PRINCESS PRU AND THE SWITCHEROO

Oddly, no one seems to notice when a princess and her hulking, gray-skinned best friend switch roles.

Despite having two loving royal dads, a pet ostrich, and an “ogre-tastic” best friend (introduced in 2023’s Princess Pru and the Ogre on the Hill), Pru chafes at having to eat her veggies before dessert and go to bed at a set time. So she jumps at Oggy’s suggestion that they slip into the local town for makeovers and then swap places. But while fashionably clad Oggy charms oblivious Kings Karl and Knish (one tall, crowned, and, like Pru, light-skinned; the other short, a bit darker, and sporting a turban) by eating 47 bowls of stewed spinach and actually going to bed early that night, Pru finds his drafty, sparely furnished tower a lonely place. Actually, neither one is entirely happy with the change. So when the burly “princess” is snatched away by a dragon the next day, by the time Pru arrives for the rescue, both are ready to switch their identities along with their (unusually stretchy) outfits. Playing the “Prince and the Pauper” premise for belly laughs, this comical poke at class and gender expectations features properly boisterous cartoon illustrations, culminating in a festive shower of “ogre-friendly treats” from racially diverse crowds of cheering villagers greeting the returning adventurers.

Tweaks conventions with tongue firmly embedded in cheek.