"Rock your own story."
Barbie in Rock 'n Royals is a Barbie movie released in August 2015. It is preceded by Barbie in Princess Power and followed by Barbie & Her Sisters in the Great Puppy Adventure.
Barbie stars as Princess Courtney, a modern princess whose world is turned upside down when she switches places with Erika, a famous rock star. Two very different worlds collide when a mix-up sends Princess Courtney to Camp Pop and Erika, to Camp Royalty. While the leaders of the rival camps try to correct the mix-up, both Courtney and Erika learn to adjust to the different worlds and have fun while making new, unexpected friends. When the girls learn both camps are at risk of shutting down, they must embrace their differences, find their true voices, and come together for an epic sing-off that shows anything is possible when you dare to dream big.
The trailer can be seen here.
This movie contains examples of:
- Alpha Bitch: Two of them: Sloane at Camp Pop and Princess Olivia at Camp Royalty. They also both have a Girl Posse.
- And I'm the Queen of Sheba: When Princess Aubrey and Princess Genevieve tell Erika they have unicorns at Camp Royalty, she sarcastically replies that they have centaurs at Camp Pop.
- The Bet: Lady Anne and Finn Oxford bet that their respective camp kids are the best, and decide to prove it with a musical contest; the loser will have to shut down his or her camp.
- Bilingual Bonus: Princess Olivia's surname is Bellemere, the French word for stepmother. It makes for a nice hint towards her role in the story.
- Brick Joke: Early on, Erika sarcastically tells Princess Aubrey and Princess Genevieve there are centaurs at Camp Pop. When she learns about the bet and tells them there's something important they must know, one of them asks if Camp Pop really has centaurs.
- Cool Crown: All of the princesses wear a distinctive tiara.
- Cool Versus Awesome: The final concert can be seen as this in the eyes of some viewers; combining princess and rock star status is the dream achieved by the two protagonists at the very end.
- Cucumber Facial: Used on Erika by Aubray, during their "beauty night".
- The Ditz: Princess Aubray. When she spots Erika in her room, she deduces that she must be a beautician. Immediately after, it turns out that Aubray didn't even recognize her favorite pop star.
- Dress Code: Courtney in her ball gown was clearly overdressed for Camp Pop. She was asked why frequently, giving a clue that she was in the wrong place. Eventually she uses her magic scepter to make a much more modern dress out of it.
- Every Man Has His Price: Clive tried to bribe the otherwise neutral judge Svetlana Petranova with a necklace. And it works.
- I Am Very British: Genevieve has a British accent, but is black.
- Imagine the Audience Naked: Genevieve asks if this is what Erika's doing when she feels nervous on stage, but actually she simply imagines that she's singing all by herself.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Even Erika's friends at Camp Royalty acknowledge that Princess Olivia kind of has a point when she accused Erika of hogging the spotlight.
- Lonely at the Top: Erika, who's always surrounded by thousands of people, but has no real friends. That's why she cancels her tour and decides to go to camp instead. And at the end, she decides to make a band with her new friends.
- Love Makes You Evil: A lot of Clive's more morally questionable actions are motivated by his unrequited crush on Lady Anne.
- Magitek: The princesses uses their scepters exactly like magic wands, and have unicorns to groom. Both camps are also protected with a magic barrier. But like often in Barbie movies, the setting is still modern and only royalty is familiar with magic. Jaws of musicians are dropping when they see the scepters at work, or hear that unicorns are real.
- Musical World Hypotheses: The movie is a musical, but nearly all songs are of the diegetic kind, being performed as acts or rehearsals, camp activities or during a concert. The only exception is the song "Gotta get to camp", which may be an "all in their heads" experience.
- My God, You Are Serious!: Zia and Rayna are initially skeptical when Courtney tells them she's a princess, but it doesn't take long for them to realize she's not joking.
- Mythology Gag:
- Erika is named just like the singers characters of Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper or Barbie as the Princess and the Popstar (in an anagram form for the latter).
- Also from Barbie as the Princess and the Popstar: Erika had been a rock star since she was five, just like Keira, and just like Tori, Courtney once tricked a duchess by swapping her portrait with a donkey's picture. The difference is, said duchess never found out it was Courtney's fault.
- Zia owns a wig which looks like Malucia's hair.
- Erika isn't the only reused name — Courtney and Genevieve were the names of princesses in Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses, but this time, Courtney is the name of Barbie's character (where she was the third eldest sister in Twelve Dancing Princesses), and Genevieve is a secondary character (and was the name of Barbie's character in the other movie). Rayna was also the name of one of the Alpha Bitch twins from Barbie: Mariposa.
- New Old Flame: Finn Oxford and Lady Anne were a couple when they were younger, but Anne broke up Finn for unspecified reasons — Finn thought it was because she didn't believe that he'd make it big as a rockstar. However, when the two are Locked in a Room together, Anne finally explains the real reason why she broke up with Finn (she felt she wouldn't fit into Finn's life when he made it big and feared he'd abandon her) and the two ultimately patch things up and get back together.
- Opposites Attract: At first, Lady Anne felt Finn and her were too different, even invoking the trope before the concert. However, they become a couple again at the end.
- Pimped-Out Dress: A Barbie staple; all of the princesses have a fancy dress, most with frills and flounces. Courtney's dress includes a sparkling bodice.
- Poor Communication Kills: In the past, Anne broke up with Finn because she feared the future presence of fangirls around him. But for years, he thought it was because she didn't believe in his talent.
- Princesses Prefer Pink: Though the princesses wear various colors, Courtney is a main character and her outfits are pink.
- Proper Lady: Lady Anne, at first glance, but she shows a more temperamental side when talking to Finn Oxford.
- Prince and Pauper: It's the third Barbie movie that uses this trope (a swap between a princess and a singer), although in this movie the two protagonists don't look alike and didn't swap their roles willingly; it's all because of an administrative mistake.
- The Rock Star:
- Erika; being on magazines covers proves she is already quite famous.
- Also Finn Oxford, even if he is still a big star, or retired, is hard to tell.
- Rockers Smash Guitars: Princess Genevieve asks Erika if she ever smashed a guitar on stage and says she once saw it in a movie. Later, Genevieve is about to smash a violin but is talked out of it.
- Royal School: The aptly named Camp Royalty is a summer camp version of this; thus the activities are more playful than usual and include magic, unicorn grooming, arts, horse riding and tea parties.
- Saving the Orphanage: Or in this case, "Saving the Summer Camp(s)". The princesses and musicians decide to save both camps when they hear that the two leaders are trying to force the other to shut down his/her camp. Unlike most versions of the trope, it is not for financial reasons, but because the two directors are bitter exes who are trying to expand at the detriment of the other.
- Scenery Porn: Both camps are gorgeous, and rather than the typical camp log cabins, Camp Pop has a piano-shaped administrative building and music-note shaped huts with matching furniture. Meanwhile Camp Royalty's main building is a castle while the huts are small manors located in trees and filled with beds with canopies.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once Clive accidentally admits he bribed a judge to vote for Camp Royalty, said judge decides to bail.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Erika is put in a princess dress by her friends mid-story, and lets her hair down at the concert.
- Shout-Out:
- To Cinderella. Courtney says she hopes Camp Royalty will be a chance to kick off the crystal shoes. Later, one of her new friends asks if she has wicked stepsisters. She says she has a bossy one.
- Also Sloane, when she sees Courtney for the first time, remarks: "Looks like Cinderella took the wrong turn on her way to the ball".
- Showgirl Skirt: The concert dress Erika wears has an overdress that wraps just halfway down the waist, showing her legs under the short underskirt. Courtney's dress in the toyline does this as well.
- Slobs Versus Snobs: The upper-class and snobbish Camp Royalty faces off against the grungier and more down-to-Earth Camp Pop. Ultimately, the two camps reconcile in the end.
- Summer Campy: This is played with in a few ways. The story take place in two summer camps, but unlike most depictions, they're both dreamy places. So much, that's everyone is impatient to be back there, and is willing to avoid both camps getting shut down.
- Talent Contest: Lady Anne and Finn Oxford set one up, of the musical variant, to determine which of their camps is the best. It ends up as a tie — and it's exactly what contestants wanted.
- The One Guy: Prince Edmund is this for Camp Royalty, and Marcus is this for Camp Pop.
- Title Drop: When Erika decides to stop going solo and agrees to form a band, Courtney suggests naming it "Rock 'n Royals".
Rock your own story.
— Barbie
