Barbie of Swan Lake

Barbie of Swan Lake is a 2003 direct-to-DVD computer-animated directed by Owen Hurley. It is the 3rd CGI entry in the Barbie film series, and the second film based on a Tchaikovsky ballet (the first was Barbie in the Nutcracker). Barbie and Odette are voiced by Kelly Sheridan. The story is an adaptation of Swan Lake.
==Official Summary==
"A young girl named Odette follows a beautiful unicorn, Lila into the Enchanted Forest and picks up a magic crystal, that proclaims her destiny as savior of the enchanted forest. Odette, hampered by an overwhelming sense of insecurity, proclaims herself unfit for the job and sets out to leave the forest when the evil wizard, Rothbart turns her into a swan.
Bolstered by the powers of the magic crystal, Odette vows to defeat Rothbart. Meanwhile, love blossoms between Odette and the town's Prince Daniel and eventually, Odette finds a courage within herself that, combined with her intelligence and the true love between her and the Prince, proves powerful enough to defeat Rothbart."
==Plot==
The story is told by Barbie to her little sister, Kelly, who is feeling uneasy about being at overnight camp for the first time.
Odette is a young woman who lives in a small village with her father and sister, and works in the family bakery. Odette is a talented dancer but is shy and timid about it, despite her father encouraging her to go the dances with her sister more often. Meanwhile, Prince Daniel is informed by his mother that it is time for him to marry and that she is hosting a ball for him to choose a wife. The men of the village go after a unicorn named Lila. With the help of Odette, Lila escapes and is followed by a curious Odette into an Enchanted Forest. Lila becomes caught in a bush, so Odette looks for something to free her. She spots a crystal lodged in a rock which she easily removes as the other denizens of the forest watch in astonishment. She uses it to free Lila who is astonished.
Odette is approached by the Fairy Queen who tells her that by freeing the magic crystal, she is destined to defeat the sorcerer Rothbart. The Fairy Queen explains that Rothbart, her cousin, was angered when she was chosen to become the next ruler of the enchanted forest. Rothbart left and returned years later, wielding powerful dark magic, with his daughter Odile, and has since taken over most of the forest, even turning its denizens into animals. Odette, afraid to get involved, declines to help. While Lila escorts her out of the forest, Odette is confronted by Rothbart, who gives her the same curse as the others, turning her into a swan. The Queen arrives too late and gifts Odette with a tiara embedded with the crystal that protects her from Rothbart's magic. As her powers are too weak, the Queen only partially reverses the spell on Odette, allowing her to regain human form by night but turn back into a swan by day. Hearing this Odette decides to break Rothbart's spell, as it turns out, the answers to defeat Rothbart are contained in the book of forest lore
Odette and Lila meet up with Erasmus, a troll who takes care of a massive library, in order to find the Book of Forest Lore, which can tell them how to break the spell; however, they are unsuccessful. Daniel, who is out hunting, is lured into the forest by Rothbart, determined to get him to hunt and kill Odette. However, just as he's about to shoot her down, Daniel is captivated by the swan's beauty and decides to let her live. Odette then transforms in front of him and protects him from Rothbart. The two of them spend the night together and fall in love. Daniel invites Odette to the ball the next night, to which she agrees.
Erasmus eventually finds the book and reveals that the key to defeating Rothbart is true love. However, if Daniel falls for another girl, the magic crystal will lose its power and Odette will die. As the others help Odette prepare for the ball, Rothbart abducts Erasmus and the book. While Odette rescues Erasmus, Rothbart attends the ball with Odile, magically disguised as Odette. Odette flies to the castle in her swan form to warn Daniel, but is too late; Daniel pledges his love to Odile, causing Odette to collapse.
With the crystal's power gone, Rothbart takes it from Odette. The Fairy Queen arrives, takes the unconscious Odette into her carriage, and flees with Rothbart in pursuit. The carriage crashes back in the Enchanted Forest. The Fairy Queen challenges Rothbart to a duel, but is overpowered and turned into a mouse. Odette wakes up in time as Daniel arrives to confront Rothbart. The two reunite but Rothbart's spell hits them both, leaving them unconscious, their hands intertwined. Rothbart believes he has won, but at that moment, he is consumed by the crystal's magic, as Daniel and Odette tried to protect each other out of true love. The two awaken as all of Rothbart's evil is undone. Everyone from the village and the Enchanted Forest celebrate as Odette and Daniel are to be married. Rothbart becomes a cuckoo clock, while Odile ends up as a maid in Erasmus's library.
The story of courage gives Kelly new resolve and she promises she will participate in a race the following day, with Barbie smiling in approval.
==Cast==
*Barbie/Princess Odette: Kelly Sheridan
*Prince Daniel: Mark Hildreth
*Rothbart: Kelsey Grammer
*Odile: Maggie Wheeler
*Fairy Queen/Marie: Kathleen Barr
*Erasmus/Burly Villager: Michael Dobson
*Carlita: Nicole Oliver
*Ivan: Ian James Corlett
*Queen Mother: Gina Stockdale
*Reggie: Brian Drummond
*Kelly: Chantal Strand
*Baker: Garry Chalk
*Peddler: Scott McNeil
==DVD Special Features==
*The Ballet Dances of Swan Lake.
*Explore the Stars.
*The Music in You Documentary.
*Barbie in the Nutcracker and Barbie as Rapunzel trailers.
*DVD-Rom Sampler.
==Music and Choreography==
The music in Barbie of Swan Lake was produced by Arnie Roth. The score includes excerpts from Tchaïkovsky's Ballet score "Swan Lake" arranged by Arnie Roth. All of the additional music was composed, arranged and orchestrated by Arnie Roth. The music was performed by The London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arnie Roth, with Nicola Bendetti as a guest violonist soloist in Swan Lake Act I Pas de Deux.
Peter Martins choreographed dances with principal dancers from New York City Ballet. The dancers were Charles Askegard, Ellen Bar, Maria Kowroski (who returned to dance for Barbie), Benjamin Millipied, Abi Stafford and Janie Taylor. A song performed by Leslie Mills named "Wings" was used in the closing credits of the movie. It was prodyced by Mills and Chris Pelcer. The recording studios used for the film were Abbey Road Studios in London, and A W R Music Studio in Chicago.
== Differences from the ballet ==
There are many differences from the ballet in the film:
* In the ballet, Odette is a princess by birth, not marriage. In the Barbie film, she is a baker's daughter before she marries the Prince. She is, however, a princess by birth in Barbie in The Pink Shoes.
* In the ballet, Odette's dress color is white, not blue and pink.
* In the ballet, Odette was kidnapped by Von Rothbart and brought to the lake against her will. The lake was then formed by her mother's tears. In the Barbie film, Odette discovers the Enchanted Forest when she willingly follows Lila the unicorn out of the village.
* In the ballet, the enchanted lake is not kept in a secret place in the forest that nobody can access without magic.
* In the ballet, it is never explained why Von Rothbart has kidnapped and enchanted Odette. In the Barbie film, Rothbart's motive for enchanting Odette is because he knows she is a threat to him after she releases the Magic Crystal.
* In the ballet, Odette is able to resume her human form after dark in accordance with Von Rothbart's spell. In the Barbie film, she is able to become a human at sunset after the Fairy Queen counters Rothbart's spell, which permanently traps Odette in swan form before the Fairy Queen intercedes.
* In the ballet, Von Rothbart is only seen in human form once when he attends the ball with his daughter, Odile. For the rest of the ballet, he is seen in the guise of a giant black owl.
* In the ballet, the Prince's name was Siegfried, not Daniel. He is, however, named Siegfried in Barbie in The Pink Shoes.
* In the ballet, Siegfried has two close companions - his best friend, Benno and his tutor, Wolfgang. In the Barbie film, Daniel only has one close companion called Reggie.
* Prince Siegfried is the first lead character to appear in the ballet, not Odette, and he is introduced in Act 1 when he is celebrating his 21st birthday with his friends. However, everything is interrupted and almost ruined by his mother when she arrives to remind him of a ball, at which he must pick a bride. In the Barbie version, the Queen also nearly ruins Prince Daniel's fun and games with her reminder of the ball except Daniel is introduced while practicing archery instead of celebrating his birthday.
* In the ballet, Prince Siegfried goes on a hunt to the forest with Benno and a group of hunters after Benno spots a flock of swans flying over the castle. When arriving at the enchanted lake, they are separated and Siegfried, left alone, nearly shoots one of the swans until it suddenly transforms into the beautiful Odette. He instantly falls in love with her. In the Barbie film, Daniel is also out hunting on his own and discovers the Enchanted Forest after Rothbart deliberately lures him there, hoping that Daniel will kill Odette so that Rothbart can obtain the Magic Crystal. Daniel aims at Odette as she flies through the air but cannot bring himself to shoot her because she is so beautiful, allowing her to land on time for her to return to her human form.
* Odette's companions in the ballet are swan-maidens. There are no fairy queens, unicorns, or elves and it is also noted that Rothbart does not have a cousin.
* In the ballet, Siegfried attempts to shoot Von Rothbart dead, but Odette stops him because if Von Rothbart dies, the spell will only remain permanent.
* In the ballet, the spell can only be broken if someone swears to love Odette forever and remains faithful to her. If Siegfried breaks his vow to Odette, she will remain a swan forever. In the Barbie film, the spell can be broken if the releaser of the Magic Crystal "shares a love so true", but if their true love pledges love to someone else, the Magic Crystal will lose its power.
* In the ballet, Siegfried's mother commands him to dance with six princesses at the ball and to choose one as his bride. Siegfried dances with all six princesses but rejects them because he is in love with Odette. In the Barbie version, Daniel says he is waiting for someone (like he does in Barbie in The Pink Shoes) and while waiting, he dances with his mother.
* In the ballet, Von Rothbart magically disguises Odile as Odette to fool Siegfried. In the Barbie version, Rothbart enchants Odile's necklace so that when Daniel looks at her, he will see Odette instead.
* Von Rothbart shows Siegfried a vision of Odette in the grief of his betrayal and he hurries back to her. In the film, Rothbart does not show a vision of Odette to Daniel but rather flies off with Odile. Daniel, however, follows them and fights with Rothbart outside the ballroom. He even tricks him into transforming Odile into a pig.
* In the ballet, Odette flies back to the lake after Siegfried is tricked into betraying her. In the Barbie version, she loses consciousness outside the castle and is collected by the Fairy Queen, the elves, and Lila.
* In the Barbie film, Daniel rushes to the Enchanted Forest to aid Odette and the other people. It is then revealed that the Magic Crystal has not lost its powers, and true love wins. Rothbart is defeated, all his magic is undone, and everyone lives happily ever after. The ballet, however, ends very differently. Because of Siegfried's betrayal, Rothbart's spell is permanent, and Odette chooses to drown herself in the lake rather than live as a swan forever. Siegfried returns to the lake, finds Odette, and makes a passionate apology. She forgives him, and the pair reaffirm their love, but Von Rothbart appears and insists that Siegfried fulfill his pledge to marry Odile, after which Odette will be transformed into a swan forever. However, Siegfried chooses to die alongside Odette, and they leap into the lake. Their sacrifice destroys Von Rothbart, and he dies. As the sun rises, the swan maidens, who are now free from the spell, watch as Siegfried and Odette ascend into the Heavens together, united in eternal love.
==Trivia==
*In 2003, the movie was nominated for the Best Animated DVD Premiere Movie by the DVD Exclusive Awards. The movie's producers, Jesyca C. Durchin and Jennifer Twiner McCarron, were the potential recipients for the award. In 2004, the Satellite Awards nominated Barbie of Swan Lake for the Best Youth DVD.
*This was the last Barbie film distributed by Artisan before Lionsgate bought the company the following year.
*This was the second Barbie film to be based on a ballet and the second film to feature the music of Tchaïkovsky.
==Goofs==
*When Odette was dancing in the bakery, she lifted her leg to reveal she was wearing flat shoes instead of heels.
*Before beginning her ballet lesson, the Queen used magic to transform Odette's and her dress into tutu-style dresses. After Rothbart kidnaps Erasmus, the Queen loses her powers before she could save him. Later on, as they approached Rothbart's castle, the Queen's dress became full again despite being unable to use magic to change it back to normal. On that note Odette gets a similar look for her dress, and kept that look when she became a swan yet when she transformed back into a human that night, it was long again.
*When the elves are turned into animals they are still able to speak, but when the Fairy Queen transforms into a mouse, she cannot speak.
Category:2003 films
Category:2003 direct-to-video films
Category:Barbie animated films
Category:Canadian films
Category:Canadian animated films
Category:Films set in Europe
Category:Princess Films
Category:Films about princesses
Category:Swan Lake
Category:Films set in Russia
Category:2003 computer-animated films
Category:Artisan Entertainment films
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