Barbie in a Christmas Carol (2008)
On October 25, 2023 by CrescentBarbie in a Christmas Carol is perhaps the most faithful adaptation yet. While its source material is hardly anything new, this version of the story is still fresh and fun. It’s a lovely movie to watch as a holiday tradition for any families that love Barbie.
Story
As the name would imply, Christmas Carol is an adaptation of the classic Dickens tale. Rather than Ebenezer Scrooge, we follow Eden Starling. She’s an opera star who, despite her acclaim and adoring fans, is incredibly cruel. When Eden tries to make her crew work through Christmas with no breaks, she is visited by ghosts to show her the true meaning of Christmas.
Unlike the other adaptations of the Barbie film lineup, Christmas Carol is fairly loyal to its source material. Rather than a grouchy banker, we follow a selfish performer, and the story is tweaked to fit that. All of the changes make sense and feel different while still remaining true to the original story. Even with its different cast and plot beats, the movie maintains the spirit of its source material. The only reason I’m not giving it a higher score is because this is an adaptation that doesn’t do too much to be original. It works well, of course, but I don’t want to give it a higher score than other great original stories.
The story of Christmas Carol is a fine adaptation, changing what it has to in order to fit the new setting.
Story: 8/10
Characters
Eden Starling replaces Ebenezer Scrooge in this retelling, and she’s a perfect protagonist here. She’s selfish and in desperate need of a reality check. Seeing her past helps the audience to understand and sympathize with her much more too. Eden is a great leading character who maintains the spirit of her source character even with her differing details.
Catherine is the secondary character of Christmas Carol, and she’s a joy to see on screen. Her changing opinions about Eden are very interesting and do a lot to drive our leading character’s evolution. Catherine is just as central to the story as Eden, and the two bounce off one another perfectly. I absolutely adore them both.
Unfortunately, the rest of the cast isn’t anywhere near as strong as they are. I don’t even remember the names of half the performers. The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future are all serviceable but don’t have much intrigue to them. Since Eden and Catherine are such great characters, they really make the static side characters obvious. In many cases this makes sense though, and I can go along with it so long as it helps to move the plot along.
The greatest thorn in the side of this cast is Chuzzlewit. I found myself more frustrated by him than anything else. I understand that the developers wanted an animal sidekick, but Chuzzlewit is not a great one. He’s more distracting than entertaining, and he feels like poor comic relief in a movie that would be perfectly fine without it. He’s not the worst Barbie sidekick ever, but he’s still pretty far down on the list.
Eden and Catherine are stunning, and while the side characters are all fine enough, the cast suffers from one major flaw that keeps it from excelling.
Characters: 7/10
World Building
In a dive into the new for Barbie, this movie takes place in Victorian England. The film takes its setting from its source material, and it maintains its period accuracy fairly well. The locations fit the story being told, and they help to immerse the audience in the world.
The real star here is the history of the characters though. I loved seeing the relationship of Eden and Catherine evolve in the past, present, and future. Their shared history really helps to develop the world and their dynamic. Given that these interactions drive the plot, this backstory being strong goes a long way to help this movie thrive even more.
The world building of Christmas Carol shines in its historical accuracy and connections between the main characters.
World Building: 8/10
Themes
The theme of Christmas Carol is to keep the Christmas spirit in your heart all year round. This theme is fine enough, but it doesn’t really serve the story all that well. It’s kind of tacked on at the end, and while it makes sense in the last few scenes, it’s a bit difficult to attach to the rest of the movie. I think the story of Christmas Carol tells enough of a lesson on its own without the need for something like that. The moral is fine overall but doesn’t tie into the story or its framing device well.
Themes: 6/10
Production
The soundtrack of Christmas Carol is largely pulled from various holiday songs. The music all works well for the story being told here, and the integration of songs feels natural. The leading character is a performer, and it makes sense that the characters would sing.
That’s where the main problem of this movie’s production comes up. The singing can be very awkward. The sing voices all have different voice actors than the talking voices, and it can be jarring to hear. The singing and speaking voices don’t match up all that well, especially with the children from the Christmas Present segment. It’s a bit distracting, unfortunately taking away from an otherwise great production.
This is the only real drawback to the movie though. Other than that, Christmas Carol has great voice acting and pretty good animation. Chuzzlewit looks awful, but the rest of the animation works well. The movie is visually interesting with the magic of the Ghosts of Christmas too. There’s new ground being broken here, and I love seeing it.
The production of Christmas Carol is overall strong with a few minor issues that could be distracting to some viewers.
Production: 8/10
Overall
Barbie in a Christmas Carol is a fine adaptation of the classic story, bringing the joy of the season to children of all ages. This movie may be slightly unorthodox for a Barbie film, but that doesn’t mean it should be overlooked. I had a fun time with Christmas Carol, and I think anyone interested in it should watch it too.
Overall: 7.4/10
Silly Superlative: Barbie movie with the strangest singing voices
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