Far longer than forever, I will hold this movie in my heart.

I must admit that I am truly blessed to live in the era of animation I did. Not only did I grow up in the Disney Renaissance, but other companies in the 90s were making masterpieces as well. And one that enchanted me profusely, and make my heart take flight, was “The Swan Princess.” It helped me cherish the grace and beauty of swans and this (with the Nutcracker) fueled my love for ballet, always wishing I was flexible enough to have lessons to perform these stunning visual stories. The story captivates me, the songs embedded happily in my brain, and there is just some form of magic that makes me smile.

Plus, my husband ended up being a Derrick like our prince too here, ha! Lucky conscious! Because of this, on our slideshow showing us all our pictures from when we were together and engaged at our wedding reception, I chose the song from this movie: “Far Longer Than Forever.” One, it is beautiful, and two, Odette sings Derek’s name, so I thought it was adorably fitting.

This gem was created in 1994 (hence the 30th anniversary) by director Richard Rich (The Fox and The Hound, The Black Cauldron, The Swan Princess series, Pete’s Dragon– original, Arthur’s Missing Pal, The King and I animated, Alpha and Omega, The Trumpet of the Swan, and a set/TV series of animated historical and Bible stories made in the 1990s,) created by Nest Entertainment and his own studio, released on November 18th. It is based on the beloved ballet, “Swan Lake,” by Tchaikovsky.

There are twelve movies in the franchise. The first three are handpainted animated (from 1994, 1997, and 1998.) The 4th through 12th installments went to CGI (not the best at first admittedly, lol, but the stories are fun and the graphics improve,) from 2012 to 2023.

Like I did with my precious “The Lion King” in June, I thought I would do 30 fun facts here as well:

Speaking of “The Lion King,” and I feel horrible saying this… The lack of this film being the success box office-wise it should have been was because The Lion King was resent to theaters the same weekend as the primer of “The Swan Princess,” which doesn’t seem fair to me.
However, although theater attendance was not up to par, it had great VHS home video sales.
“Far Longer Than Forever” was nominated for Best Original Song at the 1995 Golden Globes.
Liz Callaway was the singing voice of Odette. She was also the singing voice of my Anastasia.
Howard McGillin, the original voice for Prince Derek, is the only one who did his own singing. He was the longing running phantom in the Broadway “Phantom of the Opera.”
Michelle Nicastro, the voice of Odette in the first three films, is a lovely singer and did the singing for the second and third movies. However, they went with Liz Callaway for the first one for her more pop voice.
Michelle passed away in 2010 from cancer. For the movie’s 20th anniversary in 2014, her husband accepted a special award in her honor.
Anime voice actress star, Laura Bailey, voiced Odette for the 4th-7th films.
John Cleese of “Monty Python” fame played the sassy French frog Jean-Bob in the original film,
The film is made of hand-painted cells mostly in South Korea, using over 275 animators.
It took four years to make the first film.
Odette’s birthday is November 18th, the same day as the film’s release date. We are both Scorpios!
In the Swan Lake ballet, the prince is named Sigfied. Derek represents him here.
In a read-along book, Rathbart, our villain, is stated to be King William’s brother and Odette’s uncle. However, it is never stated in any other place.
Rathbart’s original song was entitled: “Rothbart’s Revenge” and was much darker. They changed it after the actor added a comedic undertone to his voice.
Many of the adult characters gave their roles British accents, but it was more of a creative choice.
Derek’s kingdom did not have a name until the most recent film: Chamberg.
At the start of the second movie, Odette and Derek live in the repurposed castle at Swan Lake, where Odette is a prisoner in the first film.
Odette’s father’s kingdom is never named. It is also never stated whether Odette and Derek ran her kingdom after her father’s death.
Test audiences thought Derek was not appealing to a character, so the creators added little scenes in the movie to show kindness.
He originally was going to wear a cloak and have facial hair, similar to Phobus from “The Hunchback of Norte Dame.”
Yuri Lowenthal, the main voice actor for Prince Derek, wrote the script for the fourth movie: “Swan Princess Christmas.”
Odette has only turned into a swan in four of her 12 movies, although swans are everywhere in Odette’s life. I almost feel bad she has to be reminded of that.
Derek and Odette have adopted an orphan, Alisa, to show different types of families and represent how some couples have trouble having children in a child-friendly format. It also took Odette’s parents a while to conceive and she died during labor so that it could be genetic.
Derek and Odette have both died twice. There have been a handful of on-screen deaths in the movie series too.
Odile, the Black Swan, and Rothbart’s daughter is represented in the ‘evil Odette’ that Bridget, Rothbart’s helper and later friend of the royal Swan Princess court, is transformed into black dress ‘Odette’ to trick Prince Derek.
The 11th film, a prequel, is the first time Derek’s dad, King Max, and Odette’s mother, Queen Aubrey, are named and seen.
Sheldon Young, the producer, adores this series, often does promotional work, and wears Swan Princess-inspired clothes.
The Swan Princess has four app games you can play!
And finally, the Swan Princess has one of the most devoted and best fan sites I have ever seen! You can learn about the animation process, their monthly newsletter, an official store with amazing licensed merch, soundtrack and video clips, birthdays for all the characters, recipes, series updates, cosplay events, trivia contests, a Youtube with LOADS of amazing things, AND so many other things! Definitely check it out HERE!

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Soundtrack (all movies:)