Barbie: Princess Charm School (2011)

A lot of people don't even realize the sheer number of Barbie movies there are out there. Well, I'm usually referring to the ones made in the 2000's. It seems like every direct to video animated movie is traditionally animated. It's nice to see something different. This is ranked as the best Barbie movie ever made, which isn't really saying that much. Barbie plays some woman named Blair.Odd she'd play someone when she's already a character. She wins a contest to go to a princess school and they actually do set up the story pretty well. It's revealed that she's a missing princess herself and the rightful heir to the throne. There's this rich girl bully who redeems herself by revealing she's only that way because of her parents. That must be a trope. Not the most original idea, but it is pretty good. **1/2

I have seen many, many films. We all have. And I do recognize the fact that Barbie movies are made for a particular demographic, however this does not excuse terrible writing! The movie is cheesy beyond belief and has awful dialogue. The plot is atrocious too, not to mention the stereotypical portrayals of women, however this is a Barbie movie and they're all like that. Back to my point though it would literally not cost anything to write a good script! Many many good children's movies have been made with fantastic screenplays (take the lion king or Aladdin, for example.) yet it seems consistent to me that Barbie movies are all terribly written and terribly animated. Very little time has been put into most aspects of this film. One of the few good points I can give it is the voice acting, which is a credit to the actresses and actors, given the shoddy screenplay and characters they had to work with. Don't watch the film. Save yourself the two hours and watch something good. Oh and the very worst film I've seen is battlefield: Earth. That one is worse than this.P.s: the sound editing is bad too. Urgh just... Urgh.

I am a father of girls and must therefore look for the good in the little girl movies I frequently have to watch. Most little girl movies are unwatchable, but this has a surprisingly good story. I can only imagine the materialistic, shallow plot this movie could have been with a title like "Princess Charm School", but it has a good plot with intrigue and good morals. One of my daughters pointed out similarities with Harry Potter. Yes, the computer graphics are simple, yes it's about Barbie, but I appreciate that some write a quality story even when they don't have to. In fact most Barbie movies are good. Barbie Rapunzel is my favorite Barbie movie. This would be up there close to the top on my Barbie list.

Barbie: Princess Charm School is never going to be one of my favourite movies, but especially for its target audience it is very charming. It does have some moments of corny dialogue(though most of it has some nice humour that children and adults alike will appreciate), and I do miss Kelly Sheridan, who was always likable and was getting better every time. However, the animation is lovely, fluid and colourful with attention to detail that was most welcome. The music fits perfectly, and is memorable also, and the story is told very nicely with as always a good message and charming as it should be. The characters are on the clichéd side, but likable in alternative to annoying(it's when clichés are annoying when I mind). The voice acting I had little to no problem with. Overall, charming and well-done, not my favourite Barbie movie but despite Sheridan's absence is up there with the better ones. 8/10 Bethany Cox