From the first commercial ad on television, my daughter was hooked. She’s a huge Disney princess fan and she loves their animated featurettes with the different princesses. What makes this new DVD different from previous installments is that these are themed tales designed to help empower children (girls specifically) and they do so through the art of storytelling.
In Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams we join Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Jasmine (Aladdin) through two different tales. The theme is perseverance. Despite being direct-to-DVD, the tales actually have nuances and the animation is extremely well done.
Keys to the Kingdom
In the first segment, Aurora is given the “Keys to the Kingdom” because her parents, her husband (Prince Phillip) and King Hubert are all away attending a ‘conference’. Although not brought up to rule, Aurora is determined to do her best. Unfortunately, King Hubert has forgotten his speech, so Aurora asks the three good fairies to deliver it to him. Merriweather gives Aurora her wand just to be on the safe side.
When Aurora is overwhelmed by grievances of the villagers and the paperwork associated with ruling, she decides to use the wand for a ‘quick fix’ – like her predecessor Sorcerer Mickey in Fantasia the results are far from ideal. Aurora finally accepts that she must resolve these issues on her own and only through perseverance will she be successful.
More Than a Peacock Princess
In the second segment, it’s Jasmine’s turn. She wants to do more for the Kingdom and serve more of a function than just being the princess. Her father arranges a position for her with a teacher. Unfortunately, Jasmine’s excitement soon turns to frustration as none of the students respect her. But she perseveres and is determined to not give up so easily.
Enter a beloved horse in the Sultan’s stables. Apparently, Sahara was the property of the Sultan’s wife (Jasmine’s mother) and is very special to him. When the horse escapes leaving her caretaker (one of Jasmine’s students) distraught – Jasmine takes it upon herself to retrieve the horse. When she does so, the students are all thrilled and show her a great deal more respect.
Simple, But Elegant
Sure the stories are a little cheesy, but they are simple and elegant in their delivery. They are good stories for young girls to see and understand. Because when you try and you do your best and you persevere, even when things don’t work out the first time, you can make your own dreams come true.
So this gets my mom stamp of approval.