Princesses To The Rescue (Sofia The First Episode Review)

 

Hello  &   welcome   back  to   A  Look at  Disney,  it's been a while  since   I've done  a Sofia  review and well,  it's  time for another one as we take  a look at  Princesses  To  The  Rescue!  With that out of the way,  let's begin.

Episode  Title

Princesses  To  The Rescue!

Note  the exclamation point at the end of this title,  this episode  is  about  how girls  can be brave and strong and reverses the idea of the damsel in distress as  our titular  princesses  have to say their brothers and  fathers from  a  mean  Jaguar  that  is very  protective  of  his horde  of treasure.  Not  bad  and it does make as to why, this would be the episode  would  be  the  one  to feature  Mulan.

The Plot

Sofia   and her family  are visiting  the kingdom  of  Wei-Ling  visiting  with   fellow  students,   Jin  and Jun.   Soon,  James  and Jin   discover   a treasure  map   and  head off to find this treasure  but  however,    this  treasure  is guarded   by the  Jaded  Jaguar  and  soon,  the boys  are trapped  by  the Jaguar.      They go to tell their fathers   but   while  they go looking for them,  they  end up   in the same  trap  as   their  sons.      Meanwhile  back at the palace,  Sofia  is   too worried  enjoy  herself   and  the  royal  adviser  of  Wei-Ling  is also worried.    And  shows  our three princesses ,   a secret  passage to get  to the cave  where   the Jaguar  is holding their  family.     Oh,   and he gives  Amber  a special  jungle helmet that  is designed with a tiara.

That   so  fits  Amber's   personality.      The girls   continue  searching  through the jungle  and they  come  across   a maze  of warrior  statues   and they  cannot  across  as  it,   as when they  do the warriors   move   and block  their  path.   They soon get help  from  a brave warrior  , who soon reveals  herself   to be  Mulan.

I don't know  if this was  intentional  but  these statues  made  me  think of the Terracotta Warriors.   I'm going to assume it was though.

And through  song,  Mulan  helps  the  young  princesses  discover that they can  go on as  Amber  and Jun  but  mostly Amber didn't  think and Sofia  was going to also  give up in that moment.  (And  Lea  Salonga  came  voice to do the  singing  voice for Mulan.  Marking her second appearance on Sofia The First).  This  is a great  song  and  it  again, it makes  sense for Mulan to appear  here.   As she  said,  she didn't  give  up so easily and the young girls  shouldn't do that either.   And after  the song,  Mulan  sends the three girls  on their way as  she  knows, that they don't need their  help to get past any obstacle.  Mulan,  you have a sword and protection. Look,  let's  say that jaguar  gets unruly, you could  use the sword against it. I get the message but you could've been a great help to the girls.  Still,  I applaud  the message in this song and this episode as a whole.

After  leaving  Mulan,  the girls  continue  their trek  through the jungle and  come across some  moths  but  Amber  leads the girls  in using  their fans to fan them away and then  they come across a body of water and Sofia  spots the  secret passage to the Jaguar's  cave  but their  are giant  lizards and it appears that they are going to attack them but Jun takes out a piccolo and  plays  music and the girls  are able to ride the lizards across the to the secret passage.

What  I like about  this  is that each of the three girls  get  a moment to show  they can contribute to the trek. And  now,  it's  Sofia's  turn.  She  tricks  the Jaguar  into  chasing her and gets him stuck in the secret entrance and reasons with the Jaguar,  that  if he'll  let  her family  go,  they'll  leave   his treasure alone.

After getting the Jaguar  unstuck,  Sofia  along  with Jun and Amber  get their family out of the trap  and  they head back  to the palace,  where  there is  a fireworks  show  and it ends  with a special treat as Sofia, Jun, and Amber's faces  appear in the night sky.  All in all,  this was a great episode  and  a good message for young girls.


Characters


Main  Characters


Sofia voiced by Ariel Winter

This episode  once again  showed  what great lengths,  Sofia  is willing to go to for her family. Sure,  Amber and Jun  may have wanted to give up at certain points such as the warrior maze  but  they kept on trekking.   


Amber voiced  by  Darcy Rose Byrnes

Amber was good  in this episode and  that may just be one of my favorite shots  because that helmet  so fits, Amber's personality.  Now as for Amber in the episode,  she was more of a doubter than her little sister but  that makes sense as she  hasn't  really done  big adventures  like these on her own.  The closest is probably the  Christmas episode,  ironically,  where they were also  trying to look for their dad but  unlike here,  Amber had her mom and James to rely on, whereas here,  Sofa, Amber and Jun only had the three of each other to rely on and no adults.  That's  pretty daunting for a kid.


Jun  voiced by  Michaela Zee

Jun   didn't  really  seem to have that much to do but  she served her purpose well  and  actually  got some personality  in this episode  as I think  was her first leading role in an episode.



Supporting Characters

James  and Jin  voiced  by  Zach Callison & J.J.  Totah

After being captured,  the boys  really  didn't  have  much to do in the episode.


Roland and Quon voiced by  Travis  Willingham  & James Sie

The same is pretty much true  of  the kings.   Though,  its' clear that they clear about their  kids and would do anything for them. Albeit,  they ended up in the same trap as their sons and had to rely on their daughters to save them.


Mulan  voiced by  Ming-Na Wen,  Singing Voice:  Lea Salonga

Mulan's  appearance  was cool  in this episode,  it was a nice touch to see her in her armor  and the  idea  of using her to send the message of ,  you  are"Stronger  than You Know"  makes so much sense, when thinking about her character because  Mulan proved  that she can do anything a boy  can and saved China  in the process. 



Music


Stronger  Than You Know


When  I first  heard this song  on TV,   it didn't  leave  much of an impression on me but after listening to it,  multiple  times for  this review.  It's really good.  Not  my  favorite song of season 2 but  it's such a good message and  it is married up with the right character fro this message.  Also,  this  song  and it's title  reminds me of this quote from Christopher Robin.

 "You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

And  honestly, that quote fits  into this episode and it's message perfectly.   Because  the girls  show  they are  strong and brave and smart.  They  had to be all three of these things in order to rescue their family.



Villain 


Jade  Jaguar  - Voice Unlisted

I gotta say that I really  like  the design for the Jaguar and he made  for  a decent  bad guy.  As  this  type of villainy was more man vs. nature but he was redeemed in the end.  Honestly, there  is only  one true villain on the show and I don't think she'll be redeemed anytime soon but as for the Jaguar.  They did a good job of setting him up and showing  how threatening, he could  be.


My  Final Thoughts


I'd been looking forward to this episode for a while now and it delivered.  The Princess episodes are usually a lot of fun and some of the best episodes of the series as the show  takes their time to think about, which princess would make sense for the story and just doesn't plop them into an episode williy nilly.  Saying that,  this episode  made sense for Mulan as  the message  is  not to far removed from what she learned in her movie.   Peace!