True love is never ridiculous.
An Italian live-action series of the 1990s, of romantic fantasy, loosely based on the Italian folktale Fanta-Ghiro the Beautiful.
Princess Fantaghirò is the third daughter of a king, who bemoans never having had a son. But Fantaghirò (Alessandra Martines) is as if she were his son, actually: she loves fencing and fighting. In the first film, her kingdom is at war against the nearby country. It's resolved when Fantaghirò and Romualdo, the heir of the other kingdom, fall in love. Then in the next movies, Fantaghirò will fight a black queen, a dark sorcerer and his mother, and the emperor of evil. And sometimes, she has to save/find Romualdo.
Broadcast in several countries (Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, etc.), especially near Christmas.
Lamberto Bava shoot others TV movies which were also Romantic Fantasy: Desideria, The Princess and the Pauper and Princess Alisea.
In 1999, it recieved an animated TV series adaptation.
Fantaghirò provides examples of:
- Aerith and Bob: The three princesses: Caterina, Carolina,...Fantaghirò?
- Alliterative Name: Caterina and Carolina. Also Romualdo, Cataldo, and Ivaldo, his best friends.
- Babies Ever After: Kinda subverted with Caterina and Carolina - Cataldo and Ivaldo didn't waste a second to knock them up...if only the series ended at #3...
- Beware the Nice Ones: The White Witch/White Knight is the Big Good of the first two movies, but pissing her off is a REALLY bad idea, as the army general ( who gets Taken for Granite) and the Black Witch ( who gets DISINTEGRATED!) find out.
- Big Bad:
- Big Brother Instinct: Tarabas develops one for Smeralda: By the end of the movie God help you if you try to harm that child.
- Black Magic: Subversion - Tarabas can still use his extensive dark powers after his Heel–Face Turn, but chooses not to.
- Brainless Beauty: Carolina, who didn't learn how to read. It's a tradition of the reign that females wouldn't be taught to read or write, and even if they were able to, they couldn't unless told so by a man.
- Brainy Brunette: Caterina. Her intelligence is her main quality, like good looks for Carolina and rebellious temper for Fantaghirò.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: In addition to the Black Witch's own Big-Breast Pride, when her minions construct a rock boy to resurrect her in the third movie, the boy minion makes sure to use the biggest round stones he can find to form her chest.
- Card-Carrying Villain: The Black Witch, in stark contrast with the slightly more realistic (the army general in the first movie) or nuanced (Tarabas) main villains of the series, is a full-blown cartoon villain on par with the likes of Skeletor or Ursula, from the pointless nastiness to the hamminess. Hell, in her first appearance she hammily boasts about how evil and nasty and unbearable she is!
- The Chosen One:
- Smeralda in the third is the child fated to destroy Tarabas' evil reign.
- Tarabas is a dark example. He's not happy.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Even when being called the Evil Sorcerer / Evil Overlord of EVIL, Tarabas has a track record of protesting against his mother killing prisoners and Mooks, trying to earn the trust of children he kidnapped (though conjuring up candy might not have been the best of ideas), saving his adversary several times and falling in love with her in the process, releasing Fantaghirò of her And Now You Must Marry Me promise...
- Death Is Not Permanent: At least any magical one. (A good old blade, in contrast, is very permanent - Tarabas' revival of Smeralda's parents at the end of film 3 is an illusion, and everyone, probably including Smeralda, is aware of that.)
- Denied Food as Punishment: One of Fantaghirò's punishments as a child, together with being put into a well. The King, however, looks very heartwarmed when he discovers Carolina and Caterina giving food to their little sister and doesn't say anything.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Inverted - Xellesia claims not to love Tarabas, but her first thought after being rescued in the fourth movie is to see if her son's all right.
- Face–Heel Turn: Subverted - it seems Prince Parsel was the Evil Sorcerer all along... except he just used him as a "means of travel."
- Fauxreigner: Princess Angelica's kingdom is made to look like Asia.
◊ But the actors are Caucasians.
- The Girl Who Fits This Slipper: Romualdo asks ladies of the kingdom to come, so he can compare their eyes to the eyes of the girl in the forest (the only part of Fantaghirò he has seen).
- Good Hurts Evil: After being forced to commit one act of goodness (via blackmail), the Dark Witch has her Black Magic powers greatly weakened - for instance, instead of turning her minions into worms, she conjures up vases of flowers. Xellesia tries to convince Tarabas that this trope will apply to him as well.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: The Black Queen. Her power is weaker in films 3 and 4 so she is compelled to follow the heroes but she doesn't want to help them, sometimes betrays them, and regrets her power and villainy. Then in film 5, she sentences Fantaghirò to death.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: Tarabas in movie 3, and he doesn't know: he was raised to be the most evil wizard ever while being a good person all along. He usually kicks the dog and pets the dog at the same time.
- Important Haircut: Fantaghirò did it in the first film in a Joan of Arc style. Later she does it again every time she's going to war. Oddly, her hair is suddenly long again in final scenes, even though they're not flashforwards.
- It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Smeralda has her parents killed and her kingdom destroyed, while Tarabas was raised without any affection and cursed to shift into a monster if he tries to kiss his loved ones.
- It Will Never Catch On: The two witches invent the Flying Broomstick in lack of a better transportation idea, and the Black Witch bitches they'll become the laughing stock of witchhood.
- Love Before First Sight: Angelica falls in love with Tarabas based on the books she reads about him - you know, those describing him as the Darkest of Wizards, Ultimate Evil, etc. She purposely tries to have a Meet Cute moment with him, encourages him to use Black Magic whenever possible, wants to be his Dark Mistress and tries to pull a Murder the Hypotenuse when Fantaghirò arrives. She then searches the world for him despite hearing from the man himself that he doesn't love her (she gets better). Eventually, she quite happily agrees to wait to be his Second Love.
- Love Redeems: His feelings for Fantaghiro leed to Tarabas' Heel–Face Turn.
- Luke, I Am Your Father:
- At the end of film 2, Fantaghirò realises that under the "Black King" helmet and loud voice, it's her Brainwashed dad.
- At the end of film 4, Tarabas and Darken are sword duelling, and Darken shows that his younger self looked like Tarabas. Then Xellesia enters and yells the reason: "Don't kill him, he's your father!"
- Orcus on His Throne: Subverted in the fact that Tarabas has no interest in decimating the good guys and couldn't care less about them before he hears one of them has sworn vengeance against him for reasons unknown to him. Then he goes off to defy the trope.
- Pair the Spares: Done rather well, actually - Angelica's childish love for Tarabas develops into a genuine desire for him to be happy, even if not with her, while Tarabas learns to distinguish between positive emotions and lets go of his unrequited love for Fantaghirò. We don't see if they do... but they're on their way.
- Prophecies Are Always Right: Film 5, "The Eater will be eaten." Meet Chekhovs Woodworm.
- Really 700 Years Old: All mages are said to be old and immortal.
- Rebellious Princess: Fantaghirò (It's even the title of the first movie). And Smeralda, as well: she often uses a slingshot and wears trousers like Fantaghirò. Both are Tomboy Princess.
- Redemption Equals Death: Xellesia. In the fourth film, she confesses that she has always loved Tarabas but has had to keep her love hidden from him. She proves this by sacrificing herself so that Tarabas can escape to safety.
- Rule of Symbolism: Everything in the first movie. Even the pets (the loyal Carolina likes dogs, the intelligent Caterina likes cats, and the goose befriended by Fantaghirò is sacred to Juno, queen of the gods) and the clothing (the King and Fantaghirò, his future heir, both dress in the same tonality of blue).
- Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Lampshaded in the fourth movie: thanks to his training in dark magic Tarabas doesn't even know the difference between friendship and love.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: A royal child under the age of ten shall defeat Tarabas's evil kingdom.
- Shapeshifting: The white witch (turns into a goose, a knight, an old guy, a hot chick, an old lady...). And the black witch as well (an eagle, roses, cristal, Fantaghirò look alike...). Tarabas turns into an eagle.
- Shout-Out: A chinese princess named Angelica in an Italian production...now where did we meet one, NamesTheSame...
- Spell My Name With An S: It's pronounced 'Fantagaro' in French. And the title was Cavern of the golden rose, referring to the beginning of film 1.
- Spikes of Villainy: Romualdo's father's ancestral armor looks like the lovechild of a porcupine and a needle cushion. This trope is defied, though - in his very first appearance, Romualdo points out how horribly useless and uncomfortable the armor is.
- Squishy Wizard: Tarabas has some trouble fighting after renouncing Black Magic. Fantaghirò exaggerates it a bit, though, as he somehow managed to learn a bit of swordfighting in-between movies.
- Stalker with a Crush: Played with. Tarabas tries to find out who Fantaghirò is and accidentally ends up accompanying her and Smeralda for a while. In about a day, it's Love at First Sight for him - but in an inversion, he doesn't want to know her name or see her ever again, partly due to What Is This Thing You Call "Love"? and knowing that the sentiment won't be returned.
- Stay in the Kitchen: The King's disappointment worsens when Fantaghirò grows up refusing to be meek and obedient as all women in his kingdom are expected to be.
- Sweet Polly Oliver:
- The three princesses in the first film, who are going to war as "knights" disguised in full armours. (Luckily, Caterina and Carolina think this is a drag and go home soon - going against Ivaldo and Cataldo probably would have ended as Curb-Stomp Battle at best and One-Hit Kill at worst.)
- Fantaghirò continues this in later films, wearing short hair and men's outfits. She's often mistaken for a guy. Surprisingly, children can tell her gender better than adults.
- Talking Animal: They all can, and stones, flowers or food can be very chatty as well.
- Villain Decay: The Black Witch. Because she does help Fantaghirò in the third film, albeit reluctantly, her evil powers are weakened. In the fourth and fifth films, she constantly tries to get back at Fantaghirò so she can be all-powerful again.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Tarabas' warriors are completely useless when they get wet.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Lightning and Bolt just disappear in the fourth movie. Also, we never learn the fate of Prince Parsel.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Boy, does Tarabas not get it at all. Friendship? Stop inventing new words! Love is love, right?
