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The Wild Swans (Japanese: 世界名作童話 白鳥の王子, Hepburn: Sekai Meisaku Dôwa: Hakuchou no Ouji) is 1977 Japanese animated drama fantasy adventure film, directed by Nobutaka Nishizawa and Yuji Endo. It is an anime film produced by Toei Animation and inspired by the Brothers Grimm fairy tale The Six Swans, later reworked by Hans Christian Andersen under the title. Represents the first episode of the Toei's Fairytale, continued with Twelve Months (1980) and Swan Lake (1981).
Contents
- 1 Plot
- 2 Rating
- 3 Parents Guide
- 3.3 Profanity
- 3.6 Certification
- 4 TV Tropes
- 4.1 Avoid the Dreaded G Rating
- 5 Bad Qualities
- 6 Good Qualities
- 7 Prequel/Spinoff
- 8 50th Anniversary (Re-Release)
- 9 Main titular live-action/CGI adaptation
- 10 Home media
- 10.1 Bootleg VHS release
- 11 Gallery
- 11.1 Videos
- 12 Trivia
Plot[]
King Hildebrand gets lost during the hunt and finds himself in a cursed part of the forest. There, she meets a witch who promises that her daughter, Greta, will help her get out of the woods if she fulfills her request in return. The witch's daughter, knowing that the king's wife had just died, asks that if she finds her beautiful, ask for her hand. The king marries him, but soon leaves home for three days to his children, who live in a forest palace.
However, the queen becomes jealous, using a magic skein to find the palace where the children live and cast a curse on them, turning them into swans. Only the princess, Elisa, can escape and set out in search of her brothers, who she finds in a cave. The princes tell them that they live like swans during the day, but as the sun goes down, they will be human again. Elisa's move into the cave, and his brothers bring her clothes, coats, boots so she doesn’t get cold in the winter.
Spring is coming soon, and since the swans are migratory birds, they have to fly to colder lands, forced to leave Elisa alone. Before that, they tell how they could become human again: in six years, they would have to knit six shirts out of nettle yarn, but during that time, they couldn’t utter a single word or sound. Next winter, the brothers move away, and Elisa asks to make the yarn. By the time spring and summer is over, the brothers are returning to the cave, but in the meantime, Elisa decides to go into the woods, where she pulls herself in a tree fort and begins to bind in the company of the animals of the forest.
She makes five shirts in five years, but when she starts the sixth shirt, the king of the country, Friedrich, and his entourage find her. They are taken with them to the palace, where she receives gentlemanly service, and the king falls in love and then engages her. Meanwhile, Greta realizes that she has cursed the six brothers. She points out a new sacrifice, wishing to marry King Friedrich, who received the adult Elisa. They poison the river, and after they see adult Elisa on the king’s side, taking advantage of the fact, Elisa cannot speak and thus can’t defend herself, the suspicion of their curse is shed on them. Adult Elisa are prosecuted and sentenced to bonfire for witchcraft.
Elisa can finish their last shirt on the burning bonfire and the brothers will arrive soon. Pulling on their shirts, the curse is broken so they can tell the king the truth. The witch and her daughter are sentenced to death by the crowd and the king, but at the request of the adult Elisa, the king pardons them but expels them from his country. In the fairytale ends, Elisa and King Friedrich get married, who lives happily ever after.
Rating[]
- Despite having a G rating by the English dubbed version, the parental guide article of this film suggested PG due to fantasy violence, some blood, scary scenes and suggestive content, even resulting in censorship or higher ratings in foreign countries.
Parents Guide[]
Sex & Nudity[]
Violence & Gore[]
- Despite having a G rating the movie has some surprisingly violent scene that may be unsettling for younger audiences.
- An adult Elisa has several wounds by the witch (possibly Greta's mother) in the court. Some blood is briefly shown on his left foot.
Profanity[]
Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking[]
Frightening & Intense Scenes[]
Certification[]
- Argentina:Atp
- Australia:PG
- Canada:PG
- Canada:G (Quebec)
- Germany:6
- Italy:T
- United Kingdom:U
- United States:G
TV Tropes[]
This movie provides examples of:
Avoid the Dreaded G Rating[]
Inverted. It was rated G despite its violence (including Elisa's pricked foot), scary and its disturbing scenes and images. (However, it was rated PG in Canada/Australia, where standards are actually more lax in general.)
Bad Qualities[]
- Some scary scenes are too intense and disturbing a bit for a G-rated children's classic, thus some countries rated it PG and similar ratings due to the dark nature of that scene, such as Greta's mother points the skeletons with King Hildebrand and his horse, many people become an ill after the two witches poison the river, Elisa's flashback about the brothers turn into a swans filled with red and purple neon filter, the witch pricked adult Elisa's foot at four times, some little blood is shown. This is most likely due to rating systems being somewhat different back then, this caused a lawsuit from upset children for the false rating.
- Some of the character designs feel like they were ripped off from other films and cartoons:
- The main character, Elisa and those twin brothers have curly hair looks like Heidi from Heidi: Girl of the Alps.
- Adult Elisa growing up on resemblance to Hilda from Horus: Prince of the Sun.
Good Qualities[]
- The better prequel was decent.
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Prequel/Spinoff[]
50th Anniversary (Re-Release)[]
Main titular live-action/CGI adaptation[]
Home media[]
An English dub was produced in 1983 in New York and distributed by Turner Program Services.
Bootleg VHS release[]
RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video released any titles, such as Twelve Months, Puss 'N Boots Travels Around the World, Aesop's Fables and Taro the Dragon Boy only on Magic Window in May 1985.
In 1994, Warner Home Video debuted this video collection, The Toei's Fairytale Collection to collaborated Turner Program Services, American International Pictures and G.G. Communications, LLC., releasing April 26th, advertised for Batman: Mask of the Phastasm. As if reissued on 1998, the video collection still debuted August 4th, only Warner Home Video could handle it.
Gallery[]
A first english dubbed version poster.
A unknown Japanese book.
2022 2-Movie Collection DVD front cover.
A fan-made tile of HBO Max.
A fan-made review by MLPFAN3991.
Flare Spark Approves: The Wild Swans (Toei vs 2 Reboots) by MLPFan3991.
Videos[]
The wild Swans - Hands Christian Andersen
An English-dubbed version includes an original Japanese print.
Trivia[]
- This animated movie was re-rated from G to PG in Canada/Australia due to parental complaints about some disturbing scenes in the film.
- This entire movie has contained two songs since The Secret of N.I.M.H, but it is no musical like an inferior sequel will follow.
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