| The Swan Princess | |
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Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Richard Rich |
| Produced by | Jared F. Brown Richard Rich |
| Screenplay by | Brian Nissen |
| Story by | Richard Rich Brian Nissen |
| Narrated by | Brian Nissen |
| Starring | Michelle Nicastro Howard McGillin Jack Palance John Cleese Steven Wright Sandy Duncan Steve Vinovich Frank Welker |
| Music by | Lex de Azevedo |
| Editing by | Armetta Jackson-Hdamlett James Koford |
| Studio | Nest Family Entertainment Rich Animation Studios Rankin/Bass |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema (theatrical) Turner Home Entertainment (VHS) Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (DVD) |
| Release date(s) | November 18, 1994 |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $9,771,658 (USA) |
The Swan Princess is a 1994 American animated film based on the ballet "Swan Lake". Starring the voice talents of Jack Palance, John Cleese, Steven Wright, and Sandy Duncan, the film is directed by a former Disney animation director, Richard Rich, with a music score by Lex de Azevedo. The film was followed by two direct-to-video sequels: The Swan Princess II: Escape from Castle Mountain (1997) and The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Kingdom (1998).
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The film begins with an aging king named William (Dakin Matthews) who has a daughter named Odette (Michelle Nicastro/Liz Callaway). His friend, the widowed Queen Uberta (Sandy Duncan) decide to have Odette and the Queen's son, Prince Derek (Adam Wylie/Howard McGillin), meet every summer with hopes they'd fall in love, so as to unite their kingdoms as one. At first, while Odette and Derek are still children, this fails to work, miserably, as hanging out together was not their "idea of fun". Years pass, and Odette and Derek reach young adulthood. During this time, the two finally begin to fall in love. However, during a royal ball, Derek expresses his wish to marry her for just her looks, which upsets Odette into rejecting him again. She leaves the next day with her father, but en route, they are attacked by Rothbart (Jack Palance), an evil sorcerer who desires William's kingdom for himself. He kidnaps Odette and fatally injures William; Derek, alerted to the situation, arrives on the scene, where William tells him "It's not what it seems..." before dying. Despite Uberta's efforts to find another princess for her son to marry, Derek becomes determined to find Odette.
Elsewhere, Rothbart has taken Odette to his castle lair at Swan Lake and casts a spell on her that makes her turn into a swan during the day and a human again during the night. The spell can only be broken by a vow of everlasting love. He asks her to marry him every night, but she always refuses. During her captivity, Odette befriends an old Turtle named Speed (Steven Wright), a frog named Jean-Bob (John Cleese), and Puffin (Steve Vinovich), a puffin bird. Puffin, after learning about the workings of Rothbart's spell, devises a plan to reunite Odette with Derek. Together with Puffin, Odette finds Derek, who has gone searching for her with his friend Bromley (Joel McKinnon Miller). However, he mistakes her for the "Great Animal," a bat-like monster that King William had told him about before his death, and tries to kill her. The ensuing chase leads Derek to Swan Lake, where he witnesses Odette change from swan to human. The two share a happy reunion, but almost immediately, Rothbart comes calling. At Odette's urging, Derek leaves with the hopes of meeting her at a ball being held by Uberta. Unfortunately, Rothbart finds Derek's bow (which Derek left behind), and has Odette, in swan form, imprisoned within the castle dungeon. He then plans to send Bridget (his hag sidekick), disguised as Odette, to the ball instead. Rothbart has also found Bromley, whom he has thrown in the dungeon with Odette.
Odette's friends free her, but when she gets to the ball, she sees that she has been replaced and tries to warn Derek. However, she is unable to, partly due to Bridget's attempts to keep Derek from seeing her, and Derek makes the vow to Bridget. Rothbart then arrives and reveals his plans to Derek. Desperate to save Odette, Derek races to Swan Lake, while Odette flies back to the lake as Rothbart's curse drains her life force. Derek arrives too late, and Odette dies in his arms, though not before she admits her true romantic love for him. Derek confronts Rothbart, demanding that he not let Odette die. To Derek's surprise, Rothbart is revealed to be the Great Animal (Frank Welker) that King William had mentioned previously before his own death. An intense battle ensues, with Rothbart overpowering Derek and nearly killing him. Fortunately, Odette's animal friends return Derek's longbow to him, and Bromley, who has escaped from his earlier imprisonment, provides Derek with a single arrow. Derek catches the arrow and seemingly kills Rothbart by firing it straight-and-true into his heart.
With Rothbart seemingly gone, his spell on Odette is broken, and when Derek says that he really and truly does love her, she is revived. The two are soon married, and they live happily ever after, with Odette reclaiming Rothbart's castle as their new home.
The Swan Princess received U.S. theatrical release on November 18 1994, and only made $2,445,155 on its opening weekend. It eventually had a total domestic gross of $9,771,658.
The critical response to The Swan Princess was mixed. Currently, the film has a "C" grade at Box Office Mojo. As of 2010, Rotten Tomatoes has a 44% ("rotten") score, based on 8 reviews. One of its three "fresh" ratings there was from Roger Ebert (three out of four stars).
The Swan Princess was originally released on home video on August 3, 1995, and sold over 2.5 million units.[1] 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.
A Filipino version of The Swan Princess was released on April 12, 2011 through "Summer Super Sine" on TV5 for the benefit of the Philippine audience.
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 two other evil magic-wielders: the crazy yet comical wizard Clavius (Swan II), and the wicked witch Zelda (Swan III) — both of whom were/are former allies of Rothbart (and both of whom Rothbart betrayed). Most of the main voice cast did not return for the sequels, save for the late 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.
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