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
Based on	"The Twelve Dancing Princesses" by the Brothers Grimm
Starring	Kelly Sheridan; Nicole Oliver; Jennifer Copping; Kathleen Barr; Chiara Zanni; Adrienne Carter; Ashleigh Ball; Britt McKillip; Maddy Copozzi; Chantal Strand; Catherine O'Hara; Shawn MacDonald; Christopher Gaze
Music by	Arnie Roth
Edited by	Colin Adams
Production; company	Mattel Entertainment; Mainframe Entertainment
Distributed by	Universal Studios Home Entertainment; Right Entertainment (UK)
Release date	September 19, 2006; ; ; ; ;
Running time	81 minutes
Country	United States; Canada
Language	English

Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses is a 2006 direct-to-video computer-animated dance film directed by Greg Richardson and loosely based on the Brothers Grimm's "The Twelve Dancing Princesses".^[2] It is 9th entry in the Barbie film series and features the voice of Kelly Sheridan as the Barbie protagonist. It was released on September 19, 2006 and is the first Barbie film to be distributed by Universal Studios (now Universal Pictures).

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[edit]

Barbie stars as Genevieve, one of twelve princesses who live in a castle with their widowed father, King Randolph. The princesses have adventurous and free-spirited natures that are viewed as "unladylike" and "non-proper" by other members of the royal society. This leads King Randolph to summon his cousin, Duchess Rowena, to the castle to help raise the princesses. Unbeknownst to King Randolph, Rowena plans to poison him and get rid of his daughters so that she can become queen. Attempting to break the princesses' spirits, Rowena makes their lives miserable by stripping the castle of everything they love, making them wear grey dresses and banishing singing and dancing.

The princesses find comfort in their late mother's favorite story, which tells of a magical kingdom where golden flowers grant wishes and princesses can dance at an enchanted pavilion for three nights. The princesses realize that the story contains clues on how to enter the magical kingdom from their own bedroom, by dancing on specific stones on the floor from oldest to youngest. Now inside the magical kingdom, the princesses discover that the water there possesses healing properties.

The next day, the princesses appear tired and the duchess finds their new dancing shoes worn through, arousing her suspicion. The royal cobbler and Genevieve's love interest, Derek, comes to fix their shoes and sees that they are covered in gold dust. When King Randolph mysteriously falls ill, Genevieve is prompted to ask Derek to investigate Rowena's true intentions. That night, the princesses return to the magical kingdom to dance. During this time, Derek discovers that Rowena is stealing heirlooms from the castle and dealing with an apothecary, and he rushes back to the castle.

The next morning, the sisters are again exhausted. Rowena interrogates and threatens them, but when they tell her the truth she refuses to believe them, forcing the princesses into servitude. Heartbroken, they return to the magical kingdom, and Rowena finds the princesses gone the next morning. That evening, Derek makes it back to the castle but discovers that the princesses are missing. He sneaks into their bedroom and, remembering the dance Genevieve had shown him earlier, enters the magical kingdom to report his findings to the princesses. Rowena's monkey minion, Brutus, watches as Derek enters the magical kingdom and reports what he has seen back to Rowena. Rowena uses this knowledge to enter the magical kingdom, where she steals some of the gold flowers that grant wishes. Rowena then returns to the castle and destroys the gateway to the magical kingdom with the help of her footman Desmond.

The princesses and Derek are trapped in the magical kingdom. However, they eventually discover that, when Genevieve and Derek dance together, everyone floats up into the sky and they are able to return home through a different gateway that leads to their mother's dance pavilion. Upon returning, they learn that Rowena has taken over as queen. She then hires an army of a dozen soldiers to defend her castle. The princesses need to defeat them to reach the castle. Two of them use a rope to knock a soldier off his horse, injuring him. Some other princesses use their croquet mallets to hit hard balls at the soldiers standing guard on the palace steps, and pushing the visors on their helmets up so they cannot see, and making them trip and fall down the stairs to their deaths. They could not move because of their heavy armor. The soliders watching chase them, however when the chase leads to the end of a bench, the princesses stop at the end of the bench instead of continuing on. The heavily bulked soldier in the back fails to stop in time because of his bulky armour, and knocks them both into a bush, where they cannot get up because of the armour, and die. The princesses break into the castle to confront her. After a struggle, Rowena uses the gold flowers to wish that Genevieve dances forever. When the flower dust comes towards Genevieve, she uses her fan to blow the dust back towards Rowena, who begins to dance. When Desmond tries to help her, he is pulled into the dance, too, and the two villains dance their way out of the castle.

Meanwhile, the youngest of the princesses, Lacey, uses some water brought back from the magical kingdom to heal their dying father. When he heals, King Randolph explains that Rowena had been poisoning him and apologizes to his daughters for not believing them. With the conflict resolved, Genevieve and Derek celebrate their wedding.

Characters[edit]

Princesses[edit]

Each of the 12 Princesses is designated with a gemstone and a flower. Each princess' flower appears on their dresses, the book gifted to each of them, and on the stones on the floor of their bedroom, and each of the princesses' names begin with the first 12 letters of the alphabet.

Genevieve - The 16-year-old seventh sister, and the main protagonist of the film. She tends to run 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. She wears a dark pink and white dress. She is the best dancer, and she is known for her dancing.
Ashlyn - The 24-year-old eldest 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, and wears a purple dress.
Blair - The 22-year-old 2nd sister. She loves horseback 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. She wears a red dress.
Courtney - The 21-year-old 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 intelligent and open-minded, but often renders her totally oblivious to her surroundings. Her flower is the forget-me-not and her gemstone is a sapphire. She wears a blue dress. She is the less active of a dancer.
Delia - The adventurous 20-year-old 4th sister and Edeline's fraternal twin. She loves sports, especially croquet and horseback riding. Her flower is the sunflower and her gemstone is a green peridot. She wears a green dress.
Edeline - The 20-year-old 5th sister and Delia's fraternal twin. She loves to play sports, her favorites being badminton and croquet. She also tends to be messy and disorganized. Her flower is honeysuckle and her gemstone is orange citrine. She wears an orange dress.
Fallon - The 17-year-old 6th sister. She loves animals, plays the harp, and is a romantic who hopes everyone can find their happily ever after. She likes hearts, lace, and writing stories. Her flower is the camellia and her gemstone is a pearl. She wears a pink dress.
Hadley - The 13-year-old 8th sister and Isla's fraternal twin. She loves to walk on stilts, an interest she shares with Isla. Her flower is the narcissus and her gemstone is a topaz. She wears a blue dress.
Isla - The 13-year-old 9th sister and Hadley's fraternal twin. Isla is a skilled acrobat and enjoys walking on stilts with her twin. Her flower is the lily of the valley and her gemstone is an emerald. She wears a light violet dress.
Janessa - The 5-year-old 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. She wears a light blue dress.
Kathleen - The 5-year-old 11th sister, the middle triplet, and is close with both triplets. 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 pink diamond. She wears a light pink and yellow dress.
Lacey - The 5-year-old youngest sister. She 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. She wears a light purple dress.

Other characters[edit]

Derek - A handsome royal cobbler. He is friends with Genevieve and her sisters, secretly in love with Genevieve, and becomes the princesses' main ally in stopping Rowena. At the end of the film, he and Genevieve are happily wedded.
Felix - 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 - King Randolph's cousin and the antagonist 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 a spell she tried to use on Genevieve backfires.
King Randolph - The father of the twelve dancing princesses. He loves his daughters more than anything, but is determined to turn them into "proper princesses" with Rowena. Little does he know 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 - 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 - 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 - 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.
Mr. Fabian - An apothecary who sells poison to Rowena in exchange for stolen goods. He is eventually tracked down by Derek, who trades his horse for Queen Isabella's goblet.
Queen Isabella - The late mother of the twelve 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. Her goblet is stolen by Rowena to purchase poison from the apothecary.

Cast[edit]

Kelly Sheridan as Genevieve
Catherine O'Hara as Duchess Rowena
Nicole Oliver as Ashlyn, Twyla
Jennifer Copping as Blair
Lalainia Lindbjerg as Courtney
Kathleen Barr as Delia
Chiara Zanni as Edeline
Adrienne Carter as Fallon
Ashleigh Ball as Hadley, Ilsa
Britt McKillip as Janessa
Maddy Capozzi as Kathleen
Chantal Strand as Lacey
Shawn Macdonald as Derek
Christopher Gaze as King Randolph
Garry Chalk as Desmond
Peter Kelamis as Brutus, Sentry #4
Gabe Khouth as Felix
Mark Oliver as Royal Butler, Fabian, Sentry #1, Guard #1
David Kaye as Royal Doctor, Sentry #2
Jonathan Holmes as Ambassador

Music[edit]

The songs featured in this film are:

12 Dancing Princesses theme song
Shine
The Birthday Song
Sacerdotes Domini

Shine is in the theme song for this film.

Felix Mendelssohn's Fourth Symphony, the first and third movement, is played when the princesses are dancing on the first and second night respectively. On the third night, Mendelssohn's Fifth Symphony, second movement, is played when the girls dance with the brass statues. When the girls visit the Pavilion for the first time, Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream is played, first the Nocturne when they first step in the magical world and ride the boat, and the Fairies' March when the triplets fall asleep and the other girls dance. The Fourth Symphony's last movement is played at the final confrontation of Rowena and Desmond by the princesses and Derek.