Barbie As The Princess and the Pauper - The Princess and the Pauper

Animation, Family

Kelly Sheridan	Anneliese, Erika
Melissa Lyons	Singing Princess Anneliese
Julie Stevens	Singing Erika
Mark Hildreth	Dominic
Mark Luna	Singing Dominic
Alessandro Juliani	Julian
Martin Short	Preminger
Kathleen Barr	Serafina/Bertie
Ian James Corlett	Wolfie
Ellen Kennedy	Queen Genevieve

Director	William Lau
Producer	Jesyca C. Durchin; Jennifer Twiner McCarron; William Lau
Writer	Elana Lesser; Cliff Ruby

Barbie's excellent musical debut features first-rate voices and songs, and a captivating story about love, responsibility, and freedom. Based on Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, the 85-minute computer-animated adventure is about two almost identical girls who, though born into very different circumstances, are amazingly alike. A chance meeting between the young women becomes significant when Princess Annaliese is later kidnapped and (pauper) Erika suddenly becomes a crucial component in the search for the princess and her captor. The princess's confinement and Erika's glimpse into the life of a princess leads both girls toward a new compassion for the other and a serious contemplation of the conflict between one's sense of duty and the desire to be free. Adding to the general confusion is the princess's intended, the handsome King Dominick; her devoted tutor, Julian; and the Queen's evil advisor, Preminger. (Ages 3 to 9) --Tami Horiuchi