'Gnaw' Is A Hansel & Gretel With A Dark Twist

Gnaw, a gruesome reimagining of Hansel and Gretel, focuses on one family’s struggle to survive as a famine ravages the country and a witch haunts the nearby woods.

Yes - we agree: Hansel and Gretel is already pretty dark, but in Sean Meldrum's Gnaw, it gets even darker. By all accounts, this play certainly fits into the horror genre, or at least psychological horror. The stepmother/witch character can only be described as terrifying.

Brave secondary school, A.N. Meyer, (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada), staged a production of Gnaw last weekend and blew audiences, and peers, away. And, boy do we wish we could have seen it for ourselves! Youth theater has the potential to be brutally honest and emotional and it sounds like all involved achieved precisely that. Congratulations A.N. Meyer!

Unfortunately, there aren't many images of the A.N. Meyer's production so, apart from the two above, this poster we pulled from the school website and the announcement below from the Arts section of the school newsletter, we've included images from Sean Meldrum's first showing (posters etc) and four at the end of the post from the original production, to give you an idea of what it's like.

Here are excerpts from some of the Cappies peer reviews (ie. secondary school reviewers, training in theater arts criticism and journalism, all of whom did excellent work! Credits and the school the reviewer attends are listed at the end of the extract):

We all know the classic story of Hansel and Gretel — or do we? In this sinister retelling, A.N. Myer presents a version in which happily ever after is never found.In a village struck by famine, Hansel and Gretel live with their harsh parents in a house devastated by poverty. Their father, Bullpig, is the leader of a mysterious pack that ravages refugees to find sustenance. When he goes on a trip from which he might not return, desperation hangs heavy above the family, their main source of meals gone. Left with their dauntingly severe mother, the lengths they take to find food are rivetingly depicted. As tensions mount, the fine line between reality and fiction comes into question.  

Overall, A.N. Myer’s recent production of Gnaw was a thrilling performance that showcased the witches living within us all. (Grace Dobbie - Greater Fort Erie Secondary School)

A.N. Myer’s thrillingly morbid production of Gnaw is not for the weak of heart, nor the weak of stomach. This “fractured fairytale” turned beliefs of right and wrong entirely upside-down in a series of horrifying twists. Raw, powerful acting coupled with unique elements such as live sound effects and shadow puppetry made for an utterly chilling experience.
Gnaw was written by Queen’s student Sean Meldrum for the Toronto Fringe Festival, where it was described as “raw and unapologetic” (Queen’s Review Journal). It tells a dark, reimagined version of Hansel and Gretel. Their family is desperately attempting to stay alive in the midst of a devastating famine, and rumours begin to swirl of a witch that haunts the nearby forest. The audience follows the family’s story, and learns the gruesome lengths to which each family member will go to survive. (Michaela Bax-Leaney - Eden High School)

Sounds chilling, doesn't it?

And we can only find two quotes from the screenplay, but combined, they give the chills all by themselves:

 "Violence, my children, is a snake that is eating itself."

and then, simply:

"You must be hungry."

               
We're guessing no audience member - or participant - will forget Meldrum's Hansel & Gretel any time soon!

#RemindsUsOfTheDonnerParty

Article Series: Why Do Theaters Tend To Dumb Down Fairy Tales?

Julie Taymor's The Magic Flute

Why DO theaters tend to go 'kiddie' in adapting fairy tales? Why the insistence on political correctness and happy endings for every one? Even the bad guys?

Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty

Fairy tale friend Cindy Marie Jenkins, who writes for The Clyde Fitch Report ("the nexus of Art and Politics"), is currently doing an in depth article series, posted monthly, over the period of a year, investigating and discussing how we can make better, smarter theater for young audiences, or, as a theatrical colleague said: "We want to do children's theater that doesn't suck!"

Theater Rudolstadt's Pinocchio

In her introductory article, Cindy mentions:

Since the only “kids” show I remember seeing as a child was A.R.T.’s production of The King Stag, with puppets by Julie Taymor, it’s hard for me to stomach anything that dumbs down story for children. They are much more intelligent than most TYA (Theater for Young Audiences) gives them credit for being.

BalletLORENT's Rapunzel

We agree. Kids theater in general tends toward 'safe', but fairy tale theater tends to take that to the extreme, crossing the line from 'safe' into downright saccharine. But why? It certainly doesn't need to. Why is this the trend? What is it about children's theater, and even more so, fairy tales, that causes productions to develop in this direction?

Imago Theater's La Belle: Lost in the World of the Automaton (Beauty & the Beast)

Our Fairy Tale News Hound originally came from a working theater background of many years and has quite a few thoughts on the subject. Fortuitously, she was asked to be interviewed to discuss the issues with adapting fairy tales in particular, and with the introduction up and the investigation well underway, we thought it was high time to share so you can follow along if you're interested too.

You can find the introduction, 

Why Do Theaters Dumb Down TYA?

HERE.

The second installment, which our Fairy Tale News Hound had the opportunity to chime in on, along with Debbie Devine, the director of 24th Street's recommended production Hansel and Gretel: Bluegrass, is titled:

Why TYA Should Join the Dark Side (of Fairy Tales)

which you can find HERE.

To bookmark the series you can click on the screenshot image above, or go HERE, searching with the tag Talking TYA.

Note: All images shown here are from recommended productions, that is, "not sucky" fairy tale theater, to which you can take confidently take young folk to enjoy and experience quality shows and performances.

24th Street Theater's Hansel and Gretel: Bluegrass

Happy Mother Goose Day! (May 1st)

Mother Goose, art for a Fisk Tires ad by Maxfield Parrish, 1919

National Mother Goose Day is observed each year on May 1.  This day honors Mother Goose, the imaginary author of a collection of fairy tales and nursery rhymes we loved as children.  Mother Goose is often illustrated as an elderly country woman in a tall hat and shawl, but she is also sometimes depicted as a goose wearing a bonnet.  (From NationalDayCalendar.com)

Mother Goose Day was founded in 1987 by Gloria T. Delamar in tandem with the publication of her book, Mother Goose; From Nursery to Literature.

In honor of today, we thought we'd share some of the illustrations from a lesser known book by L. Frank Baum, Mother Goose in Prose. Here's the blurb from the original dust jacket:

If ever a writer and an artist were an unbeatable team, it's on these pages. Put that team to work on the most famous characters in the English language and the result can be nothing less than classic. 

Here two giant imaginations take on Little Boy Blue, The Cat and the Fiddle, Old King Cole, Mistress Mary, Jack Horner, The Man in the Moon, Hickory Dickory Dock, Bo-Peep, Tommy Tucker, Humpty Dumpty, The Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, Miss Muffet and others. 

To create Mother Goose in Prose, the man who gave us The Wonderful Wizard of Oz started with the bare bones of the celebrated nursery rhymes and embroidered them as only a master storyteller could. Now Mary Quite Contrary lives in a real house, has a mother and is visited in her garden by a Squire. Humpty Dumpty is far from just a five line verse here and, once read, his will never be a five lines story again. Did you ever wonder how the old woman's house for to resemble a shoe? In case the reader doesn't get the picture, Baum departs from his storytelling to draw it himself. 

This is a charming book, with a warm introduction by Baum, who takes care to trace the vague but fascinating history of the rhymes back to 1650, through the three countries that claim Mother Goose for their own. But "the songs that cluster around her name are what we love." he reminds us. "Many of these nursery rhymes," Baum says, "are complete tales in themselves, telling their story tersely but completely; there are others which are but bare suggestions, leaving the imagination to weave in the details of the story. Perhaps therein may lie part of their charm, but however that may be I have thought the children might like the stories told at a greater length, that they may dwell the longer upon their favorite heroes and heroines. 

"For that reason I have written this book."

You can read the book online HERE.

And from Amazon:

The volume begins with an historical overview written by Baum himself, in which he notes that the first use of the name "Mother Goose" was by the great French author of fantasies, Charles Perrault -- the inventor of Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and Puss in Boots. Each tale begins with the nursery rhyme, and then a tale that illustrates the rhyme follows -- told in Baum's charming, natural fashion. Mother Goose in Prose is a delight for children of all ages. The book's last selection features a girl named Dorothy who can talk to animals — an anticipation of the Oz books. When Baum later included this story in his Juvenile Speaker (1910) and The Snuggle Tales (1916–17), he changed the girl's name to Doris, to avoid confusing her with Dorothy Gale. 

           

Lots of Treasures in Enchanted Conversation's Diamonds & Toads Issue

Toads & Diamonds Ex Libris Etching
by Ukraine artist Konstantin Kalinovich

Enchanted Conversation, Fairy Tale Magazine, has just released their Diamonds and Toads Issue - and it's wonderful!

New contributing editor, Amanda Bergloff, has created some unique digital art for each of the stories and poems in this issue, making the chosen entries even more fun to read.

Although Kate Wolford, always curates wonderful writing, we've particularly enjoyed this issue's creative short stories and evocative poems. While we acknowledge that we might be influenced due to this fairy tale being one of our favorites, and that we got uninterrupted time to read the whole issue in one lovely sitting with some fabulous tea to go with it, we maintain it's a great issue with lots of lovely writing, well worth your time to peruse.

You can find the 'entry' and Table Of Contents to this current issue HERE.

And, if you're interested, Gypsy wrote a personal entry, reflecting on retellings of this fairy tale, at Fairy Tale Footnotes HERE.

Dance Theater: Grimm Brothers Get Transported To Age of Social Media To Save Their Literary Legacy in 'Tales of Grimm'

Contemporary parables are woven together with tales of the Brothers Grimm

This unique twist on Grimm’s Fairy Tales places these literary brothers of the 1800s smack into the middle of modern day society. Perplexed by the antics of our 21st century lifestyle, the brothers’ vivid and iconic text literally dances off the page to pull inhabitants of our screen-obsessed, social-media age back into the world of books—and into the stories they thought they knew so well…

When you hear about 'tales of Grimm' you don' usually expect the brothers to make an appearance, let alone watch them in their tale telling and editing. The beauty of this concept shows exactly why and how fairy tales still have something to say.

This production sounds very unique, and if we were local, we'd definitely make time to go see this! Everything we've read about the character and concept development sounds interesting and well thought out - both as an homage to the work of the Grimms in their time (it was much more complex than collecting a bunch of tales and publishing them!), and showing how fairy tales are still as relevant today as they ever were - even taking into account people's obsession with selfies... The production, choreography and dancing too, are getting good critical reviews.

Here's the concept, from toledocitypaper:

Broken into vignettes, each classic tale has been contemporized to cope with modern issues and connected through a fun fourth wall-breaking narrative that invokes an awareness of the audience. The characters themselves emerge from the stories to exist in the real world. And at the forefront of the modern issues being faced is this sort of disconnect between society and another endangered classic art: books. “In a haste to not lose this idea of books, [the Grimm Brothers] rush back to this huge book of Grimm’s Fairy Tales that they have, and they start to rewrite all their stories to fit modern society,” (Director Michael) Lang explained, showing off a few of the props for the forthcoming performance. 

Included in the mix was an ornate gazebo, strung up with braided locks of rope, representing Rapunzel actress Semira Warrick’s lengthy hair and a conference table that will serve as the set piece for Rumpelstiltskin’s impassioned performance. “There’s a very percussive number, and he just pounds away at the table,” said Lang of Rumpelstiltskin actor Phillipe Taylor. “When I read Rumpelstiltskin, I thought, ‘You can say what you want about Rumpelstiltskin, but he did do the work.’”

“This show is such a twist on these tales and will not be what anyone is expecting,” Lang said. “The retold stories have a unique connection to the originals, and yet, are profoundly relative and anchored in today.”  (this last quote from The Blade)

The Toledo Ballet calls this piece more 'dance theater', which implies it's more theatrical in terms of presentation and story, as opposed to pure dance, and there's certainly a lot to be communicated in this one. On their Facebook page, for teaser purposes, the company posted a picture representing a section or character of the ballet, along with a neat summary.

We really like how they looked at different aspects of the fairy tales and found the human and still relevant thread in them, to explore. How the Grimm brothers, navigating modern society for the first time, help do this, is to be revealed and part of the fun.

Oh - and you might be surprised at some of the tale inclusions as well... Kudos to the director and writers who chose to boldly include How Some Children Played At Slaughtering, along with nods to other lesser known Grimm tales.

Take a look at some of the teasers below:

Opening the Book - As our book opens, the Brothers Grimm are mysteriously transported to an altered world of obliviousness and folly. While navigating through this unfamiliar sea of electronic glow, they struggle to find purpose and anxiously watch their literary “ship” sail off in the distance. Determined to save it, they revisit their tales and laboriously search for compromise.Little Red Cap - In an electronically obsessed world where all are accessible to many, our Modern-Day Red is warned to stay on the path. Ignoring parental admonitions, she quickly discovers that one can never be certain who the predators are or where they await!

Briar Rose - Bearing witness to the malice of his daughter’s childhood journey, a father’s love and desperate desire to protect provokes him to close her eyes from uncertainty, heartache, and pain. In time, he recognizes that by obsessively closing her eyes from the world she ends up with no world at all!


“Hansel” & Gretel - Overwhelmed by the endless tasks of motherhood, and frustrated by her sluggish husband, “Hansel” & Gretel’s modern-day mom fantasizes of taking her young offspring deep into the woods … and leaving them there! Her dream of freedom and self-indulgence is suddenly interrupted by Gretel’s cry for rescue from a tyrant old teacher. Her maternal instincts quickly remind her that, in reality, she would assiduously fight any battle for the family she loves.

Rapunzel - From the expectations constructed by society’s “tower”, Modern-day Rapunzel contemplates her “braids” of doubt, fear, guilt, and hope. Releasing the grips of entanglement, she reflects and ponders upon her place in a world yet to come.

How Some Children Played at Slaughtering - Each generation cries, “The world has gone mad,” though a journey through history reveals a far more reprehensible past! Exposed to a constant barrage of violence, our unattended children create a “game” of their own.

Rumpelstiltskin - Discouraged by nepotism and a bias environment, our modern-day Rumpel strives for a beat of his own. He industriously follows the rules of his daily grind until a bombardment of injustice forces him to his breaking point.

The Little Glowing Hand - Torn from the pages of her literary existence, Storybook Red struggles to make out her peculiar new surrounds. Her curiosities are intrigued by the illumined hands that appear to guide the bizarre ways of her unacquainted peers. Feeling scared and alone she studies a Modern-Day Teen in search of familiarity, understanding, and home.

The Displacement of Red - Feeling anxious and muddled, Storybook Red endures her bewildering journey. Alarmed by the tatters of her rapidly fading pages, she clings to the mast of her fairy-tale “ship”. She discovers the book that may provide resolution; but her efforts are blocked by her uneasy source. 

It's billed as a family friendly production and the company has had some wonderful promos during April at the Toldeo Lucas County Public Library. Check out some of those pics below:


As you may have gathered from the summaries above, however, this production, while being family friendly is not 'kiddie' - something some colleagues of ours have been discussing recently: quality theater for young audiences. Parents in particular may want the heads-up that the production doesn't shy away from some pretty harsh realities: bullying, oppression, murder and even genocide are all alluded to at least, if not represented, but then, if you will recall, it's in the Grimm texts as well. It all depends on how these are handled. We haven't seen this ourselves to be able to assess how all these issues are portrayed, but between the promos and this lively 9 minute interview you can listen to online  HERE that talks about this exact issue of bringing children to the show, hopefully you can make a good assessment for any children you're wanting to take. (Note: the link worked at the time of posting but we don't know how long it will be available to listen to.) Here's what the director Michael Lang said to the Toledo City Paper:

... while Tales of Grimm is ultimately a family-friendly performance, the stories contained within hew closely to the original tales put forth by the occasionally macabre Grimm Bros. These aren’t the Disneyfied translations one might otherwise expect from the former dancer-turned-director who was one of the original cast members of Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. “I don’t save [Red Riding Hood] in the end. I feel like with this message, it needs to be a message. This doesn’t always end well. I’ve got a lot of lighthearted moments as well, but there are a lot of moments that make people sit back and go, ‘Oh wow.’”

“I’m on this kind of quest, and I think that’s why the theme of this show has turned out like it has, to get people to put their phones down for a little bit and get back to theater and art,” said (Director Michael) Lang. “ Dance is always a tough sell, but this is for everybody, not just the people that love ballet.” 

You only have tonight and tomorrow to go catch this show! Quick! Go grab a ticket! (And then tell us all about it, would you?)

New FT Blog: 'Fairy Tale Footnotes'

It's no secret we can barely get to most of the fairy tale news that happens every day - not even posting daily, but we persist and keep trying because we believe it's important. Occasionally we get frustrated at how behind we've gotten in sharing things our fairy tale newsroom has gotten excited about, but not been able to share, so will post a "round-up", which isn't the same, but helps - a little.

There is an aspect of being Fairy Tale News Hounds (and having a very active 'fairy tale radar') that doesn't get shared on OUABlog much, if at all, though, and that's our Fairy Tale News Hound's personal observations and notes that happen in daily life, reading and research - in other words, OUABlog isn't a personal blog, and there's a lot that's being missed because we put our energy into focusing on news and researching and writing those instead.

So, in an effort to catch more of those fairy tale thoughts, anecdotes and other interesting bits and pieces that happen between news stories, InkGypsy has started a new fairy tale journal-like blog, called Fairy Tale Footnotes. The first post (of a few) is copied above for an introduction.

(Gypsy has notebooks full of these things, and floating post-its that get lost under couches and in between bookshelves, but she's going to make an effort to put all those scribbles in this blog instead.)

To keep the pressure of posting to a minimum, the posts will be random, with no specific schedule - from multiple mini-posts a day to many days in between. Most likely they'll be fast, loose (expect typos!) and be inconsistent in format - some will be more researched while others will, perhaps, be just a line... The purpose is to mark that moment that prickled her fairy tale senses. (And put that note somewhere where she can find it again!)

We're putting it in our blogroll on the right, but if there's enough interest, Gypsy will add a subscribe button.

One thing is certain - it will be all about fairy tales. And if you like that sort of thing, you're welcome to read along. 

Disney Schedules Fairy Tale Films & the Future Looks Largely... Untitled? (+ an 'in production' update)

So: according to Slate, the Disney planning calendar has been in overdrive the last couple of days and a bunch of fairy tale films have their release dates set. Do we sound excited? Sort of. Why? Let's take a look at the line up:

2017 is looking kinda blank but we had our big fairy tale film release already, remember? Tale as old as...

• Nov. 22: Coco (3D) - folklore. not fairy tale but still...

2018 might be promising

• Aug. 3: Untitled Disney Fairy Tale (Live Action) - yay?
• Nov. 2: Mulan (Live Action) (3D) - this will include some folklore at least
• Dec. 25: Mary Poppins Returns - maybe a little folkloric/fairy tale (we said 'maybe')

2019 looks like a busy year for fairy tales... maybe

• March 29: Untitled Disney Fairy Tale (Live Action) - *crossing fingers*
• July 19: The Lion King (Live Action) (3D) - folklore possibilities (pretty please?)
• Nov. 8: Untitled Disney Fairy Tale (Live Action) - great - we think...
• Nov. 27: Frozen 2 (3D) - right, so probably sort fairy tale.. ish
• Dec. 20: Untitled Disney Fairy Tale (Live Action) - er, okay...

2020 has lots of untitled

• March 13: Untitled Pixar Animation (3D) - possibly, but probably not FT or folklore
• Nov. 25: Gigantic (3D) - Finally! Confirmation of a fairy tale film! YAY!

2021's line-up gives us no idea

• March 12: Untitled Disney Live Action - there's still a bunch of fairy tale projects that could slot in here.. hopefully
• June 18: Untitled Pixar Animation (3D) - probably not fairy tale, but you never know, since it's been a while for them
• Nov. 24: Untitled Disney Animation (3D) - does mostly CG now count as animation? We guess not, so. ugh, no idea on this one

But lets have another look at the fantasy (therefore fairy tale, folklore or FT-adjacent) projects we know are coming. Those in color have a confirmed release date using their title:

LIVE ACTION:

• Genie (Aladdin - with Will Smith starring)
• Cruella (origin story with Emma Stone starring)
• Maleficent II (Sleeping Beauty)
• Peter Pan
• Pinocchio
• The Little Mermaid (Lin-Manuel Miranda signed on. Universal is still working on an HCA-based version too, though it remains plagued by issues & is currently in limbo)
• Dumbo (Tim Burton still directing, with Danny DeVito confirmed & Michael Keaton in talks)
• The Sword in the Stone
• Mulan - November 2, 2018
• Winnie the Pooh
• Tink (Tinkerbell - note: Fox is also working on a Tinkerbell movie, possibly more teen/adult oriented)
• Snow White's Sister Rose Red
• Prince Charming (Cinderella)
• A Wrinkle In Time - March 9, 2018
• Mary Poppins Returns - December 25, 2018
• Jungle Cruise
• The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
• The Jungle Book II
• Night on Bald Mountain (Fantasia)
• Lion King (we're hoping for some folklore this time around!) - July 19, 2019
• Snow White (with La La Land songwriters signed on)
• Disenchanted (aka Enchanted 2 - taking place 10 years after the first story - Amy Adams, James Marsden, Patrick Dempsey starring)
• James and the Giant Peach (yes, Disney is redoing Roald Dahl's book as a big live action movie, though they didn't do the animated film. Sam Mendes is directing.)
• Chernabog/ Night on Bald Mountain (Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless listed as writers)

ANIMATION:

• Frozen II - November 27, 2019
• Coco (Dia  de los Muertos) - November 22, 2017
• Giants (Jack and the Beanstalk) - November 25, 2020

Note: King of the Elves is still listed as 'in development' for Disney Feature Animation and is based on a Philip K. Dick short story. The working synopsis goes: A Mississippi man becomes the reluctant ruler of a mythical race of elves after he saves them from a deadly troll. The 'crew' number listed remains about the size of an 'in development' crew, so perhaps this is still in the works, though last we heard it had been shelved. But you never know...

All images are by Disney artist, Lisa Keene and were created by her during development for the first Enchanted movie.

'Colossal' Is A 'Giant Fairy Tale for Grown Ups' We Want To See

Gloria is an ordinary woman who, after losing her job and being kicked out of her apartment by her boyfriend, is forced to leave her life in New York and move back to her hometown. When news reports surface that a giant creature is destroying Seoul, South Korea, Gloria gradually comes to the realization that she is somehow connected to this far-off phenomenon. As events begin to spin out of control, Gloria must determine why her seemingly insignificant existence has such a colossal effect on the fate of the world.

At first glance this movie appears to be a monster-comedy movie with a lot of laughs, potential for some genuine emotional depth, but little to do with fairy tales. The fact there's a giant creature (known in Japan as a kaiju), connected to a human, might have prickled your folklore senses, and so it should. Giants have been having a quiet but steady presence in movies for the last decade, most recently with The BFG, A Monster Calls and even Pete's Dragon and Monster Trucks. But there is a different fairy tale connection to this movie as well.

The casting of Dan Stevens as the ex-boyfriend (most recently seen on the big screen with horns and a whole lotta CG covering his features) might give you a clue... Yes: it's Beauty and the Beast. It's just not one you've likely seen.. yet. (And it didn't need to be played by Dan Stevens to have that vibe.)

Unlike the Disney live action fairy tale, however, this one is less cinematic-magic-filled and more quirky and down-n-out around the edges, with a lot of tongue in cheek and an edgier lifestyle thrown in, (thanks to the initially unmotivated protagonist and her partying ways) but most specifically it's also less... 'neat'. There is no fairytale ending here, in the usual sense of the notion; note the use of the word 'fairytale' as in dreamy, as opposed to 'fairy tale' to which this bears a much closer tie. The Beast here is manifested fairly obviously, but it's not until the movie unwraps itself a little that you begin to discover what the monster truly is and the real Beast revealed, along with Beauty's role.

Refreshingly, it's not as simple as 'managing one's inner-demon with a sense of humor' plot line, but instead an exploration of more than might be expected. The result might just be one of those cult classics that people can't forget, no matter the crazy premise initially appears. Wonderfully, it doesn't set out to answer ALL the questions either (Where did it come from? Why now? How? Why her?). It just 'is', and accepting that, you can get on with the story. Much like experiencing that wonder element in fairy tales.

Here's the trailer:

(The) how and why (of Gloria's connection to the monster appearing on the other side of the world) bring “Colossal” into the supernatural realm, but the initially affable Oscar’s reaction to Gloria and her newfound superpower turns the fun genre mashup into a dark and scary analogy for very real-world issues.  

“It has so much different kind of meaning for different people,” Levine said. “To some people it is a kaiju film. To other people it’s a romantic comedy or a dramatic comedy. To some people it’s a psychodrama, a science fiction film. I personally look at it as an adult fairy tale.” (Bizjournals)

Oh, and did we mention a woman is carrying this genre movie? There are more than a couple of tropes being twisted here and she might just remind you of some conflicted fairy tale heroines while you watch.

Also worth mentioning: this indie film has proven to be a festival favorite... (see below), and more than a few noted genre movie critics are begging folks to give this off-beat premise a chance - not just because it is a fun genre movie, and flips tropes on their heads, but because it's also well-made overall, well paced and manages to be both an homage and flip of kaiju movies and rom coms, while ultimately being very fresh and original.

This movie is apparently best gone into without spoilers so we will stop discussing this here and (hopefully) at some point in the future, when we've had a chance to view it, (since it doesn't seem to be coming to our local theater and we might have to wait till DVD/streaming release!), we can give a better breakdown. 

In the meantime, for those that have seen it, or don't care about spoilers, or would like to revisit this AFTER seeing the movie, this awesome and VERY SPOILERY discussion by two female film critics, who talk about the unique aspects of this movie (and why they are even more impressed with it than they thought they'd be), is definitely worth bookmarking. And yes - you'll see fairy tale ideas and tropes discussed in this post as well. We wish we could expand on why we feel this is relevant to a contemporary fairy tale discussion but we don't want to spoil the viewing experience. :)

'Frozen 2' Gets Release Date

The Storm Inside by nna

The film finally has a confirmed release date, as announced by actors Josh Gad (who plays the adorable sentient snowman Olaf), Kristen Bell ( who plays Anna, along with the official Disney Animation account, and was the official protagonist of the first movie) and Idina Menzel (the ice-magic-wielding Elsa), each in their unique way, via Twitter.

That date is...

November 27th 2019. 

(And people are already putting it on their calendars.)

There are no details of the plot as yet, only that it's a sequel to the animated hit.

The only casting confirmed on IMDB are Kristen Bell, who plays Anna, and Idina Menzel, who plays Elsa, but since jJosh Gad got to announce it too, we're going to assume he's on board as well.

It is presumed to be a musical, at this stage, especially in the current Hollywood push for more, now that back in vogue, but there's no confirmation on that either.

Interestingly, the response has been more mixed than even we expected to see, but the enthusiasm of fans appears to be outweighing the  'don't care's and 'please no's, so to the theater it goes!

So, not a lot of real fairy tale news in this announcement - only really the heads up that people will, once again, be enthusiastic about 'riffing' on the possibilities of a second story for a Snow Queen.

(We have to wonder if there will be some references to Olaf dealing with climate change...)