Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale (2010)
On October 29, 2023 by CrescentHave you ever wondered what Barbie is like when all the masks come off? Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale gives us a glimpse into Barbie’s life when she’s not playing another character. In many ways, it’s the base for the Barbie cinematic universe by establishing her life as an actress… Though as a movie it’s admittedly a bit mediocre.
Story
In Fashion Fairytale, Barbie hits a low point in her career after being fired from her newest movie. Afterward, Ken breaks up with her, and she decides it’s time for a change. She goes out to see her aunt, Millicent, in Paris. Upon arriving, Barbie learns that her aunt has sold the fashion house where she hosts her business, and it falls to Barbie and amateur designer Alice to save the historic building. They are joined by the fashion sprites called the flairies to make sure the fashion house is saved.
The story of Fashion Fairytale is refreshing when you think about the image Barbie has garnered over the years. She’s not perfect here, and it’s up to her to pick up the pieces of what she’s lost. It’s an interesting twist on the character, and I love it. I think it’s paced pretty well too, and the plot of saving the fashion house is fun.
There are a few problems here though. First and foremost, the animals are distracting. They don’t get much time on screen, but they’re distracting when they are around, and they really didn’t need to be there. At this point, the animal sidekicks are getting more frustrating than anything else, and they don’t add much to the story. The villains of this movie also lack stage presence, and they drag the story down with them. The story is fine, but you need to ignore the animals and villains to give it any other praise.
Overall, the plot of Fashion Fairytale is simple and nice, but it has a lot of issues that keep it from being anything greater.
Story: 5/10
Characters
Fashion Fairytale is the first movie to feature Barbie herself as the protagonist since Barbie Diaries, and it certainly takes it in a different direction. Seeing Barbie struggle openly from the start is interesting, and I was really rooting for her to pull her life together again. This Barbie is nothing special, but her endless determination goes a long way to drive the story forward.
Alice is the real star here. She’s shy and self-deprecating, but she’s got a lot of spunk to her that comes out as she starts to open up more. Her enthusiasm bounces off Barbie’s passion perfectly, and the two work best together. The movie wouldn’t be anywhere near as enjoyable as it is without them, or more specifically, their relationship with each other.
Unfortunately, the other characters aren’t as fun. Shine, Shimmer, and Glimmer are fine, but they’re pretty static and don’t add much to the story. The same applies to Millicent and all of the animals. In fact, I forget the animals are there half the time because they’re around so little and don’t do all that much in the long run. Teresa and Grace didn’t leave much of an impact either, but this really alerted me to how much they assassinated Teresa’s character since Diamond Castle. She acts more like Chrysella from Thumbelina than herself, and that’s not a good thing.
The villains are pretty big disappointments too. Jacqueline and Delphine don’t have much stage presence at all, and while I understand that could be part of the point behind them, I don’t find them interesting. They’re just kind of… There. I know that they’re not the antagonists of this movie, at least not most of the time, but they’re not all that captivating when they are around. The circumstances feel more antagonistic than those two ever did. It’s a shame… At the very least, Ken is fun. He’s one of my favorite iterations of Ken ever, and I’m glad he comes back in a future movie.
Fashion Fairytale has a few winning leads, but most of the characters around them are unfortunately pretty dull.
Characters: 5/10
World Building
This movie is interesting in the way that it sets up the Barbie cinematic universe as we know it. This story explains all of the previous Barbie movies as films that Barbie was acting in as the lead character. It’s the basis for the continuity that fans have latched on to over the years. That’s about all we get about Barbie’s life as an actress, and it’s interesting, but it makes me yearn for something more.
The reason for the lack of information is because of the other main setting. The fashion house in Paris is a fun location, but it feels a bit strange because of the presence of the flairies. Their lore is fine, but it’s nothing earth shattering or overly interesting. It’s serviceable, but I can’t really say much else.
Millicent is stated to have a rival in the fashion industry in the form of Jaqueline, my other main problem with the world building. She doesn’t get much time on screen, but when she is around, she’s mostly giving exposition about how she steals Millicent’s designs. We’re told this, but it never really goes anywhere in terms of being shown off. It’s a huge mistake to tell this rather than show it, and I wish we got more from this.
The world building is fine, but it doesn’t do anything revolutionary aside from introduce the idea of the Barbie cinematic universe.
World Building: 6/10
Themes
The theme of Fashion Fairytale is that magic happens when you believe in yourself. That’s an okay theme for the movie, and it certainly seems to apply given the story. However, it doesn’t feel entirely applicable. It’s not just believing in themselves that earns Barbie, Alice, and everyone else the victory in the end. They got there through hard work. Sure, they needed to believe in themselves too, but the lesson still feels like it’s just to the left of the point being made here. The theme is fine, but it’s not a perfect application.
Themes: 6/10
Production
Fashion Fairytale is a very well-animated movie, really leaning into a new art style that went on a test run in Mermaid Tale and expanding it. Unlike Mermaid Tale, Fashion Fairytale does not have the same problem of the background characters looking wonky while the leads look great. This goes a long way, and the animation is great with no real criticisms to offer.
The voice acting is generally pretty good, but there are a few problems here. Lulu, the dog Sequin briefly talks to at the beginning of the movie, doesn’t sound good. The voice is jarring and not very well acted. Teresa’s voice doesn’t fit her either, especially given her appearance in Diamond Castle and her behavior in that film. Everyone else sounds good, but these two problems really grated on me when they came up.
The music is fine, I suppose, but I’m not a big fan of the song choices they made. I acknowledge that’s entirely a personal preference, so I’m doing my best to not let it impact my ranking here too much, but I’m still not too fond of the music here. It works well for the movie, but the songs don’t feel cohesive as a whole. None of them are all that memorable either.
The animation of Fashion Fairytale really hits it out of the park, but the voice acting and music both have issues that hold this production back from being stunning.
Production: 7/10
Overall
Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale is a fun movie with a nice story and great leading characters. It supporting cast really drags it down though, making all of the subplots feel unwanted. This movie is fine, but I don’t know if I can recommend it enthusiastically.
Overall: 5.8/10
Silly Superlative: Barbie movie with the most references to Twitter
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