Unfortunately, I can't speak for other Enchanted Tales DVDs, but the episodes on this one are so painfully transparent in their attempts to teach moral lessons that it may be hard for an adult to sit through without squirming. Aurora repeats "I have to persevere" at least once every 5 minutes, and it hardly seems like she's doing much to warrant the constant pep talk to herself. She has to sign papers and listen to the townspeople's problems. The latter might actually be stress-inducing when you compare it to reality, but all Aurora really needs to do is order up her royal help to do this or that and most problems are solved. In one snicker-inducing line, Aurora does at least teach kids, "I'm sorry, but if I'm going to sign something, I need to know what it says." And so a stack of papers that would have taken her long enough to just sign ends up taking her the entire day to read. It's nothing Judge Judy wouldn't have already taught a kid that watches daytime television though.
Don't get me wrong, the story of running a medieval kingdom by yourself could be an interesting tale of perseverance, but this is a soft, happy tale that doesn't like to get into details. Aurora's only dilemma comes in when one of her fairies leaves her a magic wand. Aurora tries to fight the urge to use it in order to make her life easier, but eventually caves in for just a little magic help. It leads to a rather amusing sequence in which she can't quite get the wand to understand what she wants. She asks for little chickens, and she gets baby chicks. She asks for big chickens, and she gets towering chickens the size of small houses. So the extra lesson here would be to never ask for angry animals of any type, I suppose.
Jasmine's story is similar, with lots of talk of perseverance, though in her case, she has to persevere through more than what amounts to office work. She wants more responsibility, and more significant work to do than just being pampered royalty. Her search eventually leads her to try to recover her father's prized stallion, at the same time saving the job of a poor stable hand that would otherwise be blamed for it. She tracks the horse down through the desert, tames it (with a song, of course), and rides it back in with only a rope. Now that's perseverance.
The animation is pretty good quality for a made-for-DVD production. There are some action sequences where it seems the budget couldn't quite stretch for all the in-between frames, but for the most part, everything is fluid. Each episode sticks to the color scheme of its parent movie, such as the painted look of Aurora's castle. Song and dance numbers abound, almost too many to fit in such short episodes. So if you've got an aspiring singer to please, there's plenty of content to enjoy here. Bonus content includes a couple of simple games to play with your DVD player remote. You can dress up Aurora by selecting outfits and accessories, or you can search for the stallion from Jasmine's story by following his tracks. An extra bonus disc includes music videos and a sneak peak at The Princess and the Frog. The music videos are compilations of existing footage from other princess animated films. The sneak peak of The Princess and the Frog is brief, and most of the footage you could look up on the internet for free. This bonus disc appears to be the only new content for this special edition (the original was released in 2007). So if you've already got a copy, there's not much reason to run out and buy a new copy for a couple of songs and a preview.
I can't say that everyone in the family is going to enjoy being in the same room with this DVD, but it's at least well made for what it is. Some corners may have been cut with the bonus music videos, but they do have original songs. If your kid is looking for some Disney princess fun, this may please them, but you may have to persevere.
