Barbie and the Diamond Castle (2008)

This is another one of the many Barbie movies made. I'd argue none of them are good, but this one at least wasn't that bad. I actually did like some of the twists. It's actually a story being told by Barbie about her and her friend as other characters who find a magic mirror with a girl imprisoned in it. In the movie, they end up going to a castle they think they want to live in because of a prophecy. It's actually revealed that this prophecy is fake. Also, they decide not to stay in the diamond castle in the end, which I actually liked. I thought that told a good message.I guess the animation wasn't the best or worst. I did think it was better than some used in the other films but it did look off many times. I especially was turned off by the dragon. He was actually kind of well written too. Still, it was kind of boring and it probably would have worked better as a long episode of a Barbie TV show. For Barbie fans, I would in fact recommend it, as it's nothing too memorable. It is at least better than you would think. **1/2

When I first started with Barbie DVDs it was the My Scene collection and I found the music to be really okay but the stories to have too much of gritty mid teen personalities than I could easily cope with back then. England was having a pogrom against some of the dispossessed and we did tend to get a lot of grit, a maybe for why the occasional hypersensitivity. The last couple of years I have been noticing a lot of grit and hypersensitivity on the IMDb user pages. At other places in England too.Easter 2010 I could not find a Barbie Easter egg but what I did have instead was three more Barbie DVDs. As well as Diamond Castle (2008) I also had Rapunzel (2002) and Swan Lake (2003). Music is a strong part of these, too, but it is nothing like My Scene. I started by preferring all of these stories but having qualms about the music in all but Swan Lake.Second viewing, with Barbie DVDs I do watch them more than once, I was still having qualms with the music in Rapunzel but could really like the others. So, here are two more Barbie DVDs, Diamond Castle and Swan Lake, and I could really like both the stories and the music.With Rapunzel, I wonder if the problem is symbolic. I sort of like the story of Rapunzel, a Barbie like girl trapped by a wicked witch but managing to eventually break free. Smooth and nice, if leaving the witch trapped in everlasting hell. Just if anyone knows the classical music that much of the background music uses, Dvorak's New World Symphony, would they be likely to be considering the music as a weak sham, too? Most age 5ish should not have that sort of problem so they just might like this a lot. The other IMDb user reviews that mention the music appear to like it too. The music is played well and fits rather well but if one knows the way that Dvorak used this stuff then is this missing out, a repetitive chunk of nice instead of the proper musical story that Dvorak wrote? Symbolic new world? This qualm will likely appear as unreal to many, but it does have me heading back to listen to the proper music and not bothering with the DVD all that much. A sort of grit that most all will not notice as real at all? But Diamond Castle and Swan Lake. I could not find a Barbie Easter egg, I had to put up with a HSM and a choc bunny instead, but what I found was way better. Oh yeah these are nice.

I am the proud daddy of a beautiful 4year old little girl who loves all her Barbie movies, however this movie is the one that seems to have captured her attention the most. The story is easy to follow, some scenes might be a little dark but hey if your kids can watch a Disney movie they can certainly watch this(Nobody Dies). The films animation was done very well, its not Pixar or Dreamworks but thats what is so great about it. This film does not try and be something its not.The lessons of friendship and trust are really put up front in this film. I do recommend this film to parents who have young children, babysitters, or if you flat out just want to see a great story about muses of music turned to stone, two girls who find a girl trapped in a mirror, and must take her to her home which is the Diamond Castle. I won't be sexist either the boys will get a kick out of the twins and the dragon Slyder I know my 8 year old son though it was cool. I must say for a movie that didn't have much publicity, it has done rather well for itself.... the only reason this film does not get a full 10 out of 10 with me, is the fact that it does not supply the bonus features that I normally hope to see, such as deleted scenes. It does have a blooper trailer. However if you want to see the missing sequence you have to view Barbie and the Christmas Carol and see the deleted scene with the puppies, which is a very cute music video, its just sad that it wasn't on the original release of Diamond Castle. So what are you waiting for, go check out this movie, and if you have already, leave it some love.

For being a Barbie movie, I enjoyed watching this with my girls far more than I expected. I liked the characters quite a bit, especially the twins. The storyline was fun and as usual, the good lesson. The graphics weren't bad, the music though a tad bit shrill at times with the singing, isn't bad either though beware, they're catchy enough tunes that they get stuck in your head... like a commercial jingle. I find myself humming "Connected" and then laughing at the fact that I'm humming my daughter's movie song. My three year old is entranced with the movie, she loves the puppies. So far, out of the barbie movies I have been bullied with big blue eyes and sweet smiles into watching, this one is my favorite.