TheLittleSongbird
I know I'm going out on a limb in saying I like this movie, as wherever I go there is always someone who looks down on the Barbie movies with scorn. Although I am not the main target audience(I'm 20) and although none are among the best movies in the world, I do get some pleasure out of them, especially Nutcracker, especially for the music and the characters. Barbie in A Christmas Carol is not one of my favourites in the franchise, but I did like that it had its heart in the right place and it is a nice movie to me. The dialogue is on the corny side, I did find the Ghost of Christmas Past annoying and the animation is not as good as that of Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Diamond Castle, having moments that are either too flat in colour or over-saturated, even then there are some nice moments still. What tempted me in the first place in seeing this movie was not just that it was Barbie, but also what they would do with such a great story that has been told so many times and of course the colourful cover. Surprisingly the story is told very nicely, parts are toned down a little to make potentially scary parts like The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come but considering the target audience this was appropriate, and the storytelling overall maintained the story's heart and sentiment with a heart-warming ending and not too much of an overly-sentimental air. Again, not one of the best adaptations of the story, but a long way from the worst. The music is sprightly and really puts you in a mood for the festive season, and the characters are great on the whole, although I liked the change of pace for Barbie from brave, strong-minded and resourceful to the less idealistic values of selfish to sympathetic my favourite character was Chuzzlewit, who is so funny in his clumsiness and adorable. The voice acting is good, Kelly Sheridan is such a talented voice actress to me, from Nutcracker she showed great promise and is getting better and better every time I hear her. Overall, quite good in my opinion. 7/10 Bethany Cox
neenahhh
It's Christmas season 2011! Now, let me ask people this: Is there anything better than curling up and watching a feel-good Christmas movie during the holidays? Probably, but heh. That's what I did. This film was one of the movies that I chose to watch so that I could get even more into the Christmas spirit. Who doesn't love happy Christmas movies, anyway? :)In this film, we have an adaption of the world-famous story by Charles Dickens-- Barbie style. The movie begins by Barbie telling her little sister a story about a particular woman, Eden, who just doesn't enjoy the holidays. Eden basically hates Christmas and lives by Aunt Mary's motto: In a selfish world, the selfish succeed. Several Christmas apparitions visit Eden to set her right.I chose this to be the first Christmas film I watched for the holidays. That was right of me. Young children could possibly find joy and entertainment in this Barbie film. Parents don't have to worry about 'scary things', either. The film has been padded with much-added humor that only children will enjoy. Still, to be fair, it was nice to watch this film. Barbie movies are filled with innocence that I do enjoy! But I didn't like their retelling of Dickens' novel. Fans of Dickens' should steer clear from this one.Viewed on: December 22-23, 2011
kill-the-boxtrolls
I found this at the library. I'm a huge fan of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol books. It has been adapted into movies, musicals, and dramas (mostly). But this childish Barbie film wants to be turned into a childish crap of comedy. The humor is rubbish, the drama is weak, the action is like there's no plot in the story. I know this is supposed to be a G-rated film and a special video to entertain children instead of scaring them, but there are some children's Christmas Carol movie adaptations that has Scrooge falling into his grave and stuff. This one doesn't.It's about Barbie who tells a story to her younger Sister Kelly so the movie is literally a storybook kinda movie. Eden is a famous celebrity singer and all of a sudden, she turns Scrooge-like and tells her friends not to rehearse on Christmas day and says "Bah, Humbug." Then she tells Annie (or whatever her freaking name is) not to say "Christmas" at all. Now I don't remember Scrooge telling people not to say "Christmas" but she is a Scrooge I know.One day she is visited by Marley that night. Marley is trying to act as the Ghost of Christmas Past and then the other ghost takes her on the adventure through swirly holes and everything. Nice idea, but that sounds like more fun if this was in the theater instead of a direct-to-video thing.I'm telling you, please avoid this Barbie film. It's a shameful film of the classic Charles Dickens books.
diejj
So when I found out this movie existed I thought, okay so what do we have: - A new Barbie movie - The knowledge that Barbie movies are pretty cliché most of the time - A Christmas Carol, the story that is already told a hundred times Result: This must be the most cliché boring movie Barbie has ever had.. Wrong..*spoiler alert* The story about the selfish singer Eden Starling has a nice twist. The girl is raised by her aunt who taught her everything by one line: In a selfish world the selfish succeed. Kinda horrible..right? So well Eden is really rude and mean against her employees and her best friend..Then on one night the ghost of her aunt appears to tell her she has to change her behavior, of course Eden doesn't listen so her Aunt tells her she will send 3 ghosts...Well you think, here we go, first she sees how she was when she was little, then she sees the current state of her friends and then how she will end up alone loved by no-one... Almost right...the story gets a nice little twist where not only Eden has a worse future but her best friend as well..I liked that twist, it made the movie more interesting this way. The animation is fine, just what we are used to when we watch a Barbie movie, though of course the animations get better every movie..compare Eden to Clara of Barbie's first movie: The Nutcracker, and you'll see the improvements.I say not at all a really worse Christmas movie, there are much worser edits of Charles's story :)