Barbie and the Three Musketeers (2009)
On October 26, 2023 by CrescentBarbie and the Three Musketeers is the final Barbie movie released in the 2000s. It was also the last movie set in olden times that would come out for five years… And it sure sent this era of films out with a resounding triumph.
Story
Three Musketeers follows the story of Corinne, a teen hoping to become a musketeer. After being shot down from joining the musketeers, Corinne takes up work at the palace. Alongside her coworkers–Viveca, Aramina, and Renee–Corinne trains to defend the prince from an assassination plot. The four girls battle both the expectations of others and trained killers to defeat the murderous regent and his men.
Three Musketeers is a fun ride from beginning to end. Unlike other Barbie movies, Three Musketeers takes a while to play its hand and reveal its story’s full scope. The intrigue is more than enough to keep the audience interested until the plot comes out. The climax is one of the best in any Barbie movie, and it feels perfect for the story being told.
This movie must also be commended for its strong pacing. Three Musketeers maintains interest for its entire runtime without even trying. The pacing accentuates the mystery element of the story too. Nothing is revealed until it needs to be, and I love it dearly for that. The film handles its story effortlessly and well from the start.
Three Musketeers has one of the strongest stories in any Barbie movie, and it more than deserves its flowers.
Story: 9/10
Characters
Corinne is somewhat unorthodox for a Barbie, starting out stubborn and underestimated. She really comes into her own through her friendships with others. Her relationships with Viveca, Aramina, and Renee make them all stronger. They develop as a unit of four, and they’re perfect protagonists for this story. They act as great foils for one another too, and there’s never a dull moment with them around. Renee unfortunately gets the short end of the stick here though, and I wish she had a bit more to her characterization. She’s the first Black major character in a Barbie movie, and she really got shafted here in comparison to her white peers. It’s a shame, and I wish she had been given more to work with.
Louis and Philippe are both interesting characters too. Louis has his head in the clouds and doesn’t realize what he has until Philippe is trying to take it away from him. Philippe is a surprisingly ruthless man, resorting to murder attempts no fewer than three times to try and make a grab for the throne. Seeing Louis become a better person by overcoming Philippe was great, though I wish he was a bit less misogynistic near the start of the movie. It might be period accurate, but it doesn’t make him as sympathetic as he could have been.
As for the animal companions, I think Miette and Alexander are fun. The story could function without them, but they’re still nice to have around. The same cannot be said for Brutus, Philippe’s dog. He takes away a lot of the mystery of the story and just feels obnoxious each time he’s on screen. I want to see him stopped, yes, but I think the movie would have been just fine cutting him out even if it kept Miette and Alexander.
Generally, Three Musketeers is packed with great characters, and seeing the heroes and villains clash is a real treat. However, there are a few problems that hold this cast back.
Characters: 8/10
World Building
This movie is a bit different from Barbie’s regular affair since it sets itself in a real location and a real time period. The film commits to the setting too, and the characters regularly speak French to really hammer home that this movie takes place in Paris. A lot of characters have French names too. The setting feels real because of all the small details to help it feel like a part of the character’s lives. I said in my Mariposa review that I wished the movie had committed fully to its Spanish influences, and Three Musketeers feels like a response to that but with French influences. In other words, it’s perfect.
I wish we learned a bit more about Corinne’s father in this movie though. His relationship with Treville help Corinne to find her footing in Paris in the first place, but we don’t know much about him. The implications are that Corinne’s father died in the line of work as a musketeer, but I would have been interested to hear more about his past. It would have really helped this world to feel even grander.
The world building of Three Musketeers leans heavily into its French roots, and it works very well.
World Building: 8/10
Themes
Three Musketeers‘ theme is as follows: true courage is pursuing your dream even when everyone else says it’s impossible. I think this theme works very well for the movie, and it ties in with the misogyny the main cast faces. The theme even works for Louis, albeit in a different direction. The moral doesn’t feel overdone or forced; it just works, and for that I must applaud it.
Themes: 9/10
Production
Three Musketeers is easily the best animated Barbie movie we’ve seen up to this point. It looks amazing from beginning to end. I especially have to applaud the acrobatics in the movie. Everything feels like it has the weight it should, and the gymnastics are very accurate too. I don’t know if motion capture was used to catch this, but regardless, it looks incredible.
The background music and voice acting are strong here too, and no performances stick out as bad. Three Musketeers handles music a bit differently from its contemporaries though. There are a few songs with lyrics, but all of them are played outside the story rather than sung by the characters. This can be a bit jarring though, as all of the music is modern pop instead of fitting the historical French setting. The music is fine on its own, but it can feel strange when compared to what is happening on the screen.
Three Musketeers sports incredible animation and great music, but the songs can lead to a bit of a tonal clash.
Production: 8/10
Overall
Three Musketeers is fun from beginning to end. It has a massive role to fill as the final movie of the 2000s, but it steps up to the plate and really hits home. I would recommend this movie to any fan of Barbie; it more than deserves your attention.
Overall: 8.2/10
Silly Superlative: Barbie movie with the most bizarre weapons
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