#the plot of the movie is her wishing to be a fairy then falling in love with one then realizing she was one

[stupiterjupiter]

When I say I’m femme this is what I mean

[mask131]

So you want to know about Oz! (1)

Then congratulations! Welcome to this quick crash course to know everything about the world of Oz! The movies, the adaptations, the musicals, the books! Yes, books, with an S, because "The Wizard of Oz" everybody knows and love was just the first book of an entire BOOK SERIES that became the enormous franchise we know today! You thought there was just ONE Wizard of Oz movie? Think again! You thought "Wicked" was the only work that gave a backstory to the Witches? Get ready for some discoveries!

And so we begin our journey to the wonderful land of Oz...

The story of Oz begins with one novel. No, not one movie - but the novel that caused the movie... L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"

Published in 1900, this children novel is still to this day one of the most famous works of American youth literature, as well as the master-piece of Baum, THE book everybody knows he wrote. Baum intended, with this book, to create a purely American fairy tale: he wanted to rival the European tales of Charles Perrault, the brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen - and he succeeded! The novel was a best-seller as soon as it was released, and is still considered as "America's greatest fairy-tale".

Most people know of "The Wizard of Oz" through its famous adaptation, the 1939 musical movie. While these two works do share a same set of main characters and a similar plot, the novel contains many, many details that were not adapted into the movie ; and, in return, the movie brought a lot of elements that were absent from the novel. Both, however, are still the story of a little girl by the name of Dorothy (she wasn't yet named "Gale") and her dog Toto, who are swept up into a tornado and taken to the magical Land of Oz. There she meets three comical companions (the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion), and together they go seek the Wizard of Oz in hope he can grant their wishes, only to have to escape from the clutches of the Wicked Witch of the West...

If you want to read the original novel, it will be very easy! Not only is it still regularly printed today, with various anniversary editions ; but it is in public domain since the 1950s! So you can go read it for free right now, without any problems!

Most people tend to stop at just this book... Not wondering if there was any sequel, treating it as if this was just a one-shot. Except, we told you, this book was a best-seller! An ENORMOUS success! Never before had a children's book brought so much money in the United-States! As such, Baum was not going to just stop there...

While he did intent "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" to be a self-contained novel existing as its own thing, in 1904 he published a sequel "The Marvelous Land of Oz":

This novel does not follow Dorothy however, but rather a very different character... A little boy who lives in the Land of Oz post-Dorothy: Tip (short for Tippetarius), an orphan boy who escapes the clutches of his wicked witch of a caretaker alongside a pumpkin-headed scarecrow he just brought to life. And the two undergo a journey to the Emerald City ruled by the Scarecrow-king, only to get swept into a revolution...

This novel was conceived in a similar way to the first one, as a "self-contained" story. While it does take place after the events of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", reuses several of the same characters (The Scarecrow and the Tin Man are part of the main party, Glinda plays a key part in the final act) and briefly recaps the events of the first novel, it can still be read on its own. This novel especially get a lot of attention today (after decades and decades of falling into pur oblivion) due to its fantasy-dissection of the topics of genders - differences between men and women, boys and girls, unfairness and injustice among sexes (the revolution in question is a "girl revolution" seeking to destroy what is perceived as a misogynistic patriarchy)... All culminating with what is still to this day one of the most famous accidental depictions of a trans character in fantasy!

But I'll return to this all in a later post, possibly...

This novel was ALSO a best-seller and a huge success. And as such... you know what that means. Yes, Baum wrote a THIRD book taking place in Oz! Well, almost... The novel actually mostly takes place in lands neighbors to those of Oz, the land of Ev and the realm of the Nome King... But all the Oz characters return - including Dorothy, who is again swept away into fairy-lands, this time not with her dog Toto, but with a pet chicken Billina.

This story is the novel "Ozma of Oz", published in 1907:

And with these three books, you have the original Oz trilogy!

"But wait, there were other Oz books, weren't there?" you ask. Oh yes, there were more books, indeed! However, I want to stop at this point because these three books do form a specific trilogy for various reasons. The trilogy of the "good" Oz books before everything went... let's say downhill (but more about that next post). But more importantly, the trilogy of Oz books most people know about!

Indeed, even if you have never read "The Marvelous Land of Oz" or "Ozma of Oz", you probably came across various elements of these books, that are regularly scattered throughout Oz adaptations and novels. For example the famous Disney movie "Return to Oz" is mostly an adaptation of "Ozma of Oz", but with numerous elements of "The Marvelous Land of Oz" added to the plot

More recently, the trilogy also formed the basis of the new plot offered by the short-lived TV series "Emerald City"!

Langwidere the princess with a hundred heads, Mombi the witch, Ozma the princess of Oz, the Nome king, Tik-Tok the automaton, Jack Pumpkinhead, general Jinjur, the land of Ev, the Powder of Life and many other names and concepts you might be familiar with come from these two direct sequels to "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". Sequels which unfortunately never knew the lasting popularity of their predecessor, despite being just as famous, if not more, in their time...

Next post: Baum's downfall...

[synergysilhouette]

Plotting out "Rumplestiltskin" (Disney movie)

After I finished the Reinvention era, I decided I wanted to do more fleshed-out posts of original films I wish Disney had done during their previous eras. To start, I decided to work on the films suggested for the post-renaissance era, which I did a revision post that you can find here. It's best to read that to understand what I'm about to mention.

Background: By this time, Disney has not greenlit a fairy tale since the 90s, and when John Musker and Ron Clements come to them with an idea for "Rumpelstiltskin," they are open to it--albeit somewhat hesitantly; they've achieved unprecedented success with mostly original ideas, and the thought of going "back to basics" does bother them somewhat, with the fear that they'll be attacked for running out of ideas. Nonetheless, they let the film pass, scrapping their "Home on the Range" film. They enlist Alan Menken and Tim Rice for the music, and the team opts for a darker take than most Disney films (later said to have inspired Guillermo del Toro), and they consider briefly to do a non-European setting, but it's quickly scrapped, and a medieval England is considered, with particular inspiration from the Late Middle Ages to the Tudor period. While the specific setting and historical aspects (including pitches for Scandinavian, Slavic, Brazilian, and Iberian settings) are eventually removed for "magical purposes," Tudor-inspired fashion (eh, more 40% accuracy than 100%) is kept. They realize the unlikeability of having a king who marries a woman he threatens to kill three times over, and it's not a desirable trait for marketing, so they take influence from the king in "Cinderella," King Hubert from "Sleeping Beauty," and King Triton from "The Little Mermaid" to make a well-meaning but stressed and temperamental king who offers his much more benevolent son to the protagonist. They also scrap an early draft featuring a love triangle between the protagonist, the prince, and the antagonist, and the thought of doing 3D is considered, but eventually passed on. They planned on making the protagonist "older" (somewhere in her 30s), but Disney worries that this would alienate their younger audience, and move her to mid-20s--a bit older than they'd like, but not too young to be a mother without upsetting the parental audience.

(Note: This film will have been released in 2004, but several visual aids used are from media post-2004 and are serve to give the audience the idea of how the characters would look/act, rather than the influences Disney would use in the early 2000s.)

Plot

In a faraway land, a kingdom is wrought with misfortune. It is heavily in debt after a war has drained their coffers, and the economy has eroded. They're in debt to other countries, and not repaying them risks another way, and raising taxes could lead to civil war. A noble brags that his daughter will bring all the kingdom's problem to an end by turning straw into gold, and when the ill-tempered king hears of this, he gives her an ultimatum: spin several pounds of straw into gold for three days straight and marry his son, or her father will be executed for his insolence and she will be imprisoned for fraud. She undertakes this task successfully and falls in love with the much more amiable prince, and years later, she gives birth to a child. The day the child is to be christened, a guest bursts in, reminding her of a "deal" they made, revealing they spun straw into gold in exchange for gifts from her, the final of which being her child. When the princess begs to be let out of the deal, the creature humors her with a game: find their child, and discover the creature's name. With that, the fiend and her child disappears, and the princess only has 3 days to save them.

Characters

Aurelia--A quiet young noblewoman who lived a naive and sheltered life due to her upbringing, she was taught to be quiet and demure, and her station gave her a fairy tale look on life until she too was struck by poverty. Her father is an advantageous man whose kindness in these circumstances has been pushed down and seen as a sign of weakness. He had tried to suggest a match between Aurelia and Prince Aldous before, but was unsuccessful until he felt pressure by his contemporaries to brag about why his daughter deserved to marry the prince. When her father is threatened with death should she fail, she makes a deal with a mysterious creature that appears each night to spin gold with her, though they only tell her what they want after they do a day's work. In doing so, she gives up two things her deceased mother gave her that she promised never to give up: a necklace and a ring. But true to her word, she does, and she is horrified to realize a potential child is the price to be paid for a third night. When her son Caspian is kidnapped, she races to the far reaches of the country, following clues to the creature's hideout and their true name.

R--Hint, hint. People are always willing to make deals when they're desperate, yet they don't know what the price will be. No matter. R is quite a vicious fellow (or lady? Their form and associated pronouns change to fit the ocassion) who's all too happy to take advantage of the ocassion. Disney took the opportunity to make the shapeshifter's disguises appear as twisted parodies of iconic Disney characters, along with original designs. R is endlessly imposing and clever, managing to finagle Aurelia out of a necklace that tracks whoever she wants and a ring that can summon creatures to assist her--but since she had no idea about the true nature of these items, the only loss she felt from handing them over was of a sentimental nature. But now that they're in R's possession, they're able to not only track Aurelia's progress, but hinder it as well. Should she fail to find and name R in three days time, Caspian will become corrupted in R's domain and be their "son" forevermore. Tick tock, tick, tock...

Aldous--The crown prince of Sceptimar and the oldest of three brothers, he has to deal with his overbearing father's expectations. After the death of his mother, he sought to get away from home and was educated abroad, and both situations contributed to his father's bitter and controlling attitude. He is sympathetic to Aurelia's situation, though is not pleased that his hand is offered as a prize in exchange for her success. Similar to his bride, he starts off as superficially kind, good at keeping up appearances and saying nice things, but when he joins his wife on retrieving their child, his compassion becomes genuine, and his grief helps him develop sympathy and empathy for others. That said, he hasn't completely lost his sense of haughtiness, but most say his demeanor contributes to his charm, in proper doses. His cleverness compliments Aurelia's, and his physical abilities (fighting, horseback riding, etc.) rubs off on her. To put it simply, what was once a "reward marriage" became a relationship where both parties help them become better people. Before Caspian was kidnapped, Aurelia feared Aldous would become controlling similar to his father.

Songs

Sacrifice--The story of how Sceptimar, once a prosperous kingdom, fell into disrepair thanks to continuous war, and was financially bankrupt, and King Osric hoped to marry his sons off to powerful princesses in exchange for a significant dowries.

Golden Opportunity--Lord Ricard is quick to fold to pressure, but when his contemporaries turn their annoyance at the king considering raising taxes on him, he makes a reckless brag that his daughter has been blessed with the ability to spin straw into gold, and they relay this to the king, not believing him.

Don't You?--In despair, Aurelia prepares to be imprisoned for life, but laments the possible death of her father, and a creature hears her praise, appearing and offering to help her three days in a row. Each day they finish a task, they ask her for something, to which she hesitates, and they remind her that they can expose her at any moment, and it will be her fault at this point if her father is executed.

Something For Me--Aurelia must venture to find Caspian before he is corrupted by R, and prince Aldous joins her to help rescue their child. R scoffs at their urge to make deals, as Aurelia already agreed to the original terms of the deals and they had no reason to bargain further with her. But they do have some magical items that Aurelia so graciously gave them, so it's not like they won't win this game anyway.

Life Without--Aurelia and Aldous lament on their childhood and situations that led them to their current predicament, with each of them blaming the other's father for their situation. That said, they've developed a deep love for each other, and they've gained so much from their union, not least of all a child that they adore above all else.

Who Are You (with "Don't You" reprise)--Based on the hints that they've left behind (and an accidental one), Aurelia is able to deduce R's true identity as well Aldous finding Caspian hidden in the domain. R, despite their rage, is bound to the last deal they made, and relinquishes the child to the prince and princess. But they warn the couple that this isn't goodbye; anytime someone is desperate, anytime someone wants something, Rumpelstiltskin will be there to grant their deepest desire.

Hope you enjoyed this! Lemme know if you have any questions. Technically the next original film from my revision of the post-renaissance era is "The Chronicles of Narnia," but it'd pretty much be the same as the live-action film, just animated and a musical, so IDK if I'll post it. So that probably means I'll just move onto "Tam Lin."

[81scorp]

Constructive criticism: Raya and Wish (2023)

Ah yes, Raya and the last Dragon and Wish... and a bonus

Raya and the last Dragon

Taking place in the fictional country of Kumandra, based on Southeast Asian culture, the movie follows the warrior princess Raya as she seek the fabled last dragon to save her father and the land of Kumandra from evil spirits that are known as Druun.

Critics gave the film positive reviews; some critics praised the imagery and depth but criticized the limited Southeast Asian representation.

The movie is very good on a technical level, Visually impressive, fun characters and the story is good... until the third act.

It`s message doesn`t really fit into it`s narrative. It tries to fit a square shaped peg into a round hole.

If I could wish upon a star that I could travel back in time and do some changes to the script I would like to make one small change.

Namaari giving her "This is just as much your fault" speech and Raya acting as if she`s right

The biggest downside in this scene is Raya`s reaction to what Namaari says, looking at her own reflection in her sword as if to say: "My god, what have I become?"

How I would do it: Raya and Namaari fight. Raya gets the upperhand, disarms Namaari and is about to strike the final blow... but then she looks at what`s happening around them, the city is falling apart, killing Namaari is not gonna solve this. She drops her sword.

Raya: "My original plan was to steal the gem. It was Sisu who convinced me to talk to you. She believed in you. And for a moment... so did I."

Then she leaves to save what still can be saved of the people of Fang.

Namaari looks at her own reflection in one of her twin swords and has a "My god, what have I become?" moment.

I guess I could stop here, but I want to change one more scene.

Raya giving her gem piece to Namaari

In the scene where they are all in the pit trying to fight the druuns with their gem pieces and Raya realizes that they have to put the pieces together, it would be better if Namaari gave her piece to Raya before she gives her piece to Namaari.

Namaari would then step backwards and let the Druun take her. The others would then give their pieces to Raya, stand next to Namaari and be turned to stone. Raya tries to put the gem back together, nothing happens, she places herself between Namaari and the others (Tong, Boun, Little Noi and the Ongis), puts a hand on Tong`s arm and a hand on Namaari`s shoulder as if to form a bridge between the two. (Symbolism!)

Then the dragongem starts working, everyone gets unstoned, the dragons return, Kumandra is united and everyone`s happy.

The end.

Yes, I know. Raya needed to learn how to trust, but Namaari needed to show that she could be trusted.

Wish (2023)

Disney (the company that owns your childhood) was turning 100 years old and decided to give itself a big pat on the back by making an animated movie that would celebrate it`s legacy.

The film received mixed reviews, with praise directed towards the vocal performances, the animation and references to the wider Disney canon, but criticism levelled at the plotting, songs, and screenplay.

People were disappointed in Wish because it was supposed to be a milestone, the movie made to celebrate that the Disney animation studio has been around for 100 years! It just couldn`t live up to the hype. But if you take all the hype and great expectations out of the equation and just view it, not as this BIG thing it was intended to be, but just as the movie it is, it`s... just OK.

Later when the art book of the movie came out and people saw what could have been, many youtubers decided to do what I have been doing since 2015, and do a little constructive criticism of their own. With so many rewrites of Wish popping up on the internet and my own history of playing script doctor, it only seems logical that I too throw my hat in the ring and submit my own Wish rewrite.

So... if I had a fairy godmother who could Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo me back in time to when this movie was written, this is what I would change.

People willingly giving their wishes to Magnifico

It would have been better if Magnifico took peoples wishes from them without their knowledge. It would have made him a better villain. He could take peoples wishes when they are asleep.

Asha

I`d dial down her quirkiness a little. Personalitywise she could be an ambitious overachiever, a mix between Hermoine and Tiana, with an adorkable side.

Valentino

Does everything he says have to be something comical? I like jokes but not all of them landed. It was like his funniness was mandated. Dial down the number of jokes.

Some of the songs

It`s not that the songs are bad per se, some of them just don`t fit into the scenes where they are used, like "At all cost".

They should either have :

A: Given Julia Michaels more time and let her be more involved in the production. (Howard Ashman was very involved in the making of The Little Mermaid.)

or

B: Hired people experienced in musicals. Maybe the people who wrote the songs for Wicked, Hadestown or Hazbin Hotel?

Magnifico needing a book to be evil

The biggest problem this movie has is that it couldn`t decide if Magnifico should be a redeemable, three dimensional antagonist or a classic Disney Villain, so it did both and the results were underwhelming.

I would have made him a twist villain, but instead of waiting for the third act I would reveal it near the end of the first. He would be a charismatic leader, great at fooling people that he has their best interests at heart. In the end, his paranoia would get the better of him.

To Starboy or not to Starboy, that is the question.

At first I wasn`t gonna bother with the whole Starboy thing since it`s not really an issue. The movie`s biggest problem lies in how they wrote King Magnifico. However, a while ago I saw a video on youtube by ColeyDoesThings who talked about what the movie could have been if they had gone the Starboy route, and she made some compelling arguments. So for this rewrite I`ve decided to go with the Starboy idea.

Starboy`s personality could be a lot like Aladdin, a little bit like Peter Pan with a pinch of Ariel. (Why Ariel? Because similar to her, he wants to be where the people are, he wants to see, wants to see 'em dancin'. You know, all that stuff.) He would be a bit of a contrast to Asha.

I did not change Star becase I thought it was necessary, but because I thought it sounded interesting.

I would also make Hal and Bazeema gay and have them kiss eachother in the end.

Plot

Asha prepares to interview for the job of Magnifico's apprentice on the day of her grandfather Sabino's 100th birthday.

When Asha is around, her mother and Saba put on a happy face for her, when she leaves they become a bit apathetic. This is something that many people in Rosas over the age of 18 (who have had their wishes taken) do.

She leads tourists through the town as she sings about what an amazing place it is and what an awesome king they have in "Welcome to Rosas". She rehearses for her job interview with her friends,

There are three wishes that the king refuses to grant:

Wishes about killing people.

Wishes about making someone fall in in love with someone else.

Wishes about bringing people back from the dead.

If you wish to become a magician you`ll have to become the king`s apprentice (and you don`t have to be 18.)

Queen Amaya shows up and takes Asha to Magnifico. At first it goes a little shaky because she`s nervous but then it goes well and Magnifico thinks she is worthy to be his apprentice.

They sing a duet, but not "At all cost". It is a song about optimism and ambition, about what a great student/mentor team they`ll make. The chorus could go:

Magnifico: "With you as my student!"

Asha: "With you as my guide!"

Both: "Great things will happen with you by my side!"

Something like that.

The interview is over and Asha leaves Magnifico`s study.

She is excited. She gets to work with the king! The most awesome king in the world! She does a dorky little victory dance. Valentino shows up, he snuck into the castle with her. Asha starts chasing him, she doesn`t want him to break something expensive, she really wants this job!

Valentino sneaks in through a door to a big (and probably forbidden) room and knocks down an ancient scroll. Asha picks up the scroll to put it back where it was, then she notices the title: How to remove someone`s wish.

Remove? The king grants wishes, he doesn`t take them!

She tries to convince herself not to read it, it`s not meant for her eyes, it`s classified, but her curiosity gets the better of her. She reads in the scroll that the spell should not be used on people under the age of 18. The individual who has had their wish removed becomes docile and free of aspirations, and in some rare cases, even lethargic (just like Simon). They will feel like something is missing from their life but are not able to put their finger on what.

She refuses to believe this. This can`t be true! Magnifico wouldn`t do something like this! He`s a good king!... Right? There are magical orbs of light floating in the ceiling, she takes a ladder and climbs up so that she can get a better look at them. One of the orbs shows a woman that wishes she could fly, another a woman who wishes to sail the seas, another a man who wishes to climb a muntain, and one of the orbs shows... her Saba! It is true, the king takes peoples wishes from them!

She climbs down, puts the scroll back and leaves the room quietly with Valentino under her arm.

She`s about to leave the castle through the main gate when Magnifico shows up. He tells her that there will be a wish-granting ceremony later that evening and he wants her to be present. Asha is nervous, but not a "OMG! I`m meeting my hero!" kind of nervous, but a "Hope he doesn`t figure out that I went into a forbidden room and saw things I shouldn`t have seen" kind of nervous. He seems not to notice, but at soon as Asha leaves the room we see that he did.

Later that evening there`s a wish-granting ceremony, a woman gets her wish granted, the people cheer for Magnifico and Asha sits there next to the queen, stiff and nervous.

Later that night: Asha tries to tell her family the truth about Magnifico, but they don`t believe her. Distraught, Asha runs away and makes her own wish on a star as she sings "This wish". (Not a bad song, but it could have used better lyrics in some places.)

Starboy appears and surprises Asha who smacks him with her sketch-book. (Meet-cute!)

Magnifico senses Starboy's arrival and sees it as a threat to his power.

Starboy doesn`t really grant wishes per se. He`s only as helpful as giving the means, but it’s up to the wishmaker to put the work in order to have their wish fulfilled.

Starboy's magic brings the forest to life, giving voices to the animals, plants and Valentino. They sing "I`m a star", but with better lyrics. (No "we're all shareholders" or "Get that through your system. Solar!") Asha, Valentino, and Starboy embark on a mission to recover Sabino's wish. She wants to save all the wishes, but if she can only save one she`ll have to focus on Sabino`s.

Tension rises in Rosas, Magnifico makes a public appearence and promises a great reward for any information relating to the strange light phenomenon. This makes Simon react. The residents of Rosas begin questioning his rule for the first time. Magnifico gets uncomfortable, leaves and sings "This is the thanks I get" (But sinister, not upbeat, and no "I let you live here fo free and I don't even charge you rent"). Asha and Starboy takes not only Sabino`s wish but a few other wishes as well and uses Starboy`s cape as a sack.

Asha returns Sabino's wish and he is overjoyed to have his memories back and sings "A wish worth making", playing his lute. They get ready to take the sack with the other wishes and return them to their rightful owners when King Magnifico bursts into the family's home. He has been informed by a mole that Asha was responsible for Starboy's arrival. He crushes Sakina's wish as punishment, rendering her overcome with grief. Starboy tries to defend her and is spotted by Magnifico, who vows to capture him. Asha and her family flee with Starboy. Sakina can barely stand after what Magnifico did to her wish, so Starboy uses his magic to give her the strength to walk. In all the chaos they unfortunately leave the other wishes in their home, Magnifico takes them as his own. Sabino and Sakima hide somewhere safe while Asha goes back to Rosas to free the rest of the wishes.

Later, in Magnifico`s study: Simon enters and feels bad for selling out his friend, King Magnifico tells him that what he did was necessary for the safety of the kingdom and that Asha won`t be hurt. He turns Simon into a knight, not in a public wish-granting ceremony though, but right there in his study.

Later, a brainwashed Simon is walking the streets with the company of other knights, searching for Asha and the rest of her friends. Asha sees him and looks for a place to hide. She finds her friends` hideout, not because of Valentino`s butt, but because of his sense of smell. She rallies the rest of her friends, Queen Amaya shows up and joins them.

Asha and her friends start making a plan.

Later, in King Magnifico`s secret lab: King Magnifico has made a staff, Amaya shows up and tells him what Asha and her friends are planning.

Gasp! Queen Amaya is a villain! (Dun dun dunn!)

She and Magnifico sing an evil duet villain song which is kinda similar to "With you by my side".

Asha`s friends infiltrate Magnifico's study to open up the ceiling and free the wishes while Asha plans to distract Magnifico. She and Starboy hides in the woods, she is nervous, Starboy tries to comfort her, so they talk a little. The talking leads to feelings being revealed which leads to singing. They sing "At all costs" and dance a romantic dance, first on the surface of a lake, then high up in the sky. (Thanks to Starboy`s magic.) Starboy gives Asha a magic wand to use as he leaves to help her friends, he then notices that he is getting weaker. Magnifico arrives, he and Asha fights. Magnifico turns out to be Simon disguised with an illusion and he breaks Asha`s wand, Asha finds a way to knock him out using the environment to her advantage.

Her friends almost free the wishes but are betrayed by Queen Amaya. Starboy tries to stop her but she pulls out a dagger and threatens to kill one of Asha`s friends, Magnifico shows up and zaps Starboy with magical chains that he can`t break free from.

Asha returns to the city, is caught by Magnifico, finds Starboy in magical chains and finds out that Queen Amaya was just a mole. Magnifico darkens the sky with clouds so that the people won`t be able to wish on stars.

Asha (to Magnifico): "I believed in you! I thought you were a good king!"

Magnifico: "I`m not a good king. I`m a GREAT king!"

All hope seems lost, Asha starts to sing the reprise to "This wish", her friends and the people of Rosas join her and their singing makes Starboy strong enough to break free from his chains. The breaking of the chains creates a shockwave that knocks Asha, Amaya and Magnifico off the tower. Starboy, still weakened, only has enough strength to save one of them, so he saves Asha.

With Magnifico defeated, his spell powers down as a new day dawns over the kingdom, with the citizens, Asha's mother included, are able to get their wishes back, afterwards, Asha is soon confronted by a regretful Simon, who understands if she doesn`t want to forgive him, but she does as she understands why he did it.

Starboy keeps getting weaker and has to go back, he gives Asha a new wand and the two of them say good bye. She wonders if she`ll ever see him again, he tells her that he`ll be the second star to the right.

With urging from her friends, Asha promises to help others earn their wishes as a Fairy Godmother, aiding everyone in making their dreams come true.

Post-credit scene: One year later: Asha is walking to the wishing tree in her fairy godmother outfit. She walks past a grave stone. Sabino is sitting in the tree playing "When you wish upon a star" on his lute. A tear rolls down Asha`s cheek. After Sabino has played the song he disappears as if he was a ghost. We see that the grave stone that Asha walked past earlier was Sabino`s. She wipes away her tear, looks up at the second star to the right, takes out her wand and teleports to some place where she might be needed.

And that`s how I would do it. Not great but hopefully not bad.

I cut "Knowing what I know now" because it was getting a little tight between songs. It would be hard to fit that song, Magnifico and Amaya`s villain song and "At all costs" so close to each other, while still maintaining a good narrative flow.

At first I wasn`t gonna turn Queen Amaya evil because I couldn`t come up with enough evil stuff for her to do (that I could fit into the plot without making it worse). But then I made her a villain because it would make things harder for Asha and her friends, which would make the movie more interesting.

But like I said before, the movie`s biggest problem is not that the Queen wasn`t evil, but that the writers couldn`t pick a lane when deciding if they wanted to make Magnifico a three-dimensional antagonist or a classic Disney Villain.

And now... a Bonus

One more thing about Frozen 2

Turning Kristoff`s Lost in the woods into a cheesy 1980s rock ballad musicvideo

I was gonna have this in my Frozen 2 CC but forgot and didn`t remember until after I published it. Since I don`t wanna go back and edit it I`ll write it here.

This scene is admittedly entertaining and if you don`t care about tone as long as it`s entertaining it`s fine.

But funny songs works better for funny characters and what Kristoff is singing about feels sincere, which clashes with how the song is executed.

The 1980s rock sound: Lose it.

The visuals: Have Kristoff walking around in the woods, seeing things that, to him, looks like Anna: a pile of rocks, a pile of leaves, a cloud in the sky. Stuff like that.

Probably an unpopular opinion.

It is of course very easy for me to write these because I have the luxury of hindsight. And unlike the filmmakers I didn`t have a movie studio full of corporate suits breathing down my neck, focus grouping the movie to death, forcing in unnecessary changes and pressuring me to get it made before a deadline.

Why do I write these?

For several reasons. I`m nitpicky. Sometimes the movies I criticize aren`t bad, I just like my own ideas better. Sometimes the movies I critize are bad. I care about good storytelling and it`s a fun excerize in creativity and script doctoring.

But also because I have a lot of of free time.

---------------------------------------------

Other movies on my Constructive Criticism list that you can look forward to

Supergirl (1984) Jonah Hex (2010) Dragonball evolution The Spirit (2008) The Dark Knight trilogy

And as usual: English is not my first language, so if my writing doesn`t seem to flow naturally, you know why.

[theinsanecrayonbox]

FOP: A New wish e31-36

short bought here huh? that's what we get for a finale i guess. it's so weird having a whole season air in LESS THAN 2 YEARS. ahem, sorry about that ^^; lets get this party started (during a tornado watch!)...and finished a day later because i lost power with LITTERALLY 3 min left of the last episode

Episode 31: Hazel Wells and the Multiverse of Jenkins

is the title a reference? i mean aside from multiverse shenanigans, because holy wow multiverse shenanigans??? i am excite! can i get a cameo?? (please note; this is a joke, i don't seriously think i'm cool enough to be on the creative team's radar*)

wait title cardTHAT is Jenkins?? the beanpole kid with the glasses?? i remember him from the zombie episode

haha Dev's causing trouble because he can, i'm betting Jenkins doesn't have a crush on Hazel at all...and maybe Dev told him the inverse so that's why he's gonna be after her

oh Father Time, because a do-over...like Deja-Vu...eh they're keeping consistent within itself, so i can't complain *glares at s9* hehe the clock poof said "wibbly wobbly"

so many time loops. Hazel is such a disaster girl lol. but those who don't eat the cereal, even the mystical, are affected by the loop, very interesting.

we keep mentioning the daylights savings (which is back an hour, so it's fall season??? what time is it????) at the start of each loop, so i'm sure that'll be a big deal

aww sweet in one loop the hijab girl gets a crush on Hazel

her middle name is Antoinette?

heh everything in the hallway was a metaphor for Hazel's problems. but she learns her lesson with minimal magic. and ha i called it, Dev made it up to annoy her.

so...it wasn't really a multiverse thing, more a time loop.

ah, well, still a good cute short story. we need fun light and easy too. good job.

Episode 32: Growing Pains

synopsis sounds like a standard aging up plot. lets do it

hi big brother. and yay Hazel's love of horror movies returns!

hey a canon teen Hazel, that saves me time. but lol "your neck is longer" way to call out the stylization lol

hey is that Dinkleberg as the theater cashier???? also Chinfinity War poster

but teenager shenanigans montage. ok cool. more punk goth girls, this time it's Hazel. huh

pasta puberty? o...kay...it's fairy puberty...o....kay...you guys never put any other godkid who wished up their ages through this

heh pads. this show is great

and her pasta pits are working like octo-legs. why does FOP have so many Spiderman connections/themes/allusions???

dawwww such a sweet comforting, realistic talk with her parent

and a gross button to end on. eh, not so bad.

this was another fun light episode. again, minimal magic to fix it, main character learns a growing up life lesson. good stuff.

Episode 33: Fairy for a Day

synopsis sounds like the episode where Tim wishes to be Cosmo and Wanda's fairy godparent who's title i can't seem to find right now...

old Jorgen design!! and Fairy Con??? but Cosmo Con said it was held every millennium...or was that only because of how long Binky was spinning?

i would want that shirt, not gonna lie

ah she's not being an actual fairy, she's cosplaying to sneak into a con. mkay

wow, we're actually bringing up magical backup...and death memorials...what are you show? (that third one isn't me right O.o no...that doesn't look like how i've ever drawn me, but the 8s....)

Hazel don't you know never to sign contracts with the fae?? now she's a real fairy...with starry glitter hair...huh *makes superverse notes* and kids can't wish to be fairies? uh yeah they have; is that another rule Tim had made?

Anti-Hazel???? cool! why she has a backwards name though, that was unique to Peri and Irep...but i guess since they were the first *new* fairies in a bazillion years, maybe the backwards names is what the newer gen of anti-fairies is doing.

i don't have much commentary on the magic battle to get the paper back, it's pretty ok. and everything is fixed and reset to one by the end. it's a fun magical romp, good one.

Episode 34: Stuck in my Head

synopsis sounds almost like parts of Imaginary Gary???

oh Hazel, it is just a silly internet quiz, don't sweat it ^^;

ok he inner mind is a museum. both works to info dump which is eth goal, but also since she's such a bookworm and organized, it also fits-

SHE WANTS TO CREATE A COMICBOOK SERIES????? and she writes poetry? Hazel, baby girl, i love you sweet child

why was Vizolia (sp?) here?

can't wish away Hazel's mindworm huh? can't remove her negativity huh? despite...having done that before with Tim in Emotion Commotion (not that it ended well sure, but still), or Vicky Looses Her Icky, or even earlier this season with Jasmine's fears in Fearless (though i guess it just manifested the fears she still had them)

but hey, defeating it with the power of positive thinking as taught by her mom, that's a good lesson to teach. good story.

Episode 35: Mind the Gap

oh boy Tooth returns. how's her design going to be wildly different like most of returning characters...

hey follow up on Patty Possum...well sort of, we got distracted lol

oh look, Tooth has no design change. weird since we changed everyone else that's reappeared

talking teeth...ok...who speak in teeth puns

haha the line! "How'd you do X-thing? "Uh...internet?" lol i love it, 10/10 A+

ah i think i see where this is going, Toothica, being an artificial tooth is just totally fake in all her actions/words

that joke wasn't funny...especially with the pause for laughter part...maybe that was the joke?

the logistics on how a tooth sets a mouth up as a rave and invite other teeth is...dumb to unravel. so let's just marvel that the colosseum setup in Fairy World still exists

of course the bad guy outs themself and the day is saved and we reset to one. it was an ok episode.

Episode 36: The Battle of Big Wand

a double (30 min) length episode for a finale huh? and the title does sound fitting for such an event. 1 millionth wish huh/ sounds almost like something muffin worthy....which yeah, why are there so many ways to get a rule free wish when they are so no-no?? (it's almost like fae rules make no sense lol)

heh they're padding her wish count to get her to hit the goal

new math thinking meme screencap please

heh 39-40 times, because it's episode 36

oooo evil-fied Fairy World looks cool

wait, did Dev take everything over OFF SCREEN?? please tell me they'll show us how as the ep progresses via flashback, because that's some really big development to do OFF SCREEN (*grumbles about Marvel*)

ok we are getting a montage explanation...sort of. i feel like Dev taking over ad teaming up with Irep could've been an episode in itself.

Dev misnamed Wanda Pam. funny...and kinda close to Pan, which i named Blonda "Panda" after Cosmo's datebook misnaming Wanda that in Dog's Day Out...hm....

oh he's evil gloating to the world. welp, you just revealed Fairies and magic to the world at large (heh Crocker cameo, also AJ), so if he wasn't in control of the Big Wand i'm sure he'd be loosing Peri and mind wiping right about now. Dev why you slide back so hard into antagonist? you were doing so well! another episode would've helped flesh that slide, just saying

hey Patty and not-Timmy too

heh Dale just praising Dev because he's the new overlord

oh we brought up magical backup because Peri is dying. wow

Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda!

Pet Cemetery joke??? O.o Show! i love you so much

pffft thank you! everyone DID notice the magical stuff and just didn't bother pointing it out. but they did think it was weird.

gotta make some calls for backup at the commercial break huh? you gonna call in the previous wishes? or are we gonna get Timmy...

oh back to the evil lair, guess we'll find out when they attack

see Dev isn't evil and wanted world domination, he just wanted to be noticed and validated, like always. Dale wanting world domination follows

ah yeah she called in all the wishes

Anti-Fairies should love broccoli, why is that a bad thing?

dawww Peri telling Dev he loves him, Dev gives the key. he is really a good kid, just like i've been saying he doesn't know what he wants so he can't be pleased. and Cosmo even said it! dawwww

magical backup was never that fast acting before...is it sped up because the Big Wand is off so there's no syphoning to help mitigate?

so...was restoring Fairy World her rule-free wish? since it was the next wish granted?

dawwww Dev willing to take responsibility and punishment. but he is mind wiped

oh no it wasn't the next wish was auto rule-free, you have to state you're using it. and it's to let her friends remember magic...huh, that could be an interesting dynamic for a s2, the only time we've had others remember magic were when they were antagonists (Remy) or co-protagonist (Chloe). plus, with Dev mind wiped, the chance for that to get undone is also looming. so we got plot threads we can follow up on

and yes Peri, a fart joke...i do hope for a s2 too because this series was actually very fun!

i think towards the start i said this was sort of a do-over for what they tried for Chloe, and to a degree...yeah still is. you can see the shared elements, but by removing Hazel from Timmy, it made it work so much better. as i say, i actually loved Chloe but she was a huge well of missed potential, and Hazel seems to have learned from that and made it work.

i am quite ok with New Wish being the prime timeline continuation, and i hope it continues to thrive...for at least another season (we don't wanna ram it into the ground repeatedly like we did the original series after all)

[bellaaldamas]

Although I'm generally not fond of the idea of Cinderella meeting the Prince (even in disguise) before the ball in various adaptations, especially if this plot point is used to highlight how supposedly "progressive" she is compared to her other counterparts (the one put down most frequently is Disney's animated Cinderella who didn't even know the attentive and kind gentleman she met at the ball was the Prince himself; and yet she is called a "shallow dreamer" and/or a "gold digger" by canon twisting armchair critics), I have to say that Disney's 1997 Live Action with Brandy handled said plot point near perfectly. It was a subversion of the Frozen narrative long before the latter movie came out and before the company conformed to pseudo-"feminist" media trends.

When Brandy's Cinderella stumbles upon the Prince disguised as a commoner she is nice and polite with him and even has a brief but honest conversation with him about how a man should treat a woman (not like a princess but like a "person"). But she does not fall in love with him nor does she go on to dream about him.

From the get go the two of them are shown as two complete strangers who have similar experiences with wanting to find a like-minded person yet have vastly different social backgrounds making it unlikely for them to have a future. We learn of their shared values and longings from the song they sing synchronized in the very beginning. Whereas the difference in their backgrounds is revealed as we, the audience, see the "commoner" reveal himself as a royal person boarding his carriage after his encounter with Cinderella.

The encounter was sweet and pleasant but neither gave it much of a thought and Cinderella in particular went on to live her life as it was (no matter how difficult) and dream not about the Nice Guy she met at the market but about her freedom, the ball and the Prince. And the narrative framed it as being absolutely fine.

At no point did the writing imply Cinderella was superficial, naive or silly to want to break free from her restrictive environment, wish for a better life or aspire to meet someone who would fall in love with her at first sight and vice versa.

The movie went even further subverting the notion that a woman wanting any of that makes her shallow when it had Fairy Godmother introduce the audience - in the opening musical number, no less - to the deliberate misdirect as she sang her "impossible" song; supposedly admonishing the dreamers and, especially, girls who believe in fairy tales. It almost looked like it was going to be another Frozen-esque cautionary tale with woman's dreams shattered, her being "put in place" and the all knowing society being "right all along" and yet it was nothing of the sort.

When Cinderella sings her bittersweet song about enjoying being "in her own little corner, in her own little chair" after the exploitation she has to endure at the hands of her step family the narrative frames it as the only way for her to express herself. Not as a demonstration of her being a "perfect inexperienced and wide-eyed victim" for an unscrupulous man to take advantage of. In that vein, when her Fairy Godmother shows up to - seemingly - deconstruct her dreams with "cold harsh reality" that dreams do not ever come true and are pointless Cinderella outright tells her this is a "terrible" kind of thinking.

While Fairy Godmother insists it's up to a person to pursue their goals because miracles do not happen and, therefore, it's meaningless to waste your time dreaming of them Cinderella stands her ground. She explains why, in her position, dreaming is the only solace and motivation she can afford in order to have mental strength to even consider pursuing those goals.

And the movie once again sides with Cinderella - moreover, it has Fairy Godmother sing along with her about how dreams coming true and miracles happening is actually "possible". It has Cinderella go to that ball, dance with that Prince and fall in love at first sight - and no one belittles her for wanting to be with a "man she just met".

No anti-social sisters (only the step sisters shown not necessarily as cruel but misguided and being under the toxic influence of their disillusioned - in this version - stepmother), no equally anti-social men who "know better" and definitely no mansplaining Snowmen to teach that "poor little silly thing a lesson". A woman remains within her right to handle life's challenges as best she can and go about choosing a partner the way she sees fit.

"Do I want you because you're wonderful or are you wonderful because I want you" - this is the line both Cinderella and the Prince sing to one another in their duet. Now, one needs only to imagine such a line to come out of the mouth of any modern female protagonist, especially in the woke pandering new Disney projects. Then to realize they cannot even imagine that because it would not happen, ever again, at any point anymore.

It is not until the very final of the movie that Cinderella and the Prince learn they are the "commoner" and the "country girl" that stumbled upon one another in the beginning. Once they realize that there are no patronizing conclusions ensuing (no word about how you "can't marry a guy/girl you just met" and how your true love cannot be the person you only knew for a day but can totally be the person you knew for two whole days). They merely smile and playfully tease each other by making references to their first meeting. But neither judges the other for preferring the Prince over the "Nice Guy" or for being desperate to find the "ball girl" instead of the "market girl".

Rather sad that we're not going to get a movie like this again from Disney in the coming decade or even century.

[marine-indie-gal]

I have recently watched the Most Messiest Fairy Tale Crossover Adaptation in all of its Existence made by the Same Company who did their Adaptation of My Recent Favorite German Franchise called "The Magic Riddle" and despite the film's huge wasted potential of going back and forth every single time, all of its Characters are the Only Ones that I liked about the Movie (even some of them can be a bit Annoying) but my god, was this film such an Interesting Acid Trip.

So while this Film's Target comparison has always been "Shrek" because of the idea of Fairy Tale crossovers, though one thing's for sure is how that this Movie came out 1 Year after the Original Shrek book (which in the Original Story behind one of the Most Successful franchises that we all know as of Today, the Real Shrek was never really a Fairy Tale crossover in the First Place as The Magic Riddle had its own Fairy Tale story despite mostly being its own Cinderella adaptation within a Crossover before "Happily N'Ever After" did it).

Technically, I don't blatantly understand why this Film gets compared to Shrek a whole lot, when there had already been Fairy Tale Crossovers or Ones that took place in a Modern setting, way long before Shrek was even born (I mean, "Into The Woods" or the 70s Donkeyskin Adaptation, anyone?). Still doesn't help the fact that a whole lot of people seem to keep forgetting Into The Woods' existence that the DreamWorks' Shrek actually took the inspiration from (Not putting my own Hate towards the DreamWorks Franchise nor the Book, I'm just showing my own personal stance).

So yeah, because despite this Film's Gigantic Clusterfuck of a Messy Plot that feels so much like Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" but with Fairy Tales, I will admit that this film could've had a much better plot convenience if it wasn't so confusing with its Beautiful Foreign Traditional Animation coming from the same Company behind Famous Australian Kids shows based off of Old Children's Books, this Movie did try its own best but at least it's still a cult classic much of its own.

But I gotta admit one thing, despite this Mashup Adaptation of the Cinderella Fairy Tale being a Confusing Mess, this version of their Cinderella character is really Pretty (both Her Design and her Style is Really Adorable) & since I just couldn’t get enough of her Gorgeous style, I’ve decided to create my own personal re-interpretation of her Ballroom dress from the Movie because I didn’t like on how so cheap and lazy it was all for a simple *Insert Fairy Tale Joke Reference Here*, despite Cindy and her Prince’s Romance being Bland, I really really WISH the Movie could've handled their own Relationship much better and not have them fall in love quick.

So I’ve decided to make her own Ballroom dress a Flower themed while also making it close to how I would view the Real Cinderella’s ballroom dress from the Fairy Tale. Had to do a lot of Changing but it was kinda hard to interpret this but then I finally managed to get it over with as I liked how it turned out to be. Especially for a Pretty Interesting Lead Character in a Bad/Neutral Fairy Tale Movie.

But also of note, I feel like this Movie kinda deserves a Huge Fanbase with Big Rewrites like with Disney’s Wish.

Cindy © Flying Bark Productions (since it’s former title was “Yoram Gross Film Studios”)

[fictionadventurer]

Fairy tale asks: 12, 14, 15, 19, 20

12. Fairy tale retelling you wish more people would read

Exile by Loren G. Warnemunde is a Christian fantasy retelling of "Maid Maleen" that makes some excellent choices in adapting the fairy tale and has some pretty cool worldbuilding. The allegory's a touch too overt, and the beginning where Maleen refuses multiple excellent opportunities to avoid going in the tower is frustrating, but the stuff inside the tower is cool enough to make up for it. Unfortunately, it's book one of a trilogy, so I can't say how well it does with the rest of the fairy tale.

It's by an obscure small press, and the Kindle edition has significant formatting errors, so the best bet is buying a new paperback copy, which makes the series more difficult to obtain. But I wish it was easier for other (and me) to get their hands on the full story.

14. A retelling that twists the plot of the fairy tale

So This Is Love by Elizabeth Lim imagines what could happen if her stepmother kept her from trying the slipper on, and Cinderella left home to find work in the palace instead. It's supposed to be a retelling of the Disney movie, but everything's out of sync enough with the plot and characters there that it works better as a retelling of the fairy tale, and it works pretty well. It imagines that "Cinderella" is the backstory to a "Cap-O-Rushes" type of this fairy tale, which is a cool twist, and there's a lot of fun political intrigue and some solid side characters.

15. A retelling that changes the genre/setting of the fairy tale

"A Cinder's Tale" by Stephanie Ricker in the Five Glass Slippers anthology is my favorite sci-fi "Cinderella", and was such a huge inspiration for my own sci-fi fairy tales that I have to mention it here.

19. A fairy tale you'd like to retell

How about I list some fairy tales on my current retellings ideas list? (Several of these are active drafts).

East of the Sun West of the Moon

Thumbelina

Tattercoats

The Goose Girl

Jorinda and Joringel

Princess and the Pea

Cinderella

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

The Farmer's Clever Daughter

20. Talk about any retelling you want

The Beggar Prince by Kate Stradling was the rare Stradling I liked before rereading it. It gives us a Thrushbeard and princess who fall into this marriage situation, and a Thrushbeard who makes some significant mistakes (while making his actions entirely understandable). It also has a great explanation for several of the princess's behaviors throughout the fairy tale (such as her refusal to marry any of the men). Yet even though I like this and Maid and Minstrel, I still find myself wanting another "King Thrushbeard" retelling from her, because she always seems to assume that the princess is an innocent who's forced into this marriage market against her will, and I'd like to see a take where she acknowledges that the princess could have flaws that spark the need for a character arc.

[ultraericthered]

When some fool interjects onto one of my posts (responding to someone else) about Disney's Wish discourse:

Okay. Just for clarification. I am an English major and I am only a semester away from having an associates. Breaking down movies and books is a hobby and a past time. So here are my thoughts.

Oh, so immediately this "clarification" doesn't sound very humble.

Without a doubt whether or not you consider this to be good or bad is opinion. It's debatable. I personally fall on the side of not liking it. I see why people can like it and I'm not gonna dox people for liking it. It's definitely one of those movies where you could "theoretically" like and enjoy despite it's multitude of flaws.

Wow, this is a mature, civil, level-headed and reasonable tone to take, and for a rational statement! You almost never see that on social media! I'll give this good sir or miss props for that. Will it last?

The plot was overall basic and uninspired.

Unfortunately yes, it absolutely was. Not one of the film's stronger qualities, I'm afraid, and with such a solid, captivating premise too!

What I mean by this is this... The plot was a carbon copy of other ideas and thoughts previously done from their other works. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, for this movie it brings it down BECAUSE it relies too heavily on them.

✓Sweet dreamy eye protagonist who is so sweet that everybody loves her

✓ talking animal side kick who provides comedic relief

✓wishing on a star

✓ female leading crying on an inanimate object because something didn't go her way

✓evil villain

✓magic saving the day

Nice checklist. Again, nothing too disagreeable so far....

These are all not necessarily bad. In fact these are good ideas to have. We have seen them before. AND THAT'S THE PROBLEM

Oh no. Is this Doug Walker argument really rearing its ugly head? A work of art or entertainment is allowed to derive from earlier made works of art or entertainment as sources of inspiration and creative intake but are not permitted to straight up repeat ideas, scenarios, plot beats and character archetypes "we have all seen before" in other works, at least not without "adding anything new of its own"?

Call me crazy, but I think Disney was heavily considering not only children born in the late 2010s, but also the current 2020s-born generation when putting this picture together. A bunch of youngsters who might've not once seen anything like what's featured in this movie before in their early years, which would make this their first big exposure to Disney animated fairy tales just as the animated fairy tales of old were the first exposure to children of those films' eras. Because every time a type of story is retold and ideas are recycled into that story could be someone's first time. That is a fact of life.

I understand that uniquemess and originality are hard to come by nowadays. I'm a writer and original ideas are the hardest to find. What you have to do is take those old ideas and make them new. What Disney did was not make these old tired tropes their own, they rehashed them and expected us to go, "Oh! That's just like this movie!"

It makes the movie lose its own voice. This movie is too wrapped up in references and tropes they've used before to try and capture nostalgia, that wonder they used to have. What made those movies so special was the heart and care that went into them. This is Disney's 100 anniversary, but instead it feels like Disney's catch 100 references to when we were a better and a more creative studio.

This would be speaking to the side of the movie that was NOT geared towards the kids, however. The side of the movie that, because it's a celebratory centennial milestone event, caters to longtime hardcore Disney fans who will immediately get all the references, recognize the homages and callbacks, spot all the little Easter Eggs thrown all over the film. I've said before that I do not believe Disney should've put so much attention and effort into this side of the movie compared to the original story, especially when they made Once Upon A Studio to better serve the centennial celeberation purposes, and that they did so was a huge mistake, being easily the movie's biggest handicap.

Why is this bad? Well don't I have the answer for you!

Alrighty then, thanks again for the honesty!

They HAD a beautiful story!! The idea and premise for this movie is probably my favorite thing but the execution from a professional and eye is awful! You cannot look at this movie and tell me that it is the Mona Lisa when it is nothing but a carbon Copy of what once was.

No disagreement there. I pray this fellow's not seen the concept art and all the information floating around about what we might've had.

It was done in a manner that was so half hearted and so clearly a cash grab they practically insult themselves. The plot was predictable and falls flat.

I love how the second sentence reads like a non sequitur to the first. I've heard the "half-hearted, cynical and desperate cash grab" accusations and I don't quite think they're accurate. I think this was a production that began with a lot of heart and care put into what everyone was designing and realizing in order to make a worthy new original Disney fairy tale for the 100th year mark, but ended with micro-managing corporate stooges "doctoring" the scripting, the scoring, the pacing (via editing), and the overall presentation of the work to turn out something safe and crowd-pleasing that hits off as much Disney quota as possible. Again, for the 100th year mark. And so what we ended up with was what I've called a "beautiful mess."

The villain was interesting at first! He was giving me a similar two sidedness as Frollo and then the back track his character by throwing in an evil maguffin to make him evil because it is clear to anyone who knows basic plot structure that it was rushed and they didn't know what else to do to progress the story. WE COULD HAVE HAD ANOTHER FROLLO WITH HIM, BUT WE GOT A HALF HEARTED GASTON!

This is starting to ramble, but I'll try to make sense of it. For one thing, I do not think Magnifico was ever at any point of the film's development set to be like "another Frollo". His core influences clearly come from Queen Grimhilde, Maleficent, Gaston, and Jafar. And the evil maguffin was not "thrown in to make him evil" - the tome of forbidden dark magic was set up as a Chekov's Gun earlier in the picture because it was what would be A: what would make Magnifico such a formidable threat to everyone, and B: what would serve as the catalyst for Magnifico to break his bonds of well-meaning rationale and discard the mask of mental and moral soundness. The prompt for him to turn to it was very rushed, yes, and his backstory and motivations behind his possessiveness, paranoia, and iron-fisted tendencies needed to be better set up and conveyed prior to this turn. I will not dispute that. But Magnifico, both in his own character arc and in how his spiral into villainy progresses the story, is so much more than "half hearted Gaston", and it really ain't nothing to do with "knowing basic plot structure" or whatever pretentious rhetoric is being used as criticism here.

Speaking of Gaston: You mentioned that The king being shoehorned in as a villain was like saying Gaston was shoehorned. I have an explanation for this. The reason why...

Yeah? What's the reason why?

Now I hope I don't loose you here. This will get a little difficult...

WHAT'S THE REASON WHY? GET ON WITH IT!

In order to PROPERLY set up a character, this goes for Asha too (more on her later), you have to set up their character and what they are about in the first 5-10 minutes they are on screen. In the movie what we are told is that the king is noble and loves his people. There was no shadow of a doubt if this. And then as the movie progresses, specifically at the 30 minute mark it is revealed that oh hoho he is a narcissist and is obsessed with himself. The way they did this was out of the blue and off putting. It came out of nowhere. There was no build up. It was a sweet song about the wishes and then BAM I'm a narcissist who cares about no one but myself. That 180 came so fast they did not even prep themselves for it. It felt like this was a last minute idea.

Well, King Magnifico was noble in regards to his ideology and his aspiration to see his kingdom continue to prosper while also being the one to safeguard the most precious wishes of the hearts of his subjects. And he loved his people...so long as they loved him, gave him constant appraisal and attention and undying devotion, and remained the good little dreamless drones he wanted them to be. Noble intentions can give way to indulgence in one's darker qualities and impulses if "the ends will justify the means" is subscribed to, and not all love is unconditional love. I have heard the complaints that Magnifico's unveiling plays out like a Twist Villain and that he was likely not intended to be really evil but they changed him last minute to pander to the "bring back traditional Disney Villains!" fan crowd. And I personally find it bollocks when the simpler answer is that King Magnifico is a corrupt, narcissistic manipulator with a God Complex whose benevolence is illusionary and whose wish-keeping system is an oppressive, dishonest, self-benefitting sham. Was the execution of the idea notably off in terms of the pace it moved at? Absolutely. This does not make Magnifico any lesser a villain, at least not to me.

Don't get me wrong, I love Asha.

This is a lie. There doesn't seem to be any "love" for anything in this movie coming from you.

She is sweet and funny, but she is poorly written.

Not only have I not argued that, I have actually stated as much!

We are not shown why she is sweet or why she is caring. We are told.

So we're just told that she's sweet rather than seeing her being so get shown, yet you like her for being sweet and funny? Which is it?

With her fatal flaw, caring too much, she is told this is her fatal flaw. The movie doesn't trust us enough for us to figure out her fatal flaw. And it doesn't even really show us that she cares too much to begin with.

Uh, yes it does. Her interactions with her mother and how far she's willing to go for her grandfather Sabino and how quickly she gets to being protective and cherishing of Star show us this. Like, if Sabino really is 100 years old and gave Magnifico his wish when he came of age years ago, that is years and years and years of life that Asha was not around to witness, as she hadn't been born yet. So you'd forgive her if she didn't invest all that much in getting Sabino's wish granted at last because she doesn't know her grandfather all that well as the gap between how long he's been alive and how long she's been alive is so huge, yet her heart cares so much about him and the idea of his wish being granted to him before he passes away that it becomes a fixation to her. She'd been spared lots of trouble and heartache had she cared less.

There are so many unexplained why's, to her it makes my head spin. Why does she care? Why does she want to be an Apprentice?

She wants to be an Apprentice so that she can be close to the king and the wishes he keeps, learn the inner workings of the system, and ensure that the king grants wishes to those she feels ought to have their hearts desires granted and their dreams realized. And this brings us to another flaw of hers that I wish the movie itself took time to notice and actually address as being such - well meaning or not, Asha was hoping that being in Magnifico's favor would get Magnifico to allow her to push for nepotism in regards to Sabino. It ended up backfiring and unveiling the king's darker nature, but it also unvelied something about Asha that the movie then sadly paid no mind to.

Why is she sweet? Why is she the way she is? Is it cause she is naturally that way like snow white? Was she raised to be that way? Or did she have a rough upbringing that made her this way? We don't know. That's the bottom line.

This movie has so many analytical flaws that I physically do not have the time nor the words to accurately explain to you why this movie is technically bad. But I doubt you care to even consider my points and come up with a half baked response.

Aaaand there's the condescending attitude you were holding back! Aaah, color me so disappointed! The "I cannot accurately convey in words how technically bad this movie is" is a cop-out, but one I'll let slide as it gets you off my back. But that other part? I DID consider your points and have in fact agreed with a few of them, and even ones I disagreed with I can see why you'd think that way about those matters. Yet you pre-emptively say "half baked response?" Sheesh!

I bid you a due. I'm gonna go watch an actually good movie.

"An actually good movie". There's another tacky, needless potshot.

Also, you fool. You absolute buffoon. It's "adieu", not "a due!"

[dani-luminae]

Thoughts on Wish

I've never walked out of a Disney movie with such a lukewarm response before.

It's not Bad, but it also didn't feel like it had a lot of love put into it, either.

That being said, this is still an Asha stan account.

Asha is, without a doubt, the strongest point of the movie. Which is good, bc she's the main character. Right at the beginning it's established that her generosity is the root of her character, and her "adorkable" moments are next to none aside from the trailers. She very clearly does not want to be misunderstood or mistaken for selfish. She is, in all measures, Magnifico's foil. That being said, I don't like the ending, giving her the Fairy Godmother's wand and implying that's who she becomes. Not only bc the Fairy Godmother has almost always been portrayed as white, but also bc this movie was promised as the origin story of the wishing star, not the Fairy Godmother. Especially with the whole "made of stardust" thing, it would have been stronger if it was Asha joining Star and the other stars.

The music is really hit-or-miss. Either it's great or it does nothing. "This Wish" (and its reprise) and "This is the Thanks I Get?!" do great, "Knowing What I Know Now" starts off slow and gets strong, and the others just... fall flat. I'm just going to say it, I don't think "I'm a Star" needed to be explained in a song (which I couldn't even follow for a good portion of the performance.) "At All Costs" makes sense in the plot but without context can be wildly misconstrued.

King Magnifico is a fantastic Disney Villain because yes, he starts out with noble intentions, and even the audience might be tricked, but the moment his strategies and power are merely questioned he turns into a Problem, which is the best kind of Disney Villain I think. The plot is entirely his fault in the best way. Also I think he takes the cake for "Disney Villain who physically does the most damage to the protagonist" given how he throws Asha around and slams her to the ground with magic.

I love Queen Amaya and she deserved better than Magnifico.

Beyond Dahlia, I'm very ambivalent about Asha's friends. Gabo was more "rude for comedic effect" than actually Grumpy, and Dahlia constantly has the only brain cell. Dario wasn't dopey, he was just a stoner. And... Simon deserved better. They made his "sleepy" description be a result of having already given his wish over to Magnifico and therefore losing a part of himself, which is a nice touch that makes sense, but then he spends the rest of the movie being controlled to fight them (a plot point that almost honestly felt like an afterthought to the plot more than anything.) And we get... half a minute of resolving that. After he's been terrorized by bunnies I suppose.

I expected... a lot more Disney references. Like we saw Aurora's dress in Sonja's wish, and of course we find out that a recurring minor character who just came to Rosas turns out to be a Wendy reference when she goes off with Peter-reference to build a flying machine, but these were the only two references I really caught. For a story that's been "a hundred years in the making" there was really, really little actual joy to be found in it.

The ending should have been something like "Star invites Asha to come reside among Stars like her, but Asha demurs to remain in Rosas as heir to Queen Amaya, and once Rosas is safe in the hands of Asha's chosen heir, then she ascends to join the stars."

For a Disney movie, it's sweet and cute and has a wonderful message. For it to be the 100th anniversary movie, "a story a hundred years in the making," it kind of left me looking at it like "this is it????"

[novelmonger]

Stories About Stories

There's this certain genre (or subgenre? or category?) that I love, which I like to call "stories about stories." (At first I was going to say "books about books," but obviously it can also be a movie/game/etc.) You know - a story that revolves around the very power of stories, of reading, of the deep love of books and fiction in general, where books and stories and reading are central to the plot. Stories about stories are less common than you might think, considering...well, presumably most people telling a story have a deep love and appreciation for stories, or why would they bother writing their own? But every now and then, I come across one and add it to a little mental bookshelf in my head. Here's what's on my bookshelf so far:

The Fall (2006) - A man with a spinal injury starts telling stories to a girl with a broken arm he meets in the hospital. The epic tale that unfolds not only helps pass the time, but also hints at characters' motivations and backgrounds. I'm not exaggerating when I say the story they weave together saves lives.

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - People known as Silvertongues are able to read characters and objects out of books when they read aloud - and something from the real world goes into the book at the same time. The main character, Meggie, has a father who is a Silvertongue, who accidentally read characters out of a book called Inkheart, and Meggie's mother went into the book. Ever since then, he's been trying to read her back out. This book is all about the power, danger, and beauty of the written word.

Seven-Day Magic by Edward Eager - A group of children find an untitled book in the library and open it to find that it's telling the story of them going to the library and finding this book. They use the book to make wishes and go into some of their favorite stories. It's basically every child's dream come true, if that child is a bookworm like me ^_^ I love every single one of Eager's magic books, but this was one of my particular favorites growing up.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde - In an alternate version of our world, there are organizations that regulate time travel as well as literary crimes (such as gang wars over Shakespearian authorship, which is a big deal in this alternate history). The main character, Thursday, is a detective looking into one such complicated crime, and ends up going into the book of Jane Eyre. In this world, any changes made to an original manuscript will change all copies of the book, so you can imagine the kind of chaos that ensues. I actually didn't care for this book very much, but it was more because I disliked the characters, not because it wasn't fun to explore an alternate world where literature is so vitally important and you can meet literary characters for real.

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman - There is a huge, seemingly endless library that is its own dimension, connected to an infinite number of alternate worlds. The main character, Irene, is a librarian who is tasked with collecting new works of fiction for the library. This time, she goes to an alternate London to pick up a version of Grimm's fairy tales, meets an alternate version of a certain literary character, and has to contend with a chaotic but really fun steampunk world. Ultimately, I decided not to continue this series after the first book, but...I can't deny that risking one's life for the sake of a book made Irene very relatable XD

The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Parry - The main character's brother, Charley, has the ability to read characters and important objects out of books. Which is all well and good until someone else ends up reading a very literal version of the Hound of the Baskervilles from the scene where it seems to actually be a spectral horror, and sends it to Charley's house to kill him.... An excellent book, which deals a lot with how different people will read the same character differently, colored by their own perceptions and understanding of the literature in question.

Alan Wake - A horror writer goes to a small town in the hopes of breaking through writer's block. Instead, he discovers that there is some kind of magic in the place that makes everything he writes come true. And...he's a horror writer, so.... This is an excellent horror game, with a really engaging story and one of the best (probably) unintentional allegories I've encountered in a video game. It feels almost like a cautionary tale about not letting writer's block get the best of you :P

Myst (series) - Okay, this one's maybe a little more metaphorical than the others. But the series is all about the D'ni, a hidden race of people who have the ability to create worlds by writing a book about them. It's like...sub-creation writ large. The point of the games is to explore these worlds, which are mostly abandoned after the fall of D'ni civilization, and to help the last few surviving D'ni find some measure of peace. The D'ni books aren't so much stories as just worldbuilding descriptions, but there's something so metaphorically resonant about touching the page of a book and then finding yourself in the world you just read about. And the people inhabiting these worlds being real people with free will and everything even though they were written by someone else...is that not how every writer's characters are?

Please add on to this! I always want more stories about stories. And I'm probably forgetting something super obvious anyway.

[deathsmallcaps]

I saw Wish! It was cute, and overall I think it was okay. It had some lovely callbacks, and was entirely original in its main plot, which is nice.

A lot of the issues people theorized it would have (pop-y songs, overdose on adorkability*, generic culture for the characters and outfits, imperfect casting in relation to character’s ethnicities, commercialization upon modern social justice interests such as reformation, and inability to commit to darkness) were there.

*man I usually love talking animals but like. Sidekicks are supposed to be comic relief and support, not distractions. Valentino wasn’t that bad, but still. Then again, I’m not the target audience. I do love that he was a baby goat. (As someone who has helped baby goats, unless they’re cold, they HATE clothes. When they’re cold, then they can just fall asleep in them, it’s very cute.)

But there were good points too (nods to Disney history without distracting the narrative, no romantic storyline* a genuine villain with a in-story further descent, desperate **betrayal spurred on by the societal structure the villain/government sought to preserve, themes of a right to self-determination and liberty vs. ‘protection’, how privilege warps you and makes you defensive, different body types and abilities, lovely animation, and so on).

*for the record, I love romance, and I know the last couple DP movies had no romances either. But idk how you could watch Raya and the Last Dragon and not even THINK about Rayaari lol.

*as soon as I saw the character, I thought ‘Oh he looks like Hans’ and I knew lmao

To comment specifically on Asha: her character creation definitely fell into the adorkability trap. But she’s very sweet, loving and capable, and I really enjoyed her relationship with her family. Making her a fairy (?) godmother at the end totally fit with her story. And her actress, Ariana DeBose, has a fantastic voice, and I can tell she totally gave it her all.

I’m glad her Mom isn’t dead (classic female protagonist issue) but I do have reservations that both Black princesses have dead Dads. I’m by no means the most qualified to speak on that, but I do know that it’s an issue often raised by Black fans on Black character’s backstories.

I do really, really love that Asha is mixed though. I know there’s a lot of issues of colorism* in Hollywood, both in live action and animated productions, but as a sister to a mixed Black boy, I know how much characters like Asha would have meant to my brother as a kid.

*interestingly enough, the movie didn’t fall into the trap of the lady half of the pairing being light than her male partner. Asha’s paternal family is white, and her Mom is Black.

My brother was never into Disney Princesses, but when Miles Morales (from Spider-verse) came out in 2018, right before my brother turned 13, and I think that was the first time he really connected to another kid character on screen. Miles is arguably mixed, often feels like a fish out of water, and grew up too damn fast, both physically* and emotionally. And I know that there has to be a bunch of little kids (and adults too!) who see Asha and feel seen. And I’m so glad for them.

*my brother was always tall, but he hit 6 feet by age 14, is 6’6 (183cm) now, and may still be growing, much to his chagrin.

Wish is not the magnum opus of Disney. Out of the two animated theatrical films Disney put out this year, I think Elemental is the better of the two*. But by no means do I think it’s terrible. It was genuinely fine.

Interestingly enough though, I do believe it to be an incredibly accurate representation of Disney’s modern output and behavior. Perhaps in that sense, it is a triumph.

*though I’m severely biased. I saw that movie 6 times in theatres and coincidentally rewatched it today. I cried each time.

Also for the record, I nearly finished* painting an Asha doll before I saw the movie today. I felt very pleased with myself. Here she is next to a Kida doll that I finished today.**

*I forgot her necklace and got her shoe color wrong, ugh. And I think I’ll try to make her side-braid’s more apparent. I will keep the flower though, just as a nod to both of her sidekicks and because I think it’s pretty lol

** Disney put out a line of mini Disney princess dolls that I … kind of became obsessed with. And have been painting to look like other Disney female Protagonists lol. Kida has an Aurora head (hence the unfortunately small nose) and a Moana body, while Asha has a Moana head (hair texture roughly matched) and a Elsa body (white and purple outfit from the sequel). If you’d like to see more, I have a post from a couple weeks ago about my work so far.

[matt0044]

Fave meme thingie

Tagged by @spacevixenmusic

Favorite Color: I... can't say?

Currently Reading: IDW's Sonic The Hedgehog run. Picked up the "Tangle & Whisper" trade and fell in love with those funky little lesbians (whether SEGA allows it to be said or not). Whisper speaks to the introvert in me and Tangle speaks to the part of me who can be a lot for others.

Wish they were the perspective characters for the Neo Metal Sonic arc for new fans tho.

...

Anywho...

Last Song: Look Up! The Sky Is Falling by Michael Bradley as Yellow Dancer

Last Series: Naruto Part 1 and movies (Three is the best in terms of plot structure and character writing). And yeah, I saw the Filler Hell. Guess what? I. Liked. It. A lot.

Last Movie: Terra Willy. It's actually a animated movie from France that's all about a kid surviving for ten months on an alien planet. Starts off slow but grows. There's no obligatory villain, twist or otherwise, but nature to contend with.

I get that YouTubers need clout and profit so they focus on Disney/Pixar/Sony/etc. but the movies distributed by Kids Viva are honestly some of the best I've seen. Some are clearly "inspired" by Disney but even they blaze their own trail. Check out their catalogue if you hope to broaden your animation horizons if only a bit.

Working on: I'm planning a crossover between Miraculous Ladybug and The Jungle Book (specifically the 1989 Anime adaptation) and a crossover between Digimon Fusion & Fairy Tail with Lisanna Strauss as the lead.

WARNING: My main gallery and faves is SUPER NSFW with every kink imaginable. If you prefer your pure mental image of me to remained unsulied by the reality that people get horny in weird ways, tread carefully.

For now, I'm working on an adaptation of my favorite Pokemon game, Black & White. The player characters are practically premade OCs so developing the personalities of Hilda and her team has been cool (you will love her and Oshawott). I just completed the first story arc (Chapter) so check it out and leave a comment: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14142529/1/Pokemon-Heroes-The-Black-White-Chapter-One

Tags: @princealigorna @tumblingxelian @bloodraven55 @simkim704 @silvermoon424 @theirisianprincess @swan2swan @knightzilla

[dramashii]

A 2022 Recap: My 5 favorite dramas of the year

2022 was an interesting year. I didn’t watch as many dramas as I hoped to have had, so making this list wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be. 

Disclaimer: This list is purely based on my own enjoyment of the show. They come in no particular order. This list is subjective, and will only include dramas that premiered in 2022 or have had their last episode air this year.  

Our Beloved Summer (SBS,Netflix)

“A life without love is like a year without summer.” 

This was absolutely beautiful. The cinematography, the music, and the chemistry between the leads were amazing. Watching this is like watching a movie. It was well-written and poetic. Notwithstanding the fact that I initially found the relationship between the leads toxic, this is actually a really solid romance drama. The characters were able to outgrow these toxic characteristics later on when they were older and gave the viewers a beautiful take on a second chance romance. 

Twenty Five, Twenty One (tvN, Netflix)

This drama taught me what love was. I have never seen a connection between two characters as beautiful as what Na Hee Do and Baek Yijin shared. It’s been 9 months and I still think about them from time to time. 

This drama captured the beauty of youth, first loves, and fighting for your dreams. Definitely was broken hearted with the ending. I didn’t need a happy ending; I just want one that made sense. I felt cheated when I first watched it, but then I realized how this drama literally resurrected me from my drama slump. Sometimes we forget how beautiful something was in the beginning, just because of its ending. The first 3/4 of the drama was definitely a 10. Regardless of how it tied everything, this was definitely one of the best dramas I’ve seen in my entire life. 

Extraordinary Attorney Woo (ENA, Netflix)

This is the best surprise I had this year. I wasn’t really keeping up with the news surrounding this drama nor was I planning on watching it. I just started it on a whim one night and easily fell in love with it.

 Although I love the portrayal of the romance, the real star of the show is the growth of Woo Young Woo as a lawyer. I love how each case she handles ties in with important themes in society. I especially like how this drama highlights the treatment of autistic people, since the titular character is one. You will definitely see how she tries to fit in, in a world where people have so many prejudices against people like her. 

Relevant themes, unique, well-acted and heartwarming. This is definitely one of the best dramas this year. 

A Dream of Splendor (Tencent)

This historical drama filled in what I was looking for in Chinese dramas for so long: a good, solid historical romance.

Well-acted and has a sensible plot. This drama is considerate to the eyes and the brain. I also liked how there is a story outside the romance. The 3 women’s journeys to finding their places in a male-dominated world is to root for. I especially liked each woman had a different personality and at some point, even had different directions in their lives, but they still kept their strong friendship in the end. 

Love Between Fairy and Devil (iQiyi)

The hype is real guys. This is the xianxia drama of the year.

This is straight out like a fairytale. “What happens when the villain falls in love?” Watch him damn the whole world just so he can kiss her one last time. 

The CGI, costumes, music, and the overall aesthetic of this drama was absolutely beautiful. I definitely think this is a good drama to watch as an introduction to the world of xianxia dramas. 

Runner Ups

A Business Proposal (SBS, Netflix)

This definitely reminded me so much of old-school romcom Kdramas which I missed so much. This is cliche done right. It almost has every trope you’ll find often plagued in Kdramas, but this drama did it so well. 

I do wish the ending was different. Definitely a drama to watch if you just want to turn off your brain and watch two most unlikely people fall in love. 

Lighter and Princess (Youku)

Definitely a guilty-pleasure. I really enjoyed the transitions of the relationship of the main couple. They started out as academic rivals, then became co-workers, then friends, then lovers, broke up, met again in a new workplace, became friends again, then got back together. Objectively, it’s not the best drama out there. The second half most especially felt lacking, and I didn’t like the “villain” of the story. Still this drama got me so hooked I bought a Youku subscription.

Maybe it was because of the chemistry between the leads, maybe it was because of Arthur Chen’s dashing looks, or maybe it was the fact that it rekindled my love for bad boys. I can’t pinpoint specifically what made this drama so addictive. But I do know for sure that this is my favorite modern Chinese romance drama of the year. 

[agentnico]

The Little Mermaid (2023) Review

Not my usual choice for a cinema trip, however sometimes the fiancée has her pick, and to be fair with the kind of movies I force her to watch the least I can do is accommodate her interest in viewing fish loving.

Plot: The youngest of King Triton's daughters, Ariel is a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. Longing to find out more about the world beyond the sea, Ariel visits the surface and falls for the dashing Prince Eric. Following her heart, she makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, to experience life on land.

So it’s our annual Disney live-action remake time, and look, I have complained about Disney as a corporations many a times on this very same blog, so I won’t bog you down with my same repetitive rants. No, this was very much a treat for my fiancée, so we went to the cinema, I got her a Pick n’ Mix and a special limited edition Little Mermaid cup, and settled in to watch the movie. Straight off I can declare I am not the target audience for The Little Mermaid. I have no nostalgic connection to the original animated classic, nor am I big on Disney’s live-action remakes. But my fiancée seemed to really enjoy this new Little Mermaid and at the end of day that’s what matters to me. Sometimes it’s worth taking a backseat from critiquing in favour of making someone you love happy..... However, our date night is over so let’s actually talk about the movie!!

The Little Mermaid is fine. It’s a perfectly harmless fairy-tale reimagining with some decent under-water special effects, solid renditions of the classic songs as well as a couple of catchy new ones, and some notable cast performances. A lot of other reviews have mentioned this, but yes, Halle Bailey gives a star-making turn as the main mermaid Ariel. She perfectly encapsulates an individual that is a literal fish-out-of-water, as she observe in awe and interest the new world she finds herself in one she steps foot on human land, and there is a charming innocence to her performance. Also, what a voice! Of all the Disney live-action remakes this one definitely features the most classic old-school Disney princess vocals, with Bailey sounding as if she came straight from that era. At times she also sounded like Madonna in the 1996 musical film Evita, but you know, back then Madonna could have been classed as a princess of sorts also. Not now though. Boy has she gone downhill since then. Madonna, what have you turned yourself into.... But I digress - Halle Bailey makes for a fantastic Ariel. Additionally she shares great chemistry with Prince Eric played by Jonah Hauer-King, and their romance is believable and indeed very adorable. That being said when separated, Hauer-King gives a very bland and unmemorable performance, though that may be due to a lack of material given to him by the script. Melissa McCarthy is deliciously mischievous and sassy and makes for a great villain, and it’s nice to see McCarthy do something different for a change. Javier Bardem is alright as Ariel’s father - he’s acceptably grumpy and that’s all there is to say about him. You know who’s great though? The fricking crab! Daveed Diggs voices Sebastian and honestly he was hilarious. From his one-liners to his singing to the random close ups of his CGI crab face, everything to do with the crab was pure success. Loved the crab, wishes there was more of him. Hope we get a spin-off called The Little Crab Sebastian. I’d watch that! I’d watch that a lot!!

The Little Mermaid isn’t going to turn anyone’s heads or break any new ground in cinema or the fairy-tale genre. It is exactly what you’d expect from a Disney live-action remake, so if you enjoy those then you’ll find plenty of appeal in this one. Again, not my cup of tea, but I didn’t mind watching it and my fiancée was over the moon about it, so in that regard The Little Mermaid succeeds. Bloody love that crab though, I can’t even!

Overall score: 6/10

[abbyawsome2006]

So I watched Wish last week

I wasn't prepared for it to be as poorly set up as everyone built it out to be- but it was genuinely so weirdly thrown together

So I wanted to rewrite some of the story (I've found out the fandom has done this countless times and I'm way late to the party)

Originally I wanted to try to keep the main storyline and just solve a few plot holes:

Switch Magnifico's villain song with Stay in Line

We get a backstory on Magnifico and he was blessed by a star to be a helper with wishes

(aka what Asha got at the end of the movie)

So that's why he knew the light was caused by someone wishing on a star and why he feels threatened

He went against what he was sent to do by abusing peoples wishes

He does still protect each of them but when someone dies without their wish being granted, the power is given to Magnifico

Because I thought it was odd how quickly he broke the first wish to when he was "addicted" to it

He's already addicted to absorbing them after people pass away

That's why he avoids granting so many wishes each year and why he puts so many limits on which ones he considers

It's only until Asha's mom that he realizes he can crush them and absorb the power quicker

Asha retrieves her grandfather's wish but can't give it back to him

Needs magic to do so?

I found it odd how quickly the queen went against her love

And Asha's amount of friends

All are practically irrelevant except for her best friend and the traitor

His wife watches him consume a wish and use the book to look for possible ways to track the star

And Asha doesn't approach her friends to help her

The queen does

She has already acted like she knew and cared for Asha specifically with the scene before the interview

So she tries to find Asha before Magnifico does

The traitor friend approaches the king oblivious and asking for help to find her

Having a hunch about her because her doubts and her disappearance from the kingdom he makes a deal with him

The same scenario in the original

The end can go down in a similar way

Maybe star is the sole reason that the tower opens and the wishes are on display

I think the end song is complete cringe

So less everyone is part star and more we need to trust ourselves to make our own wishes come true

Why do we entrust someone else to hold and grant them

New song entirely

With everyone gaining the hope and determination to make their own dreams come true, the wishes revive themselves and return to people

Her grandfather's is the last one and she escapes from Magnifico's grasp with it cradled in her arms

Maybe fall off the tower or something?

Mulan esque scene where she hands it back to him

But it refuses to work

And it fades and crumbles

But he's filled with joy and accomplishment

"I remember. Asha, I inspired you. You not only made a change, but you granted my wish."

The stars curse Magnifico for not following the rules they set

Facilier and the shadows vibe reference

Star offers to grant the powers of the wishing star to her because she already proved to only want to help people

But she refused and said people should be able to work towards their own goals and wish upon the stars themselves

If they want a fairy godmother esque scene

A woman's voice talks through the crowd

And says she has officially granted two wishes

Her grandfather's

And her dad's

Who wished for her to trust the stars as much as he did

Anyways, I only based this off the rewrite by that tiktoker

Go give her credit, I love her version

But I will be writing a tie together based off other people's version which include the king and queen being villains together and starboy