"The Amulet and the Anthem" is the seventeenth episode of the Disney Jr. animated series, Sofia the First. It premiered on September 13, 2013.
Overview[]
Sofia brags to Jade and Ruby about being chosen to sing the national Enchancian Anthem at the annual Harvest Festival. As a response to this, her amulet puts a curse on her, causing her to croak like a frog. Sofia must find a way to break the curse before her big performance. Belle appears and tells Sofia that, instead of just apologizing, she should also do something to make it up to her friends, so Sofia lets Jade and Ruby sing the anthem with her.
Plot[]
Everyone arrives at the annual Harvest Festival hoping to be chosen to sing the Enchancian Anthem. Sofia hopes she does so, and when Ruby and Jade sing it, Sofia compliments both for how they sound. Luciano, the host of the harvest festival, then appears, and picks a random piece of wood with a name of a young maiden. It is revealed to be Sofia. Before she knows it, she gets interviewed, her portrait painted, and showered with gifts. She soon ends up boasting about it to Ruby and Jade in a way that hurts their feelings and makes them storm off in a huff. Afterward, Sofia's amulet glows in a dark and ominous way. Suddenly, during rehearsal, Sofia starts croaking like a frog. Clover is convinced that Sofia has been cursed, so she decides to go see Cedric about it. On the way, she bumps into Baileywick in a way that almost leads to him and Amber finding out.
After correcting Sofia on the correct way to say his name again, Cedric jumps for joy when Sofia tells him she's been cursed. When he explains that her Amulet is the cause, Sofia, at first, is surprised because she just thought the amulet gives her magical powers until Cedric reminds her of the Amulet's rule and explains its full meaning: When the current bearer of the Amulet of Avalor does a very good deed, the Amulet will bless its bearer with a magical power as a reward, but if the current bearer does a very bad deed, it will place a curse upon its bearer as punishment. Sofia can't recall doing anything bad, but she knows Cedric is telling the truth because it's the only explanation for why she's cursed. Cedric couldn't care less what she did and he attempts to persuade her to give him the amulet so he can take a look at it, but Sofia declines because of the promise she made her father and hopes Cedric has a spell in one of his books. As expected, he tells her he doesn't and makes another request, but again she declines. Cedric decides to leave it at that. However, it doesn't bother him because he plans to use Sofia's desperation to his advantage. Leaving her with her misery, she'll become desperate enough to give him the amulet.
After a good night's sleep, Clover proposes that Sofia go over what she did so they can figure out why she's cursed. Sofia goes over everything but is unable to figure out what she did wrong. Just then, they hear Amber boasting to her friends about the time she was chosen to be the anthem singer to her friends. Sofia finally realizes the reason she's cursed: She hurt Ruby and Jade's feelings by gloating about being chosen to sing the anthem and that's why the Amulet punished her with her croaking curse.
Before the Festival, Sofia apologizes to Ruby and Jade and the three make up. Sofia runs to the stage and meets up with Cedric who makes another play for the Amulet. Sofia happily tells him she figured out why the Amulet cursed her and broke it, only to find that she hadn't, which pleases Cedric. Seeing that the Festival is going to start soon, Cedric offers to break the curse if she hands over her amulet. Once again, Sofia tells him no. Cedric tells her he'll wait by the stage and warns her to hurry as time is running out. Because it's almost time for her to sing, Sofia is really in trouble now. She becomes despondent at how she'll have to go on stage and sing while cursed with her croaking.
Suddenly, Sofia's Amulet glows and summons a French Princess named Belle, who tells her the reason she's still cursed, despite her apology, is because she still hasn't made things right. Through a song, she tells Sofia about her husband, Prince Adam; AKA the Beast: who was the spoiled, selfish and unkind prince with no love in his heart when the Enchantress punished him for not taking the enchanted rose in exchange for the old beggar woman's shelter from the bitter cold on the Winter's night of Christmas Eve when he was 11 and she placed a powerful spell on the castle with his servants (like Lumiere, Cogsworth, Chip Potts, Miss Potts, Fifi, Wardrobe, Sultan, Angelique, Webster, Le Plume and Crane) as the furniture along with his confidant and best friend, malevolent, former court composer Maestro Forte as the pipe organ and the musician, now a noble, current court composer Fife as the piccolo, and what she must do in order to break the curse: Since the amulet cursed her for saying things that made them feel worse about not being chosen to be the Anthem Singer, she must do something that will make them feel better. Her confidence restored, Sofia tells Cedric she does not need his help anymore to his dismay, and gives the job of being the Anthem Singer to Ruby and Jade, which breaks the curse. Jade and Ruby want Sofia to join them, but Sofia refuses, so they drag her on stage and the three friends sing together for a standing ovation.
Home Video Release[]
Cast[]
- Ariel Winter as Sofia
- Darcy Rose Byrnes as Princess Amber
- Travis Willingham as King Roland II
- Sara Ramirez as Queen Miranda
- Wayne Brady as Clover
- Tim Gunn as Baileywick
- Jess Harnell as Cedric the Sorcerer
- Jim Cummings as Wormwood
- Diamond White as Ruby Hanshaw
- Isabella Acres as Jade
- Julie Nathanson as Belle
- Roger Craig Smith as Luciano
Transcript[]
The Amulet and the Anthem/Transcript
Songs[]
Videos[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Viewership: This episode was watched by 2.163 million viewers on its premiere.[1]
- This is the first episode where Sofia wears a dress of a different color. This dress has the same pattern and design she wore at the end of Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess but in pink.
- This is the first episode where Cedric displays his true evil side rather than his bumbling silliness; unfortunately, Sofia did not notice because she was too busy trying to break the curse. Also, Cedric was mainly persuading her to hand it over rather than forcing her.
- This is the second episode to feature two songs, the first being the premiere episode "Just One of the Princes".
- It is revealed in this episode that when the current bearer of the Amulet of Avalor does a bad deed that is something really bad, it punishes the bad deed by putting a curse on its bearer.
- This is the first episode where Sofia's magical amulet unleashes a curse.
- Belle is the third Disney Princess that assists Sofia.
- The first was Cinderella in Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess.
- The second was Jasmine in "Two to Tangu".
- This is the first episode where Ruby and Jade sing (aside from their rap in "The Big Sleepover").
- The Enchancia Anthem bears a similarity to "America the Beautiful" of the USA's 4th of July Independence in 1895, "Amhrán na bhFiann/The Soldiers' Song" of Ireland, "Wilhelmus van Nassouwe" of Holland/Netherlands, and "Hail to Bermuda"; also known as "This Island's Mine".
- This is the first episode where Sofia is shown being vain (which is very unlike her), the result being the croaking curse.
- This is the third episode where Ruby and Jade are curtsying. (The first was "The Big Sleepover", and the second was "Baileywick's Day Off")
- Clover mentions The Princess and the Frog and The Swan Princess (originally called Swan Lake).
- This the first episode where Amber and the other princesses who attend Royal Prep enter the Enchancian village.
- The reflect vision that Belle shows to Sofia in the water is a scene from the song Human Again, which was originally a deleted song but restored for the 2002 Special Edition of Beauty and the Beast.
- This is the fourth time Sofia visits The Enchancian Village.
- This is the first episode to show a clip from a renaissance Disney film of the late 20th century in remastered Special Edition.
- The appearance of the Beast marks the first and only appearance of a Disney Prince on the show.
- Luciano is voiced by Roger Craig Smith, making him the second time of voice actors from the Sonic the Hedgehog and Marvel Animated franchise to make an appearance in the series. The first one is Travis Willingham.
- Jade and Ruby almost discover Sofia's secret when they hear her croaking like a frog because of the curse the Amulet of Avalor put on her, but as usual, Sofia's quick thinking gets it shrugged off as nothing.
- Sofia's croaking sounds are a stock sound effect from the Hollywoodedge library ("Hollywoodedge, Single Frog Croak CRT013001").
- Cedric shows that while he knows that Sofia's amulet is enchanted, there are things he doesn't know about it, like its ability to summon Princesses.
- The anthem mentions the Ever Golden Glades and the Blazing Palisades; they later appear in "King for a Day" and Sofia the First: The Curse of Princess Ivy, respectively as a prequel of this episode.
- Sofia is the first to be cursed by the Amulet of Avalor's magic. This is also the first time she's been cursed.
- Sofia's croaking she gets cursed from almost resemble hiccups.
- Luciano made references to newspapers in real life during Sofia's interviews:
- The Enchancia Times (The Times)
- The Dunwiddie Post (The Huffington Post)
- Enchancia Today (USA Today)
- Moral: Actions speak louder than words do, especially when it comes to make things right.
References[]
- ↑ Bibel, Sara (September 16, 2013). Friday Cable Ratings: 'WWE Smackdown' Wins Night, 'Legend of Korra', 'Jessie', 'What Not to Wear', 'Fast N Loud' & More. TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on September 18, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2024.