Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses

Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses
DVD cover.
Directed by	Greg Richardson
Produced by	Shea Wageman
Written by	Elana Lesser Cliff Ruby
Starring	Kelly Sheridan Catherine O'Hara Nicole Oliver Jennifer Copping Chiara Zanni Lalainia Lindbjerg
Music by	Arnie Roth
Editing by	Colin Adams James Boshier
Distributed by	Universal Studios
Release date(s)	September 19, 2006 (2006-09-19)
Running time	81 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses is a 2006 direct-to-video computer animated Barbie film directed by Greg Richardson and loosely based on the fairytale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses". It is part of the Barbie film series and features the voice of Kelly Sheridan as the Barbie protagonist. This film was released on September 19, 2006.

Music for the film was composed by Arnie Roth. "Shine", the end title song written by Roth, Amy Powers and Rob Hudnut, was nominated for a 2007 Emmy Award.

Plot

Barbie stars as Genevieve, a princess with eleven sisters: Ashlyn, Blair, Courtney, Delia, Edeline, Fallon, Hadley, Isla, Janessa, Kathleen and Lacey. Each princess is beautiful and different, but the twelve sisters have one thing in common: they all love to Dance. They live in a castle with their widowed father, King Randolph. The girls' adventurous and free-spirited natures are viewed as "unladylike" and "unproper" by other members of the royal society and often leads them to make rude comments about the princesses. Believing his daughters need a woman's touch, the king summons his cousin, Duchess Rowena, to the castle to help raise them. But, Rowena has her own plans: she plans to poison the king and get rid of his daughters so that she can be queen.

Sensing trouble, Genevieve and her sisters try to reason with Randolph, but due to Rowena's interference, the king doesn't believe them and says they must listen to his cousin. Attempting to break the girls' spirits, Rowena makes the princesses' lives miserable by stripping the castle of everything they love, as well as banishing dancing and singing from the castle.

Sad with the changes, the princesses find comfort in their mother's (Queen Isabella) favorite story, which tells of a magical kingdom where Gold Flowers grant Wishes and a princess could dance at an Enchanted Pavilion for three nights. Before she died, Isabella had made twelve copies of the story, and each one had one of the daughter's special flower on the cover. Lacey sees that her lily on the book matches the lily on the floor. Genevieve tells everyone to find a match on their book to a stone. Genevieve tries dancing from stone to stone; it doesn't work. She then tries dancing from oldest to youngest, She then twirls three times at the last stone, like the character in the story. They enter the Magical Kingdom. Later, Lacey falls and scrapes her knee. Genevieve dabs water from a nearby fountain on the cut and it heals, revealing that the water is magic.

The next day, the girls are tired and the duchess finds their new dancing shoes worn through. Suspicious, Rowena believes that they were out dancing with princes. Meanwhile, the royal cobbler and Genevieve's love interest, Derek, comes to fix their shoes and sees that they are covered in Gold Dust. Genevieve dances on the Mosaic in the pavilion outside. While together, Genevieve asks Derek to find out what Rowena's true intentions are. The duchess continues to deprive them of any enjoyment and prevents them from visiting or singing to their father, who has suddenly fallen ill. The doctor gives Rowena a tonic for Randolph, which she quickly disposes of, revealing that she is poisoning him. That night, Rowena has her footman, Desmond, stand guard outside the princesses' room to find out where they go. The sisters sneak back to the Magic Realm and dance again. Meanwhile, Derek discovers that Rowena is stealing heirlooms from the castle and dealing with an apothecary. He hurries back to warn Genevieve and her sisters.

The next morning, the sisters are still exhausted and Rowena demands to know why. When she gangs up on Lacey, the girls tell her the truth, but she doesn't believe them and forces them into servitude. That night, she demands the truth again, but they tell her the same story. This makes Rowena even angrier and she locks them in their room, blaming them for Randolph's failing health. Heartbroken and not knowing what to do, the princesses return to the magical kingdom. A furious Rowena finds the sisters gone the next morning.

That evening, Derek finally makes it back to the castle, but discovers that the princesses are missing. Determined to find Genevieve, he sneaks into their bedroom. Remembering Genevieve's dance pattern, Derek enters the magic realm and reports his findings to the girls. Unfortunately, Rowena learns how to enter the magic realm, due to her monkey, Brutus. Stealing some flowers that can give you whatever you want, she quickly returns to the castle and has Desmond destroy the mosaic that forms the gateway, trapping the sisters and Derek in the magical kingdom. Thinking she has disposed of the princesses, Rowena then tricks the weak Randolph into making her acting queen until he recovers.

Trapped in the magic realm, the girls and Derek try to find a way out. As they dance, the couple and the rest of the princesses float up into the sky and return home. However, this new gateway leads to their mother's dance pavilion instead of their bedroom.

Once back, the sisters and Derek discover that Rowena is now queen, new guards have been ordered to capture any stray princesses, and that their father is dying. The princesses disable the guards and enter the castle to confront Rowena. Ignoring Genevieve's orders, Lacey enters the castle to help, but is seized by Desmond. Derek and Genevieve defeat the enchanted suits of armor that defend Rowena, but the duchess has the upper hand when Desmond drags in Lacey.

Noting that Genevieve is the source of her sisters' resistance against her, Rowena uses the flowers to wish for Genevieve to dance forever and ever and ever. But as the flower dust comes towards her, Genevieve produces her fan and blows it back at Rowena, who starts dancing instead. Desmond soon joins her while trying to help and the two villains dance their way out of the castle and the film.

It is revealed that Lacey has saved some water from the magical kingdom. She uses it, and thereby heals the dying king. Randolph explains that Rowena was poisoning him and apologizes to his daughters for not believing them. He now truly understands them. The film ends with everything made right as Genevieve and Derek celebrate their wedding, and of course, dance.

Cast and characters

Princesses

Each Princess is designated with a gemstone and a flower. Each princess' flower appears on their dresses, the book gifted to each of them and also on the stones on the floor of their bedroom.

• Ashlyn, voiced by Nicole Oliver, is the (22 year old) oldest sister. She is practical, calm and knowledgeable. She loves music, especially playing the flute and oboe. She is straightforward and cares for her sisters, for whom she tries to act as a role model. Her flower is the purple geranium and her gemstone is a garnet. She bears the most resemblance to her mother Queen Isabella.
• Blair, voiced by Jennifer Copping, is the 21 year old 2nd sister. She loves horses and riding and collects music boxes. Feisty and outspoken, Blair is always the first to voice her opinion, especially her complaints about Rowena's presence in their lives. Her flower is larkspur and her gemstone is a ruby.
• Courtney, voiced by Lalainia Lindbjerg, is 20 year old the 3rd sister and is close to Ashlyn and Blair. She seems to be the shyest of the twelve sisters. Her favorite hobby is reading, which makes her totally oblivious to her surroundings because she always has her nose in a book. However, her constant reading makes her intelligent and open-minded. Her flower is the forget-me-not and her gemstone is a sapphire.
• Delia, voiced by Kathleen Barr, is the 19 year old adventurous 4th sister. She loves sports, especially croquet and horseback riding. Her flower is the sunflower and her gemstone is a green peridot.
• Edeline, voiced by Chiara Zanni, is the 18 year old 5th sister. Like her sister, Delia, she loves to play sports, but her favorites are badminton and croquet. She also tends to be messy and disorganized. Her flower is honeysuckle and her gemstone is orange citron.
• Fallon, voiced by Adrienne Carter, is the 17 year old 6th and middle sister. She loves animals, plays the harp and is a total romantic who hopes everyone can find their happily ever after. She likes writing stories, hearts, and lace and is quite boy crazy. Her flower is the camellia and her gemstone is a pearl.
• Genevieve, voiced by Kelly Sheridan, is the 16 year old 7th sister and the protagonist of the film. She tends to be unintentionally late for all sorts of occasions. She is also an experienced chess player. Next to her family, Genevieve loves dancing more than anything. Derek, the royal cobbler, harbors romantic feelings for her. Her flower is the pink rose and her gemstone is a pink opal.
• Hadley, voiced by Ashleigh Ball, is the 8th sister and Isla's fraternal twin. She loves to dance on stilts, something she shares with Isla. Her flower is the narcissus and her gemstone is a topaz.
• Isla, also voiced by Ashleigh Ball, is the 9th sister and Hadley's fraternal twin. Isla is a skilled acrobat and enjoys dancing on stilts with her twin. Her flower is the lily of the valley and her gemstone is an emerald.
• Janessa, voiced by Britt McKillip, is the 10th sister and leader of the young fraternal triplets. She is interested in bugs and loves collecting them. While she may be bossy at times, her intentions are always good. Her flower is the jonquil and her gemstone is aquamarine. During the movie she, Kathleen, and Lacey celebrates their 5th birthday.
• Kathleen, voiced by Maddy Capozzi, is the 11th sister, the middle triplet and is close with Janessa. She loves art and enjoys painting, but tends to be messy like her big sister, Edeline. Kathleen is down-to-earth and helps keep balance among the triplets. Her flower is the daisy and her gemstone is a diamond.
• Lacey, voiced by Chantal Strand, is the youngest and is very close to her big sister, Genevieve. Being the youngest, she is timid, somewhat clumsy and frequently needs help for the simplest things. Even though she loves her sisters and her father, Lacey often wonders about where she belongs in her large family. Her flower is the white lily and her gemstone is an amethyst. Lacey resembles her father, King Randolph.

Others

• Derek, voiced by Shawn McDonald, is the handsome royal cobbler. He is friends with Genevieve and her sisters, but he is secretly in love with Genevieve and he becomes the princesses' main ally in stopping Rowena. At the end of the film, he and Genevieve are happily married among their families and friends.
• Felix, voiced by Gabe Khouth, is Derek's talking parrot. He wants Derek and Genevieve to be together, often blabbing hints about how Derek feels to Genevieve, which causes great embarrassment for his master.
• Duchess Rowena, voiced by Catherine O'Hara, is King Randolph's cousin and the villain of the film. She is brought to the castle to help the king raise his twelve daughters. She seeks to steal the throne by poisoning Randolph and getting rid of the twelve princesses. She is doomed to dance forever when the wish she tried to use on Genevieve backfires.
• King Randolph, voiced by Christopher Gaze, is the father of the twelve dancing princesses. He loves his daughters more than anything, but is determined to let Rowena turn them into "proper princesses". Little does he know, that Rowena is slowly poisoning him in an attempt to steal his throne and that it is up to his "unruly" daughters to save him.
• Desmond, voiced by Gary Chalk, the main antagonist is Rowena's large and ruthless footman. He seems to have a crush on Rowena, doing anything she says to please her. He is doomed to dance with her forever when he tries to free the cursed duchess.
• Twyla, also voiced by Nicole Oliver, is Genevieve's pet kitten. She tries to act tough in front of her enemies and is constantly fighting with Rowena's monkey, Brutus. She is friends with Felix and believes that she is related to the tigers of India.
• Brutus, voiced by Peter Kelamis, is Rowena's pet monkey, who is just as cruel and arrogant as his mistress. He loves making Twyla angry and often spies on the princesses to find ways to get them in trouble with Rowena.
• Queen Isabella is the late mother of the twelve dancing princesses. She is seen in the movie through a portrait that hangs near the entrance of the castle. Even in death, she helps her daughters discover the magical kingdom and the importance of family. During the movie, it was shown that Rowena has stolen an heirloom--her goblet.
• Fabian, voiced by Mark Oliver, is the apothecary who sells Rowena poisons in exchange for stolen goods. Eventually tracked down by Derek, who trades his horse for Queen Isabella's goblet.

Response

In the October 14, 2006 issue of Billboard magazine, Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses debuted at Number One on the Top DVD Sales chart.

External links

• Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses at the Internet Movie Database
• Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses at AllRovi
• Official Website (United States)