The Swan Princess: Christmas | |
---|---|
Directed by | Richard Rich |
Screenplay by | Brian Nissen |
Story by |
|
Based on | Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky |
Produced by |
|
Starring | Laura Bailey Yuri Lowenthal James Arrington G.K. Bowes Sean Wright |
Edited by | Joe Campana |
Music by | Vassal Benford |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Sony Pictures Home Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 83 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Swan Princess: Christmas is a 2012 American animated fantasy family film directed by Richard Rich, produced by Crest Animation Productions and Nest Family Entertainment. [1] It is the fourth film in The Swan Princess series, and the first in 14 years. It follows the adventures of Odette and Derek celebrating their first Christmas together. While the three previous films in the series were animated using traditional 2D hand-drawn techniques, The Swan Princess Christmas was the first in the series to be created entirely with CGI animation.
Out of all of the cast members James Arrington is the only one to return from the original film and its sequels, Doug Stone reprises his role as Speed from the sequels and Sean Wright reprises his role of Rothbart from The Swan Princess III: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure . The movie is followed by an animated direct-to-DVD entitled The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale released one year later. Chronologically, it is revealed that this takes place after the first film, but before the second film, because it is said that this is Odette's first Christmas with Derek and without her father; in the second film, Odette and Derek have been married for a year, meaning one Christmas must have gone by between the two films.
Princess Odette and Prince Derek are on their way to Queen Uberta's castle to celebrate their first Christmas together. Unbeknownst to them, the evil sorcerer Rothbart has returned from the dead as a spirit and enlisted a black cat named Number 9 for help by promising him nine extra lives. Number 9 lures Derek to the cellar of Uberta's castle where he opens a chest with the initial R on it. When Derek leaves, Rothbart emerges from the chest as a ghost. From here, Rothbart starts his plan to destroy the kingdom's Christmas spirit, the only thing more powerful than the Forbidden Arts, as this will give him the power to be revived in bodily form. Rothbart is able to cast minor spells that cause people to fight; he does this to Queen Uberta and Lord Rogers, and later to the villagers until almost the entire village is in disharmony.
Derek and Odette learn of Rothbart's return as a ghostly spirit when wind chimes playing "Far Longer than Forever" make him visible and hold him immobile. They set up chimes all around the castle, but Rothbart eventually re-enlists the help of Bridget (his hag henchwoman from the first film who had turned good) and she helps remove the wind chimes for him.
As part of the Christmas festivities, Rogers and Uberta are staging musical performances. Due to Rothbart's spell, they have become aggressive and competitive with each other. Odette, who is staging her own song, invites the children to perform "Christmas is the Reason" which momentarily weakens Rothbart's power over Uberta and Rogers. Odette follows up on this by inviting Uberta and Rogers to give gifts and food to the poor. This time the good will breaks the spell on the whole kingdom, and Rothbart is severely weakened.
Rothbart's last chance to ruin the kingdom's Christmas spirit is to sabotage the royal Christmas tree. He sends Number 9 to steal one of the Christmas lights, and Rothbart casts a dark spell on it that will destroy the tree. Derek learns of this plan thanks to Bridget, who has double-crossed Rothbart and traps him inside a giant chime.
Derek rushes back to the Christmas Eve party to stop the tree from being lit, but they are too late. The enchanted light bulb bursts the tree and its ornaments into flames. Rothbart becomes fully restored to his physical body, takes Uberta's crown which he turns into his own, and kidnaps Odette where he takes her back to Swan Lake.
At Swan Lake, Rothbart once again turns Odette into a white swan and traps her inside a cage made of roots, just as Speed, Puffin and Jean-Bob arrived. Puffin tries to attack Rothbart, but the evil sorcerer knocks the bird down and turns him into a Christmas ornament. He then casts a spell on the moonlight, so that when it touches Odette's wings, she will turn into a golden swan-shaped ornament forever. Derek arrives to rescue Odette and Rothbart has assumed the form of the Great Animal again to fight Derek. At first Derek is overpowered, but Odette starts singing "The Season of Love," which weakens Rothbart until he bursts into flames and dies. With Rothbart defeated for a second time, Odette changes back into a human and Puffin returns to his normal self. Derek dies in her arms due to his injuries, but a distraught Odette sings again, the great spirit of Christmas returns him to life and restores the royal Christmas Tree. At the Christmas party, the kingdom puts up a new Christmas ornament on the tree, honoring Derek and Odette.
The film's music was composed by Vassal Benford. Two albums were released in conjunction with the film. A Christmas album, "17 Songs from The Swan Princess Christmas" was released on October 22, 2012, containing the film's Christmas songs and a few instrumental pieces from the film. [2] A more complete soundtrack album, "The Swan Princess Christmas Soundtrack", was released on November 8, 2012, containing 34 tracks of the film's songs and instrumental pieces. [3] [4] Both albums contain a studio version of "Season of Love", Odette's song from the film, performed by Anna Graceman.
Soundtrack album | Christmas album | Song/track title |
---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Overture and Prologue |
2 | 2 | Jingle Bells |
3 | 3 | We Wish You a Merry Christmas |
4 | Royalty | |
5 | Evil Schemes | |
6 | Ice Leopard Chase | |
7 | 4 | Deck the Halls |
8 | 5 | Hark! The Herald Angels Sing |
9 | 6 | Season of Love (movie version) |
10 | Princess in Love | |
11 | The Theme | |
12 | 7 | Jolly Old St Nicholas |
13 | Jean Bob | |
14 | 8 | Angels We Have Heard On High |
15 | 12 Days of Rothbart | |
16 | 9 | Christmas Is The Reason |
17 | The Hag | |
18 | Root of Perrywinkle | |
19 | Cutting Down the Chimes | |
20 | 10 | Food for the Poor |
21 | 11 | God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman |
22 | 12 | Joy to the World |
23 | 13 | The Great Escape |
24 | 14 | Away In A Manger |
25 | The Great Chase | |
26 | 15 | Here We Come A-Caroling |
27 | The Countdown | |
28 | Rothbart's Wrath | |
29 | The Great Animal | |
30 | Aliens | |
31 | 16 | Derek's Rebirth |
32 | Epilogue | |
33 | 17 | Christmas is The Reason (reprise) |
34 | 18 | Season of Love (Anna Graceman) |
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2022) |
Common Sense Media gave the film 2 out of 5 stars. The website reads, "Animated sequel lacks magic; some mild violence." [5]
Swan Lake, Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failure, it is now one of the most popular ballets of all time.
The Marvelous Land of Oz: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, commonly shortened to The Land of Oz, published in July 1904, is the second book in L. Frank Baum's Oz series, and the sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). This and the following 34 books in the series were illustrated by John R. Neill. It was followed by Ozma of Oz (1907).
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is a 1902 children's book, written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by Mary Cowles Clark.
Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas Celebration is an animated Christmas television special originally broadcast on the American CBS TV network on December 21, 1987. The special featured stop motion clay animation and was produced and directed by Will Vinton. The special debuted alongside A Garfield Christmas and the two continued to be aired back to back in subsequent years.
The Swan Princess is a 1994 American animated musical fantasy film based on the ballet Swan Lake. Featuring Michelle Nicastro, Howard McGillin, Jack Palance, John Cleese, Steven Wright, Sandy Duncan, and Steve Vinovich, the film is directed by former Disney animation director Richard Rich and scored by Lex de Azevedo. The film was distributed by New Line Cinema in the United States and by Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International outside the US. It was released theatrically on November 18, 1994, and grossed $9.8 million against a $21 million budget, becoming a box-office bomb, partly due to struggling competition with a re-release of The Lion King (1994). The film later became popular through home video releases and has since been followed by a series of direct-to-video sequels starting in 1997.
Michelle Nicastro was an American actress and singer.
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake is a contemporary ballet based on the Russian romantic work Swan Lake, from which it takes the music by Tchaikovsky and the broad outline of the plot. Bourne's rendering is best known for having the traditionally female parts of the swans danced by men.
A Snow White Christmas is a Christmas animated television special produced by Filmation and telecast December 19, 1980, on CBS. The special is a sequel to the fairy tale "Snow White", unrelated to Filmation's other sequel to "Snow White" titled Happily Ever After (1989), which ignores everything from this film.
Barbie of Swan Lake is a 2003 animated fantasy film co-produced by Mainframe Entertainment and Mattel Entertainment, and distributed by Artisan Home Entertainment.
Steve Vinovich is an American actor.
Liz Callaway is an American actress, singer and recording artist, who is best known for having provided the singing voices of many female characters in animated films, such as Anastasia in Anastasia, Odette in The Swan Princess, Jasmine in the Aladdin sequels The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves, adult Kiara in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, and a dancing napkin ring in Beauty and the Beast. She was also the original Ellen in the Broadway production of Miss Saigon.
The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain, alternatively known as The Swan Princess and the Secret of the Castle in European territories, is a 1997 American animated musical-fantasy-comedy film and the first direct-to-video sequel to the 1994 animated film The Swan Princess. Directed by Richard Rich, the film follows Derek and Odette's first anniversary of their wedding being disrupted by the actions of a wicked magician, Sir Clavius, who wants to find a magical orb, the source of the Forbidden Arts, and take over the world. The film was released on July 18, 1997. It is the only film in the series not distributed through Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Chronologically, this film takes place after The Swan Princess: Christmas, since Odette mentions this as the first Christmas since her father's death.
Swan Lake is an anime film based on the ballet Swan Lake by Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
The 1895 Petipa/Ivanov/Drigo revival of Swan Lake is a famous version of the ballet Swan Lake,, . This is a ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky based on an ancient German legend, presented in either four acts, four scenes, three acts, four scenes or, more rarely, in two acts, four scenes. Originally choreographed by Julius Reisinger to the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, it was first presented as The Lake of the Swans by the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre on 20 February/4 March 1877 in Moscow, Russia. Although the ballet is presented in many different versions, most ballet companies today base their stagings both choreographically and musically on this revival by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, staged for the Imperial Ballet, first presented on 15 January/27 January 1895, at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia instead of the original version.
The Swan Princess III: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure, alternatively titled The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Kingdom, is a 1998 American animated direct-to-video musical adventure film and the third installment in The Swan Princess franchise. It was directed again by Richard Rich, and features the voices of Michelle Nicastro and Brian Nissen as Odette and Derek. This film follows Derek and Odette having to deal with Zelda, a sorceress who is seeking the Forbidden Arts and wishes to use it to destroy their happiness.
The Swan Princess: Music From The Motion Picture is the soundtrack to the Animated Feature The Swan Princess. It contains the songs from the film written by Lex de Azevedo and David Zippel, as well as the film's score composed and conducted by Lex de Azevedo, and additional score conducted by Larry Bastian. The score was orchestrated by Lex de Azevedo, Larry Bastian, and Larry Schwartz. The single "Far Longer than Forever" performed by Regina Belle and Jeffrey Osborne was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1995 for Best Original Song, but lost to "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" from The Lion King.
"Far Longer than Forever" is the theme song from the animated movie The Swan Princess. The song was written by composer Lex de Azevedo and lyricist David Zippel, with production by Robbie Buchanan. The song is performed by Regina Belle and Jeffrey Osborne.
The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol is a 2011 American animated short film based on The Smurfs comic book series created by the Belgian comics artist Peyo, and is an adaptation Charles Dickens's 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. The animated short was written by Todd Berger and directed by Troy Quane, and it stars the voices of George Lopez, Jack Angel, Melissa Sturm, Fred Armisen, Gary Basaraba, Anton Yelchin and Hank Azaria. The film was produced by Sony Pictures Animation with the animation by Sony Pictures Imageworks and Duck Studios. The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol was released on DVD on December 2, 2011, attached to The Smurfs film.
The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale is a 2014 American animated fantasy adventure film produced by Crest Animation Productions and Nest Family Entertainment, directed by Richard Rich and starring the voices of Laura Bailey as Odette and Yuri Lowenthal as Derek. It is the fifth film in The Swan Princess series, and follows Odette and Derek's adoption of a young girl named Alise along with their defeating the Forbidden Arts. It was released direct-to-DVD and Blu-ray on February 25, 2014 for the franchise's 20th anniversary. A sixth film titled The Swan Princess: Princess Tomorrow, Pirate Today was released on September 6, 2016.
The Swan Princess is an animated film series that began with the 1994 film The Swan Princess. There are twelve films in the series as of 2023.