Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper
Barbie's excellent musical debut features first-rate voices and songs, and a captivating story about  love, responsibility, and freedom.  Based on Mark Twain'sThe 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