Release: April 22, 2014
Film: The Swan Princess
Tagline: This isn’t my idea of fun.
This review contains examples of:
- Actor Allusion: In-Universe, the Critic prefers John Cleese's other role which featured him doing a French accent, and dubs it over the frog (voiced by Cleese)...Jean-Bob!French Guard: I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries! Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
- Analogy Backfire: During the scene where Derek wants everything on the ball to be "like a swan", the Critic points out that a swan actually has a number of disgusting things (like eating its excrement and being dirty, being an animal and all) and as such the insistence is rather goofy.
- Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: A very literal example of this trope is put in play during the scene where the animals come under attack by the crocodiles while rescuing Odette; noting their uncanny resemblance to the crocodile from All Dogs Go To Heaven, he calls it "Big Lipped Alligator Stealing".
- Hold Up Your Score: When Derek demonstrates his improbable arrow-catching skills, the Critic asks the "judges" (Legolas, Katniss Everdeen and Hawkeye) for their opinion on that. They all hold up scorecards that say "bullshit".
- Oh, Crap!: The Critic's reaction upon being handed a "Seuss Zero" drink and realizing what he's about to review next.
- Review Ironic Echo: The tagline "This isn't my idea of fun" comes from the song "This Is My Idea".
- Running Gag:
- Critic pointing out how strange Rothbart's name is, especially considering that he's the villain.
- Derek only loving Odette for her beauty and nothing else.
- Shout-Out: During the archery scene, Critic wonders if the scene will turn into a Saint Sebastian
homage, and then ponders if the viewer would even get that reference.Critic: (looks at viewer) "You don't even know who he is, do you?"(screen switches to Google tab, Critic pops back up)Critic: "Don't go to Google, your soul knows the truth!" - Strawman Has a Point: Invoked by the Critic with the Running Gag about Derek only loving Odette for her physical appearance. At one point in the review, he agrees with Derek and actually questions what else is there to Odette besides her beauty, as he considers her to be a Vanilla Protagonist.
- Take That!: During the Critic's rambling about Derek wanting everything on the ball to be "like a swan" and how it's stupid, he proposes about people dressing like swans… and brings out a photo of Bjork's "swan" dress, which makes him shudder and say that it's an even worse idea.
- The Critic makes a snarky jab at Blue Sky Studios in the epilogue.
Critic: God, that's twice now I've been mean to Blue Sky Studios. I should probably stop if they ever made something good. - Witch Hunt: Once the Critic points out that the description for Rothbart's beast form (a "great animal") doesn't exactly makes for a small number of suspects once Derek figures out that it's a transforming animal, he puts up a sketch with Senator Joseph McCarthy asking a number of cartoon animals if they are the Great Animal and Derek killing them with an arrow regardless of their answer. It culminates with the Critic having to dodge an arrow himself.
- Vanilla Protagonist: The Critic's in-universe opinion of the protagonists is a double subversion. He thinks the stuff they went through as kids was interesting and unique compared to what else was out at the time, but after the Time Skip, they end up becoming generic with nothing to make them stand out.
Would you feed this to a swan?
