Barbie: The Pearl Princess

Barbie: The Pearl Princess is the 27th CGI-animated Barbie movie. It was released as a direct-to-DVD in March 2014. The film was animated at Rainmaker Entertainment. Songs in the film include "Mermaid Party!" and "Light Up The World".

Official Summary
"Barbie stars as Lumina, a mermaid with the power to control pearls. Cheerful and creative, Lumina finds herself working in a mermaid salon customizing fabulous hairstyles. And when Lumina has the chance to attend the royal ball, her friends adorn her with a gown fit for a princess. At the ball, villains try to seize power over the kingdom, and Lumina finds within herself an unexpected power that proves she is much more than a hair stylist."

Plot
The film opens with Lumina using her pearl magic to prepare a fake coronation held for Kuda. Lumina crowns Kuda as "Princess Kuda, Ruler of the Seven Seas." Kuda then gives a pretend ball in honor of her coronation, in which she and Lumina dance.

Suddenly, Scylla comes and Lumina disbands the party and hides the pearls she used in the oysters she got them from. Unfortunately, one oyster snaps shut too quickly, leaving a pearl out. Lumina tries to put it back inside the oyster without Scylla noticing, but Scylla does notice. She scolds Lumina for using her pearl magic outside because "bad people" might look for her, but Lumina argues, asking who could find her, unaware that Scylla is afraid Caligo would find out about her.

In the cave, Lumina and Kuda continue their fake coronation by customizing their hairstyles to look like princesses. They wonder what would it be like if they were princesses and dream to see the castle. Scylla hears their conversation, and hides a bracelet with the royal crest on it in a drawer.

In the castle, Caligo pleads with King Nereus and Queen Lorelei to appear in public. Nereus starts to tell Caligo that he and his wife are still grieving over their lost daughter. Caligo says that they have to face the fact that without an heir, their kingdom will one day go to his son, Fergis. Lorelei concedes that Caligo is right, and they should name Fergis their heir. Caligo suggests they give a royal ball to find Fergis a wife, to which the king and queen agree.

Back at the cave, when Scylla is making a potion, an eel named Murray comes. He tells Scylla that Caligo wants her to poison the king at the royal ball. Scylla refuses, but Murray threatens to tell everyone she killed the princess. Scylla replies "if it's poison Caligo wants, it's poison he'll get." Murray takes this to mean she has agreed, and gives Scylla an invitation to the ball.

Lumina swims in and overhears Murray talk about the castle. Murray hears Lumina call Scylla "aunt," and when Murray starts to ask for more information, Scylla throws him out.

Lumina's excitement about the castle isn't over. She asks Scylla to take her with her to the castle. Scylla says no, telling Lumina about "burning fire coral and vampire squid and poisonous stonefish" as dangers on the way.

Disappointed, Kuda and Lumina start playing tail tag. Kuda accidently knocks one of the bottles during the game. When Lumina goes to pick it up, she sees the invitation to the royal ball. She tries to give it to her aunt, but Scylla has already gone. Lumina sees this as an opportunity to go to the castle, and although Kuda reminds her of the threats Scylla told her about and hesitates to go, Lumina pushes her to join her.

Lumina has noticed that every time Scylla goes to the city, she always comes from a shortcut, which then appears as a dead end. Her intuition takes lead, and not long after, she finds a passage through the skeleton of a big animal. While in the passage, Kuda accidently breaks the structure and it collapses. They manage to escape, but the invitation is lost to a narwhal.

Back at the castle, Caligo and Fergis are arguing. Fergis doesn't want to go to the ball since he wants to be a botanist rather than king, but Caligo tells him he is "going to be king and that's the end of it," after which Fergis leaves sadly for his waltz lessons.

Right after, Murray appears and informs Caligo that Scylla agreed to the plan. Caligo then reveals he plans to kill Scylla after the king dies of poisoning so he would be hailed as a national hero. However, Caligo has one concern: his son, who is not very eligable, will need to find a wife. Murray brings up Scylla's niece as an option, which raises Caligo's suspicions. Murray mentions the niece as "blonde, about seventeen years old" and that it is an "interesting coincidence." Caligo asks Murray to bring the girl to him.

Lumina and Kuda, in the other side of the ocean, are lost in the middle of a kelp forest. Then they see the narwhal which took their invitation, only to lose it again. In desperation, Lumina sees light in the distance and rushes to it,believing it is the city, but it is actually a vampire squid lair. The narwhal goes in and most of the squid leave and chase it, after which Lumina and Kuda enter.

Once inside, they find a cute baby squid and admire it until the squid bites Kuda on the snout. Lumina manages to pull it off, but she falls onto a rock. When Kuda swims by the rock, it opens an eye. Kuda thus warns Lumina to move away from it, but Lumina doesn't know why and accidentally slaps it with her tail, causing the "rock" to open its eyes and roar. It is revealed to be a stonefish.

The stonefish tries to scare Lumina and Kuda away by roaring and mentioning how poisonous his spikes are. Lumina uses her pearl powers to to put pearls on his spikes, and tells him that now no one will be scared of him. After more coaxing, the stonefish agrees to accompany them to the city and practice making friends with other fish. He introduces himself as Spike.

Back at Lumina's home, Murray appears with his sidekicks, Garth and Wormwood. Upon reading a letter Lumina left for Scylla, Murray realizes she isn't home, but roots through Scylla's things anyway. He finds a bracelet with the royal crest.

Back in the kelp forest, Lumina and Kuda are laughing at one of Spike's jokes when Kuda is caught by snarly kelp. :Lumina removes a pearl from one of Spike's spikes, and he cuts the kelp with it, setting Kuda free. Kuda moans that she doesn't think they will make it to the city, but Lumina shows her they are already there.

In the city, Spike starts hiding, but Lumina tells him he shouldn't. Spike, afraid of being feared, comes out anyway, and a few merpeople compliment his pearls.

Then, Kuda sees Scylla in the distance. Lumina wants to explain that they were trying to bring her her invitation, but Kuda is worried and pulls Lumina into Salon La Mer to hide.

At first, Lumina is mistakenly thought as a customer by Madame Ruckus, but when she notices Scylla is passing by, she disguises herself by changing her hair and the same goes for Kuda. Madame Ruckus sees her talent and hires her alongside with two other employees, Sandrine and Cora. While Lumina is busy, back at the castle General Caligo's plan is arranged he depends on Scylla to make the poison. His plan is simple, let Scylla poison the merberry nectar in Nereus' goblet, then he'll get the upper hand.

At Salon La Mer, Lumina has just become the most famous hairstyler in the city. Sandrine tries to keep up, but finally befriends Lumina despite her cruel behavior before.

Murray returns from his back-and-forth trip and tells Caligo he found no one, but he shows the royal crest to Caligo and confirms she is the princess. Caligo goes furious, as that could ruin his plan.

Again at Salon La Mer, Prince Delphin who has just come into the city is wrongly thought as an employee. He carries some things and delivers them to Lumina. He quickly bumps into her. Later, General Caligo takes Fergis to Salon La Mer for hairstyling. Although he's been searching for the lost princess, unknowingly, he asks Lumina to do the job. Fergis instead, has fallen in love with Cora.

Later, Madame Ruckus comes to inform her employees that she got an invitation to the royal ball. Interestingly, they get anxious on what to wear, but Madame Ruckus winks at them. Then they go to a shop to buy some proper clothes. The shop is so crowded, that people just ramsack every single piece of clothing. So they decide to make them.

The scene skips to the royal ball, where Fergis calls upon Cora. His father interferes, then takes off his Quidest Fetere flower saying that it smelled bad, then flaps his back. Cora and Fergis grow closer after Cora states she loves his flower.

When Lumina notices the narwhal who took her invitation, General Caligo gets flapped by Lumina's tail, but he welcomes her instead, saying he likes how she reorganized his son's hair. But, moments later, Murray tells him that Lumina is the lost princess. Meanwhile, Lumina gets a dance with Prince Delphin and chat together. Then Prince Delphin says he needs to go for a while, and makes Lumina promise to save the next dance for him.

Caligo takes no time to waste, he immediately drives Lumina outside the ball, and captures her and Kuda with the help of the eels. Then they throw her into the dungeon. Lumina recognizes the eel as her aunt's friend. Murray tells her the truth; her aunt will poison the king. Lumina's creative mind lets her steal the key from the eels and tie them together. Then she frees herself and Kuda.

At the ball, Scylla has switched Caligo's and Nereus' goblets. Caligo knows this, but he realizes he has to face a new a dilemma; If Nereus drinks the real nectar, and he drinks the poison, he will be the one to die. His dilemma increases, when he has to decide which one is the poison: his or Nereus's.

Then, Nereus coronates Fergis as the heir to the throne, and is about to have a toast. But, Caligo decides quickly to spill Nereus' goblet and offers him his. Scylla tries to spill it, but is blocked by a Trident. Lumina arrives in time to spill the goblet before Nereus drinks it, causing the gasp in the crowds.

Despite his plan having been ruined, Caligo refuses to give up. He states Lumina is trying to attack Nereus and tells the Tridents to arrest her. Scylla testimates, saying Lumina has just saved Nereusl, but before she has the chance to say what Caligo made her do, Caligo makes an effort to kill the witness and push her to one opened end of Spike. The venom of the stonefish is about to kill Scylla, but before she dies, she tells Lumina she took her from her parents to protect her.

Spike reveals which the antidote for the venom is and it turns out to be Fergis's Quidest Fetere. But before Fergis can say he has it, Caligo hushes him. Fergis decides to do the right thing, so he defies his father and gives Lumina the flower.

Caligo makes one last effort in the last minute, he takes Scylla's body intending leave. Lumina gets furious; she chases Caligo before he leaves the ballroom, but one of the Tridents grabs her tail. All of Lumina's friends help defeat the Trident Squad.

Before Caligo reaches the gate, Lumina sends her pearls to the gate, locks it and uses all the pearls in the ballroom to ensnare him. Lumina gives the antidote to Scylla ,and it saves her.

Scylla states Caligo is the one who ordered her to poison Nereus and reveals Lumina is the long lost daughter of Nereus and Lorelei.

She reveals the story: years ago, Caligo sought to be the king of Seagundia, and paid Scylla to poison the newly born baby of Lorelei, the true heir of Seagundia. She couldn't do it, but instead, she kept the baby with her, and told Caligo she was dead. As the child grew, she could have given it back to her rightful parents, but she couldn't do it, and she felt guilty for that.

Fergis returns the Pearl of the Sea back to the Nereus and he gives it to Lumina. Scylla gains her forgiveness and they stay together in Seagundia. The ball continues, and everyone lives happily ever after, except for Caligo that was pushed by Madame Ruckus out of the castle and his fate is unknown.

Release
The movie comes to Blu-ray Combo Pack including Blu-ray, DVD & Digital HD with UltraViolet on March 11th, 2014. Also, the movie was released in theaters at limited time beginning at February 1st, 2014. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the Vue Cinema Company had exclusive screenings of the film on 15th and 16th February.

For celebrate the movie, Mattel, Inc. organized "Barbie: The Pearl Princess Sweepstakes" to get five beauty prizes packages of Barbie: The Pearl Princess merchandises. This sweepstakes began on Monday, March 3, 2014 at 9:01:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time and ended on Monday, March 17, 2014 at 9:01:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (the "Sweepstakes Period"). Five potential winners had been randomly selected by the administrator on about Monday, March 24, 2014. Registered was opened in "Enter to Win!" application from the official Barbie Facebook.

DVD Bonus Features

 * "Mermaid Party!" Music Video
 * "Light Up The World" Music Video
 * "Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse" Music Video
 * "Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse" Episode - "Perf Pool Party"
 * Trailer Gallery

Trivia

 * The original titles of the movie were "Barbie in The Pearl Princess" and "Barbie: Pearl of The Sea".
 * In the video "Barbie Accepts the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge!", icy water is poured over Barbie and she transforms into Lumina.
 * The music heard when Fergis asked Cora for a dance is used in DVD cleaners.
 * The music heard during the ballroom scene is Vivaldi's Four Seasons: Autumn.
 * Kuda's favorite game is Tic-Tac-Tuna. It is a pun of the game Tic-Tac-Toe.
 * The 10 Trident Squad guards are only loyal to General Caligo.
 * In the novel, Dolphin has his voice the entire time, and never squeaks like in the movie.
 * In the novel, the eel squad accidently kidnaps Madame Ruckus first.
 * In the novel, the fight scene at the ball between Lumina and Caligo were very different.
 * Lumina's picture from one of the official stills is seen in a frame from reef's living room.
 * The film aired on Nickelodeon on April 6, 2014.
 * A Star Wars refrence was made when one of Kuda's hairstyles resembled Princess Leia's in Episode IV: A New Hope.
 * The instrumental version of Mermaid Party! is played in the Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse specials "Perf Pool Party" and "The Amaze Chase".

Similarities to other Barbie movies

 * Caligo, Dame Devin from Barbie: Princess Charm School and Queen Ariana from Barbie as The Island Princess, tried to live out their royal dreams through their children (Fergis, Delancy, Luciana) but their children chose to help the protagonist of each movie other than their parents.
 * Both Lumina and Princess Sophia were transformed into princesses by magical objects (Pearl of the Sea and Gardania's Magical Crown) which only glows on the true heir of each kingdoms.
 * Both Lumina and Sophia also ask their adoptive families to live with them in the royal castle after they are crowned as the princesses.
 * A worker who served the merberry nectar with Scylla and other mermaids used character models of Graylen from Barbie: A Fairy Secret and Lord Gastrous from Barbie: Mariposa and her Butterfly Fairy Friends and its sequel, just with light skin.

Similarities with Barbie in A Mermaid Tale and Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2

 * Pictures of the four ambassadors from Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2 are shown hanging next to Lumina's new family portrait at the end of the movie. (69 min 40 sec)
 * The arch in the begining of the movie has similar structure like the arch in Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2
 * In Kuda's fake coronation as the ruler of Seven Seas, some of the fish are similiar with the Pufferazzi, Alistair, and Lipstick Fish from Barbie in A Mermaid Tale and Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2, just with different colours.
 * The mermaid boutiques have appeared in the movie and Barbie in A Mermaid Tale.
 * Dolphin's character model is a recoloring of Zuma's from Barbie in A Mermaid Tale and its sequel.

Goofs

 * There is a telephone in Salon La Mer and a blue high heel in the mermaid boutique. In fact, that is impossible to have a phone in underwater and the high heel is not useful in the sea (because mermaids do not have feet, and there are no satelites above).
 * There are some time descrepencies in the movie. For example, when Lumina and Kuda were in the kelp forest, Kuda mentioned it was almost dark. But after they reached the city, Lumina worked in the Salon La Mer all day.
 * In some scenes, Prince Delphin's dirty blonde hair changes to light blonde.
 * When Lumina and Kuda swam from the reef until Kuda broke the passage's structure, Lumina and Kuda didn't bring the invitation. But while Kuda swam first before Lumina, suddenly the invitation appeared, fell and floated after her.
 * Kuda had just returned from searching for pearls after Madame Ruckus announced she received the invitations, but the 'unwrapped' pearls suddenly were missing from her tail grip.
 * Fergis wears an antidote flower on his clothes and Caligo dissolved that antidote flower. But when Scylla fainted and Fergis took the flower, the flower does not looked destroyed at all.
 * When Lumina is in the prison, it was shown she was holding the bars while talking to Murray. But suddenly, there are pearls in her hands.
 * Eels don't have fingers to hold anything. However, in the prison scene, they were shown to hold cards.
 * Near the end of the movie, when Lumina was in fight against Caligo, she took all the pearls from the ballroom. Although some pearls were still used to ensare Caligo, all of the pearls are returned to the owners.
 * When Scylla awoke after Lumina gave the antidote and they were hugging, Lumina's pink skirt was missing.
 * A pearl on the one of Spike's spikes was fall by Caligo, but in the end, when Spike is seen swimming with Sandrine and Dolphin, the spike was covered by a pearl again.
 * In at least one shot, Fergis appears to have a shark-like tail like Caligo.

Also Known As

 * Albanian - Barbi: Princesha e Perlave
 * Polish - Barbie: Perłowa Księżniczka
 * French - Barbie et la Magie des Perles
 * German - Barbie in Die Magischen Perlen
 * Greek - Barbie: Η Πριγκίπισσα των Μαργαριταριών
 * Italian - Barbie: La Principessa delle Perle
 * Dutch - Barbie: De Parel Prinses
 * Spanish - Barbie: La Princesa de las Perlas
 * Portuguese - Barbie em a Princesa Pérola
 * Brazilian Portuguese - Barbie: A Sereia das Pérolas
 * Turkish - Barbie: İnci Prenses
 * Russian - Барби в роли Жемчужной принцессы
 * Persian - باربي شاهزاده مرواريد
 * Arabic - باربي أميرة اللؤلؤ
 * Georgian - ბარბი: მარგალიტის პრინცესა
 * Thai - บาร์บี้ เจ้าหญิงเงือกน้อยกับไข่มุกวิเศษ
 * Chinese - 芭比之珍珠公主
 * Hindi - बार्बी : दी पर्ल प्रिंसेस