Tonight I rewatched an animated film that was a childhood favourite of mine, it was one of the few non-Disney animated films that came out during the 90’s and is based off the tale of Swan Lake I discussed before. I find it an interesting and charming adaption of the story, though it has a lot of humour as well! The scene with the Musicians dressed as animals always makes me laugh.

The introduction to the story is very cute, it shows how the young Prince and Princess, betrothed from birth are forced to spend every summer together, much to their displeasure! They tease and mock eachother through childhood, but this is a welcome change to other tales where the Hero and Heroine fall in love at first sight, having no history between them. However when they have grown and finally fallen in love, the Prince (who’s name is Derek, not Siegfreid) makes the fatal error of being unable to express why he loves Odette, all he can say is that she is beautiful and for this she turns him down.

The rest of the tale plays out as in the Ballet, though with a sweeter ending. It is visually a beautiful film, the painted backgrounds in particular are vivid and I adore Odette’s swan form. Some of the musical numbers are lovely, such as ‘Far Longer than Forever’ which is also the theme to the film. However I find a few of the more jazz-like numbers towards the end a bit over the top, verging on the ridiculous. They may be humorous to others though.

In all, it is a beautiful and mostly faithful adaption of the tale, with its own individuality and sense of humour. I think I love it even more than when I first saw it. It is every bit as romantic and sweet as the more famous Disney Princess films.