A mediocrity saved only by its awesome songs and fanservice (Elena is super hot). The plot is too simplistic. The episodes feel more like colorful educational videos whose purpose is to teach 5 year olds the values of ''love'', ''friendship'' etc
Well, I do watch a lot of current children shows and I did seen a lot of Elena (I do work in animation for toddlers! It's part of my job! DON'T JUDGE ME!!! )
And... I like it. For it's category it is doing a very fine job, propably the best show at "Disney Junior" at the moment ("The Lion Guard" is a close second). The music is catchy, the characters are likeable and the animation is solid and colofrul. Which is why I have to shake my head at :
The plot is too simplistic. The episodes feel more like colorful educational videos whose purpose is to teach 5 year olds the values of ''love'', ''friendship'' etc
Well, maybe that's becouse it is a show for 5 year olds?
While it's not as obvious like with it's sister series "Sofia The First" do to much older protagonist it is aimed at age group 4-7 year old and isn't trying to pretend it's something more.
True! In recent times we did get shows like "My Little Pony : Friendhsip is magic" which started out as something target for 4 year old girls but do to clever writing and top notch animation it actually got popular among 20-something old men... at the same time I almost think of MLP as a happy acident and I think if other shows would try to hard to repeat it's sucsess (Let's make a show for toddlers that will have humor adults will enjoy) it could easly get into a mess that won't please anybody.
Any way going back to Elena...
Aside from being a fun show for young kids It did had one of smartets moments of writing in a kids show I've seen in recent times witch is the Dia de los muertos special titled "A day to remember".
In the episode Elena helps her little sisters Isabel reconcile with the fact that their parents are dead and the episode do talk a lot about why is important to remenisce our late family members and visit graves.
Yet, never get to gloomy or to sad for kids and manage to keep entire thing fun and upbeat. It's one of these things I coudn't belive I'm seeing from Disney as they usually shy away from religious aspects. Then agian, month ago I was on work in progress screening for Pixar '"Coco" which go even more into the whole thing so kudos to them.
And kudos for Elena for having brave enough writers that want to talk to kids about death... while making it fun at the same time :
There are some other things I do appriciate about this show -
I think it's clever how Elena's cousin Estaban is both played as an antagonist who want Elena out of his way, but he also cares for his family and often sincerely feels bad when he do something evil. It's always a good thing in a children show to have a moraly complex villian like that (similar to Cedric the wizard from "Sofia The First")
And Heck! I give "Elena" a lot of credit for having a show about a Princess that's actually doing what monarchy is ment to do, as she spends her time atending concil meetings, helping town people fix their problems and taking part in diplomatic trips. Being a princess is presented more as her job with many responsibilities and obligations and isn't just another cartoon where the title is just excuse for her to wear a pretty dress, sing and hang out with cute animals (something that's use to be a definition of a "Princess" in Disney for a long time)
I didn't like Elena herself to much in first few episodes where she felt to much of a Mary Sue (aka protagonist that 100% perfect with no flaws) and she appeard to have a frequent smug smile at her face (something I hate in kids cartoon... and in this case it just made her look like spoiled rich girl) but she got way more sympathethic, relatable and shown many flaws as the time went on. I do think it's a good idea for a show like this to have 16 year old heroine. Kids do feel "older" when they watch "older" characters.
Honestly if I had to nitpick is that intro shows Elena sword fighting bandits (something that would make kid inside of me super exited) and... We never actually see her do any sword fighting on the show! There was one episode about Elena entering a fencing competition and that's about it (and to make things more ironic she was shown to really suck at sword fighing and learns that her subjects let her win) so in a way it's a false advertising
Also I do like Zuco, the spiritual Fox animal Elena has... and who bearly is seen at the show (he is maybe in four or five episodes so far) which is a shame as I think there is potential in the character.
I do like that Elena appears to developing a bit of romance with Mateo her nerdy wizard friend, which is less obvious choice then her other male friend, who is some macho bodyguard. Nice that they are not taking the obvious "two most beautyful people on the show must be together" road.
I do wonder will the show ever crossover with any of other Disney properties. "Sofia the First' (which takes place in the same universe) had guest apperance by Olaf from "Frozen", Merlin from "Sword in the Stone' (the episode interesting enough didn't use Mad Madame Mim as the Villian but... MORGANA LA FAY) and most of Disney Princesses (Ariel, Mulan, Merida, Tiana etc.), not to mention faries from "Sleeping Beauty" are recurring characters on the show, while "Doctor McStuffins" had episode with Winnie The Pooh and his friends as guest stars. An recent episode of "Elena" had a "Frozen" refrence, so who knows...
EDIT : And the award for the "Most geeky, I pray my girfriend slah wife will never see this, post I did on this forum" goes to... the one above. HURRAY!!!
Last Edit: Oct 29, 2017 19:31:34 GMT by Pan Maciej
Know as Maciej Kur, Mr. M., Maik, Maiki, Pan, Pan Miluś and many other names.