All Reviews

I watched this movie with my three kids a boy age 7 girls age 5 and 3. I wasn't sure if they would be interested in watching a movie completely in story board form. They loved it and watched the whole thing. Some of the singing quality bothered me and could be polished. I did find the first song that the princesses sing is still stuck in my head and was something I would listen to on the radio. I also would like to see the humor polished more.

While the story itself is a bit weak, it's easily modified down the road, plus the dialogue and musical numbers more than make up for it. With a proper budget and solid production talent attached this could be the next big animated film of the year.

Still needs a bit of work - needs more action; animation. Colour is good, story is good, characters are good - love the fortune cookie premonitions - I actually played all my fortune cookie lottery numbers one year - didn`t win anything substantial. Extra funny to see it used here. Keep working on it - it`s worth finishing and getting it out to the public! Todd`s Aunt by marriage - Rosy.

All the voices are great. Also the backgrounds and scenry are better in this one, got to see the window. Also YEA! Yannick has a family! Adds more to it, ecspecially his mother!
THoughts to add to this film that are in the second.
1) Add Hammy!
2) Bring in Bob's aprons. Love them!
3) Bob's compliments on how Yannick brightens the kingdom. (Very touching moment!)
4) Why the fairies protect the world and curese the lake besides to protect.
5) Yannick and December should have more moments together.
6) December should at least give Janurary a dirty look when she discovers Yannick drank!

Otherwise love!!!!!!! <3!

This is a story of a young man who falls in love with the youngest of twelve princesses after one night out at a dance club. The day afterwards the princess and her 11 sisters are confined to their rooms every night by their crazy father. The young man becomes a flower boy delivering flowers to the princesses to get close to the princess he has fallen in love with. The King discovers that his daughters keep wearing out their shoes every night and then sends suitors in with his daughters to discover what happens to their shoes. The princesses have discovered a secret passage way to an enchanted night club in the floor of their bedroom and after dancing each night they make the suitors drink from the lake that surrounds the club which turns them into zombies never to return to the world above. With the aid of an invisibility cloak the young hero is able to discover all of this and pursue the young princess who he loves. The oldest sister discovers this secret romance and attempts to preserve their secret dance club by locking away her sister and seducing the young man to drink from the lake. The day is saved when the King is brought down to the secret dance club by means of using the invisibility cloak and the fairy that helps him remembers the second half of the spell that conveniently breaks the power of drinking from the lake when someone who is in love drinks from it.

This is a very weak premise and plot that rambles along told mostly through exposition. The primary flaw is that there is no depth to the characters or their objective. The pinnacle of existence according to this story is to be able to dance and party all night. The main character falls in love with the princess for no apparent reason upon meeting her once, and then all of a sudden she and her sisters are locked away because of a fortune from a fortune cookie read by their father. This is a rather simple and convenient, if totally unconvincing, catalyst for the story.

The boy then decides to "write his own story" and pursue the princess not knowing how, and again conveniently runs into a man who for no apparent reason delivers flowers to the princesses on a daily basis, but again for some unclear reason can not do it himself so he has to hire a "flower boy" to do this rather simple task of handing out the flowers to the princesses. Not to mention he happens to be in good with a magical fairy. A couple of convenient turns of events for our hero who really doesn't need to do anything to move this story along as the writer has conveniently let the story happen to him instead of the hero making the story happen.

The story drones on and on and continues to conveniently unfold with a stolen Harry Potter convention of an invisibility cloak to reveal to the hero exactly what is going on. The climax also ends when the fairy conveniently remembers the second half of the spell on the lake that releases the hero from the spell and the King offers him his daughter, etc.

Aside from the convenience of the story happening to the main character, there is also the problem of the complete lack of character in the characters. Fairy tales typically require a moral objective to demonstrate or illustrate. Near as I can tell the moral tale in this story is that partying is true happiness, which is about as shallow as one can come up with. There is a slight hint of love in the story between Yannick and December, but what is there to love? Neither character demonstrates any strength of character worthy of any sympathy. They are attracted to each other for no other reason than the writer has designated them to be attracted to each other. Even the antagonist lacks character, so much so that I am actually guessing that the antagonist is supposed to be January, the oldest sister. The problem is January isn't responsible for the story's dilemma? The King is, because he is crazy, but even his craziness is pretty juvenile and doesn't make much sense. It seems to me that the January character would have overthrown her father long before anyone was ever banished to their bed room. But we don't even see any hint of January's character until over half way through the piece.

Finally, this is intended as a children's piece and as a father to a 9 year old daughter I would not want her to think that dancing all night, clubbing and partying is the be all and end all to life. Truth be told I don't think she would even find that to be appealing. I also don't think any father would send a suitor to spend the night with his daughters to discover what they are doing at night behind closed doors.

My recommendation to the author is to get a copy of Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" ( http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Thousand-Faces-Bollingen/dp/1577315936/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1313621750&sr=8-3 ) and learn about the Hero's Journey. In a nutshell, the hero must be thrust into the story against his will, learn from the characters he encounters what is important, overcome his own faults and failings and then eventually confront the overwhelming odds successfully for the good of not just himself but for his community. A couple of other notes, make your bad guy,...well bad. Give your hero a character arch so the audience can grow with him, this means he needs a flaw or two to overcome and finally provide some depth to your heroine. Lastly, for goodness sake lose the whole night club thing.

The animation was cute and all but story is where you need to start.

In short, the director has done it in style, looked like the revival of the art of story telling with good dialogues and music. The uniqueness in the character names and the voice over was apt. Worth a watch.

I think the fairy tale of the Twelve Dancing Princesses is an intriguing one, and basing a musical movie on it is a great idea.

I love the music. The theme itself is captivating, magical, and mysterious, as the original tale is. I enjoyed the disco/dance club approach to the dancing. I definitely think that makes it rather fun. The "Fish in the Sea" song did seem a little out of place. It kind of annoyed me, actually. By itself, I think I would like the song more. I needed more leading up to it or transition of some kind to want that song to be there. (Although I think if you took a "Moulin Rouge" approach to the movie, this song would fit in that kind of scenario.)

I know this is just a storyboard, but be that as it may, let me just say that I think there is a serious lack in development in this as it stands at this point. I think the plotline lacks depth. Things progress too fast to allow much development. Everything is almost. . . too easy. The king becomes mad just like that. The princesses are out dancing all of a sudden. Yannick gets his mother's blessing to leave home and then gets a job at the palace, just like that. He easily finds a way to figure out the secret without any real effort or trouble on his part.

I was bothered by Bob, the gardener, narrating EVERYTHING. Having a narrator can work, but he explained too much too fast. There was nothing left for me to discover for myself. There is a mantra that good writers follow--"Show, don't tell." You must treat the reader (or viewer) as intelligent, and smart enough to work things out on his own. Leave a trail of breadcrumbs for him to follow, and you'll reel him in a little at a time, and hook his interest more surely than if you just tell him everything. I didn't WANT to be told and explained everything--a little exposition at the beginning perhaps is good. Explaining every little mystery and magical thing is kind of insulting. Even young children are smart, and don't need to be told everything either. Trust the audience to figure more things out. SHOW us, don't TELL us. I do see a lot of potential for this story to become great, it just needs more depth, more mystery, more time for things to pan out. Also, WHY does Bob know everything?

I wanted to see more character development, too. Why did Yannick's mother just tell him to go? That seemed out of character for a peasant farm mistress (without some sort of development to see more sides to her than just her obvious farm life). Make Yannick more of a real person. He is rather flat and unchanging--make him more interesting, give him some more life, maybe some more struggles. Yes, he had the trials of just being a poor farm boy, and learning how to show his love, but I didn't really feel like either of those things were that big of a deal for him.

The king needed more depth, too. It was hard to take him seriously, because only his craziness was really shown. I wanted to see more grief, maybe a glimpse of things from before his insanity, to be able to take him more seriously. It was sadness that brought him to his breaking point, and I didn't really see enough grief that was believable. I wanted to be able to see the transition from grief to madness (I almost felt like he was always just this crazy old man). Then I would have been able to sympathize more and also take him seriously when he came down to the princesses at the end and helped bring resolution to the story.

The eleven unkind princesses lacked depth of character. Sure, they were angry, rude, embittered--and that is all I see. Surely they should be somewhat conflicted inside--surely they feel some guilt, some sense of wrongness in what they are doing to all the suitors. Surely they feel the grief of their mother's passing, and some at their father's passing into madness as well. What is the development from grief to escapism (dancing in the tavern) to anger and rebellion and denial. . . ? Surely there is some goodness in them, too, just as there is in December. They are just dealing with their grief and frustration differently than she is.

Bob was annoying. Franc was annoying, too. I think there is a place for annoying characters, but they have to be likeable enough in the first place that the audience will tolerate the annoying things. If not, it is hard to want to keep watching. Don't overdo the same gags over and over and over again. Less is more. Subtlety is more effective!

Much of the dialogue was predictable, cliche, and supposed-to-be-funny (but not so much). I think much of that goes back to the need for more character development.

Overall, despite all my criticism, I DID like this. I think there is LOTS of potential. Bring the plot, characters, and visual stuff up to par with the music, and it will be amazing.

And I think there IS potential for either live acting or animation. I think live action would be fun, as it seems that most family-friendly movies are only animated these days. I loved "Moulin Rouge" and "Alice in Wonderland." It would be interesting to have this follow that pattern.

The store was fun and entertaining. Music was great. The beginning was slow with more back story than needed. Once we got into the main line of action (about 6 minutes into the story) it was well done.

It may have a hard time reaching a large commercial audience but it does have commercial potential. You spent a lot of time and energy on this story and it shows.

Congrats on a good job.

Disclosure: I'm a long-time fan of Rob Gardner's work, and even played bass on a few recorded tracks once upon a time. Moreso, the woman who voices Franc the Fairy in this storyboard is my very talented sister, but I would still enjoy her work if she weren't.

<SPOILER ALERT> I'm not particularly careful in my review to avoid spoilers, so don't read it unless you've seen the film.

I think this project has a lot of potential. Rob has a great talent for songwriting, and I found several of the tunes to be quite catchy. There were a few that I wanted to be more sing-along-y...maybe have the lyrics work less at moving plot along and more at being clever and memorable.

A few reviewers have commented on the content and pacing, and while I agree, I think that one will solve the other: tighten up the parts that move too slow, and suddenly you've got time for a little more character development. You know...maybe Yannick makes the flowers prettier and prettier each day, working extra hard at winning over the 12 Princesses. January needs some fatal flaw...maybe she had a favorite beau who was planning to propose the night the king confines them, and he thought that she stiffed him. And maybe we see him working hard to uncover the Princesses' secrets, and he figures out that Yannick is onto them, and...well, I'm just thinking that January and the King's Madness don't deserve to be the only antagonists. I want to love January...I want her misbehavior not to stem from just plain old oldest-sister-bossiness, but some deeper hurt that Yannick manages somehow to heal as well.

And while I already disclaimed my personal fandom for the actress voicing Franc, I still think the part is very well-written and voiced. I actually snorted at the "Row row row your boat / Don't drink from the lake" line and the "nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh" part after January scolds her. She and the gardner work well together, and I think they make great "sidekicks".

As a final word, I think this might actually work better as an animated film. It allows for greater suspension of disbelief, and I think that things like the zombification and any sort of anachronistic setting (e.g. spears and vinyl records and fecund monarchs and Chinese food) would be better served.

Definitely worth a look by Amazon.

I would prefer it live-action and a bit more serious. NO MUSIC.
It has the potential for some excellent visuals.
Basically, I don't want a kids' movie.

There isn't a star rating for songs!

Anyway, I was just browsing through and found this little GEM! I had to drag my twin brother over to see this great little test film. Very nice.

We both agree, what really makes this stand out besides the great storyboards is the MUSIC. We found the songs to be engaging and totally captivating. Great Job. I felt like singing along...

I love the concept and the characters. I think some of the dialogue and overall story structure needs some fleshing out, but was good for the storyboard. The music is amazing and had my kids dancing around. My son keeps telling me he's going to "write me another story". It's a great mix of fun songs and more emotional ones. The voice talent is impressive as well. I would love to see this as an animated movie to see with my kids, but I could also enjoy it live-action musical style.

My kids and I thoroughly enjoyed this!! It has been a long, long, long time since we've watched something together that was equally enjoyable for the adults and kids. The characters were charming, the dialogue was witty and the music was great! My kids want the soundtrack.

It seems ready for distribution now!

Twelve Princesses is something our whole family can enjoy. We especially love the music and the endearing characters. Our 3-year-old daughter asks to watch it every day and wanders around the house singing all the catchy songs. But, even for adults there is a riveting story line that keeps you interested and entertained. I appreciate that it is clean and appealing for all ages. I would love to see this in final form and on the big screen. Excellent work to all involved.

I thought this was a wonderful Test Movie. The opening credits transported me into the world of Fairy Tales. The music was outstanding. I thought the story, while copied from a classic, wasn't enough for a movie, unless it was marketed as a 10-and-under DVD. I'll tell you what it needs. Horses. How can you have a decent Fairy Tale without a Prince riding in on a white horse?

The soundtrack was fantastic and the comedy was spot on. It was very engaging and people will love it.

I loved the SONGS! I loved the FAIRY!! She needs more lines- the chick is hilarious! :)

I wanted to see more interaction/dialogue/spark with December and Yanik in their first meeting so I believe that his running away from home to chase a girl is a good idea. I was hoping for a little tenderness/bonding to come back out of January's crankiness with her Dad in the end. She's the villain- but can't stay that way... she's a Princess! Love the disco dancing scene- and the go-go dresses/boots. ;)

I plugged it in to my big screen and kept forgetting that I wasn't watching a finished product. A very professional storyboard with an engaging story and soundtrack. I can totally picture it as an animated feature like "Tangled" or live-action a-la-Baz Luhrmann. It has great potential and I would love to see a family-friendly movie with fabulous music like this on the screen again!

I thought the storyline was an original twist on a favorite story! I loved the music. I was wishing I could actually see the performers because the emotion was incredible.

I thought the dance music was great and found myself wanting to dance with it. I loved the humor between Franc and Bob. It was very clever. There were several styles of music which gave great variety.

Why bother waiting, we all know 12 Princeasses is going to win!

I have always loved the story and the music was amazing.

I think you did an awesome job. Really fun to watch. The 3D technique and music articulate the emotions very well for this genre. This really demonstrates the test movie concept working. Congratulations!

The opening scene says it all - it immediately pulls you in with the engaging animation and beautiful music. The quirky king and all his collections promise an entertaining story, and the rest of the film does not disappoint! My princess-obsessed daughter agrees - she particular loves all the fun music. I could definitely see some of these songs becoming music hits - you can't help but want to sing and dance along!