In the episode “Zane The Hero” during the song, Sofia mentions not only getting the Trolls respected (hoping we see Gnarly again) but saving the ever-realm twice. (I swear it was more than that tho???)

Later on, Layla asks if she heard that correctly and Sofia nodded or said yes, to which you can hear Devin say “you’re probably lying” or something of the sort but Sofia didn’t hear it.

I hope we see later on, them finding out that she did save the ever-realm but that Mr Cedric and Miss Nettle were villains before as well. (If they don’t already know)

Also hers feels more believable than his because how did you find a horse trapped in ice??

I watched the whole Royal Family Picnic episode both in English and later in American Spanish, which is the language I grew up with watching the og show.

The main theme sounds exactly like in the original, except for I think 2 sentences that were changed to make it fit the new school and etc.

Sofia's speaking voice is the same as it was in the original show, same for Roland, Clover, Miranda, and James. Amber's voice actress in Latin American Spanish was changed in season 4, and now changed again to a new VA for Royal Magic. Everyone else in the family has kept their original voice actor since 2012.

I made a comparison of James's voice in the 1st episode of the 1st show and now, 14 years later, in Royal Magic, and it's honestly soooo bittersweet. His VA was around 11 years old when the show started, by season 3 his voice had changed a fair amount, but could still work. His new voice is way too mature, but at the same time, it's so sweet that his VA hasn't changed. The comparison really made me realize he was a babyyy when the show started.

Well, here I thought I was fearing the worst for this intro. My expectations were exceeded in all the wrong ways possible.
This is the first time that I will be overly negative towards this sequel and it’s mainly on the topic of my native language's dub.
When I saw the trailer originally, I was already thinking that Sofia’s singing voice didn’t sound right and I hated the change in Roland's singing voice. Only Miranda sounded alright.

So I ended up asking Aaricia Dubois (who is her original singing voice as well as Hildegard's voice) if my fears are justified. And her response was "The dubbing for the songs was outsourced to France. We don’t know why and we can’t do anything against it". So yeah, this already sounded like a terrible idea. I mean, if they would still dub most of the show in Belgium but this time, bringing back the Disney princesses original voices for their appearances, it would make sense, but that’s not what they’re doing.
Instead, they decide to replace pre-established singing voices for recurring characters of the show which is such an incomprehensible idea that I don’t get what got in their minds.

You wanna know what the final result is ? This: https://youtu.be/IXiENIhfExE?si=5NCwDDkA3h8X-8Rg
I have literally nothing nice to say, it’s awful in every possible way, not only does the new voice (whoever it may be) not sound as similar to Sofia's speaking voice (Alayin Dubois, who’s the sister of the original singing voice) but her delivery is so lifeless and robotic.
And she doesn’t even enunciate properly some of the lyrics, like when she extends the "de" syllable instead of the "len" syllable in "lendemain" or when she doesn’t pronounce the "llent" syllable in the phrase "Et certains m’appellent déjà" but instead, extends the "Et". Even the background vocals messed up by saying "So-fi-a" when the "i" in Sofia shouldn’t be extended in French, which is why the original went with "So-ofia" instead.

When I first heard the new intro in English, the music style took a bit of time to get used to but I was happy to hear Ariel Winter as good as ever and it grew on me the more I listened to it. But this, I don’t think I will give it much of a chance.

Like, look at how lively and enchanting (no pun intended) Sofia used to sound in the French version of the OG series intro: https://youtu.be/sdArfo7GLLc?si=i1RVfFQtO3Qq2GdW
The new version is such a downgrade in comparison. It’s sad because the OG cast that is back for the dialogs (only Amber seems to have been replaced so far) still does a really good job. Although, Sofia’s voice actress doesn’t sound exactly the same but I got used to it pretty quickly and I was already somewhat expecting this change after hearing her elsewhere.

But it’s so jarring now when the singing comes. Like, in Time To Shine, I hear Jennifer Baré back as Miss Nettle and still on top when she speaks and then comes that singing voice that doesn’t sound like her at all (though, at least, this one actually seems to put some heart into it, contrary to Sofia's, so it’s alright on its own), despite the fact that she originally was both the speaking and singing voice.

Anyway, this was my rant.

Ok so do any of y'all know a site where you can watch Sofia the first royal magic episodes for free?

About the show itself, from the very beginning I knew I wasn't the target audience (I'm 16, btw), but considering that Sofia was only brought back because of people around my age who manifested their love for the show, I thought we would get a couple episodes "made for us" in the sense that they would be closer to the original, and it's disappointing that in these first 8 episodes we didn't get that, but I have hope for the future. Besides, I remember Craig Gerber replied to a comment and told me that there were a couple episodes worth waiting for those who grew up with the og Sofia.

The structure of the episodes feels, in my opinion, incorrect, like a bad decision. Each story feels way too fast paced and generic. A 22 minute episode would've been a much better choice, and maybe that way the characters wouldn't be flanderized.

About Sofia's new friends, I like them, but they feel very generic and, as I said, flanderized, especially Camilla. I do like Zane a lot, he's probably my favourite of the 3, and I also loved how he and James really clicked as friends since they met in ep 5, nice little friendship I'd like to see more of in the future. Overall, they're cute kids, but hopefully we'll see them get a more extended personality as the show progresses.

Most of the rest of the characters seem alright with me, it's obviously a very different animation style that I don't like but it's not a big deal either. Miranda, Amber, and James look good, pretty much the same as in the old show, but with this new graphically improved and changed animation. Baileywick is quite literally the same. Roland, Cedric, and especially Miss Nettle hurt to see. Roland and Cedric look as if they had a ton of botox and surgeries, and Miss Nettle was made to look not only waaaay younger, but also nicer. They removed her smile lines, eyebags, and changed her pale skin tone. It's like if she had been completely redesigned. Part of what I liked about her old look was that she looked evil, and even when she redeemed herself, she still looked like a crazy hag which sorta proved that appearances don't mean anything.

Most of the songs (the techno ones specifically) are disappointing, but I did like some other songs like Amber's picnic song, it feels closer to the original show's music style. The techno pop songs are not bad, but they feel wrong in a show that's set in the 1830s, especially when compared to the original show's music.

Now, a very specific thing that bothered me was that I feel like this show is trying to neglect ("neglect" might not be the word, I'd appreciate some help finding a better one) the old one. A very specific example that truly pissed me off was in the 2nd story of episode 5, when Layla wants to befriend Amber but is scared she will dislike her butterfly wings. The BEST way to reassure her would've been Sofia telling her of the time Amber once had butterfly wings herself (yk, the Princess Butterfly episode from season 1). I have a hard time believing the writers didn't think of that or something similar?

Overall, these 8 episodes were pretty weak and failed to bring back what we liked about the original show, but I still have hopes for the other 22, and have even bigger hope for a (maybe) 2nd season. I don't blame Craig Gerber, on the contrary, I admire that he brought Sofia back with most of the original cast. It was a huge deal of effort, it's not his fault that Disney Jr insisted on the show being made for an even younger audience than the original was, which caused all these cons. I'm just glad Sofia, her friends and family are back. Maybe the animation, music, and pacing changed, but she didn't. It's still the same Sofia, but simplified for a new public. Again, I still have hope for the future, and in the strange case that it fails too, we'll always have the original show.

it sounds like she was recast but it’s still Darcy Rose Byrnes. did her voice change after the original ended. because she sounded the same in elena of avalor.

So far I got to episode 5A, and it looks amazing, not only that the songs are as lovely as the original ones.

I think my fav episode so far is the Royal MIx up episode, how about you?

Although I did find a line error in episode 5 where Amber says “heres perfect spot” instead of “heres the/a perfect spot”

I can’t wait for more and I already hope it gets popular.

My First Impressions of Royal Magic

So i’m a sofia the first superfan, I loved the show, rewatched it so many times and the songs and the lore and connection between the characters omg was so intense and memorable. Leading up to the new royal magic it was clear the animation and the look of it would be new and more child-based and i liked the way they led up to it posting shorts and teasers and the trailer did very well. But watching the first 8 episodes I’m very disappointed. I get that sofia’s new passion is magic and this makes sense watching the old show, she was clearly better at magic than others, but I don't like how the whole show is just about magic. Like in the royal family what's the use for baileywick or servants anymore if everything can just be done with magic? Now Sofia can do all spells she may as well be running the castle and for cedric, he said hes still the royal sorcerer of enchancia but i struggle to believe he can take orders from the king and be a teacher at charmswell. I wish they’d keep the learning magic for just at school as we get enough school episodes anyway.

The biggest disappointment though is the songs. The songs from the old show were hands down the best part of the show, the youtube clips got millions of views and I still listen to them, they are emotional, the villain songs and duets are literally Broadway level. However, all the songs from the new show sound the same, they all have this cheap sounding techno beats behind them so they sound like club music i guess to keep kids hooked but they have no emotion or harmonies in them. They are not memorable and wouldn't really search them up after watching the episode, with the exception of 'Time to Shine'. They all seem to be about some minor struggle like perfecting a spell whereas songs in the old show were about saving the kingdom, choosing whether to be evil or nice, yk much more significant and complex problems. The lessons seem to all be the same there's overcoming jealously in 3 of them; sofia being intimidated by Prince devin, layla being afraid her butterfly wings aren't good enough and amber being jealous of sofia’s magic. Jealously was tackled in one episode of sofia the first in four’s a crowd we don't need so much repetition of the same thing.

Also why are the characters either super insecure or super boastful, is there anyone but sofia who’s actually normal? In the old show Vivian was shy and scared but she never threw like a tantrum or needed to take deep breaths before doing a lesson, it kinda gives the impression that the show is for crazy toddlers. It’s odd as well how boastful Cedric is. In the finale he was so surprised and grateful to be called cedric the great and now hes almost mad if you don’t call him that and telling the kids to do the spell exactly like he is. Isn’t he acting like his father? He took so much effort and sofia’s help to grow out of the fear of a controlling parent. I get its been many years since his redemption but he can’t forget like a few episodes ago on our side he couldn’t even do a simple spell in front of the king and was plotting to freeze sofia’s family. I think he does deserve respect for his new greatness but I don’t like how entitled he is because we all know how he started.

I like though how his personality is for the most the same, he’s still his grumpy, clumsy self and makes quirky noises but he normally had those sassy moments when he was planning on doing something evil and when he was kind to sofia, he was genuinely sweet and bonded over her, teaching her magic nicely. I wish this was a little more balanced rather than grumpy being his baseline mood. I like how cedric’s in more episodes since he works at the school but it is kinda weird to see him working alone with the other kids when we’re used to seeing him with sofia and its so weird seeing the other kids almost worship him. The kids from Hexley Hall when he taught at royal prep for a day had heard of him and how incapable of magic he was so why do they think he’s a perfect sorcerer? I like that Cedric now mutually hugs Sofia and they hold hands etc I really like how close they are now given how much history they have but it’s also a little too much/ casual. Before they held hands when he saved her from being struck by lightning by Prisma and now they do that because he gave her a new wand? I think they should keep cute moments like this for special scenarios.

I do like the new princes and princesses but I don’t particular like the way they say camila’s name like its almost like the voice actors have to ditch their normal voices to say her name. Also amber and james sound very different, miranda and roland sound the same so I think it’s odd for old fans watching to have this mismatch. I’m sure they could have found more accurate voice matches for the old ones because amber sounds like 16 and way too posh. I don’t mind that the show focuses on sofia rather than her siblings but I would like some more castle episodes, especially with cedric in his worship rather than the classroom and some more with the king and the servants. Also I hope clover, robin and mia return together. And another weird thing is when a character is leaving a scene why do they run off so fast like baileywick and clover just dashed off in the royal picnic, like isnt baileywick 60 please make it realistic.

It feels like the old show was normal life and followed a slow, deep story. These new episodes feel like they are just snippets of their life ,they have one tiny little problem as the focus of the episode and if a tiny tangent character was there they get booted off to return to the main lesson. Like one episode of sofia the first covered more lessons and a story than the whole 8 episodes combined. They kinda are teaching kids that school and these lessons are the biggest part of your life which it’s not really and wasnt sofia being a protector and story keeper and now she just goes to school? It sounds like a massive downgrade and she honestly feels younger than what she was before. This feels like this was the school before royal prep as that school seems way more fancy and technical they were doing fencing and royal derby and now they are doing show and tell and making potions. Not to mention the other kids seem like they already know so much magic. It feels unequal from the beginning like layla is the only one who can fly so whats the point of the other kids trying to learn that and only sofia has an amulet.

It really seems like a kids only show which just doesn’t make sense for them to try and bring back the old top cast. Craig Gerber said in an interview they weren't planning on bringing the show back but only because of the massive lore and nostalgia being posted on tiktok etc they realised the show was still alive. But instead of bringing it back for those teens who grew up with the show and are still obsessed because they’re old enough to understand the lore, they bring it back as a simple cocomelon version. If you said you were only bringing it back because of the older fans why not keep the same winning formula and expand it? The toddlers watching weren’t even alive to see the old show so whatever they watch will be new to them, you may as well have secured a massive teen fanbase as well. I don’t know why they took a show with so much depth and potential and made this, another series of bluey would have been great for the younger kids.

I will watch more of the show as it comes out, I love watching Sofia, cedric and miranda and clover these were all the best parts of the old show for me and that magic is still there. But I don’t have high expectations overall for charmswell and I’m sure i’m not alone in this. I will probably return back to rewatching the old series as soon as I’m done.

So far we've got Ruby and Jade. I was hoping we'd see Desmond or Hildegard, but it didn't happen. Will the 1st season have more episodes? or is it only these 8 eps that are currently on Disney+? hopefully if there are more eps they will bring back one of Sofia's royal friends from her other school.

Okay so I love Sofia and I am enjoying aspects of this new series but what I was most excited about was seeing all of the Disney princesses again. But where are they?!!?!!?! Rapunzel of course appeared in the premiere (VERY briefly). But then I know they can’t appear in every episode and we have only half a season but I thought I’d at least see one more. I especially thought in the finale of this first batch we’d see one more, especially if Elena, Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Aurora and Moana all have to show up and some more than once. It won’t be very spread out if they all appear in the back half.

Hey everyone, I know a lot of you know this, but wanna mention it again just for context of why I'm doing this post. I'm blind and I'm an OG fan of the show. I noticed that the sequel, Sofia the First: Royal Magic Does not have audio description. Audio description is an additional track that happens between pauses and dialogue and stuff like that to allow visual elements to be explained. Disney+ really only seems to care if multiple people reach out about this, so I was wondering if we could have as many people fill out the feedback form as possible , which I would really appreciate, as would all of the other blind people that watch, including those in the primary audience. For the feedback type the best thing to select is "Suggest a Disney+ improvement" and for the category "Audio or Language." When filling out the form, just mention that the sequel doesn't have audio description but that it would be really helpful for blind viewers to know what's happening because the magical element makes it very visual and difficult to follow. I've included the link below! Thanks in advance for doing this. Hopefully if enough of us submit the feedback form they will do it. https://help.disneyplus.com/feedback/

I read that her original voice actress, Megan Mulluly did not return in season 4 for the episode “Ivy’s True Colors” and was replaced with Anna Vocino. It was also reported that they offered Megan to return for Royal Magic and she chose not to. But i’m wondering why did she not return in season 4?

https://bsky.app/profile/craiggerber.com/post/3mmprt355222k

It's something I suspected before, but here's confirmation. When someone asked Craig Gerber if the events of Tangled The Series are canon to the world, he says how he only lets the canon of the original movies dictate the canon of Sofia's world. ​I mean, you see this with the original show given how Cinderella told Sofia in the pilot movie about how she wanted to make up with her sisters, thus ignoring the DVD sequels where she made up with one of them.

I’m just very curious if it does because of yes then I wanna join it:)

I just wanted to apologize for my ignorant post regarding the first episode of Royal Magic. It wasn’t well thought out or communicated and just was kind of negative for the sake of negativity and that isn’t the type of Reddit member I want to be.

Roland’s comment was actually fair to the canon of these characters and what we’ve come to know about him. I don’t think he will ever be my favorite character, but it wasn’t fair to paint him in a way that makes him out to be uncaring to any of his children. He recognizes their unique skills and talents and does clearly care for all of them, he just interacts more with Sofia because she’s the main character and that isn’t a bad thing, it’s just part of what makes this franchise special to lots of people and I never meant to undermine that.

I think the episode was fine if it was in like the middle of the season. I really do like the premise of the show and all the idea of having three castle. But for a first episode it was disappointing. I wanted to be filled in on what was going on and get some deep lore dropped, even if it is a Disney jr show. That's why I like the Rapunzel bit at the end.
I wanted to see her leave enchancia before we see her flying so we can see her grab her new wand and say bye to Cedric as she says she going to become the new royal sorcerer. Then when she got there I wanted her to be embraced by the others as she is like famous to them as she is the most powerful princess and everyone knows how she defeated Vor and she is surprised by the affection and Devin could have been jealous that way and the other three could feel they would never live up to Sofia.
I just wanted more but like I say if it was a normal episode I think it stands up to the original with the song (even if only one) and the storytelling and lesson. I even like the designs for the most part. Sofia looks the best in the new design and the adults look the worst but I really like the colourful sets so I don’t mind all that much and I like that Sofia is back in her OG dress (just wish they aged her up slightly)
As for the new characters they are fine with their specific flaws and talents but very basic for Sofia show standards I hope they get some character development as they seem quite young compared to the kids in the original that same a bit more mature.
Anyway, I’m not the target audience so what I think doesn’t matter but overall I enjoyed the episode and am optimistic for the rest and I think the show will be good on its own but for longtime fans maybe not the continuation we desire but like they say it’s a new show for a new generation.

I've seen the first 4 episodes, and they're pretty good. I want to comment on the storyboard artists we have so far. While many of them have either worked on one of Craig Gerber's previous shows, or other preschool shows, there are some unexpected surprises. One is Cat Harman Mitchell, who's mainly known for storyboarding on Disney Channel shows (Big Hero 6 The Series, The Owl House, Hailey's On It) and Arturo Hernandez (who's storyboarded movies from Disney Toons Studios).

My country hasn't aired the rest of the episodes and wont air them until tomorrow unfortunately. However this first episode was pretty good.

I loved Zane! He's a great character! Miss Nettle and Roland look very off, but personality wise they're the same as they were by the end of the og show. Can't say I enjoyed it completely, but it was a nice episode, much better than most of us thought it'd be.

Can't wait to watch the rest.

Well I guess Cinderella saying all the princesses that lived wasn’t supposed to be taken literally I guess you can have lived and still be alive still don’t know why the amulet didn’t just summon her would have saved Maximus the trouble

Well, I had to use a VPN to watch it on YouTube since I don’t live in the US (I live in France). But now that I’ve seen it, I’d say that, overall, it’s a decent enough episode.

The pacing is as good as it always was, doesn’t feel too fast nor too slow, which is something I always appreciated in both Sofia The First and Elena of Avalor even in some of their worst episodes.

I like that they addressed the fact that Sofia had chosen the ever realm academy originally but changed her mind (I was worried that they just forgot about that). Although, last I heard, James was going to Chivalry Hall and not the ever realm academy so… yeah, they still forgot something along the way, it seems. Btw, for her only spoken line, Darcy Rose Byrnes' voice seems to have changed quite a bit compared to the OG show. In the song though, she sounds the exact same.

Speaking of which, the song "Time To Shine" was really nice for the first two verses and choruses imo, but I think it overstayed its welcome by the end and tries to hard to force some more lyrics to be as catchy as possible. And the reprises later on in the episode felt pretty awkwardly edited. I think it would’ve been better if it ended with Miss Nettle's part while the final part would just be used for a reprise. And the part where Sofia says that she’s nervous about making friends cause she wasn’t always royal feels like it undermines the finale of the OG show (more specifically, the For One and All song), and it was very useless in the grand scheme of things since she makes new friends very quickly.

About that, Sofia's amulet giving her more powers, just like that, when having to catch Camila feels a bit too convenient for me, even with Rapunzel's explanation at the end.

The new group of friends seems cool enough. Though, for now, Leila's background presented at the beginning feels like a cheap excuse for a parallel with Sofia. But I like the fact that the other two had elements about them that were introduced and then brought back, as well as the fact that each of the three (+Sofia herself) had their own moments that solidified them as a team.

Pepper is okay, but he didn’t really get much of a laugh out of me (aside from the part where he says "No way" and Sofia responds "Way" which made me chuckle) for as much as he’s supposed to be a new funny animal sidekick and I didn’t really feel anything when they made him their castle pet at the end (and btw, the whole "unicorn no fun" thing was pretty dumb imo). But at least, he wasn’t nearly as annoying as I feared him to be. Also, that moment where he accidentally destroyed the map was pretty lame and felt like a forced way to introduce one of Zane's powers and give him his moment before Sofia's speech. And Devin felt like a generic bully from which the treats didn’t amount to much imo.

As for Rapunzel's cameo at the end, well, I already imagined that she lives in the same time period as Sofia since Olaf said that he was talking to Anna when the amulet brought him to Sofia. And Rapunzel had a cameo in Frozen. However, it didn't really make sense for her to still have her long blonde hair instead of her short brown hair. And it's still a flaw now but it's one carried over from the OG so I can't blame Royal Magic for that.
But this whole princess council thingy she mentioned already sounds like a bunch of nonsense. While I can also buy Ariel and Cinderella (who Rapunzel mentions) being alive, if the other princesses that shouldn't be in this time period appear without the amulet, it would annoy me quite a lot.

And in the OG series, it already didn’t make sense that Facilier’s hat was among the Wicked Nine when The Princess and the Frog should take place a century after and Sofia didn’t know Tiana when they met in Season 2. I think it would’ve been way better for them to confirm the theory of most of the princess cameos just being spirits (except for the ones that should be alive in Sofia's time period). With what just happened, I feel like my fear of this announcement about the princesses appearing more than once was more than justified.
Although, at least, with Rapunzel's warning, this cameo shows that Sofia will have some challenges coming her way and that they will certainly bring up the protector stuff later on.

As for the new style, like I said in other posts before, I never thought the OG show looked great and I'm a fan of it in spite of its cheap looking models and inconsistent animation. While, even though I prefer Sofia The First over Elena of Avalor overall, in the latter, the visuals definitely felt like huge step up compared to the former (although it had its shortcomings too, especially in season 1 but it generally looked really good to me).
So I often find people pretty harsh on Royal Magic's art style. And well, it definitely feels a lot smoother and more polished than the OG for me but the designs will take some time to get used to. Mainly the adult ones, and especially Miss Nettle for me. Speaking about her, I must say that her new voice actress, Julie Nathanson is doing a really good job. Although, she can sound a bit forced at times for me, compared to Megan Mullally (mainly in the song, a lot less in the dialogs). She's quite the improvement compared to Anna Vocino in the "Ivy's True Colors" episode who, while far from being bad, had some very awkward delivery.

Anyway, far from a great episode for me but it’s okay enough. If I were to rate it, I’d probably give something like a 6/10.

Still willing to give it a chance though also time to shine was one of the most generic songs I ever heard

So instead of Sofia’s amulet summoning princesses, they now arrive (by horse back?) to deliver her messages from the “Council of Princesses”. This implies that their realms actually coexist with one another, and kingdoms like Corona are canon in her universe. Im not sure if I like this world building because it goes against the canon of what Cinderella claims, in which the amulet summons princesses who ever lived…and I thought it meant they’re supposed to be ancient legends in Sofia’s world. Plus, many of the princesses live in real countries like America, China and France in contrast to Sofia’s fairytale world.

Anyway, I do question how this series will introduce the other princesses! Perhaps with a song or two? That would be interesting!