As Old As Time by Liz Braswell (and my inner conflict about Disney princesses)

We're heading on a trip to Disney World soon, and like all good book nerds, I'm preparing by reading novels inspired by Disney movies. :) I'm also preparing my three year-old daughter (who has never been to any of the Disney parks) by showing her a wide barrage of Disney movies. But more on that later.

Let's get to the book review first. Here's the official synopsis:

What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast? As Old as Time is the third book in a new YA line that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways. When Belle touches the Beast's enchanted rose, memories flood through Belle's mind—memories of a mother she thought she would never see again. And, stranger still, she sees that her mother is none other than the beautiful enchantress who cursed the castle and all its inhabitants. Shocked and confused, Belle and the Beast will have to unravel a dark mystery about their families that is 21 years in the making.

I liked this "twisted tale" a lot more than I liked revisiting the 1991 film! Belle should be "my" princess: she's a book lover and she's kind, and those both rate highly in my opinion. But ... her movie is also boring. I watched this with my kiddo, and both of us were yawning halfway through. There's no instant charisma (like Tangled) or moving plotline and epic songs (like Moana). The most riveting song is sung by Mrs. Potts, and as much as I love her - well, she's a teapot. 

In Braswell's retelling, there is a whole backstory about Belle's mother, a woman never mentioned in the film. Her mother's a powerful enchantress, and due to the political climate of France during this time, makes terrible decisions that end up affecting Beast, his servants and castle, and ultimately, Belle and Maurice. 

Braswell does a great job of building up the relationship between Belle and the Beast, no cut scenes or implied insta-love here. She also delves into the past lives of Mrs. Potts, Chip, Lumiere, and all the other servants, providing commentary about how the Beast regarded them as "possessions" all along, something that is lacking in the movie. 

Belle's mother is also a strong, complicated woman and a very interesting addition to this fairy tale. Imagine if she'd been in the movie! Now, that would have been worth watching!

So yes, I enjoyed this retelling. I'm not sure I'll read the other books in the twisted tales series any time soon, but that's mostly because other books and series are calling my name. Plus, I have a TBR of at least a year's worth of books to plow through. 

So. I have a problem with Disney princesses.

Let me rewind. I grew up in a Disney family. We all loved watching the movies, and went to Disneyland whenever we could, at least once a year. My father, even, genuinely enjoyed Disney stuff. My oldest memories are of watching Snow White (and parading around with a blanket around my shoulders like a cape), and watching Star Wars. So I grew up with princesses, princesses of all kinds. 

I remember loving Little Mermaid. I had the soundtrack and had every song memorized. But as I got older (and especially after I had a child), I started to feel a little weird about Disney movies. Ariel, for example, trades her voice for legs and a man she has pretty much just met. The other characters (almost all male) speak for and around her for half the movie! Snow White is so naive she eats a poisoned apple and falls into a coma! Now, I know the basis for these movies are much darker fairy tales, and I actually enjoy them because of their darkness and their historical relevance. But stripping the really gory parts still leaves a kind of icky message, especially when packaged for the intended audience (small girls). 

And then some really, really good Disney princess movies came on. I LOVE Moana, not only because I'm from Hawaii, but because Moana is a strong, independent woman with an entire family (no dead mother! She even has a grandmother!), and a great message about ancestry and following your heart. I like how Frozen starts as your typical old school Disney movie, and then subverts it with the message about sisterhood and a deliberate questioning of insta-love. I love Brave, which is all about prickly mother and daughter relationships, and shows how much stronger these movies are when you don't kill off the mothers! 

Up until recently, my daughter has only seen Moana, Brave, and Frozen (in addition to most of the Pixar movies). I was being very, very selective about what I showed her. But when I started making Fastpass reservations for rides like Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid and Peter Pan, I realized she would have no context for these rides. So we (gingerly) started our classic Disney education.

She got bored halfway through Beauty and the Beast. Our library's copy of The Little Mermaid started skipping about a third of the way in, but that was okay, because she had started playing with her My Little Pony toys and ignoring the movie at that point. Tangled was a surprise hit for both of us (I had only seen it once and barely remembered it). Rapunzel is sheltered and yes, at first she is literally rescued by Flynn, but her wide-eyed appreciation of the world is catchy, and she ends up saving Flynn's life at the end. My kiddo had a lot of questions about the "bad mommy" (aka Mother Gothel), but that led to a good discussion about stranger danger. She also asserted that at the end of the movie, Rapunzel and Flynn were "really good friends." I'm fine with that analysis. 

So I think that most of the questionable content of some of the older movies went over her head -- at least so far. But I need to figure out how to address these problematic aspects when she's older. Honestly, I think her idea of princesses now are pretty healthy - they're mostly superheroes (like Elsa and her ice power) who sometimes wear pretty dresses and crowns. But sometimes they don't even wear shoes (Moana), and that's okay too. 

What do you think? Do you have kids, and are you exposing them to Disney movies for the first time? Or have you noticed that your reaction to these movies have changed over time?