L'incantesimo del lago 2 - Il segreto del castello

At a few points I liked this sequel more than the original. It is by no means a masterpiece, but that suits it well.

I can definitely point out its flaws, like too much repeating the same plot of the first one being the elephant in the room, but most people know that if they have watched the original before this, so I will highlight my positive points of view on its first sequel.

I find the relationship between Odette and Derek more believable in this one, because they point out the real ups and downs now when they are together and Derek is the king with responsibilities.

TSP 2 is not trying to be like Disney, which was almost omnipresent in the original SP. The animation is more simplistic, and it works fine. There are some glitches in the movements a few times, but it is bearable.

I actually find most of the songs memorable and catchy. The villain's song was probably the weakest and broke a little too much with the tone and setting of the movie, but still okay. I liked "The Magic of Love" song despite its whiny tone, but that leads back to the believable relationship.

Even though I find this sequel decent, it is still the weakest of the two original sequels.

When I was a little girl, I absolutely adored The Swan Princess, it was reliving the same fairy tales of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella, the princess and her prince who saves the day is always a timeless story that will never die, well, hopefully. But I figured that I would check out the sequels for The Swan Princess to see what they were like and unfortunately, this is the typical cartoon sequel that just disappoints more than entertains. The only character I found still very amusing was the Queen, she was very funny in this movie and had the best part. But with the voice changes, they were noticeable and also bothered me quite a bit, I don't mean to be picky, just it was too weird for me. The story also was just more or less borrowed from the first Swan Princess, just the villain in this movie is following Rothbart's footsteps.

Odette and Derek are about to celebrate their one year anniversary, but Derek has been too preoccupied with fighting for his kingdom to keep it safe. With his mother's birthday also coming up, he forgets about that since there is a new villain in town, Clavious, who is hoping to go above and beyond where Rothbart's powers went and kidnaps the Queen on her birthday. But Odette must change back into her swan self in order to help Derek fight him and save his mother.

The Swan Princess 2 is of course more than alright for the kids, that I never mind, it's good clean fun for them. The reason why these sequels are disappointing though is because it is usually just for the kids, that is the audience they aim for, but it's more enjoyable when the jokes and story can be enjoyed by everyone. Now there are a few laughs and giggles here and there, but this wasn't as clever in my opinion to the first Swan Princess. I would recommend it for the little one's, but if you're looking for a fun cartoon movie, I'd recommend staying with the first Swan Princess.

4/10

1st watched 7/31/2001-6 out of 10(Dir-Richard Rich): This sequel is in some ways better than the original because of it's simplicity. Rich took the characters from the original and placed them in a newer setting and different story with success. Yes, it is missing the star quality in the voices which is more noticeable with the Turtle(formerly Stephen Wright) than any other character, but there is a newness and freshness to this production that doesn't have the stinch of Disney imitation that was prevalent almost throughout in the original. There are only a few new songs, some are okay, others aren't very good, but even with this I didn't get the feeling that Rich felt like he had to overdo it. It seems like he was okay with letting the characters play out the story without crowding the production with overkill. Although I wasn't really looking forward to this sequel, I now hope to see the third entry to see the direction it goes.

Not only was the animation of a lesser quality than the original, but the plot was more or less a rehash of the original. The new villain's song is out of place for the tone of the movie, and the other new songs have a distinct 80s feel that disrupts the flow. All in all, the worst of the original 2D animation trilogy.

The plot outline of this movie is similar to the original. Someone gets kidnapped, the prince is incest with saving her, Odet turns into a Swan, the turtle/frog/puffin first the "bad" magician as best they can, and in the end.... Anyways, there is not much new here. With the exception of a lack of well known voice talent. Sorry, no Palance nor Cleese and thus Jean-Bob was a disapointment.