Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney. With the news of Rapunzel coming to TV, I thought that it might be best to go back and look at her TV spot on the Sofia The First special, The Curse of Princess Ivy. With that out of the way, let's begin.
The Plot
We open in the palace gardens, where young Sofia is playing hopscotch with her animal friends. But little does she know that her big sister, Amber is eavesdropping and discovers that Sofia can talk to her animals. With this new information in tact, Amber confronts the little princess and at first, Sofia tries to dissuade Amber but her older sister sees through all of her excuses and finally gets Sofia to tell her the truth. After hearing the truth and that Sofia's amulet give her this magical power, Amber wishes to wear it but Sofia refuses because she promised to never take it off. Well at least, Amber is the reasonable sort and understands, right. Yeah... no not at all.
Amber's the type of girl that when she wants something, she will stop at nothing to get it. This special is not the last time the show would explore this because in a later episode, she made a wish that her father was allergic to Sofia because of how much time, they were spending together and ended up turning her little sis into a cat.
This however is kinda of a bigger deal because stealing The Amulet as we will see will have bigger ramifications. Meanwhile, the rest of the kingdom is preparing for the big anniversary of King Roland and Queen Miranda. This matters not to Amber as she is furious that her father would give Sofia, the best amulet ever and not give it to her. That night, Amber sets her plan in motion to get the Amulet by pretending that she has moved on from her grudge and decides to have a sleepover with Sofia. But this is all a ruse to steal The Amulet and Amber stays up all night, as she can't bring herself to take it but in the morning, she finally does take it.
She puts it on and asks for a princess to come to here because Amber misunderstood the summoning of princesses works. As they only show up in a time of need but she asks The Amulet to bring her Rapunzel. (Not a bad choice) But Rapunzel doesn't appear but instead, it's brings.... Cruella De Vil?
No, that's Princess Ivy. Who'll serve as this special's main antagonist. Amber gives the new princess, a tour of the castle but all is not good as she has magical butterflies that drain color and turn everything black & white. After being woken up thanks to her bunny friend, Clover, though a more difficult task without the Amulet, Sofia catches Amber and asks if she's in some kind of trouble and explains that that The Amulet only summons princesses, when the young princess is in need of help. And then sends them away. Hearing this Ivy, plans to take the Amulet and reveals that she comes from a black & white kingdom, where she was imprisoned for trying to overthrow her older sister, who would become queen. It's here, when Sofia remembers the most important rule of the amulet,
"With Each deed preformed, for better or worse, a power is granted. A blessing or curse"
Sofia figures out the amulet placed a curse on Amber by bringing Ivy here as a type of safeguard. Ooh, I might have to look into something like if someone tries to steal my laptop. (Though, I would want to summon someone really annoying. Adam Sandler?)
So, the girls go to the one person, who knows more about the Amulet than Sofia. Cedric. Cedric informs the young girls that the Amulet is nearly indestructible. And the only thing that could destroy is the fire of the eldest dragon, Everbrun. However, the butterflies of Ivy overhear this and well, that's not good. He also informs the girls that only Amber can break the curse. The three head off to chase after Ivy and Amber, being the type that doesn't like to lift a finger doesn't understand why she has to go. Until, it's pointed out to her, that she's the one that caused this mess and it's up to her to break the curse.
Once they arrive at their destantion, The Blazing Palisades, they have to start climbing and Amber not thinking complains about this. And frankly upsets Sofia. And Amber is shocked by this as her is is usually more forgiving. Yeah Amber, shall we review the events that led to this event? And honestly, this part of the special is where we hit the only lull. With these three, Smoke, Wind, & Fire. They're nothing more than plot exposition to get our characters to Everburn.
Who was being lured by Ivy to destroy the Amulet but he decides to help our characters, when he learns her true motive. With a magical assist, they are able to distract Ivy but that doesn't too much good as they soon fall into a chasm and Everburn is too big to help. Sofia is still rightfully angry at Amber. And she finally apologizes as the Amulet starts to glow. And who should appear but none other than Rapunzel!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, let's address the extension in the room. Rapunzel's hair. As I mentioned in my article about the upcoming Tangled TV show, this can be chalked up to the fact that the Amulet summons the princesses in their most iconic looks. This was seen previously in The Floating Palace, in which Ariel was summoned and it was her mermaid form.
But it is confirmed by both the song that Rapunzel sings later in the episode and the tiara, that's she wearing that this takes place after the events of the movie. Rapunzel helps the girls climb out using her hair. The other reason, it had to be long and Everbrun returns with the useless dragons from earlier, so that they can fly back to their kingdom and stop Ivy. Here, Amber admits to Rapunzel that all of this is her fault. And she gives her a lesson by telling her of her past with Flynn Rider. He's never mentioned by the name, she's so talking about him.
Okay, let's all just take a moment to acknowledge the awesomeness that is Rapunzel riding a dragon! Best Princess tells Amber that in order to break the curse, she must preform a selfless act. And just like that, Rapunzel disappears as fast as she appeared. The sisters arrive back at their castle to see that Ivy has made it all black & white. King Roland tries to stop her but it's to no avail as he's knocked out with a dragonfly that erases people's memories. Yeah, it's best to just go with it at this point. And the rest of the family is hit as well. And even poor Cedric. Ivy makes an offer to Amber to join her or sister will get it. Amber finally makes the selfless act by taking one of those memory erasing butterflies to the head that was meant for Sofia. And thus all of the events were erased from everyone's memory save for Sofia and her animal friends. Wait, you make such a big change at the beginning of the special, only to reset it back to the original setting at the end. Little annoying but what are ya gonna do? All in all, I really liked this special. And not just for Rapunzel. That's a nice bonus but I like the growth explored in this special of the characters.
Characters
Main Characters
Amber voiced by Darcy Rose Byrnes
No doubt it, this was Amber's special. She's the one that set the events in motion and made this huge mess. And she's the one that had to clean it up. And through it, she grew as a character and while I do think that they should have let her remember the experience, I understand why but still, this was a great use of her character.
Sofia voiced by Ariel Winter
This is the first time, that you've ever really seen Sofia get this angry and well, you can't blame her. She felt betrayed by Amber. And she rightfully had her guard up after she was lied to.
Supporting Characters
Rapunzel voiced by Mandy Moore
This was in my opinion, a great use of Rapunzel. Because the special foreshadowed that Amber wanted her to appear and she did later on in the special and through Rapunzel's own experiences with Flynn, she was able to help Amber see the error of her ways.
Cedric voiced by Jess Harnell
This is the first special, where Cedric didn't really have a whole lot to do because this is the first one, where he wasn't the main villain. So, he was basically just there for the ride.
Smokelee, Falmbeau, Hobwing, & Nitelite voiced by Sam Riegel, John Micheal Higgins, & Gary Anthony Williams, & Mick Wingert
Yeah, these characters are pretty useless. They really didn't add much other than songs that were okay at best.
Everburn voiced by Oliver Platt
Everburn or Bernie to his friends was an alright character. He came across as the kind elderly type that'll protect kids, when they're in danger.
Music
A Kingdom of My Own
In terms of villain songs, this isn't bad. It's catchy and a lot of fun but I can't say much more about it than that. It's not bad but there isn't anything else to say about it.
Smoke, Wings And Fire
Why am I getting a Glee vibe from this song? At best, this song feels empty. There's really not much to it.
Risk It Al
Now, this is more like it. This is a cute song and one that I did purchase before the special aired because I had already listened to it multiple times by then. It's a cute song and a good message of you can't always put yourself first. And funnily enough, this is the second time that a princess has sung a song about their prince to teach a character, a lesson as Belle in season 1 did the same thing. And while that song is alright, I like this one more.
Villain
Princess Ivy voiced by Anna Camp
Ivy is certainly an interesting villain in terms of design with how in your face, everything is with her. And her attitude is a but smug. She's an alright villain and I do like that it was the Amulet that brought her into this kingdom as a curse. Because that's a great idea, Amber wanted to meet a princess. And the Amulet gave her what she wanted but not what she hoped for.
My Final Thoughts
I really like this special and was happy to watch it again. It shows good character growth, has a great use of Rapunzel. That's always a plus and it is just a lot of fun. You know, I might keep this Tangled celebration going here at home by watching the movie again. Peace!
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