The first Swan Princess has a few flaws, but is a memorable and surprisingly good film. The first sequel, Secret of the Castle, showed good promise, but has too many flaws that prevent it from surpassing the original. The animation tries to be true to that of the original, but has at times very flat backgrounds and awkward character animation. The voice acting was okay, but hardly anybody who took part in the original returned. In fact only Michelle Nicastro as Odette and Steve Vinovich as Puffin return, both doing good jobs, and a notable absentee is John Cleese as Jean Bob. He made the first movie, and although the new voice actor did his best, Jean Bob just wasn't as funny, as the new voice actor just lacks Cleese's comedic talent. I personally thought Clavious was not a very effective villain at all, he was too over the top, and as a villain, his motives weren't very clear, while Knuckles was unnecessary. Also I am still not keen on Prince Derek, he isn't charismatic enough, unlike the typical princes we know and love from Disney classics such as Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty. The best character was easily Uberta, the only really convincing character in a very unconvincing sequel(Odette is a mixed bag, she is still beautiful and brave with some feist but she has little to do). She was so funny, especially her line "NOONE SPOILS MY BIRTHDAY!" The incidental music lacked the beauty of the original and seemed hackneyed(the nod to No Fear during the orb chase scene was nice though), and the songs while somewhat a pleasant listen are definitely inferior, with the exception of "Magic of Love", the only song to try and attempt to be similar to the original. The singing voices didn't match the voice actors either. Odette's voice was perfect and angelic, but Clavius's singing couldn't be more different. His speaking voice was high pitched and over the top, but his singing voice was a Mick-Jagger like, raspy rock and roll vocal that didn't suit the character at all. The villain's dialogue was sometimes eye-rollingly cheesy(though the rest of the script was charming with a lot of funny lines), with the exception of "don't you ever shut up?" and the story was slow and predictable at times, with occasional flashes of invention and humour(like the chase for the orb, Jean briefly being turned into a prince and nobody sees and believes him afterwards and Uberta being turned into different animals), but on the whole was cardboard thin. In conclusion, a few good moments save an otherwise weak and unconvincing sequel. 5/10 Bethany Cox.
