"Always leave things better than you found them." |
Barbie: The Pearl Princess is the 27th Barbie movie. It was released to DVD on March 11, 2014, and it made its TV premiere on Nickelodeon on April 6, 2014.[1] Barbie plays Lumina, a mermaid princess who has the power to control pearls.
Official Summary[]
"A Glowing Undersea Adventure
Barbie™ stars as Lumina™, a mermaid who dreams of being a princess. As long as she can remember, she's had a magical power that makes pearls dance and glow! Lumina™ and her best friend Kuda™, a pink seahorse, embark on an adventure to a majestic mer-kingdom. There, she uses her powers to help her friends prepare for the Royal Ball. Lumina™ then discovers that her magical pearls are the key to unlocking her true destiny and ultimately saving the kingdom."[2]
Plot[]
The film opens with Lumina using her pearl magic to prepare a fake coronation held for seahorse friend 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 accidentally knocks a potion bottle off a shelf 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 them about, 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 the lead, and not long after, she finds a passage through the skeleton of a big animal. While in the passage, Kuda accidentally 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 eligible, 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.
On the other side of the ocean, Lumina and Kuda 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 the 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 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 the bracelet Scylla hid earlier.
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. There, Lumina is mistaken for a job applicant by Madame Ruckus. She is confused about what is happening around her, and when Kuda notices Scylla is passing by, she suggests disguising their hair. Lumina disguises herself by changing her hairstyle with her pearl magic. Madame Ruckus sees her talent and hires her, introducing her to the other two employees, Sandrine and Cora.
Lumina's first customer asks for a certain hairstyle, but Lumina thinks of a style that would look better on her. She uses her pearl magic to style the customer's hair. The customer loves the style and hugs Lumina. The next customer asks for the same style that the first one got, but when Lumina suggests something different just for her, she happily accepts.
Back at the castle, Caligo reminds the Trident Squad about the plan for the ball. After they leave, Scylla arrives. Caligo tells Scylla the plan and mentions that he knows she has a niece. Scylla angrily replies that she also has a goldfish, saying "What of it?" Caligo tells her to give them both his regards.
Meanwhile, Lumina's second customer loves her new hairstyle. Sandrine, inspired by Lumina, decides to try something different as well, and Cora paints her customer's nails with baby dolphins for the first time.
Murray returns from his trip and tells Caligo that nobody was home, but he shows Caligo the bracelet he found. Since the bracelet has the royal crest, Caligo knows that Scylla's "niece" is actually the lost princess. He angrily tells Murray that they must get rid of her. He orders Murray to gather his cronies and find her.
Prince Delphin, who has just arrived in the city, has trouble finding directions on his map. He tries to ask Madame Ruckus for help, but she sees that he has caught one of her deliveries. She mistakenly thinks he wants to help her with them and gives him more to deliver. He takes them to Salon La Mer, where he meets Lumina. Their conversation is cut short when Dolphin hurries Delphin along. Caligo enters the salon with Fergis, where he asks Lumina to do Fergis's hair. Fergis notices Cora and falls in love with her. After Lumina finishes Fergis's hairstyle, she introduces him to Cora and they get along quite well.
Madame Ruckus informs her employees that she got invitations to the royal ball for the whole staff. The salon staff all go shopping. Soon, everything is sold out, and Cora has nothing to wear. Lumina gives Cora her outfit and buys some fabric to make a new outfit for herself.
At the ball, Fergis starts talking to Cora, but Caligo pulls him away, asking him why he isn't dancing. When Fergis says no one will dance with him, Caligo notices a bad smell. Fergis says it's coming from the Sulfur Lily he's wearing, and Caligo pulls it off. Fergis then starts dancing with Cora, who says she thought his flower was beautiful.
Lumina bumps into Caligo, who welcomes her, thanking her for styling Fergis's hair. Delphin comes by and asks her to dance. Lumina overhears Caligo call Delphin "prince," and they chat while dancing. Meanwhile, Murray comes by and tells Caligo that every crawly creature is looking for a girl named Lumina, and Caligo asks Murray if the girl dancing with Delphin is the princess. Murray says she is.
After Lumina promises Delphin the next dance, Caligo suddenly joins in. When she tells him her aunt raised her, he takes her outside the castle, where Murray captures her in a sack. Kuda comes out and is able to evade Caligo, but she is kicked into another sack by Murray. Right after this, Caligo and Spike run into each other in the ballroom. After each unsuccessfully attempts to get out of the other's way, Caligo shoves past Spike, and Caligo's tail knocks a pearl off of one of Spike's spikes. When Caligo hears Spike grumble and say the word "poisoned," he asks Spike what he knows about the poison. Spike says Caligo was almost caught by a poisonous spike.
The eels take Lumina and Kuda to the dungeon. Lumina uses her pearl powers to get the keys. She then throws pearls at each eel, tricking them into fighting. She ties the eels up and frees herself and Kuda.
Meanwhile, Scylla serves the royal party their nectar. Caligo becomes suspicious of his and starts to sniff it, believing his nectar has the poison rather than the king's. He switches his nectar with Nereus's, but Scylla does not react. Thinking he may have been wrong, Caligo switches them back. Scylla still does not react, and Caligo tries to figure out if his chalice or Nereus's is poisoned.
Knowing Scylla is in trouble, Lumina rushes to the ballroom with Kuda, but they're seen by Trident Squad guards, who chase after them. Scylla, meanwhile, overhears Nereus and Lorelei grieving over their lost daughter. After she hears the steward say something belongs to the king and queen and she shouldn't hold onto things forever, Scylla is surprised. The steward was talking about the nectar, but Scylla realizes it's also true about Lumina.
Scylla tries to grab Caligo's nectar. She says she is done poisoning people, but Caligo realizes that he was right all along about his poisoned drink. Scylla is unable to wrench the cup from Caligo's grip. Caligo suddenly realizes that Scylla might still be tricking him and is again unsure about whose cup is poisoned.
The king and queen arrive, and Nereus speaks about presenting the Pearl of the Sea to Fergis. He does so and prepares a toast. Just as he is about to drink, Caligo knocks Nereus's cup over and offers his own. Scylla tries to stop Nereus from drinking but is blocked by a soldier. Luckily, Lumina arrives just in time and knocks the drink out of Nereus's hand.
Despite his plan having been ruined, Caligo refuses to give up. He claims Lumina tried to attack Nereus and tells the guards to arrest her. Scylla tells everyone that Lumina saved the king and that she, Scylla, put poison in the cup. But before she can say Caligo forced her to do so, Caligo pushes her onto Spike's bare spike. Being infected with stonefish venom, Scylla falls to the ground.
Lumina cradles Scylla in her arms, begging that she be okay. Scylla uses this moment to tell Lumina the truth: she took Lumina from her parents long ago to save her. After this, Scylla falls unconscious. Lumina asks Spike if there's an antidote to his venom. He sorrowfully replies that he only knows of the sulfur lily, but it's so rare that he's never seen one. Cora asks Fergis if he knows the plant, but a glare from Caligo prompts Fergis to say no. With Cora's little smile and gesture, Fergis defied his father and gave Lumina the fallen sulfur lily Caligo pulled off his outfit earlier.
With the plan about to be totally ruined, Caligo picks up the unconscious Scylla and orders the guards to grab Lumina. Madame Ruckus and Delphin stop the guards whiles Lumina pursued him and used her pearls to lock the gate before Caligo can reach it. She then used all the pearls in the ballroom to trap Caligo and ensnare Scylla away from him. Lumina puts the sulfur lily petals in Scylla's mouth, and she wakes up, cured.
Scylla finally reveals that Caligo is the one who ordered her to poison Nereus. Caligo tries to claim innocence, but Fergis backs Scylla up, shoving his mouth in the process with a plant he ruined from the earlier father-son argument.
Lorelei asks Lumina if she has always been able to use the pearl magic. Lumina says she has, and Lorelei reveals that she has the same powers. Nereus reveals that the magic is a royal gift. Scylla reveals that Lumina is the lost princess and tells the remaining part of the story: Years ago, Caligo paid Scylla to kill the baby princess, but she couldn't do it, so instead, she kept the baby with her and told Caligo she was dead. As the child grew, she could have given her back to her rightful parents, but she had become too attached.
Fergis gives the Pearl of the Sea back to Nereus, who then wears it on Lumina. The medallion glows and transforms Lumina's tail, revealing her as the true heir. Lumina, Kuda and Scylla accept the castle as their new home. The royal ball continues, and Madame Ruckus throws Caligo out of the castle gates.
Starring the Voices Of[]
- Lumina: Kelly Sheridan
- Kuda: Katie Crown
- King Nereus: Mark Oliver
- Queen Lorelei: Rebecca Shoichet
- Scylla: Patricia Pattenden
- Caligo: John Novak
- Fergis: Simon Hill
- Murray: Peter New
- Madame Ruckus: Kathleen Barr
- Garth: Patrick Gilmore
- Wormwood: Louis Chirillo
- Spike: James Higuchi
- Cora: MacKenzie Porter
- Sandrine: Nicki Burke
- Purple Mer-teen: Tabitha St. Germain
- Delphin: Brian Doe
- Dolphin: Jeff Evans Todd
Release[]
The film was released on Blu-ray Combo Pack, including Blu-ray, DVD & Digital HD, and UltraViolet on March 11, 2014. Also, the film was released in theaters for a limited time, beginning on February 1, 2014. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the Vue Cinema Company had exclusive film screenings on 15th and 16th February.
To celebrate the movie, Mattel 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. Registration was opened in "Enter to Win!" application from the official Barbie Facebook page.
"Celebrate the release of Barbie™: The Pearl Princess and treat your favorite little girls to a beauty night in with Barbie! |
DVD[]
Scene Selection[]
- Opening Titles [7:41]
- Eel Mail [7:13]
- Dangerous Journey [6:49]
- The Kelp Forest [6:51]
- The City [6:58]
- Fergis Gets A Makeover [6:41]
- "Mermaid Party!" [2:12]
- The Royal Ball [4:53]
- The Escape [5:37]
- The Toast [4:44]
- Pearl Magic [8:26]
- The Pearl Princess [5:19]
Extra 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 (see below)
Trailer Gallery[]
- Barbie and The Secret Door
- Barbie & Her Sisters In A Pony Tale
- Barbie Mariposa and The Fairy Princess
- Barbie In The Pink Shoes
- Barbie: The Princess and The Popstar
- Barbie In A Mermaid Tale 2
- Barbie In A Mermaid Tale
- Barbie: Princess Charm School
- Barbie: A Fairy Secret
- Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale
- The Barbie Movie Collection
- Barbie Premium Experience Only On Royal Caribbean
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- This film is the last to use the Barbie Entertainment release banner prior to future Barbie films/movies being integrated into the Mattel Playground Prodctions division.
- The original titles of the film were "Barbie in The Pearl Princess" and "Barbie: Pearl of The Sea".
- In the video "ALS Ice Bucket Challenge", water is poured over Barbie and she transforms into Lumina.[3]
- The music heard at the ball when Cora and Fergis dance is "Spring, Movement I: Allegro" from Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.
- The music heard at the ball when Lumina danced with Delphin is "Autumn, Movement I: Allegro" from Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.
- Kuda's favorite game is Tic-Tac-Tuna. It is a pun of the game Tic-Tac-Toe.
- In the novel, Dolphin speaks.
- 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 reference 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".
- Characters Nori's character model are seen in Salon La Mer.
- In the Norwegian dub of this movie, Barbie is voiced by a different voice actor than usual. The Barbie Diaries and The Pearl Princess are the only films in the Norwegian dubs to have a different voice actor for Barbie.
Similarities to other Barbie films[]
- Caligo and Dame Devin from Barbie: Princess Charm School tried to live out their royal dreams through their children (Fergis and Delancy) 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 the Mariposa sequels, just with light skin.
References and Similarities to Barbie in A Mermaid Tale[]
- Portraits of Ambassador Kattrin, Ambassador Selena, Ambassador Renata and Ambassador Mirabella from the Mermaid Tale sequel are shown hanging next to Lumina's new family portrait at the end of the film.
- The arch in the begining of the film has similar structure like the arch in the Mermaid Tale sequel.
- In Kuda's fake coronation as the ruler of Seven Seas, some of the fish are similar to the Pufferazzi, Alistair, and Lipstick Fish from the first film and its sequel, just with different colors.
- The mermaid boutiques have appeared in the film and the first film.
- Dolphin's character model is a recoloring of Zuma's from the Barbie in A Mermaid Tale.
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 - Barbie: Princesha e Perlave (Barbie: Princess of Pearls)
- Polish - Barbie: Perłowa Księżniczka (Barbie: Pearl Princess)
- French - Barbie et la Magie des Perles (Barbie and the Magic of Pearls)
- German - Barbie in Die Magischen Perlen (Barbie in The Magic Pearls)
- Greek - Barbie: Η Πριγκίπισσα των Μαργαριταριών (Barbie: The Princess of Pearls)
- Italian - Barbie: La Principessa delle Perle (Barbie: The Pearl Princess)
- Dutch - Barbie: De Parel Prinses (Barbie: The Pearl Princess)
- Spanish - Barbie: La Princesa de las Perlas (Barbie: The Pearl Princess)
- Portuguese - Barbie: Sereia Das Pérolas (Barbie: Mermaid Of Pearls)
- Brazilian Portuguese - Barbie - A Sereia Das Pérolas (Barbie - The Mermaid Of Pearls)
- Turkish - Barbie: İnci Prenses (Barbie: Pearl Princess)
- Croatian - Barbie: Biserna princeza
- Hungarian - Barbie: A Gyöngyhercegnő (Barbie: The Princess of Pearls)
- Russian - Барби в роли Жемчужной принцессы (Barbie as the Pearl Princess)
- Persian - باربي شاهزاده مرواريد (Barbie Princess Pearl)
- Arabic - باربي أميرة اللؤلؤ (Barbie Princess of Pearl)
- Georgian - ბარბი: მარგალიტის პრინცესა (Barbie: Princess of Pearl)
- Thai - บาร์บี้ เจ้าหญิงเงือกน้อยกับไข่มุกวิเศษ (Barbie the Little Mermaid Princess and the Magic Pearl)
- Chinese - 芭比之珍珠公主 (Barbie The Pearl Princess)
- Hindi - Barbie: The Pearl Princess
- Japanese - バービーの真珠の王女 (Barbie as the Pearl Princess)
References[]
Barbie: The Pearl Princess |
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Quote: "Always leave things better that you found them." Media: Barbie: The Pearl Princess Characters: Princess Lumina | Kuda | King Nereus | Queen Lorelei | Scylla | Caligo | Fergis | Murray | Madame Ruckus | Garth and Wormwood | Spike | Cora | Sandrine | Purple Mer-teen | Prince Delphin | Dolphin | Trident Squad Objects: Lumina's Bracelet | Pearl of the Sea Plants: Snarly Kelp | Sulfur Lily Locations: Secret Cave | Seagundia | Salon La Mer Songs: "Mermaid Party!" | "Light up the World" Others: Merchandise |