Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey (Wii, PlayStation 2, Windows)

Targeted squarely at your kindergarten-aged girl, DISNEY PRINCESS: ENCHANTED JOURNEY puts her in the slippers of a lass who is led by a pixie to a dilapidated castle and told that the only way to restore it to its former glory is to help a quintet of princesses—Snow White from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Little Mermaid's Ariel, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin's Jasmine, and Cinderella—in their struggle against the an evil witch and her minions, blobby bad guys known as bogs.

Her journey takes her to famous locations from the princesses' films, including castles, mines, cottages, and forests. She is bestowed a wand that she can brandish to turn bogs into butterflies, color environmental objects that have lost their luster, and dispel mirages, and she uses it often during the game's wide variety of missions, which range from item hunts to rhythm challenges. Parents can plug in a second controller, which creates a second little girl on screen, and help their kids complete trickier missions.

Little girls who love Disney's classic princesses will cue to Enchanted Journey immediately. It's flowing, colorful graphics make it look like an interactive Disney movie, and much of the voice work was done by cast members from the more modern films. What's more, they'll likely enjoy the opportunity to create their very own Disney princess, dressing her up by picking from a small selection of clothing residing in the closet in the bedroom of the castle she's trying to restore. But the real draw will be the game's accessible play. It's a terrific adventure for beginning gamers, offering up challenges that kids as young as three years old will be able to understand, such as searching small settings looking for mailboxes or using a colorful wand to paint trees, turtles, wheelbarrows, and birdhouses.

Know, though, that the difficulty level is harder for some tasks, such as a rhythm game that requires button memorization, and a gem catching mission that requires players to quickly move a basket to nab falling gems and avoid worthless stones. Each of the princesses has her own difficulty level (Jasmine and Ariel's chapters are easiest, while Snow White's are hardest), so parents can steer kids toward games suitable for their age group. However, girls might get miffed if they really want to visit a particular princess whose missions are simply too advanced for them. Still, it's a good -- if rather commercial -- game for young girls.