Mark Twain is one of America’s most beloved authors and humorists. There’s even an award for humor named after him. When we think of Mark Twain, the books that come to mind are usually Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Now Twain did write many other books such as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.
Growing up, I am sure many of us watched various adaptions of Twain’s work. Yet, one I often forget is a work of Twain’s is The Prince and The Pauper. The story about two boys from two different class systems is one that has been adapted many times over. The first time I remember seeing a take on this story which I believe is true for most millennials is the Mickey Mouse short film.
Yet, when you think Mark Twain, I have to imagine the last thing anyone would think of is Barbie. Yet, here we are as as Barbie adaption of the movie was released in 2004 cited as Barbie’s first full musical which true but it was her second computer animated movie after her Nutcracker adaption. Interestingly like a few of the Barbie movies where she is telling a story to one of her sisters usually Kelly (later renamed Chelsea), this movie doesn’t use that framing device.
This movie is iconic in the Barbie fandom as this movie led to what is now a plethora of cgi Barbie movies that are still being released to this day but the modern day Barbie movies have moved away from Barbie starring in fairy tale retelling and instead feature her and her sisters or friends going on adventures which is how I first discovered Barbie movies. As the first few I watched were Barbie and her sisters going on trips. Heck, a few of my favorites are those types of movies. I do have quite a few Barbie movies. (Thank you to whoever donated them to the library allowing me to buy ten).
A big thing that makes Preminger so iconic is the performance by Martin Short. He hams it up so much understanding what type of movie he is and makes every moment with Preminger so entertaining.
First Appearance/Villain Song
One thing I will give Barbie movies is that they have iconic songs and we have a perfect song to introduce Preminger to show the type of villain he is and what he desires. You could bust compare him to Jafar as he is advisor who desires power and will stop at nothing to get the power he craves and will stop at nothing to get at nothing to get it.
Granted, I have to imagine that Preminger wishes he had smarter lackeys than what he is forced to work with as his lackeys are complete idiots. They’re fun to laugh at but rather useless when it comes to achieving his goals.
his song encapsulates the kind of villain he is and while in personality, he’s Jafar, he also gives off a bit of Jafar a laI’m surrounded by idiots when listening to this song
Personality
When looking at Preminger the best way to describe his personality is to say that he is the type of person who believes he is owed everything just because he is close to the queen. He believes he is owed power and power is what he seeks. Simplistic, sure but it al comes down to the execution of how it’s handled and here with Martin Short’s performance, we have a hammy over the top villain who still serves as a true threat to our heroines.
Lackeys
Nick and Nack
These two are complete morons but I believe that can be seen by their names. They aren’t the brightest bulbs so to speak and if Preminger had more capable henchmen, he’d most likely be able to get away with his scheme. Alas, these two trip over their own feet at every turn and make their boss’s goals just that much harder.
Grand Desire/Most Evil Deed
This again goes back to the idea of power and how he is outraged that Princess Anneliese will be marrying a prince from another kingdom and that the queen made a decision without consulting him. This plan faces a few more setbacks such as Preminger kidnapping the princess until after the wedding as he figured this would delay the wedding.
You’ll notice that I combined these two categories as his evilest deed does tie into his quest for power as when he learns that pauper Erika is pretending to be the princess he outs her and uses this as as another means to get power through his reprise of How Can I Refuse as he gets a solemn queen to agree to give him the crown in a sign of marriage.
This shows that he will stop at nothing to get what he wants and will commit any underhanded deed to get where he believes he should be which is on top.
Demise
His demise is pretty fun as he is humiliated and captured at the wedding s the princess and the pauper team up. This is after he had said the princess was dead btw. His horse had also had enough of him and kicks him where he lands atop the wedding cake and this is the last we see of him.
Is Preminger A Good Villain?
Yes, absolutely yes. To this day, he is the most iconic animated Barbie movie villain and I don’t believe anyone has come close and the count of animated Barbie movies is just under fifty. That is saying something as while Preminger may not be the first cgi Barbie villain, he is the on that fans love the most and if you ask fans which Barbie villain is the best, he will probably rank atop the list.
I hope you enjoyed my look at this Barbie villain as I hope to look at more Barbie villains in the future and this was fun. Preminger is only the third Barbie villain I’ve covered in my years of looking at villains but I do plan on covering more in the future.
About Author
Ah yes, Preminger. The sole reason why my friends and I watch this specific Barbie movie (much like with Tim Curry in the Nutcracker). He easily steals the spotlight and is an absolute delight to watch.
Yep yep, Martin Short is great in this role hamming it up. I’ve read, he apparently doesn’t even remember voicing this character which makes it all the funnier