Cloaked by Alex Flinn - Review

Do you believe in magic? Johnny certainly didn't. He works at his mother's shoe repair store in a fancy hotel in South Beach, Florida. They are one step away from losing their store, they can rarely pay their bills, and although Johnny has big dreams he worries he'll never do anything apart from mending shoes. But when he meets Princess Victoriana of Aloria, everything changes. She asks him to help her find her brother, who has been turned into a frog. And although Johnny doesn't believe this is possible, she IS very beautiful, she does offer her hand in marriage as a reward, and does give him a magic cloak that will take him anywhere he wants to go and headphones that lets him talk to animals.

Johnny is suitably clueless, as he finds himself in the Everglades, talking to swans, foxes, and rats, fighting giants, and facing an evil witch who is out to get him. He's accompanied on this quest by his best friend Meg, who has more tricks up her sleeve than he ever expected. Flinn cleverly updates and combines several fairy tales in Cloaked - The Elves and the Shoemaker (one of my favorites!), The Frog Prince, The Six Swans, The Golden Bird (or Firebird), and The Valiant Tailor - in Johnny's search for his happily ever after.

On a side note, personally I think it's far better to say someone has an accent rather than write it into the script. Just saying.