Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess

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 and now wants it for himself.

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 amulet 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 magic necklace that can grant the wearer that grants it's wear a power that can be either a blessing or a curse when it's wearer does a great deed and which it is depends on whether the deed is 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, since he has been meaning to say a few things to Princesses. 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 her 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 repairs 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: The 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

Reception
The special got the 5th most viewers for the week, with 5.151 million viewers, the highest for any Disney animated special since Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation! in 2009. It was #1 or #2 for several areas: Top cartoon, non-sports program, top 1 hour show, and top Disney show. It has the largest 2-5 crowd (1.5 million) since Atlantis Squarepants from 2007. It was also Kids 6-11 (1.6 million/6.7 rating), and was the #2 scripted cable TV telecast in Total Viewers (5.151 million). Notably, the movie became the #1 cable TV telecast in 5 years in preschoolers 2-5 and in 10 years in Girls 2-5 (954,000/12.2 rating). On IMDB, the special has a 6.3 rating from 225 users. It also had 1.4 million adults watching it.

Trivia

 * Jennifer Hale, the voice of Cinderella, had to sing the song "True Sisters" due to Tami Tappan (Cinderella's singing voice) not being able to make the recording.
 * Miranda becomes the Queen of Enchancia, King Roland's second wife, and the Royal Family's matriarch.
 * Sofia becomes Enchancia's second Princess and the Royal Family's youngest member.
 * This is the only Sofia the First episode that features five songs.
 * Sofia receives the Amulet of Avalor.
 * Cedric begins plotting to steal the Amulet of Avalor from Sofia right after seeing it in his eyes.
 * This is the first time Amber gets jealous.
 * Sofia learns that her amulet is magical.
 * Sofia learns her amulet's rule.
 * This is the first time Sofia's amulet grants her a blessing.
 * Sofia gains the power to talk to animals.
 * Sofia meets Clover, Robin, Mia, and Whatnaught, who become her animal friends.
 * Cinderella is the very first Princess summoned by the Amulet of Avalor.