Christmas Day, our family went to see "Tangled", the latest (and reportedly last, though I'll believe it when I see it) installment in the Disney Princess franchise. We follow Rapunzel and Flynn through probably the most hilarious adventure of all the fairy tales.

Picture it: Pittsburgh Mills, 2010. I'm sitting in the theater, awe struck. While it may not be Disney's finest film, this is the first princess movie (worth seeing) in, what? Four years? And that was "Enchanted", a sort of spoof on all of the princesses. I left wishing I had magical hair that glowed when I sang. I mean, Rapunzel proved it to be very useful! I still don't understand why I don't have that power. I've recited that healing incantation I don't know how many times! It got me thinking about all of the princes and princesses throughout Disney history: their personalities, quirks, characteristics, powers, dreams, desires, just everything.

I had to go back to 1937. Snow White was the fairest of them all. (The mirror said so!) She was only fourteen, her head full of dreams of her true love. She sees the good in everyone. Once the Evil Queen discovers Snow White is the most beautiful in all the land, she sets out to kill her. Snow White wonders into a house where seven dwarfs live. They take her in and try to protect her. Once the queen learns Snow White is still alive, she disguises herself as an 'old hag', gives Snow an apple, tells her to make a wish, and watches her die. The dwarfs find her and put her in a glass box where the Prince finds her. He kisses her and she wakes up. Together they live happily ever after.

Fast-forward to 1950 and we meet who is ultimately the most well-known princess of all - Cinderella. We all know the story: Her step-mother and step-sisters treat Cinderella as their slave, hiding her away from the world until a ball at the royal palace. Cindy makes a wish and with the help of her fairy godmother. Cindy dances with Prince Charming until the stroke of midnight, because that's when the spell will be broken. She leaves her shoe behind in the rush out, Prince Charming picks it up and spends the following days searching for the girl he danced with. Despite all of the scheming the step-family does, Prince Charming finds Cinderella, they marry, and live happily ever after.

In 1959, we are introduced to Aurora, a delightfully sophisticated 16-year old. There are a lot of spells, a lot of fairies, and a lot of magic. Too much for a paragraph. Aurora is beautiful and she can sing, gifts given to her by two of the good fairies. The evil fairy, Maleficent, puts her in a trance. She tries to kill Aurora, but the third fairy uses her spell to put Aurora to sleep. Prince Phillip, whom she met earlier in the forest (not knowing who he was), hears of this tragedy. He sets to kill Maleficent, who transforms into a dragon. After she is dead, he awakens Aurora with a kiss.

Thirty years passed before Disney told us the story of a 16-year old mermaid named Ariel. She was the rebellious daughter of King Triton. She dreamed of being human, walking around on those - What do you call them? Oh, feet! She rescues Prince Eric after the crew had to jump ship during a fire. He was mesmerized by her singing voice. He set out to find her. Meanwhile, Ariel makes a deal with Ursula. Ursula would make Ariel a human if Ariel would give her her voice. Once on land, Ariel is found by Prince Eric but has no way of telling him that she is the one he is looking for. And yet again, we find that "the kiss of true love" is the only thing that can break the spell. Ursula decides she wants to take Ariel's place and be Princess. She transforms herself into a beautiful woman, using Ariel's voice to convince Prince Eric she is the one who he will marry. With the help of her animal friends, they are able to prove to Prince Eric that Ariel is his true love. They marry and live happily ever after...on land.

The most beautiful love story ever told. This paragraph might be a little biased, but I'm going to try. We met Belle in 1991. After her father is taken hostage at the enchanted castle, she takes his place, proving her self-less love for her father. The Beast is take aback with this act of love, he gives her her own room. As the feelings of hatred and resentment turn to love and acceptance, Beast gives Belle the library. And when word of her father's illness gets to her, the Beast shows his self-less love for her and let's her go. But as we know with true love, it always finds a way. Belle returned to the castle as the villagers were trying to kill Beast. As Beast draws his final breath, Belle confesses her love for him. The spell is broken and everyone in the enchanted castle returns to their human selves.

In 1992, we go on an adventure to the fictional land of Agrabah. Aladdin is a street urchin and Princess Jasmine is...well...a princess. Her father wants her to marry a prince. When she runs away, she meets Aladdin. He saves her from being arrested. She orders them to set him free. When told to talk to Jafar (the evil villain of this tale), he tells Jasmine that Aladdin has already been executed. However, Aladdin is living in a cave. He possessed a magic lamp and when he rubbed the lamp, Genie appeared giving him three wishes. He wished to be a prince. Prince Ali goes to the Sultan's house and attempts to woo Jasmine. In the meantime, Aladdin is taking Jasmine on magic carpet rides throughout Agrabah. Jafar threatens their relationship when Prince Ali's true identity is revealed. After some more magic, revenge, and kicking of evil's butt, Sultan agrees to let Jasmine marry whomever she wants, and she chooses Aladdin.

We met a "based on a true story" princess in 1995 with a young Native American woman named Pocahontas. She fell in love with a "white man" named John Smith even though she was to marry Kocoum. Throughout the movie, Pocahontas' relationship with John Smith jeopardizes her people and her commitment to them. When John Smith is captured by her people, Pocahontas is devastated but stays strong to figure out a plan to save the man she loves. Once war has been declared, Pocahontas saves John Smith from execution. Chief Powatan agrees to let John go free. When an angry Governor Ratcliffe attempts to shoot the Chief, John steps in the path of the bullet. John must go to back to England, and although he asked Pocahontas to go with him, she understands her duties to her people. "I'll always be with you, forever," she told him as they carried him to the boat. They wave goodbye in Powatan fashion.

Before the turn of the century, we traveled to Asia where we were introduced to the unlikely princess, Mulan. Not fit for a bride and constantly disappointing her family, Mulan feels as if she will never be the person her people want her to be. When war has been declared, her father (who is in poor health) has been ordered to serve. Mulan can't stand the thought of her frail father in battle so she takes his place. Mulan gives the men a run for their money when it comes to training for battle. Once it is discovered that Mulan is female, Shang is angry that he had been fooled. After being thrown out of the army, Mulan heads home, but hears of the enemy's plans. She goes to Shang and tells him everything. Fast forward through the sword fights, the fireworks, and the cranky dragons, Mulan was given the royal crest for saving the Emperor's life. Shang and Mulan (as the sequels tell us) live happily ever after.

In 2007, we meet what is probably the most...enchanting princess (no pun intended). Giselle hails from Andalasia. She meets Prince Edward there and is set to marry him. The day of the wedding, Queen Narissa sends Giselle down the wishing well to stop the wedding and keep her crown. Giselle finds herself in the busy city of New York. She meets Robert and his daughter, Morgan. They help Giselle find her true love, Prince Edward. Over the course of the day, Giselle finds herself falling in love with Robert. (He's the only person who has ever made her angry!) Once Prince Edward finds Giselle in NYC, they go out on a date, a strange custom for the fairy tale world. They go to the ball that Robert and his girlfriend, Nancy, attend. There, the evil Queen Narissa tries to poison Giselle with an apple. Since this is a Disney movie, only true loves kiss (the most powerful thing in the world) can break the spell. Robert kisses Giselle and they live happily ever after, right? Wrong! First they have to destroy Queen Narissa who has now transformed into a hideous dragon. Only then can they live happily ever after.

We meet the first "true" Disney princess to come from America in 2009 with Tiana. She is a talented singer and chef with dreams of owning her own restaurant. But Tiana insists on working for the things she wants. One day she meets this frog who talks. Turns out he's Prince Naveen. All she has to do is kiss him and he'll be a human again. Wrong-o! She turns into a frog, too. One thing leads to another and we learn Prince Naveen was going to marry Charlotte. Tiana insists that Prince Naveen pay for her restaurant to start up, once they return to their human bodies, of course. After their adventure, they learn to love each other. When they were unable to change back, they decide to marry as frogs. When they kissed, they transformed back to themselves. Naveen keeps his promise and opens a restaurant for Tiana. (All together now...) And they lived happily ever after.

Now, we all know that most of these fairy tales came from the Brothers Grimm. The dark, gory tales of evil and good that Disney sprinkled with pixie dust to make happy, wholesome movies for families. With Rapunzel, we get a whole new look on this tale. We knew that her mother was going to die if she didn't get the healing nectar from the flower created by the piece of sun that fell from the sky. Her child was born with that nectar flowing through her body. Mother Gothel, a miserable old woman, kidnapped the princess for her selfish needs. Rapunzel grew up in a tower, unable to escape or see the world around her. Mother Gothel feared Rapunzel would find out she was the lost princess. Her only friend was a chameleon named Pascal. One day, Flynn Rider encounters Rapunzel and they strike up a deal. If he takes her to see the lanterns that appear every year on her birthday, she will give him back his satchel (which contained the princess' crown that he stole) They set off on (my completely unbiased opinion, of course) the funniest adventure Disney has told us. Full of frying pans, sassy horses, and singing villagers, as well as an evil "mother", vengeful thieves, and hilarious dialogue, Rapunzel and Flynn grown quite fond of each other. Mother Gothel "rescues" her from the thieves and takes her back to the tower where Flynn goes to save her. Mother Gothel stabs Flynn in the torso and when Rapunzel tries to heal him, he cuts her hair, ceasing Mother Gothel's reasons for keeping Rapunzel. They return to the castle, where the King and Queen welcome both with open arms. And after years of asking, Flynn says yes to marrying Rapunzel and they live happily ever after.


Okay...after that brief summary (haha!) of all of the Disney Princess movies, I want to give my opinion. That's what I do best, right?

Everyone knows my favorite princess is Belle. She is a loving, free-spirit who doesn't care about appearances. Her head is full of thoughts and dreams longing for adventure and excitement. After she meets Beast, her dreams have matured. She no longer wonders what is out there in the world because she has found her true love. She loves Beast in spite of his hideous appearance. She taught Beast, as well as the rest of the castle inhabitants, an important lesson in self-less, unconditional love. She was beautiful, inside and out.

My favorite prince is...Eugene Fitzherbert. Girl with crazy long blog say what?! Eugene Fitzherbert, aka Flynn Rider is seriously  my favorite prince. "Don't you think you're being a bit ridiculous? "Tangled" just came out. That's jumping the gun, right?" Well, you're wrong. You're still reading this, so I'm guess you want to know why. Flynn may have started out as a quick-witted thief, but he quickly learned that there was so much more to life than stealing. While other princes made their princesses dreams come true, he helped Rapunzel make her own dreams come true. He experienced all of the ups and downs of helping this naive girl with a simple dream. He chased her dreams, helped her find a new dream, and even as he was dying, he was putting Rapunzel's life before his own. And don't forget his smolder. That was definitely something awesome, right? Okay, okay, so I let my being a girl slip in there.

In every movie, there is a theme song.

• Snow White sang "Someday My Prince Will Come", a dream-like song of being rescued by her true love.

• Cinderella sang "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes", which encourages to never stop dreaming.

• Aurora's song, "Once Upon A Dream", is about dreaming of her prince and hoping one day it will come true.

• Ariel sang "Part Of Your World" about wishing she could be human, dancing with her prince, and living happily ever after.

• "Beauty And The Beast" is actually sang by Mrs. Potts, but is about Belle and Beast's relationship. It talks about a rocky start but a softening of the heart.

• If only I could go on a magic carpet ride to "A Whole New World" like Aladdin and Jasmine. It discusses the world of both the physical and emotional. (Probably my favorite...ever!)

• Pocahontas sang "If I Never Knew You" with John Smith. A chance encounter can change a life forever.

• Mulan confessed her insecurities in "Reflection"

• Giselle gave us guidelines to love in "That's How You Know", the bubbly song that is probably currently stuck in your head.

• Tiana was "Almost There" when it came to her dreams. She wasn't giving up, either.

• Rapunzel found what she was looking for in "I See The Light" - the literal and metaphorical definition to her life.

If you are still reading this, congratulations! This was probably better in my head. Now that I look at how insanely long this post is (took me hours to research and write this!) I'm like...whoa! But give me a break - I had 73 years of movies to discuss! Maybe you learned something about a movie, prince, princess, me or maybe yourself. I just hope it wasn't for nothing.
Oh...and if anyone wants to have a princess movie marathon with me, let me know!!