Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper
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Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper is a direct-to-video Barbie movie.
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[edit] Synopsis
The story begins with Barbie narrating. A blonde princess and a brunette pauper are born at the same time. The princess, Anneliese, eventually learned her royal duties (and fell in love with Julian, her tutor). The pauper, Erika, was in massive debt because her parents borrowed money to feed her, so she had to work in Madam Carp's dress emporium. Queen Genevieve was now widowed and the mines had run out of gold. Without consulting her royal adviser, Preminger, she decides the only solution is for Anneliese to marry a nearby king, who is very wealthy and seeking a wife.
Two men, Nack and Nick, are digging in the mines for every last piece of gold. They find rocks with purple crystals inside when cracked, but dismiss them as useless. Preminger suddenly appears, and it turns out he wants to steal all the gold to get the princess to marry him, thus making him king. When one of the men tells him about Anneliese's engagement, Preminger comes up with a plan to kidnap the princess, then when the king leaves, he 'finds her', and the queen will be so happy she will give him Anneliese's hand in marriage.
Julian visits the castle and is sad that Anneliese is arranged to be married against her will. So, he takes her out into town for a taste of freedom. There, Anneliese (and her cat, Serafina) meet Erika and her barking cat, Wolfie, performing for money. The girls are shocked to see how identical they are, save their hair color and the crown shaped birthmark on Anneliese's shoulder. The two quickly become friends, and Wolfie develops a big crush on Serafina.
That night, Anneliese and Serafina are both kidnapped, unaware that Preminger is responsible. Serafina is thrown out because she is of no use, and learns of Preminger's evil plot from a horse named Herve (pronounced Air-vay). Julian suspects Preminger being behind Anneliese's disappearance, because the letter on her desk saying that she ran away because she didn't want to be married was not scented with rose (she always scented her letters with rose). To prevent Preminger from succeeding, Julian asks that Erika impersonate the princess until he finds Anneliese. He trains her to behave just like a princess and is able to convince Queen Genevieve, Ambassador Bismarck and his assistant that she is Anneliese. The assistant is actually King Dominic, Anneliese's intended groom, and reveals his true identity once he is convinced of Erika, as Anneliese, is truly sincere. Dominick and Erika get along well and fall in love. Neither Erika or Preminger are happy; Erika fears that once she is revealed to be an impostor, she and Anneliese will be in trouble while Preminger fears that once "Anneliese" marries Dominick, his plans will never succeed.
Meanwhile, Serafina manages to get onto the roof of the cabin Anneliese is trapped in with a little help from Herve. Annelise puts a white sheet over Serafina's head, and they fool the men into thinking Serafina is a ghost. They trap them there, and make their way to the castle. The guards are not convinced of Anneliese's identity because they believe Erika is the actually princess. Madam Carp mistakes Anneliese for Erika and locks her in the dress emporium until she finishes the dresses that Erika left when Julian asked her to impersonate Anneliese. She sends Serafina to get help by sticking a dress tag on her collar. Serafina accidentally bumps into Preminger, who gets Anneliese and Serafina out of the store and takes them into an abandoned mine, where he has already taken Julian.
Now realizing the truth, Preminger exposes Erika as an impostor and lies that Julian and Erika conspired to kill Anneliese and take over the throne. Erika is sent to the dungeon, but later she manages to escape from prison by singing the guard to sleep, then using a hairpin to get the keys and undo the lock. She is then captured by a guard, who turns out to be Dominick in disguise. The young king explains that he doesn't believe Erika is as bad as Preminger says. However, Preminger, in the wake of Anneliese's supposed death, convinces Queen Genevieve to marry him in order to save the kingdom.
Wolfie works with Herve to find an entrance to the mine. Wolfie gets in, though they still have a hard time getting out. Julian is depressed, and Anneliese finds the broken stone the two men found earlier. She puts the two pieces back together and tells Julian that she sees him as that rock: unassuming on the outside, but a treasure within. Then, they decide to flood the mine until the water reaches the above entrance (they use a wooden crate as a boat).
Preminger is about to marry the queen, who is now despising him, when Anneliese suddenly appears and interrupts the wedding. The queen is very happy and the princess tells her the whole story. Preminger tries to escape by riding on Herve, who he mistreated several times. Julian and Dominick attempt to catch Preminger on horseback, but are unable to catch him. Herve ends up throwing Preminger across the banquet table in annoyance.
Anneliese confesses to her mother that she loves Julian and does not wish to marry King Dominick. She has also solved the problem of the kingdom's gold shortage; the rocks discarded by the miners are actually geodes and the mine is full of them. Dominick confesses to loving Erika for who she is and if she should choose to, he would be willing to marry her. With Madam Carp out of business (thanks to Anneliese taking her business elsewhere), Erika chooses not to accept just yet and achieves her dream of being able to sing around the world, discovering that the place she would like to sing is among her friends. She returns several months later and marries Dominick while Anneliese marries Julian. They have almost identical bridesmaids (Erika's was brunette, Anneliese's was blond). In addition, Wolfy and Serafina live happily ever after with their, as the narrator says, "many... many... MANY kittens."
[edit] Cast
- Barbie/Narrator, Princess Anneliese, Erika - Kelly Sheridan
- Erika's singing voice - Julie Stevens
- Anneliese's singing voice - Melissa Lyons
- King Dominick - Mark Hildreth
- Dominick's singing voice - Mark Luna
- Julian - Alessandro Juliani
- Preminger - Martin Short
- Queen Genevieve - Ellen Kennedy
- Madam Carp - Pam Hyatt
- Serafina - Kathleen Barr
- Wolfie - Ian James Corlett
- Ambassador Bismark - Lee Tockar
- Nick - Brian Drummond
- Nack, Midas - Jan Rabson
[edit] Trivia
- The bridesmaids look very much like Kelly. Kelly dolls produced were bridesmaids.
- One of Wolfy and Serafina's kittens barked. This might mean barking is an inherited trait for Wolfy.
- This is loosely based on Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper
- Queen Genevieve shares the same name as Princess Genevieve from Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses.
[edit] External links
Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper at the Internet Movie Database
