All Reviews

I would LOVE to see this with LIVE actors and geared toward an older audience PG or PG-13. The themes (partying till dawn, sleeping till noon, being selfish, sneaky etc…) are TOO OLD for little girls. My girls watched it with me (6 year old twins) I would NOT approve of them watching it over and over like they do other princess movies. They did like the music and story, but were often confused by the narrator and fairy parts.

I would be OK with them listening to the songs, BUT with the dialog added in, it’s too grown up. Plus the dialog brings up age-inappropriate questions or uses words I don’t want them using – “it’s your lucky night”, “my first time . . .the first time”, “tramp”, “skanky hags”, “idiot”, “club”, “doody heap”, “is that a hoe, don’t get your hands dirty” etc. These words/references don’t belong in a kids movie. Plus, other than dancing all night and lying to their dad, the sisters did nothing to be “tramps” or “skanks”.

Anyway, the music is GREAT, I LOVE the songs! Wouldn’t it be fun to see Amanda Seyfried as December!!! That would be so cool. Live actors would make this a fabulous musical. That's my vote!

Other thoughts: I liked the concept but the characters needed more development for me. Yannick seemed weak, and I wanted him to show some umph! Why did December even like him and vice versa – they hardly talked. Maybe they could go on a walk, talk, or share some kind of experience together other than the bouquet handing out? Maybe show some of the conflict in December’s mind about her sisters. Maybe she could try to confide in Yannick but then hold back. Build the tension.
I’d like to know more about the other sisters too. It would be nice in the end to have their hearts softened toward their dad. Learning about their mother’s love for dancing seems to be enough to bring them back together as a family but it doesn’t happen.

I felt the gardener and fairy took over too much of the movie that could have been filled with more character development in other areas like Yannick or the other sisters. Specifically, the conversation where Yannick came to barrow the cloak and Bob and Franc got talking about the tutu, and Bob being fat, and her saying “no offense” etc. That whole conversation felt slow and awkward. They were very fun characters though, just too much of them.

Also when I’m watching a movie I want to be focused on the movie and characters so any cliché, or out of place dialog spoken by characters breaks me out of my movie trance especially if my brain goes to some other place where I’ve heard that line before.

A couple out of place moments for me: when Doyle said “I’m the beginning, middle, and end” (took me to the Bible) then right after he said that, during the song the boys said “holy shoes” (in reference to the worn out shoes of course) but the two comments back to back were distracting to me. Also Doyle said to the king “No, I will not try, I will do” and I swear he sounded like Yoda when he said it. Doyle also said “kindness begins with me” which sounded like a church song, though this bothered me less than his other lines. It’s all a matter of opinion. I'd say go through the dialog with a fine toothed comb for things like this and improve them, make the lines more unique.

This is such a good film already! I hope fine tuning the dialog and adding more to the character development will rise those parts of the movie up to meet the strength of the music (which I've been listening to a lot!). If that happens I think the movie will come together in a big way! Can’t wait to see what happens with it!

I watched it with my 6 & 8 year old daughters since they will be the targeted audience for this kind of movie. The word I heard most was "Hilarious!", and they were really laughing with the dialogues and all so I know that they really enjoyed this movie.
Whether you decide to make it animated, which I think is very cute, or make it like Tim Burton style, please make it as colorful as it is now. Not the darker version of it.
Also, I would like to note that my daughters compared it to 1 of the shows they watched on HBO's "Happily Ever After" segments and Barbie's 12 Dancing Princesses so hopefully you can do something to distinguish it from these movies.
The soundtrack is also nice. Imagining like Kristin Chenoweth or Lea Salonga singing. Hopefully Disney can lend them.
Btw, my 6 year old asked "Why are they eating Chinese Food?". Maybe, the 12 princesses can be from all kind of nation & not the blonde one getting the Prince or something.

12 Princesses, Rob's Storyboard is a interesting story. Though one may have painfully wait for the first few scenes to pass before they want to finish watching. Rob's Storyboard is good but not intended for a general audience.

The songs are well composed but the dialogue can be very painful. Though the personality of the mad king fitted very well, It would be nice if the other characters acted a little more mature. The sense of humor many characters have will get very annoying to the older audience. The lack of facial animation plays a small part in this so hopefully the finished product will be better.

The musical shows great potential. At times the story seemed as deep and attention grabbing as Disney's Tangled. However there is a great need for improvement on other areas before it can surpass a title such as that.

Rob Gardner is a fantastic composer and I myself am a huge fan. If the finished product is to remain the same they really should go with an animated film. Hopefully they will avoid making something like "Wonder Why" and try their darnedest to make a unique musical that everyone including children, teens, and adults can enjoy.

I will follow this project and continue to review it as it develops.

Loved this. The story is very intriguing and the music is absolutely brilliant. My 4 year old son was just as into the movie as I was.

I liked this musical, and your storyboard cartoon works great as vehicle to tell this tale, but you need more space/story between songs to build enough interest in the characters, especially the other sisters, who just seem to be there because you had to fill a month. If movie length is of concern you could have two or three suitors at one time joining the girls in the room, break up the one suitor per night deal, add more story and songs. January will control who gets who as a date, and the others will make themselves unattractive to steer the suitors to said sisters. At the end all spells will be broken and the rest of the sisters will have mates -- Happy ending for all.

This is beautiful. Well done. This should be in theater. Something different from other cartoon/amination that out there. I know my niece and god daughter will over play this movie and learn every words if the have this movie. my only weakness was the word like tramp etc.. could find a better word choose.. Over all great movie.

The music in the opening was the only theme that grabbed me. I couldn't really place myself in the world because it wasn't clear when it was set due to the anachronisms. I enjoyed it but I found myself skipping sections because the lyrics and dialogue seemed a little cliche. The story arc was fine but fairly undramatic until the very end. Usually at the end of Act 1, there's a plot miniclimax and I didn't find one. Yannick needs to be tested more as the protagonist for us to care more about him because when he drank from the lake I found myself thinking, "There's nothing about him that would shatter my world if he become a dancing zombie except that I know it should because he's the protagonist."

better in Movie 2:
Yannick's character: I like the farm sequence better with the cutsie animal names & getting kicked off the farm etc...
The princesses I prefer ditsy & mean not evil.
I like the story of the fairies being locked away & plotting revenge better.
Words in the "better to have loved than lost." I don't like how in the 1st it referenced "garden tools"
Movie 2 was much more kid appropriate :-)


better in Movie 1:
I'm glad it did not have a lot of movie then all of the sudden Once upon a time.
I liked that Yannick's character wasn't in prison, but hired on to follow his dream.
I liked the narration and dialogues between bob-n-franc.
I really liked the ending a LOT better in 1



Me personally:
I'd like to see fairies locked away story followed by the last scenes of movie 1 but with the fairies living free again.
I'd like to see he beginning of movie 1 with once upon a time part first. Then, meet yannick in club/pub. Yanick goes home, dreams of being amazing/wowing girl then wakes up to the brooster follow movie 2 yannick intro. He gets kicked off farm and goes to write another story to get the girl meets Bob hires on to be flower boy & follows movie 2 from there.

It's hard to do something fresh with a princess movie, but Rob has really put together a charming, escapist fantasy with 12 Princesses. While it is just a "test movie" with partial animation, I thought the imagery was top notch and very well directed. He really used the characters and settings to make the story emotional and funny. The concept added just enough of a twist to a fairy tale that it kept me involved and continued putting a surprised smile on my face. Best of all, he kept things simple and let the characters just play against each other. It's a classic love story with a fairy tale twist. The dialogue was very snappy and added some great humor, which kept the story from being too melodramatic. And of course, there's the music, which was really enjoyable and kept the pace moving along. I'm more of an action oriented audience member, but I checked this out because it won. I can see why it got the top prize for the month. Great job, Rob. This looked like it was a lot of work and it certainly shows on the screen. Well done.

This would make a great animated movie for children! In fact, I can't believe Disney hasn't already done this story, with their propensity for princesses. Great music. I'd love to see this in full production.