The Swan Princess

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The Swan Princess

The Swan Princess movie poster
Directed by Richard Rich
Produced by Nest Family Entertainment
Richard Rich
Terry L. Noss
Thomas J. Tobin
Jared Brown
Written by Brian Nissen
Richard Rich
Starring Michelle Nicastro
Howard McGillin
Jack Palance
John Cleese
Steven Wright
Steve Vinovich
Mark Harelik
Dakin Matthews
Sandy Duncan
Liz Callaway
Music by Lex de Azevedo
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
New Line Cinema
Nest Learning
Release date(s) November 18, 1994
Running time 90 minutes
Language English
Followed by The Swan Princess II: Escape from Castle Mountain
IMDb profile

The Swan Princess is a Golden Globe nominated 1994 animated film based on the ballet "Swan Lake". Starring the voices of Jack Palance, Howard McGillin, Michelle Nicastro, Steven Wright and John Cleese, the film is directed by ex-Disney animation director Richard Rich, with a music score by Lex de Azevedo. There were two sequels: The Swan Princess II: Escape from Castle Mountain and The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Kingdom.

Contents

[edit] Plot

A lonely king named William has a daughter, Odette. William conspires with neighboring kingdom's Queen Uberta to matchmake Odette with Uberta's son Derek. But there is another plot brewing from the king's evil wizard, Rothbart, who wants to take over the kingdom. Luckily, he is foiled, and banished from the kingdom, but vows to return and destroy all William loves. Naturally, without his powers, the kingdom forgets the threat, and turns to await the possible romance that could bloom between the two children.

Derek and Odette are forced to spend their summers together by their widowed parents, who hope that the two will eventually fall in love and marry, so that the kingdoms of the two will be united. As children and adolescents, Derek (McGillin) and Odette (Nicastro) can't stand each other, but as young adults they see each other in a different light and fall in love with each other. But one night things take a bad turn when Derek unintentionally offends Odette, who then refuses to marry him if he can't prove that he loves her for who she is and not just her beauty. Odette and her father are then attacked by a returning Rothbart, who assaults them in the form of a beast and mortally wounds William, and kidnaps Odette.

King William's Captain makes it back to Derek's castle to tell them that they were attacked by a "great animal." When Derek rides off to the scene of the attack, he finds King William on the ground. Before he dies from his injuries, he tells Derek about "the great animal... and it's not what it seems."

Rothbart has placed a spell on Odette that turns her into a swan during the day, and she can only regain her human form when the moonlight touches the lake to which she is bound. Only a vow of everlasting love from Derek can set her free, or marrying Rothbart, thus giving him her father's kingdom.

Odette and Derek.
Odette and Derek.

While everyone else believes Odette is dead, Derek refuses to give up hope and sets out to find his true love, which involves a hunt for the mysterious animal which attacked her carriage. With the aid of a patient turtle, an Irish puffin and a slightly delusional, love struck frog (who thinks that a kiss from a beautiful maiden will turn him "back" into a prince), Odette manages to get Derek to the lake, where he sees her resume her human form. With Rothbart approaching, Odette urges Derek to escape after explaining the spell to him, and he tells her to come to a ball his mother is preparing, and there he will make the vow before the world that will set her free. But Rothbart has already caught on to their plan and, taking advantage of the fact that the night of the ball will have no moon, he locks Odette in his castle and then transforms his hench-woman into the form of Odette to send to the ball, so that when Derek makes the vow to her instead, the real Odette will die.

Despite her animal friends' efforts to free her from the castle, Odette reaches the ball too late to warn Derek, who makes his vow to her imposter. Devastated, a weak and dying Odette struggles back to the lake. Rothbart then appears to gloat, sending Derek racing to find Odette, whom he finds lying near death. Rothbart challenges Derek to a duel for her life, and transforms himself into the animal form in which he killed Odette's father. With some unwitting help from his friend Bromley, Derek kills Rothbart with an arrow. Back at Odette's side, it seems first that Derek was too late to save her, but as he cradles her in his arms and tells of the reasons he loves her, she revives and the two share a kiss. Later, they are married and share a happily-ever-after.

[edit] Voice cast

[edit] Musical numbers

  1. This Is My Idea
  2. Practice, Practice, Practice
  3. Far Longer Than Forever
  4. No Fear
  5. No More Mr. Nice Guy
  6. No Fear (Reprise) [Featured only in the film between "Princesses on Parade", but not on the film soundtrack]
  7. Princesses on Parade
  8. Far Longer Than Forever (finale) - Jeffrey Osborne & Regina Belle
  9. Eternity (End Titles) - Dreams Come True

[edit] Release

[edit] Theatrical

The Swan Princess had a theatrical release in November 1994 to a lukewarm response of $2,445,155 on its opening weekend. It eventually had a total domestic gross of $9,771,658.[1] Currently has a "C" At Boxofficemojo.

[edit] Home video

The Swan Princess was originally released on home video on August 1, 1995. In certain European countries, the full The Swan Princess trilogy was released in a 2-disc double-sided set on February 16, 2004. On March 30, 2004 the film was re-released to mark its 10-year anniversary, with a new cover for the video and Special Edition DVD. The Special Edition DVD contains a few extras, including trailers, a read-along feature, a sing-along feature and games. On August 2, 2005, The Swan Princess was released as a double-feature DVD with its sequel The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Kingdom.

[edit] Award nominations

[edit] Trivia

  • The scene where Lord Rothbart does one armed push ups during his song was a reference to Jack Palance, who did Rothbart's voice. When Palance won an Oscar for best supporting actor for his role as Curly in City Slickers at age 73, he dropped to the ground and performed one armed push ups for the audience.
  • Speed looks more like a tortoise than a turtle. The main difference between the two is that turtles have broad, flat flippers, which would make them ungainly on land, while tortoises have stiff legs too heavy for swimming. However Speed could be a terrapin, as they are adapted for both walking and swimming.
  • In one of Rothbart's singing numbers, he casts an orange spell which splits the earth beneath a hag. The number 6.8 is hidden in the exploding spell.

[edit] Sequels

Two sequels were made to the movie: The Swan Princess II: Escape from Castle Mountain and The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Kingdom. The sequels are alternately titled The Secret of the Castle and The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure respectively in certain European DVD releases. Both sequels deal with the heroes having to face other dark arts magicians who are connected with Rothbart, the villain of the original movie. Most of the main voice cast did not return for the sequels except Michelle Nicastro who reprised her role as Odette, and Steve Vinovich who reprised his role as Puffin. The two sequels featured re-used animation and background shots from the original film, as well as the original music score.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Swan Princess at boxofficemojo.com. [1]

[edit] External links