Barbie as The Princess and the Pauper


 * "Live your dream."
 * —Barbie

Barbie as The Princess and the Pauper is the fourth computer-animated film in the Barbie film series. It is a direct-to-video and DVD film released in 2004. Barbie as The Princess and the Pauper is the first Barbie movie to be based on Mark Twain’s "The Prince and the Pauper", the second being Barbie: The Princess & The Popstar, which was released in 2012.

The film follows two girls, a princess, Anneliese, and a pauper, Erika, who look like twins. When Anneliese is kidnapped, Erika pretends to be her so she can help Anneliese's tutor, Julian, save Anneliese.

Official Summary
"In her first animated musical, featuring seven original songs, Barbie comes to life in this modern retelling of a classic tale of mistaken identity and the power of friendship. Based on the story by Mark Twain, Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper feautures Barbie in an exciting dual role as a princess and a poor village girl who look amazingly alike! The girls' paths are fated to cross when Princess Anneliese is captured and Erika, her look- alike, must try to save her. Can Erika pretend to be the Princess and foil her captor, the evil Preminger? And what of the handsome King Dominick, who falls in love with Erika, mistaking her for Anneliese? In this magical musical performance, two beautiful, adventurous girls dare to follow their dreams and discover that destiny is written in a very special place: your heart!"

Story
Long ago and far away, in a village high on a mountain top, something amazing happened; At the very same moment, two identical baby girls were born. One, a baby princess. The King and Queen were overjoyed. Princess Anneliese would have only the finest. The second baby girl was called Erika. Her parents loved her every bit as much as the King and Queen love the princess, but they worried; they were very poor and didn't know how they would care for their daughter.

Many years passed. The princess learned her royal duties, while Erika worked long and hard as a seamstress for the spiteful Madam Carp. With lives so different, it wasn't surprising that the princess and the pauper never met, but fate decreed they would.

It all started at the royal mine, when the miners informed the Queen the gold had run out. The widowed Queen was shocked. The kingdom was now bankrupt. How was she going to take care of her people? If only she could call on her trusted advisor Preminger, but he was away on a long journey. She needed to do something quickly to save the kingdom, but what? And then it struck her: Nearby lived a rich young King, who was seeking a wife.

Sick of their lifestyles, Anneliese and Erika sing about how they wish to be free. Anneliese wants to be able to do what she wants and marry her tutor and love, Julian, who she is in love with. However, her mother tells Anneliese that she must marry King Dominick to save their kingdom. Erika, on the other hand, is complaining about how she doesn't want to be a seamstress in Madam Carp's Dress Emporium, working off debt her parents made trying to feed her. She wants to be a singer. The princess and the pauper both decide that duty means doing the thing your heart may well regret, and they will never stop dreaming of freedom.

Queen Genevieve doesn't know that the reason behind the kingdom's bankruptcy is her advisor, Preminger. He has been stealing gold with his sidekicks, Nick and Nack, for a long time. His plan is to tell the Queen he is rich so he can marry Princess Anneliese. While Anneliese is studying with Julian, who is in love with her, he tells her that King Dominick (who is pretending he is someone else) and Ambassador Bismark have come to see her with an engagement gift, a necklace. The Queen wants the wedding to be a week from then, which gives Preminger less time to carry out his evil plan.

Julian takes Anneliese for a day out into her kingdom as her last day of freedom. She wears a blue hooded cloak. Anneliese hears Erika singing and goes to watch. Erika is singing in the street to raise money for herself but Madam Carp takes the money. Anneliese and Erika talk to each other and learn they identical, apart from the crown shaped birthmark Anneliese has on her shoulder. They sing together and become friends but Anneliese has to go back to the palace. That night, she is kidnapped by Nick and Nack, who leave a letter saying she ran away.

Julian thinks that Preminger kidnapped Anneliese so he asks Erika to pretend to be the princess until she is rescued. Preminger is surprised when Erika, as Anneliese, comes to the palace, because he thought she had already been kidnapped. Over time, Erika and Dominick fall in love but Erika is worried about what will happen when people find out she is not Anneliese. The real Anneliese has escaped from Nick and Nack. Julian finds out and tries to inform the Queen, but then he gets kidnapped. Anneliese is turned away from the palace because the guards think Anneliese is already in there. She gets taken away by Madam Carp because she thinks Anneliese is Erika.

Preminger thinks that Anneliese, Erika, is a fake and takes the real Anneliese to the royal mines with Julian. He goes back to the palace and exposes Erika and accuses her and Julian of treason. Erika is locked away and is to be executed. She sings to make the guard go to sleep and steals his keys so she can break out. She escapes, but bumps into King Dominick. He tells her that he knows she isn't guilty and in the mines, Anneliese and Julian find out how to restore the kingdom's resources from some rocks that have geodes in them. They confess their love and escape from the mines.

Preminger makes the Queen think that Anneliese is dead and says they must marry to save the kingdom, and she has no other options so she agrees. Before they can be officially married, Anneliese arrives and tells everyone the truth about Preminger. She tells her mother that she wants to marry Julian and that they can save the kingdom. Dominick and Erika say they wish to marry as well, and Madam Carp goes out of business. Erika wants to sing so she doesn't marry Dominick right away, but she returns after realising that sometimes freedom means not to leave, but choosing to stay. Anneliese and Julian, and Dominick and Erika, all have a double wedding, and their cats, Serafina and Wolfie, have kittens.

Music

 * 1) "Free"
 * 2) "How Can I Refuse"
 * 3) "Written In Your Heart (Prologue)"
 * 4) "I Am A Girl Like You"
 * 5) "To Be A Princess"
 * 6) "The Cat's Meow"
 * 7) "If You Love Me For Me"
 * 8) "To Be A Princess (Reprise)"
 * 9) "How Can I Refuse (Reprise)"
 * 10) "Written In Your Heart"
 * 11) "I'm On My Way"

Starring The Voices Of

 * Kelly Sheridan as the narrator (uncredited), and the speaking voices of Princess Anneliese and Erika.
 * Melissa Lyons as the singing voice of Princess Anneliese.
 * Julie Stevens as the singing voice of Erika.
 * Mark Hildreth as the speaking voice of King Dominick.
 * Mark Luna as the singing voice of King Dominick.
 * Alessandro Juliani as Julian (miscredited as Allesandro Juliani).
 * Martin Short as Preminger.
 * Kathleen Barr as Serafina and Bertie.
 * Ian James Corlett as Wolfie and Guard #3.
 * Ellen Kennedy as Queen Genevieve.
 * Pam Hyatt as Madame Carp.
 * Brian Drummond as Nick and Guard #1.
 * Jan Rabson as Midas and Nack.
 * Colin Murdock as the Royal Scheduler.
 * Janyse Jaud as the Palace Maid.
 * Lee Tockar as Ambassador Bismark and Guard #2.
 * Garry Chalk as Herve.
 * Roger Monk as the Minister.

Also Known As

 * Italian: Barbie: La Principessa e la Povera
 * French: Barbie dans Coeur de Princesse

Trivia

 * Barbie as The Princess and the Pauper won "Children's Title of the Year" at the VSDA Awards 2005.
 * The film also had 6 nominations at the 2005 DVD Exclusive Awards.
 * Preminger's voice actor, Martin Short, and his character designer Jean Gillmore were nominated in 2005 for the DVDX award of Best Animated Character Performance (Voice and Animation in a DVD Movie Premiere) for Preminger.
 * Anneliese's mother's name is Genevieve, hinting that Princess Genevieve from Barbie in The 12 Dancing Princesses might have been inspired by her.
 * The story for the new movie, Barbie: The Princess and The Popstar, is a modern version of this story.