The Swan Princess (1994)

The Swan Princess is based off the ballet Swan Lake. It tells the story of Princess Odette who is captured by Lord Rothbart who wants to marry her so that he can become king. To keep her bound to him, he turns her into a swan, a swan that can only regain her human form when moonlight touches the lake she is confined to. She must lure her betrothed Derek to help her. It is a great movie.

God of the Golden Fleece by Fred Saberhagen

In Fred Saberhagen’s world, mortal men take on “the face” of a god and essentially become that god. In The God of the Golden Fleece, a man that started out as an assassin of Jason and the crew of the Argo loses his memory at the same time he seems to gain the “face” of the god Triton. Although he suffers from some amnesia throughout the entire book, he does remember that his goal now is to protect Jason and the Argo and help him in his quest to obtain the Golden Fleece. It was an interesting take on this ancient story and a fun read. Saberhagen is really quite good at taking classic stories and giving them new twists.

The Thief and the Beanstalk by PW Catanese

The interesting thing about PW Catanese is that he writes sequals to the original fairy tales, not retellings. The Thief and the Beanstalk is the sequal, of course, to Jack and the Beanstalk. It tells the story of Nick who breaks into an old rich man’s house who happens to be named Jack. Rumors state that Jack gained all his wealth from a trip up a magical beanstalk when he was Nick’s age. When Jack catches Nick trying to steal some of his hard earned plunder, Jack gives Nick a choice: be turned over to the authorities or climb the beanstalk himself and see if the giantess that had helped Jack is still alive. But when Jack climbs up the stalk he finds new foes awaiting at the top who want revenge on the folk below for Jack’s long ago deeds. Will Nick be a hero? Or will he die in the land above the beanstalk?

The Thirteenth Year (1999)

The Thirteenth Year was a Disney Channel Original Movie. It tells the story of Cody, a jock swimmer, who starts to develop strange powers when he is in the water. With the help of the class geek, Jess, he finds out that he is a merman and must return to the water in order to survive. This was one of my favorite Disney Channel movies and I watched it every time it came on TV. It is now available on Amazon instant video.

The Crying Child by Barbara Michaels

The Crying Child by Barbara Michaels is a truly delightful ghost story with just the right amount of terror and mystery in a pleasant mix. The story follows Joanne as she comes to Maine to comfort her sister Mary after her miscarriage. But Mary insists that she hears a child, her child, crying in the night and she must go to him. Joanne and those around her soon realize that Mary is not as crazy as she sounds and that they must save her from the terror that threatens to overwhelm her by figuring out the mystery behind the haunting. Such a great book with beautiful descriptions. Take this one for example, "It might have been the weeping of the night itself, if the night had a human voice." One of her best novels.

Lara Croft

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
In this first installment based on the poplar video game Lady Lara Croft goes against the Illuminati to recover the mystical Triangle of Light that has the ability to control time. Lara learned about the triangle from her late father who at the beginning of the movie has been dead for many years. It is an interesting and fun adventure/fantastical movie in the spirit of Indiana Jones. A fun fact about this movie is that while Lara is played by Angelia Jolie, flashbacks of her father are played by Jon Voight, who is Jolie’s real life father.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Light (2003)
In this next installment of the film series, Lara goes after what is essentially Pandora’s Box. In this case the box contains a deadly plague that our villain wishes to use as a biological weapon that he will sell to the highest bidder. Of course you know that Lara saves the day.
There is also rumors of a third movie coming out sometime in the near future. A prequel to these movies. Since I enjoy them and am wanting a good old fashioned adventure movie, I am curious about what they will do.

Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

Sorcery and Cecelia started out as a letter game between Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. What results is a charming delightful fantasy romp through Regency England. Wrede’s character is Cecelia, a young woman writing to her cousin Kate who is currently having her season in London (she is still in the country). Together the two young ladies foil a dastardly magical plot and manage to find true love in the process. An atypical regency romance with a little magic and mystery thrown in for good measure. There are two other books in the series The Grand Tour and the Mislaid Magician, but I do not find them to have the charm of this first book. Mostly because I feel they were trying too hard with the next two :).