The Swan Princess

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For The Soundtrack of the film, See The Swan Princess (soundtrack).
The Swan Princess

Theatrical 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
Narrated by Brian Nissen
Starring Michelle Nicastro
Howard McGillin
Jack Palance
John Cleese
Steven Wright
Sandy Duncan
Music by Lex de Azevedo
Editing by Armetta Jackson-Hdamlett
James Koford
Distributed by New Line Cinema (USA)
Columbia TriStar (internationally)
Release date(s) November 18, 1994
Running time 90 min. (approx.)
Country  United States
Language English
Gross revenue $9,771,658 (domestic)
Followed by The Swan Princess II: Escape from Castle Mountain

The Swan Princess is a Golden Globe nominated 1994 animated film based on the ballet "Swan Lake". Starring the voice talents of Academy Award-winner Jack Palance, John Cleese, Steven Wright, and Sandy Duncan, 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. The first film may have been the final theatrical release to be made using traditional cel animation.

Contents

[edit] Plot

King William, father of Princess Odette, and Queen Uberta, mother of Prince Derek, conspire to matchmake their two offspring in the hopes of bringing their kingdoms together. As children and adolescents, Derek and Odette cannot stand each other, but when they meet as young adults, they see each other in a different light and fall in love. When Derek announces that they may plan the wedding, Odette stalls. She asks Derek what else he sees in her besides her beauty, to which Derek responds: "What else is there?" Odette is disappointed and the wedding is called off.

Odette and William leave Uberta's castle, but during their journey home they are attacked by Rothbart, an enchanter whom King William had banished years before. King William's Captain manages to make it to Uberta's castle, telling him they were attacked by a "Great Animal". When Derek rides out to the site of the attack, he only finds King William, who says "It's not what it seems," before dying. The people of the kingdom believe that Odette is dead, except Derek, who vows to find her. To this end, he constantly practices his archery skills with his friend, Bromley.

In truth, Rothbart has cast a spell on Odette, keeping her captive at a lake in the woods. Although she is technically free to leave the grounds whenever she likes, as soon as moonlight leaves the lake, she transforms into a swan. In order to become human again, Odette has to be on the lake itself, and moonlight has to touch her wings. Rothbart explains that he wants to legally take over William's kingdom by marrying Odette. Every night Rothbart visits her to ask her to marry him, and every night she says "I'll die first." While staying at the lake, Odette befriends three animals: Jean-Bob, a French frog that thinks he's a prince, Speed the turtle and Puffin the puffin. Odette believes that Derek is looking for her, just as Derek believes that he will one day find her.

Odette and Derek.

Working together with her animal friends, Odette manages to lure Derek to the lake, where she transforms in front of him. She explains that the spell can only be broken by a "vow of everlasting love", which Derek must "prove to the world". Derek asks that Odette attend the ball that is being held at his castle the following night, so that he may make the vow before of all the guests. After Derek leaves, Rothbart arrives and reveals that he has heard their entire plan. He magically transforms his sidekick, the Hag, into a replica of Odette, so that she may attend the ball in Odette's stead, explaining that if Derek makes the vow to the wrong girl, Odette will die. Rothbart locks Odette in the watery dungeon of his castle.

At the ball, numerous princesses are introduced to Derek. Odette manages to escape the dungeon, but she arrives at the ball too late and witnesses Derek making his vow to the Hag. When Derek realizes his mistake, he follows Odette back to the lake, where she transforms back into human form, but is slowly dying. Rothbart reveals himself and transforms into the Great Animal. A fight ensues between him and Derek, and is ended when Derek fires an arrow into the Great Animal's heart. Derek tells Odette he loves her, for reasons beyond her beauty, and she recovers. The pair are married in a royal wedding, with the entire kingdom rejoicing.

[edit] Voice cast

[edit] Musical numbers

Main article: The Swan Princess (soundtrack)
  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] The film's box office results may have been adversely affected by Disney's rerelease of that year's The Lion King the same weekend.

Currently has a "C" At Boxofficemojo. as of 2008 38% of the critics at Rottentomatoes give positive reviews (based on 8 reviews). However, one of its three "fresh" ratings was from Roger Ebert (three out of four stars).

[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] Nominations

[edit] Sequels

Two sequels were made to the Swan Princess 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 villain magicians — Clavius (Swan II) and Zelda (Swan III) — who are connected with the Forbidden Arts practiced by Rothbart (Jack Palance), 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. Each sequel reprises some instrumental scoring from the original film by Lex de Azevedo together with all new songs and music by Lex de Azevedo and Clive Romney. Similarly occasional background and animation sequence art from the original Swan Princess film was reused when applicable but most was created new for each sequel. Swan Princess II animation features hand-painted cels like the original film but Swan III has digitally-painted cels. Overseas production for all three films was by Hanho Heung-Up Co., Seoul, South Korea.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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

[edit] External links


Preceded by
The Brothers McMullen		 Box office number-one films of 1995 (UK)
December 17, 1995		 Succeeded by
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swan_Princess"
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