to state that she feels *something* under the mattress that disturbs her sleep.)
I find their portrayal of Helsa a little insulting because, well, that’s MY body type. I’m not thin, I’m not fat, I’m just kinda average. And apparently that’s a bad thing
what!?! you're not thin as a sheet of paper and able to talk to animals! you must be evil!
Is it just me, or does Daria's design look just like Thumbelina and there's a bird guide? Wow, this movie not only rips off Disney but other Disney knockoffs as well. What a low. "Family Values" now that's a laugh. And wow these characters are idiots. I can't remember the last time I've seen characters act that stupid and generic. I refuse to refer to this movie as "The Princess and the Pea", because I enjoy that story and this movie has little to nothing to do with it. And even when it does, it's just painfully shoehorned in. It's more like "The Kingdom of Fools" or "The Good, the Bad, and the Moron".
family owned company promoting family values with a movie that is obsessed with being nice and promotes women's need to be near perfect to marry as her main value and encourages men to treat women as such? Yep. This is a mormon movie.
"l am so stoked season 6 is here" oh you sweet summer child.
I was Jon Snow. I knew nothing.
@@MusicalHell i wish i could say i was not just as blinded by the great seasons! keep up the terrific work btw!
10:31... wait, is that baby sitting on a nest? Naked?! Ouch! So, so, so wrong (on top of everything else wrong with this scene and plot, of course).
The animation looks really nice for having a meh storyline. Sebastian's adorable though. ^w^
Sebastian is the only one of the characters with a memorable design lol
Everyone else looks so generic.
Why not make the helsa the nice one who try’s to talk sense into her husband who manipulates her and she cares about her niece and she wants to raise her daughter right but her husband is always watching but hey screw character development
I'm about three years late on this one, and someone might have probably already pointed this out, but here we go anyway. The idea of having a hero/heroine who is really nice (like Daria and the king) isn't (in my opinion) that bad. If you do it right. Overly niceness can be an interesting trait. Let's say we have a character who has grown up being told that the most important thing is to be kind towards the people around you. This character takes that message to their heart and follows that through. The consequences though is that the character faces people who tend to walk over them, straight out bully them, or maybe just day or do things that hurt the character but the character is too afraid to tell them the truth. Okay, it's a little over the top maybe, but if you write the story right it can turn out pretty good. I do realise now that Cinderella is this type of character, who I believe is a better written character than anyone in this mess (even though she's not that deep). I guess the key is to make the character more fleshed out than just overly nice. Make them face the consequences of overly niceness, make them feel the pain that comes with their choice of never talking back. And maybe having a lesson to the kids that as great as it is to be nice towards all people around you (or animals), you need to stand up for yourself (and other people) even if it does hurt other people in the progress. Make them understand the balance of nice and rude. Maybe you could have a whole lesson about how no one is pure good or pure evil, especially since so many fairytales have the good vs evil theme. I don't know. Just me sharing my thoughts.
Btw, I'm not a native english speaker, so if there are spelling mistakes or just weird frases, sorry for that.
Honestly, part of me just wonders if whoever wrote this movie just had no idea how babies worked, or if there was some lack of communication between the writers and animators, since the way the story works and the dialogue would seem to indicate that Daria and Hildegard were switched very shortly after birth (Laird gets the news of Heath's wife's death and Daria's birth immediately after Hildegard was born, and I don't see why he'd wait so long to pull the switch), while the animation makes Daria out to be at least old enough to sit up on her own at the time.
So, either someone thought a newborn baby could do all the stuff Daria was doing, or else someone didn't tell the animators that Daria was supposed to be younger in those scenes.
this movie reminds me so much of quest for Camelot in the animation department. the bad guy even sounds like the bad guy from that movie
This movie's logic is that one guy who changes the rules when you're playing on the playground so they can win everytime
This was the first Musical Hell episode I saw way back in July 2021. And I must say: Your channel is one of the best ones on TH-cam!
20:06-:20:20
For me, that's basically like playing "Ride of the Valkyries" by Richard Wagner while trying to get a drink from the refrigerator.
Darria was shown to be worked to the bone. She would not have time to run a farm, take care of her slothful parents, befriend the "nice" animals and find a ruined cathedral. The first two items would take all her time, but that's my nitpick.
As much as I like this movie, I love your critique of it. It’s hilarious!
“Our hero, everybody.”
New musical hell episode! I'm lovin' life right now.
"You're not evil because you're fat. You're fat because you're evil."
"Kingdom of the Heart" sounds a lot like Tanya's ballad from "An American Tale: Feival Goes West".
Sorry to reply when your comment is a year old, but THANK YOU. I thought that immediately and went comment scrolling to see if anyone else had noticed. It really does sound like Tanya's ballad.
@@LittleWhiteRabbitB I was about to comment "Was that Dreams to Dream?" lol Just blatant copying
Okay, I'm not the only one to notice. Good.
At least this Disney knock off is nice to look at unlike many other things like this.
This movie would've been awesome if the princess was MTV's Daria.
+Jacob Martin Yeah, I figured Diva was gonna do a Daria joke.
We _all_ knew she would do something like that.
It would be funny to have a catty bitchy princess.
I know, right? Just picture a super young Janeane Garofalo with absolutely zero fucks left to give: "Hey, it's about damn time you guys got her-....Oh. Just you, huh? Perfect. I was just thinking to myself how nice it'd be to die horribly today."
I think it would have been funny to have a cynical princess.
my father worked on this movie way back in the day as a musician
I haven't seen this movie in years but i remember the boxcase being in the bottom shelf of our entertainment center for so long
it's probably still there even
This script feels like the writers were playing mad libs.
+Genin99 Diva should have brought out the cliche "ca-ching" machine like she did for Burlesque.
One thing I've learned trying to write for things like this is the cheaper the production, the less time writers have to work with. Sometimes HOURS instaed of the days minimum needed to make a craft like screeen writing needs to work.
For shit pay. It encourages a "just get it done" mentality.
A Utah based company? We're in MORMON territory!!!!
I've been curious about how bad this movie is since it looked like such a massive Disney knockoff when I first heard of it, so I'm glad to see your take on it. Without a doubt Once Upon a Mattess is the superior musical (it was also the last show I did in high school before graduating so I have more than a bit of a soft spot for it)
Interesting how you mentioned Donkeyskin, I discovered that a few years ago and while I like the music (even though it's in French), I'd like to see you review that because of how weird and often messed up it is.
Those sections of Laird's song you played have such a similar rhythm to Poor Unfortunate Souls
Hildiguard’s life is pretty depressing when you think about it, basically a pawn in her biological father’s game. And her adoptive father constantly compares her to his dead wife
Dear god. So many cute cartoon animal sidekicks! Guess the filmmakers thought they could just entertain the kids with cute animals over story… or the animators begged for cute animals to animate between its conventional human animation.
Yes!!! I've been waiting for someone to review this!!!
Theatre Kid: Mom, I want to watch Once Upon A Mattress.
Mom: We have it at home
*Once Upon a Mattress at home*
15:25
When you try too hard to make your movie scene look like a gorgeously animated and written Anastasia scene but it turns out looking more like Alice in wonderlands acid trip on a acid trip.
*_COME DANCE WITH US ROLLO_*
4EVER &EVER &EVER
The line "pea in her bed" made me giggle like a 5 year old
Whoever voices Laird is so fricken hammy it's like he's actually voring the microphone as he shouts at 5:08
Calm down! Calm down! You're giving Eric Freeman a run for his money!
11:02 I like how you put "You're Standing on My Neck" by Splendora when you say the princess is named Daria. I was shocked that I discovered that Princess Daria shares the same name as my wife Jane's best friend Daria Morgendorffer.
I remember that my family used to get movies from Feature Films For Families. The only one that sticks in my head is one where a kid and his friends somehow get the capital to buy out their dad's toy factory and teleconferencing with him, giving him a job which is better about hours off and stuff. Also, his sister is a teen genius who has some kind of computer chip that gets put into their newest toy or something? It was a weird movie.
I got to interview Mark Swan (the director of this film) back in 2011 about this project . You can find the interview on my tumblr @redadoodles
Musical buff that I am, I also happen to be an animation geek. WHAT is up with the flagrant copying of "Secret of NIMH" at 2:05-2:07? Tell me that isn't the same image from the opening of NIMH?!
Yeah because Cinderella, and Vanessa from The Little Mermaid look so much alike!
+Brandy Loutherback Referring to Daria and Hildegarde? It's why I hate the king character--he's so stupid! How can he not see that Hildegarde is clearly not his daughter because she didn't inherit his red hair or his wife's blonde hair. The science of genetics may not have been around yet, but come on, even the village idiot can tell she's not his natural daughter (I almost said not related, but I realized they are related, but as uncle and niece).
If she'd favored Laird, it might have passed because at least there was some blood tie there--but that still wouldn't solve the basic problem that they should be able to tell the babies apart by the time they're old enough to sit unassisted (and probably earlier--I was able to distinguish my kids' cries from other babies by the time they were a few weeks old).
15.04
This song is the song from Fievel Goes West that the big sister sings and the main cat falls in love with her voice! Not the words but the melody.
I love these videos sooo much! Please do the The Swan Princess! ❤
Quick question: did Hildegard always know that she wasn’t Heath’s daughter, or did she learn at the end? Did that have much bearing on the plot? Was it left unaddressed?
She's told about halfway through the movie. It has absolutely zero bearing on the plot or her character and she's mostly pissed off that she was born in the Pig Kingdom.
Oh goodness! Thank you for replying! I love the videos!
This seems like its great material for rewrite-style fanfiction authors. Take the characters, give them the development they should have had in the first place, maybe change how certain (all) plot points were delivered. I would love to see the "Daria is a witch" thing played around with. What if she really was a witch? How would that affect her claim to the throne? I want to see raised-poor-as-dirt Daria interact with spoiled-rotten-princess Hildegarde, especially before it's revealed that Daria is the real princess. I also want to see Kingman (whose name I have forgotten because he was pretty dang forgettable and generic) interact with Hildegarde. How would seeing his own daughter be raised by his mortal enemy affect him? Especially with his childish, somewhat possessive behavior.
I agree it is annoying when writers confuse basic niceness with goodness and rudeness with evil. It's just unreasonable to expect people to be nice all the time. Even if they are genuinely good people, everyone's said or done inappropriate things at some point in their lives. It's our actions in important matters that are really count in the end.
i literally yelled YES! when you said "ruler of the pig kingdom ranks right up there with prince of the land of stench" cause that's exactly where my mind went too
Such a pity. This film has actually good animation for a DTV movie, and I like the idea of expanding the original short tale with a plot about betrayal, kings and succesions. Too bad the execution sucks.
I think that they confused how poofy a dress is with a characters weight and like... no...anyone can wear a hoop skirt
Is it just me or does the song at 15:10 sound almost exactly like the song from Fievel Goes West "Dreams to Dream"???
When Diva said "memorable in all the wrong ways", I thought that was what she meant!
Yes.... yes it DOES!!!!
Knowledge of creepy fairy tales and a reference to the Order of the Stick? I love it.
“Sebastian explains that once upon a time the princess who had a pea on her bed” Ok, did anyone else laugh at that part, or was it just me?
This animation style reminds me the Titanic movie with the rapping dog.
oh my god, i remember that one! but hey, the animation of the princess and the pea is much better compared to that.