There’s plenty to tend to when you are royalty. Don’t believe it? You’d only have to look as far as Disney Junior’s "Sofia the First."
"Sofia the First: The Curse of Princess Ivy" is a feature-length adventure that ultimately illustrates how unselfishly putting the needs of others before oneself can be truly magical.
It’s like that whole thing when Spock takes on all the radiation unleashed from the clash with Kahn to save the crew in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn." Well, it is like that but without the aliens, radiation, Ricardo Montalban and spaceships.
Sofia learns some hard lessons of people, evil intent and kindness in her third time out in a DVD special of the popular cable television series. To steal from Marvel’s Spider-Man, "With great power, comes great responsibility." Sofia learns this lesson too well when Amber is spying on her and sees that her special Amulet of Avalor lets her communicate with animals. When Amber confronts Sofia, she learns the amulet is magical.
When Sofia has the amulet, she hears the sweet tones of Wayne Brady as Clover, but when the jewelry is missing, Brady is back to his jibberish and pantomime ways that made him successful in "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"
Amber waits for Sofia to sleep to have her turn with the trinket. Amber tries to summon the Disney Princess Rapunzel, but gets Princess Ivy instead. With a color scheme right out of the Disney villain book of Cruella Deville, Ivy lets her black and white butterflies all over the kingdom like some death plague.
But don’t fret, it isn’t the butterflies we need to be wary of. We should be scared that Mandy Moore reprises her role of Rapunzel, sings her own song and helps Sofia and Amber vanquish the evil Ivy before it is too late.
Seriously, this DVD featuring the special movie event from Disney Junior in November of last year, is a pretty good film. And the princesses in your household will surely be entertained. I poke fun at it only because Tim Gunn of "Project Runway" and wonderful character actor Oliver Platt lend their distinctive voices and talents to this project for a paycheck.
For being a series for the youngest of princess fans, this special covers some pretty heavy topics. As I always suggest with these types of home entertainment releases, screen it first to see if the littlest ones in your family can handle the subject matter and animation used to tell the story. Disney is safer than most, but I believe their producers would agree with me on the needed extra step.
The extras on the DVD include three bonus episodes from the television series and a free, color-changing necklace inside the packaging.
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