Sofia the First: Once Upon A Princess

Produced by
 Written by
 Starring
Sara Ramirez
Travis Willingham
Darcy Rose Byrnes
Zach Callison
Jess Harnell
Tim Gunn
Jennifer Hale
 Music by
Kevin Kliesch (composer)
 Editors
 Cinematography
 Studios
 Distributors
 Release date (s)
 Language
 Preceded by
 Followed by

***Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess*** is an animated television movie that premiered on November 18, 2012 on Disney Junior. It was the pilot for the animated series *Sofia the First* that premiered on January 11, 2013.

## Plot

Flora, Fauna and Merryweather appear and introduce Sofia, an eight-year-old girl living in the village with her mother, Miranda who is a shoemaker. One day, Miranda and Sofia are called for a shoe fitting by King Roland II of Enchancia. It's love at first sight for Roland and Miranda. They soon marry, making Miranda the new queen of Enchancia and Sofia the kingdom's second princess. Upon arriving at the castle, Sofia meets her new father, Baileywick the castle steward, Cedric the royal sorcerer and her new older siblings, Princess Amber and Prince James, the royal twins. Sofia is warmly welcomed by everyone at the castle except Amber and Cedric. At the dinner table, Roland tells his new daughter that there will be a royal ball in honor of her royal debut, stating that it's the best way to let everyone know that Princess Sofia has arrived. Through a song, Sofia reveals her insecurities and her belief that she's not ready to be a princess because she knows being royal has huge responsibilities and she knows she has no experience when it comes to fulfilling them. She finds her mother and tells her about her uneasy feelings and that she would rather not have a royal ball because she doesn't know how to dance and doesn't want to let anyone down. Miranda assures her she'll be fine. Roland comes out of the shadows and gives Sofia a beautiful necklace that he says is special and tells her she must promise to never take it off. Sofia happily accepts the gift and gives him her word to wear it always and never let it out of her sight. On the way back to bed, Sofia bumps into Cedric, who recognizes her new necklace as a magical object he's be seeking for years and now wants it so he can usurp the throne.

The next day, Sofia, James, and Amber take a flying coach to the Royal Preparatory Academy. There she meets the headmistresses. Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Sofia asks them to teach her how to be a true princess by the day of her royal debut ball. Through a song, they tell her that becoming a true princess is something that takes time. Everyone takes an instant shine to Princess Sofia prompting Amber to convince James to give Sofia a ride on the Enchanted Swing Set. James does so which makes everyone's smiles vanish. The swing ride sends Sofia sailing through the air and then into a fountain with a splash. Despite really being upset, Sofia laughs it off and walks away soaking wet. Sofia stumbles across a baby bird who has fallen out of its nest and helps it return to its mother. Her interaction with the mother bird and her baby shows how lonely she feels now that she's a princess and misses the days when it was just her and her mother. Just then, Sofia's necklace begins to glow and she unexpectedly hears the birds say "Thank you." After returning home, Cedric intercepts Sofia and takes her to his workshop where he reveals to her that her necklace is the Amulet of Avalor, an magical necklace that can grant the wearer a blessing or a curse depending on a deed, for better or worse. He asks her to let him take a look at it, but she refuses because she promised her father she would never take it off and was taught by her mother that when she makes a promise, she must keep it, no matter what.

The next morning, Sofia meets Clover, Mia, Robin and Whatnaught and discovers that she can understand what they're saying. Remembering what Cedric said about her amulet and helping that baby bird, she realizes the amulet has given her the power to talk to animals which Clover is delighted to hear. Through a song, Clover reveals the reason woodland creatures have always helped princesses is because they want food and Sofia, who's happy to finally have new friends, obliges. Now confident, Sofia now dedicates herself to becoming the best princess ever both to fulfill her responsibilities as one and to prove herself to everyone. However, Sofia remains distant from James and Amber because of the stunt they pulled and she no longer trusts anyone and feels that she's on her own. When she comes home the day before the royal ball, she finds her friends Ruby and Jade waiting for her. During the visit, James comes over to apologize for the trick he and Amber played on her and offers to make it up to her by helping her prepare for her ball which she accepts. He also tells her about Professor Popov's dance class the next day, unaware that Amber is spying on them. Sofia arrives at dance class but before she can take some dance shoes, Amber comes by and hands her a pair. Sofia steps forward to receive her dance lessons, but when the music begins to play the shoes start making her dance oddly. Sofia realizes the shoes are trick shoes because of the glow they are giving off and stops long enough to see a nasty look in Amber's eyes. It's at this moment that Sofia realizes that Amber tricked her again just before she's sent crashing to the ground. She gets back up and gives Amber a hateful glare that helps James realize who gave Sofia those trick shoes. When the trio return to the coach, Amber states that she must have grabbed them by mistake, but Sofia doesn't buy this and angrily ignores her, because she knows Amber gave them to her on purpose to ruin her dance lesson.

When she gets back home, she asks Cedric for a dancing spell. He gives her a spell but as soon as she leaves Cedric reveals the spell is actually a sleeping spell, and after it's cast he plans to blackmail Sofia into handing over the amulet. Meanwhile, James angrily confronts Amber about the trick shoe incident, knowing that Amber deliberately gave Sofia those shoes to ruin Sofia's royal ball. Then, after angrily telling Amber that he likes Sofia more than her, he storms out of the room, leaving his twin upset. Amber tries to call him back but rips her gown. When she goes looking for the maids she hears them in Sofia's room calling her "the prettiest princess in the palace", which makes Amber run back into her room in tears. Sofia arrives in a sparkling gown and everyone is amazed by how beautiful she looks. She casts the spell Cedric gave her and to her horror everyone falls asleep even Cedric. Thinking she must have said it wrong and that she's all alone, Sofia breaks down and cries. When a tear drops on the amulet, it begins to glow, summoning Cinderella. She explains to Sofia that whenever she is in trouble, her amulet will summon a Princess like herself to help. Cinderella reveals that Amber is still awake and can help out, but Sofia is still angry at Amber for all the nasty things she's done to her. However, through a song, Cinderella encourages Sofia to give her another chance before vanishing. After seeing what has happened, Amber apologizes to Sofia for her behavior and admits her jealousy. Sofia finally forgives her and the two of them reconcile and finally bond as true sisters. Together they infiltrate Cedric's workshop to figure out how to undo the sleeping spell and awaken everyone once again. But they end up running into Wormwood, Cedric's raven companion. After the woodland critters put Wormwood back in his cage and trick him into revealing where the counter spell book is, the group finds the counter spell, Sofia sewed Amber's gown and Amber gives her a dance lesson. Sofia casts the counter-spell and the ball proceeds as if nothing has happened with Sofia dancing with her father, now calling him "Dad" instead of "Your Majesty" for the first time. The dance soon develops with the whole family dancing together, having finally become a true family.

## Music

As with many of the classic Disney movies, music plays an important role in *Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess* and the *Sofia the First* series. The movie features five original songs ranging in musical styles from contemporary pop in songs like "Rise and Shine" and ballads like "Not Ready to Be a Princess" to those with more of a traditional classic Disney feature film/Broadway style like "Royal Prep" performed by Fauna, Flora, Merryweather, and the students; "True Sisters" performed by Sofia and Cinderella; and "A Little Bit of Food," a fun, upbeat song performed by Clover and his fellow animals that uncovers the mystery of why woodland creatures have been hanging around princesses for years.

### Songs

* I'm Not Ready to Be A Princess
* Royal Prep
* A Little Bit of Food
* True Sisters
* Rise and Shine

## Home Video Release

* Sofia the First: Once Upon A Princess DVD

## Cast

* Ariel Winter as Sofia
* Sara Ramirez as Queen Miranda
* Wayne Brady as Clover
* Tim Gunn as Baileywick
* Darcy Rose Byrnes as Princess Amber
* Zach Callison as Prince James
* Travis Willingham as King Roland II
* Jess Harnell as Cedric the Sorcerer
* Ashley Eckstein as Mia
* Meghan Strange as Robin
* Barbara Dirickson as Flora
* Russi Taylor as Fauna
* Tress MacNeille as Merryweather
* Jennifer Hale as Cinderella
* Jim Cummings as Wormwood
* Fiona Bishop as Ruby Hanshaw
* Isabella Acres as Jade
* Alyson Stoner as Princess Mae
* Bailee Madison as Princess Penelope
* Maxim Knight as Prince Zandar