Well, I loved them! I made the mistake of looking at the reviews on Goodreads before I got around to reading it. They made me a little apprehensive, but I needn't have been. The first quarter or so of the books is mostly a retelling of the movie, but they get much, much better once that bit is passed. I'm not sure how much free reign the writers have here - it seems like they were told to take the story and make it a little darker.
A Whole New World takes place in Agrabah, and as such used a lot of ideas from Islam and Arabic culture. It's also quite something to read about Jafar twisting someones head off by magic in a book under a Disney label. Who doesn't love to idea of Princess Jasmine running a resistance movement to a corrupt dictator? Also, it is Jasmine and Genie who strike up more of a rapport, rather than Genie and Aladdin. Perhaps because of the tone of the book, Genie goes from being a comic figure to a tragic one. However, he still has lines that made me laugh. I did feel like this lost some of the whimsy of the story. Other characters, such as Iago, are completely left out. You can have a darker story and still keep some lighthearted elements in.
Once Upon A Dream is quite different from it's movie source. It doesn't follow the story of the movie very much at all, beginning with Aurora trapped in a dream world that she had thought was real. One of the best things here is that Aurora is very much the main character, and she is a joy. She gets the benefit of page-time that she is usually denied and it proceeds to make her a well-developed character. She has huge insecurities over the idea of running a kingdom, and her description of her feelings may ring a bell with people who suffer from depression. It deals with the idea of how you can't possibly know everything about a person after only meeting them once. It can be a surprise to read a Disney-based book talking about things like moon-blood (periods) and chastity! However, I found this to be a plus, as many books shy away from these topics altogether.
I was really excited to start reading As Old As Time. Belle is basically me. The early part of the book interspaces Belle's story with extracts from her parents' lift before her. It works well since that part is really mostly a straight-up account of the events of the movie. It doesn't really pick up until Act 3, but it's worth it to read on. It's gets seriously dark, darker than you'd expect from a book with 'Disney' splashed across it. I've mentioned this about every book in the series, and I just want to get the point across, okay? They are more aimed at teens and older children who can handle darker material. One of the things I did like is that the whimsical parts of the movie stay in the book. Some of these book do leave out the more comedic elements of the film. The talking furniture are present in the book, and feel like proper, well-developed characters. Also, the conclusion - I don't want to spoil anything, but it's less foregone than you might think.
Recommended for older Disney fans!
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