Prince Charming? Seriously? Disney, There's a BETTER Prince for a Movie!
Disney's Prince Charming Movie: A Seriously Questionable Choice!
Disney's always expanding its universe. We’re getting live-action remakes and now solo movies based on already-existing characters. The latest? A Prince Charming movie based on Cinderella! But hold up. This choice, and its timing, creates many immediate questions about that current movie strategy.
Disney tends to use villains first; like Cruella and Maleficent. Now it's a prince’s turn. The movie is still really early in its production, there’s no word on whether it’ll be animated, live-action, or even a musical; directed by Paul King (Paddington, Wonka); a talented director for those sorts of movies. But it’s entirely unclear why Disney selected Prince Charming over many other Princes.
Why Prince Adam (the Beast) Deserves His Own Movie
There’s another prince, the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. He’s got a FAR richer story that completely overshadows the already over-told Prince Charming storyline! Many key thematic aspects found throughout Beauty and the Beast had gone widely unnoticed by many initially and remain completely absent from the more newer re-tellings. A quick recap highlights these issues; which make this storyline incredibly ripe and well-suited for this new and ambitious standalone project.
This incredibly iconic tale features Belle, a girl who longs for adventure. Her father gets imprisoned by a Beast in an enchanted castle. Belle makes a deal: herself for her father. She eventually finds out that the Beast? He’s actually a Prince Adam, cursed ages ago! The initial backstory is only shown through quick exposition at the middle; revealing this incredibly harsh past and also an extremely short timeframe!
This mysterious and tragically cursed Prince lived luxuriously; his downfall however was an encounter with a beggar woman. He refuses shelter; she reveals herself as an enchantress, transforming him into a beast as punishment for his arrogance— the sheer depth of this specific detail, especially as a story element, creates intense intrigue which easily generates more narrative plots! And even this curse spreads! His servants become household objects. This whole sequence easily makes for a hugely interesting origin.
Solving Beauty and the Beast's Biggest Mysteries
There’s still loads of mystery surrounding Prince Adam. We don’t know his parent’s fates or even his actual age upon the curse! Those conflicting details surrounding this incredibly intricate plot are what made many later works based on Beauty and the Beast focus on exploring some specific points. There's that weird timeline thing involving Lumiere (who suggests they were cursed for ten years), yet Prince Adam got transformed into this beast before he turned 21, showing that significant temporal variations occur only through those mystical magical interactions that were only seen at very specific moments, particularly involving that crucial storyline surrounding the enchanted rose!
And don't even get started on Chip. This plot detail isn’t quite easily answered and there exists an explanation that he’s the prince's son – a rather amazing fan theory!
A Prince Adam movie would flesh this all out. The narrative alone easily could contain all the relevant scenes that would make for a full standalone film with far greater character exploration than previously had ever existed.
Other Princes Deserving the Spotlight
While Prince Adam is superb for this type of project; many other Disney princes should receive this special opportunity! Consider Prince Naveen from The Princess and the Frog — he has some awesome backstory that never really got fully explored! His backstory details how much extravagance in his lifestyle led to his parents cutting him off, which led him to a disastrous scheme involving an attempted arranged marriage for personal gain and other motivations. Then there’s Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid – virtually no backstory in the original! His expanded backstory within the live action remake shows this lack.
Conclusion: It's Time for Disney to Give Prince Adam His Due
Disney's choice is certainly weird, showing questionable priority! Focusing on the fairly uninteresting Prince Charming and overlooking the tragically cursed Prince Adam demonstrates an immense missed opportunity and is extremely perplexing; this is particularly questionable given the success of earlier Disney projects with different themes!
Giving Prince Adam his own story, filled with magic, mystery, and maybe a touch of romance; easily has far more compelling potential; resulting in creating far richer and compelling narratives based upon existing yet overlooked materials! It would offer the possibility to both deepen and enhance an already existing and famous story, for a new generation of viewers and also could attract another generation unfamiliar with the source material; it’s really a win-win opportunity!
