| $@%&! level: Low (if any) “Bedroom” level: Low Violence level: Low (just one death-spell and a lot of threats and disappearances) Back Cover: “When a woodcutter's daughter known simply as 'the lass' agrees to accompany a great white bear to his castle, she believes she has made a wise decision. After all, the bear has promised her family untold riches in exchange for a year of the lass's company. Although she is given every luxury, the lass feels more a prisoner than a guest, and it's not long before her contentment turns to unease. One by one the servants disappear, and the lass suspects the bear knows more than he's telling. In her quest to learn the truth, the lass unwittingly sets in motion a chain of events that take her on a windswept journey beyond the edge of the world, to fight for the man she has only just discovered is her true love.” |
“East of the Sun, West of the Moon” isn't one that's ever been made into an animated feature, or at least not a popular one, so it might not be as familiar as some other fairytales. It might help if you think of it as a version of “Beauty and the Beast,” but with a Scandanavian twist. And much as I do love “Beauty and the Beast” as a fairytale, I've got to admit that this one might just trump it in my favorites line-up. Maybe it has something to do with growing up in Alaska.
And here's the other thing that I love—the eventual solution to everything. Admittedly, the Lass doesn't manage to do much on her own. She doesn't come up with the plan, and she's not really able to even defend herself in the end. But she does know how to do the one important thing, which oddly enough is to wash something. And here you thought all fairytale princesses ended up with the prince just because they were beautiful and charming. Nope, turns out that sometimes they also need to have some useful skills.