Review: Elena of Avalor “Island of Youth”

Boy, I could use a place like this.

Spoilers Below

It is Esteban’s birthday and he thinks everyone has forgotten. On the contrary, Elena has set up a surprise party for him. The grandparents, Isabel, and the staff are going to spend the day setting up while Elena takes Esteban sailing. With the help of Mateo, Esteban decides they should sail to the Island of Santalos. Supposedly, there is a fountain of youth there. Esteban is feeling rather old and would like to be young again so he can do what he wants instead of what everyone else wants.

On the island, Esteban does, indeed, find the fountain of youth. Unfortunately, he drinks a little too much and ends up turning into a baby. Mateo happened to notice a monkey eating a flower, which turned him into an old monkey. Together, Mateo and Elena decide to make Esteban eat some of the flower. Their time is limited, though, because the magical island will disappear when the sun goes down.

Meanwhile, back at the castle, Francisco has decided to sing a birthday song for Esteban. Isabel would like to sing with him but Francisco isn’t happy with the guitar/accordion she invented. Instead of singing together, they decide to have a birthday song battle to see who the staff prefers. In the end, they choose Isa’s pop song over Francisco’s traditional song.

After a few troubles and a song, Elena gets Esteban to eat the magical flower and turn back into an adult. Luckily, Esteban had put some of the youth water in his canteen, meaning he could be young again whenever he wished. But now the island is beginning to disappear. The trio runs for the ship but Elena falls into a crevice. Esteban stops so quickly that he drops his canteen. He has to choose between saving his cousin or his youth. Of course, he chooses his cousin. The gang manages to get back to the ship just as the last of the island disappears.

As they arrive back at the castle, everyone springs their surprise party on Esteban. Isa steps forward to sing her birthday song but she knows how sad it will make her grandfather so she insists they sing together. They won’t sing his way or her way, they will sing their way. The party is beautiful and Esteban is happy that no one forgot his birthday.

I like that this episode focused a little more on family. We got to see Isabel and the grandparents working together to accomplish a goal. Esteban and Elena didn’t ditch each other in their times of need, even though Esteban has definitely done some rather terrible things to Elena in the past. I was sure that Mateo would have to be the one to save her on the island. This episode was a little bit better than the last but, compared to the shows that bookend it, the series still feels like it belongs earlier in the day. I hope the show tackles some topics that would be interesting to older kids soon.