Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney. Man, I love having On Demand. Why, do I say that? Well, sometimes channels such as Disney Channel will put new episodes On Demand before they air such as the case with the subject of today's review, Sofia The First: The Floating Palace. Now, this does not air until November 24th but I was able to catch it early, thanks to On Demand and I must say that it was pretty good. I'll freely admit that this is an episode, I'd been looking forward to as Ariel made an appearance and while, it was awesome seeing her, I do have some issues, which we will touch upon in a bit. All in all, this was a pretty good special. With that out of the way, let's dive down below and see what The Floating Palace has to offer up. Now, I should mention that I won't be covering the songs from this special as those haven't been released yet.
Trailer
Okay, yeah that trailer is pretty awesome. I kinda wish that I had seen that beforehand.
Episode Title
The Floating Palace
Honestly, this title really has nothing to do with the episode. It's a misdirect. That's about it.
The Plot
The plot is pretty simple, really, Sofia and her family are on a vacation on their houseboat aka The Floating Palace and it opens with Sofia in the Floating Palace's library reading a story about mermaids. She tells her family this and is informed that mermaids are not real but the adults. Um, why couldn't they be real? I mean, flying horses and trolls exist in your universe, so mermaids shouldn't be too much of a stretch to believe in, really. We later see Sofia go to the swimming deck of The Floating Palace after she spots a young mermaid, (which is stated in the special that mermaids are not believed to be real because no one has seen them. I know that wasn't made just for the show but it still seems odd, when other fantastical creatures exist). We see Cedric also came along, and we learn that he has found out another way to try and take over the kingdom. It involves taking a mermaid comb. We cut back to Sofia, helping the young mermaid, who had hurt her fin and we learn that her name is Oona. Because of this, Sofia's amulet grants her a new power as it turns her into a mermaid and afterwards, Sofia decides to head down below and return Oona back to her home down below. Oona takes Sofia to a shipwreck, that he calls her hideaway. I betcha, they got that inspiration from a certain 16 year old mermaid that wanted to be part of our world. We later see Oona's friend, Sven, a seahorse come and he's okay but that not great, when compared to other animal characters on the show. We also meet Oona's older sister, Cora, who wraps Oona's sore spot on her fin. And we later see them go to Oona's castle and we meet her mom, Queen Emmaline and her bodyguard/husband (???), which according to the Disney Wiki, he was named Haakon but I swear, he was called Plank in the series, who has a hard hate on for humans and is none too pleased to learn that Sofia is a human because the last time, humans docked over their kingdom, Haakon/Plank was injured by humans. Sofia says that she'll convince her family to move their floating palace but, when she goes up and tells them, they don't believe her, that mermaids exist. (Again, why is this so hard to believe?) It's not that they believe she's lying but rather she was just reciting a dream but that's not the case. Things just get worse for Sofia as Cedric, who had transformed himself into a sea monster. Sofia goes back down to warn the mermaid Queen of her young daughter's kidnapping but Haakon/Plank informs Sofia that sea monsters do not exist. (Are all adults really that narrow minded?) No, instead he believes that Sofia's family has taken Oona captive but that is not the case and and the Queen warns that if Sofia does not return her daughter before sundown, she will sink the ship with Sofia's family on it by creating a massive storm. Sofia goes back to the ship to warn them but to no avail, so it looks like she is on her own but not really as she has Clover, who snuck on board to help her along with a bird far less annoying then Scuttle to try and find Sea Monster Cedric in his hideaway. Sofia seems down and out and goes back below, and this is where Ariel comes in. Okay, it's cool to see Ariel but I have a few issues and this first one isn't just relegated to this special but it seems like in most material set after the movie, they still decide to show Ariel as a mermaid. I guess it makes sense some roundabout way as the Amulet brought Ariel to Sofia and Sofia was under the water and being a mermaid made the most sense. We get a song from Ariel that convinces Sofia not to give up and this is when she decides to go find Cora to try and help save Oona. It works, I forgot to mention that while all of this is going, Emmaline is creating that giant storm to sink the ship. Honestly, watching Emmaline do that was one of the coolest parts of this special. While that was going on, Sofia found where Sea Monster Cedric was holding Oona and with help from Cora saved her by tricking him. And we see Cora use the comb that Cedric wanted as she used it to raise the waters. And then we get a cute sisterly moment, where Oona says that maybe Cora can teach her how to use the comb. And then our special ends with the mermaids meeting Sofia's family and Ariel jumping out of the water. Um, why? I like Ariel, she's right behind Rapunzel as my favorite princess but there was no need for that shot as Ariel at best was just a cameo. Ah well! All in all, I really liked this special as it was in a word....
Seriously, the scope and stakes of everything that happened in this special made it feel like it could've been expanded another hour or two to be a really good movie. As it stands, it's only 45 minutes but they do NOT waste any minute. So, maybe it's a good thing, it wasn't longer because that might've meant padding but not here, they waste no time getting the story moving. This is easily a special for all ages to enjoy.
Characters
This'll be broken down into Main, Supporting, & Villain. Now, I won't be touching upon Sofia's family as they really didn't play much of a role in this special. Let's begin.
Main Character
Sofia voiced by Ariel Winter
I gotta be honest and say, watching the moment where Sofia turned into a mermaid was actually really cool and I like how it changed her entire outfit. Sofia was her usual spunky self-determined young self in this special, not willing to give up and that was great to see. And it also showed how easily Sofia can make friends as she did with Oona. Which was nice and it was really nice getting to see her explore a new world. And when Sofia fought Sea Monster Cedric, I appreciated that the show remembered her cleverness in how to defeat him.
Supporting Characters
Oona voiced by Kiernan "Kiki" Shipka
Oona was a nice character and seemed like a good friend to Sofia. She was a little headstrong but honestly, considering her age, who isn't at that point in their life. I don't think we will see anymore of her, which is fine because she's not a bad character I feel that her story is done.
Emmaline voiced by Emma Samms
Emmaline was an interesting character in that while she did not trust humans because the last time, they came, she doesn't truly hate Sofia. Just impatient, when her daughter is kidnapped and that along with Haakon/Plank's severe hatred of humans prompts her to create the storm. Hell hath no fury like a mother scorned.
Haakon/Plank voiced by Hugh Laurie
Haakon or Plank as I'm calling him was basically....
Yeah, he's basically a Disney Junior version of Triton with his severe blind hatred of humans. In part, I can understand as he was left with a scar on his arm and I imagine that has plenty of tragic memories attached to it.
Cora - Voice Unlisted
Cora was nice but really didn't add much until she teamed up with Sofia to rescue her little sister and you could truly see that he cared for her sister and only wanted the best for her and would do anything to protect her. Also, it was really nice to see a teenage sister on this show for a change of pace as even though, Amber is older then Sofia, they are still rather close in age but with a sister, Cora's age, she has more wisdom to offer.
Sven really didn't add much in the way, I at first that he was supposed to be the Sebastian for this series but thankfully, that was not the case as he was too jittery but out of all the sea creatures, he really added nothing of value to the special and you could've cut him out of the special and nothing would've been lost.
Ariel voiced by Jodi Benson
Ariel was a bit of a disappointment and after Belle, this has to be the most disappointing princess appearance. Don't get me wrong, I am happy that they got Jodi Benson to voice Ariel and it'd be redundant to say, she did a good job because, Jodi Benson has been playing this character for as long as I've been alive. Jodi is Ariel, no if's, and's or buts about it. My issue is that Ariel felt underutilized. Which is this where I'm at odds with the show. On the hand, I like the fact they don't rely on the princesses so heavily but at the same time, when you have them appear, give them something more to do then just sing a song.
Villain
Cedric voiced by Jess Harnell
Cedric's sea monster design is really cool and it was nice to see him do a spell and for once, not mess it up. And this has to be the first time, where Cedric actually felt like a serious threat and that there was a good shot of him actually winning. His clumsiness didn't get in his way or anything. No, he was rather organized and did pretty well here. I wish we could see more of this Cedric.
My Final Thoughts
All in all, this was a very good special. The big thing that made it work was the fact that it was a lot of fun. Did it have it's issues? Sure, I mentioned them up top but they weren't big enough to distract from my enjoyment. Now, I just have to wait until December and see how good their Christmas special is. Peace!
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