This film comes from the group of non-Disney films which are often mistaken for Disney animated features. Others include Anastasia, the Black Cauldron and Thumbelina. It follows pretty much a similar formula; based on a traditional fairy tale (swan lake, it makes a child-friendly romantically themed film using hand-drawn frame-by-frame animation. It has two main protagonists: the 'heroine' and 'hero' characters; an evil villain, talking animal side-kicks and other minor characters. It has a happy ending unlike the actual fairy tale.
The animation style and aesthetics are VERY similar to Disney's own. I don't think it's quite up to the standard of Disney around that same time, which would have been around the release of Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. It looks more like the early features such as Cinderella. The backgrounds are all painted, so the animated characters stand out starker against them but the whole image on screen doesn't blend too convincingly together. The more charticaturishly-designed characters have better facial expressions and are more personable than either Odette or Derek, who both are supposed to look the most realistic and beautiful, therefore having minimal facial expressions. They don't leave a lasting impression. The best bit of animation I watched was the actual transformation of the swan into Odette each night. The details of things like the hair and clothes aren't as fine as Disney.
