''Barbie of Swan Lake'' is a 2003 computer-animated

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

film directed by Owen Hurley. It was released to video and DVD on September 30, 2003, and made its television premiere on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

on November 16, 2003. Based on the

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

ballet '' Swan Lake'', the film is the third CGI entry in the ''Barbie'' film series, and the second entry based on a Tchaikovsky ballet (the first was ''

Barbie in the Nutcracker ''Barbie in the Nutcracker'' is a 2001 computer-animated fantasy film directed by Owen Hurley and written Linda Engelsiepen and Hilary Hinkle from a screenplay by Rob Hudnut. Featuring the voice of Kelly Sheridan as Barbie, it marked the first ...

''). Barbie and Odette are voiced by

Kelly Sheridan Kelly Sheridan is a Canadian voice actress best known for being the voice for Barbie in the ''Barbie'' film series from 2001 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2015. She had also voiced in numerous animations and English-language dubs of Japanese animati ...

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 A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who w ...

. Odette is a talented dancer but is shy and timid about it. Meanwhile, Prince Daniel is informed by his mother that it is time for him to marry and she is hosting a ball for him to choose a wife. The men of the village go after a

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...

named Lila. Lila 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. The Fairy Queen tells Odette that by freeing the magic crystal, she is destined to defeat the sorcerer Rothbart. Rothbart, her cousin, was angered when she was chosen to become the next ruler of the Forest. Rothbart left and returned years later with his daughter Odile; and has since taken over most of the forest, turning the fairies and elves into animals. Odette, afraid to get involved, declines to help but is confronted by Rothbart, who gives her the same curse as the others, turning her into a swan. The Queen 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, allowing Odette to regain human form by night but turn back into a swan by day. Odette and Lila go meet 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. Erasmus 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. 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. In the Forest, he turns the Fairy Queen into a mouse. Odette wakes up as Daniel arrives to confront Rothbart. Rothbart's spell hits them both, their hands intertwined. At that moment, Rothbart is consumed by the crystal's magic, as Daniel and Odette had tried to protect each other out of true love. Rothbart's evil is undone. Everyone from the village and the Forest celebrate as Odette and Daniel are to be married. Rothbart becomes a

cuckoo clock A cuckoo clock is, typically, a pendulum clock that strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo call and has an automated cuckoo bird that moves with each note. Some move their wings and open and close their beaks while leaning forwards ...

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.

Cast

Production

The huge success of the first two Barbie videos, ''

'' and ''

Barbie as Rapunzel ''Barbie as Rapunzel'' is a 2002 computer-animated fairy tale film directed by Owen Hurley. It was released to video and DVD on October 1, 2002, and made its television premiere on Nickelodeon on November 24, 2002. The film is the second entry in ...

'', led to Mattel deciding to make a third film. ''Barbie of Swan Lake'''s story is based on the 19th-century German fairy tale "Swan Lake". As with Barbie's first ballet film ''Barbie in the Nutcracker'', ''Barbie of Swan Lake'' was choreographed by the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

-in-chief

Peter Martins Peter Martins (born 27 October 1946) is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and John Taras as ...

, and features the movement of New York City Ballet dancers

computer animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images ( moving images), while computer animation re ...

through motion capture imaging. The dancers were filmed over two days for the ballet sequences with 16 light-emitting cameras that tracked their movements based on reflective squares attached to the dancers' elbows, wrists and legs. The production team at

Mainframe Entertainment Mainframe Studios is a Canadian computer animation company owned by Wow Unlimited Media and based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded in 1993 as Mainframe Entertainment Inc. by Christopher Brough, Ian Pearson, Phil Mitchell, Gavin Blair and ...

then superimposed the motion capture data onto computer models of the movie characters, and animated the characters' faces. Motion capture performer Cailin Stadnyk portrayed Barbie's movements, while ballerina

Maria Kowroski Maria Kowroski is an American ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet. Early life Kowroski was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She started ballet at the age of five. In 1992, she entered the School of American Ballet ...

performed the character's dancing scenes.

New York City Ballet Dancers

as Barbie/Odette * Charles Askegard as Ken/Prince Daniel * Ellen Bar as the Fairy Queen *

Benjamin Millepied Benjamin Millepied (; born 10 June 1977) is a French dancer and choreographer, who has lived and worked in the United States since joining the New York City Ballet in 1995, where he became a soloist in 1998 and a principal in 2002. He has also ...

as Ivan the Porcupine *

Janie Taylor Janie Taylor (born ) is an American ballet dancer, ''répétiteur'' and costume designer. She joined New York City Ballet in 1998, was promoted to principal dancer in 2005 and left in 2014. She then started designing costumes and staging works by ...

as Carlita the Skunk * Abi Stafford as the Fox

Music

The film features Tchaikovsky's score from '' Swan Lake'' performed by the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orc ...

, with 15-year-old violinist

Nicola Benedetti Nicola Joy Nadia Benedetti (born 20 July 1987) is an Italian-British classical solo violinist and festival director. Her ability was recognised when she was a child, including the award of BBC Young Musician of the Year when she was 16. She w ...

performing the violin solos. In addition, the film has a theme song that plays over the end credits, "Wings", written by

Jason Blume Jason Blume is an American songwriter, author, and teacher of songwriting. Blume is the author of ''6 Steps to Songwriting Success'' (and the Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition), ''This Business of Songwriting'', and I''nside Songwriting'', all pub ...

and performed by

Leslie Mills Leslie Mills is an American actress, film producer, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Music career Originally from Kentucky and based in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Mills grew up studying dance, theater, and music. She got her st ...

Release

The film was released on VHS and DVD on September 30, 2003. The DVD includes the bonus features "The Ballet Dances of Swan Lake", which showcases the film's ballet sequences with accompanying commentary for young viewers, "The Music in You", a 20-minute documentary profiling four girls studying at the Juilliard School of Music, and an interactive game, "Explore the Stars!", challenging children to identify the constellations.

Reception

Critical response

Joseph Szadkowski of ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughou ...

'' praised the film as "beautiful" and "another triumph for Barbie that should inspire youngsters". Rating it two-and-a-half stars out of five, the '' New Straits Times''' R. S. Murthi called it "charming" and wrote, "The CGI work is fluid and the dance choreography by the New York City Ballet ..is superly translated." Scott Hettrick of the '' South Florida Sun-Sentinel'' wrote that the film has "all the elements of a good fairy tale that redelightfully translated here visually in this comforting, entertaining and engaging presentation." Describing the film as "teem ngwith villainy, magic and fantasy", Nancy Churnin in ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the '' Galvest ...

'' wrote that ''Barbie of Swan Lake'' "exceeds expectations"; she noted its educational value. Reviewing the film for ''Video Business'', Buzz McClain wrote, "Director Hurley overcomes the potential robotic coldness of the digital animation, which at times resembles that of a videogame, by infusing undeniable charm into the story and characters." McClain also noted the cultural value of the film's ballet sequences and classical music, highlighted in the DVD extras. K. Lee Benson of ''The Video Librarian'' recommended ''Barbie of Swan Lake'', calling it a "class act" and a "marked improvement" over the previous two CGI Barbie films. Lynne Heffley of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' called it a "lavishly detailed computer-animated feature whose creativity and sweet nature nearly mitigates its unavoidable product promotion." Stephanie Prange of ''

Video Store A video rental shop/store is a physical retail business that rents home videos such as movies, prerecorded TV shows, video game discs and other media content. Typically, a rental shop conducts business with customers under conditions and terms a ...

'' praised the film's animation as "truly beautiful, with bright colours and polished look". A review in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' opined that "Transformed into cartoon form, ''Swan Lake'' isn't exactly a masterpiece", but recommended the film as a way to introduce children to Tchaikovsky. In a negative review, Robert Gottlieb of ''

The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...

'' opined that ''Barbie of Swan Lake'''s "divergences from the ballet are profoundly distorting. Nothing of the troubling heart of ''Swan Lake'' remains. Instead, we get a frisky, feminist unicorn and an adorable skunk! To call this

Disneyfication In the field of sociology, the term Disneyfication—or Disneyization—describes the commercial transformation of things (e.g. entertainment) or environments into something simplified, controlled, and 'safe'—reminiscent of the Walt Disney brand ( ...

is to insult the genius of early

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and the professionalism of later Disney." Two eight-year-old reviewers for '' Newsday'' rated the film 4/5 stars, writing that they enjoyed its "beautiful music and dancing" and "nice message about believing in yourself." In a 2021 retrospective review, ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...

'' called it a "gentle tale" and wrote, "The 2003 animation looks a bit dated now but it can still capture the imagination."

Awards

* Video Premiere Award for Best Animated Video Premiere Movie — Nominated (Jesyca C. Durchin and Jennifer Twiner McCarron) *

Golden Satellite Award The Satellite Awards are annual awards given by the International Press Academy that are commonly noted in entertainment industry journals and blogs. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards. The award ceremonies take place ...

for Best Youth DVD — Nominated *

Video Software Dealers Association The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) is the not-for-profit international trade association dedicated to advancing the interests of the $32 billion home entertainment industry. The Mission of EMA is to promote, to protect, and to p ...

Home Entertainment Award for Best Direct-to-Video/Limited Release from an Independent Studio — Won *Video Software Dealers Association Home Entertainment Award for Best Family Title of the Year From an Independent Studio — Won *Video Software Dealers Association Home Entertainment Award for Sellthrough Title of the Year From an Independent Studio — Won

References

External links

Barbie of Swan Lake Cast and Details

Barbie of Swan Lake

Barbie of Swan Lake (Video 2003) – IMDb

Barbie of Swan Lake AllRovi
{{Swan Lake navbox 2003 direct-to-video films Swan Lake 2003 computer-animated films 2000s English-language films Films about shapeshifting Animated films about animals Films set in the 2000s Films set in Russia Swan Lake Artisan Entertainment films American direct-to-video films 2000s American animated films American children's animated fantasy films Films about witchcraft Ballet films Canadian direct-to-video films Canadian independent films Canadian animated feature films Canadian animated fantasy films Canadian children's fantasy films 2000s children's animated films 2000s children's fantasy films 2003 films Films directed by Owen Hurley 2000s Canadian films