Barbie as Rapunzel

Barbie as Rapunzel is a 2002 direct-to-DVD computer-animated fairytale film directed by Owen Hurley. It is the 2nd entry in the Barbie film series, and features the voice of Kelly Sheridan as Barbie. The film is adapted from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Rapunzel". This was the first Barbie direct-to-video release to be distributed by Right Entertainment in the UK and Artisan Family Home Entertainment in the US.
== Plot ==
The story is told by Barbie to her younger sister, Kelly, who is insecure in her painting abilities.
Rapunzel is a young girl with long, floor-length hair who lives as a servant to the wicked witch Gothel, residing in a magically secluded manor in the woods. She finds companionship in Penelope, a young dragon and Hobie, an anxious rabbit. She spends her time painting pictures of places she dreams of going when she is free one day. Unfortunately Gothel disapproves of this, accusing Rapunzel of being ungrateful to the witch even though she gets all of her work done. Gothel reminds Rapunzel that she saved her from abandonment as a baby.
Later on while preparing Gothel's tea, Rapunzel and her friends inadvertently open a secret passage to the basement where Rapunzel finds lots of ball invitations, a ripped picture of Gothel and an unknown person, but also Rapunzel finds a gift from her birth-parents: a music box containing a silver hairbrush engraved with a message affirming their love for Rapunzel; this leads Rapunzel to question Gothel's claims of her abandonment. Penelope also discovers a tunnel underneath the floor. Rapunzel follows it, leading to the kingdom outside. Outside the castle Rapunzel saves Princess Katrina from a pit trap with the help of her older brother, Prince Stefan. He tells her the trap was set by King Wilhelm, the ruler of an opposing kingdom who has an ongoing feud with Stefan's father, King Frederick. Rapunzel hurries off without learning Stefan's name to avoid Gothel discovering her disappearance. However, Gothel's pet ferret Otto, who had followed Rapunzel, informs his mistress of Rapunzel meeting a man. When Rapunzel insists she doesn't know the name of the man she met when Gothel questions her, her paintings are destroyed and her room transformed into a high tower with Penelope's father Hugo tasked with ensuring she doesn't leave. As Rapunzel sleeps, the hairbrush magically transforms into a paintbrush.
When Rapunzel attempts to use the brush, a mural of the kingdom magically appears on her wall which she discovers acts as a portal. Rapunzel uses it to meet Stefan again, though she insists he never tell her his name for fear of Gothel, and Stefan gives her an invitation to the masquerade ball that night. Afraid that her father will be punished if Gothel finds out Rapunzel has left, Penelope goes through the portal and begs Rapunzel to come back. Promising to meet Stefan again, Rapunzel paints a portal back to the tower and returns with Penelope. Back at the tower, she paints herself a beautiful costume. Unfortunately, Otto swipes Rapunzel's invitation and takes it to his mistress. Gothel cuts off Rapunzel's hair, shatters the paintbrush, and destroys the portal to the kingdom. When Rapunzel once again cannot give Stefan's name, Gothel then puts a spell on the tower to never release its lying prisoner.
With the help of her friends, Rapunzel manages to escape the tower as she never lied about not knowing Stefan's name, and Penelope flies them to the castle. At the ball, Stefan is lured outside and attacked by a disguised Gothel wearing Rapunzel's hair; at the same moment, King Wilhelm infiltrates the castle, intending to end the feud by force. Wilhelm accuses Frederick of kidnapping his daughter many years ago—the source of the feud; Gothel arrives and reveals that she was the one who took Wilhelm's daughter, Rapunzel, due to her unrequited love for him, wanting the kingdoms to destroy each other. Rapunzel arrives and Wilhelm recognizes her as his daughter. Rapunzel tricks Gothel into running into her painting of the tower, where she becomes permanently imprisoned for her lies.
Rapunzel is reunited with her biological parents and marries Stefan. The feud ends and the two kingdoms are united, as Rapunzel's dreams of freedom come true. She and Stefan soon moved into their own castle, Hobie, Penelope, and Hugo go with them. Hobie got to sleep on the best cushion in the palace, and both Penelope and Hugo kept the castle warm when it got cold. As for Gothel, she was trapped in the tower forever and made Otto her new servant which annoys him. Rapunzel and Stefan lived happily ever after, the scene zooms out to reveal the finished painting.
Kelly now feels better and begins painting after Barbie reminds her that creativity is the true magic in art.
== Cast ==
* Kelly Sheridan as Barbie / Rapunzel
* Chantal Strand as Kelly / Princess Katrina
* Anjelica Huston as Gothel, the witch
* Mark Hildreth as Prince Stefan
* Cree Summer as Penelope
* David Kaye as Hugo / General
* Ian James Corlett as Hobie / Palace Guard
* Peter Kelamis as Otto / The Skinny Swordsman
* Christopher Gaze as King Wilhelm
* Russell Roberts as King Fredrick
* Terry Klassen as The Baker / The Fat Swordsman
* Britt McKillip as Melody
* Jocelyne Loewen as Lorena
* Danny McKinnon as Tommy
* Dale Wilson as the Silversmith
== Production ==
With the success of the first film, Mattel continued the film franchise. The film itself was produced over a nine-month period. The characters were animated using Softimage V.3.9, with Maya used for special effects. Performances for the 15 human characters were motion-captured over 16 days, and created using Motion Analysis, EVA and Kaydara Filmbox. Motion capture data was also purchased from LocoMotion Studios in Wimberley, Texas for use in animating a CGI horse. The rest of the animal characters were animated using keyframe techniques. Motion capture performer Cailin Stadnyk portrayed Barbie's movements.
Rapunzel's paintings are real art works by Amanda Dunbar digitally inserted into the film. Dunbar agreed to participate in the project because she "like[d] that the movie encourages art as a use of expression."
== Trivia ==
* This was the first Barbie film to premiere on Nickelodeon, this trend would continue until Barbie Video Game Hero.
* This was also the first Barbie film to have an original song written for the film.
Category:2002 films
Category:2002 direct-to-video films
Category:Barbie animated films
Category:Canadian films
Category:Canadian animated films
Category:Films set in Germany
Category:Films set in Europe
Category:Fairy tale films
Category:Films based on fairy tales
Category:Princess Films
Category:Films about princesses
Category:Rainmaker Entertainment
Category:2002 computer-animated films
Category:Artisan Entertainment films