“I can get mad at her, but I can’t hate her.” – Beadnell’s words sticking true for recent Barbie movies.
As far as I can recall from the period of my girlhood, the Barbie movies have a solid standing in my memory. Back then, I would get those movies in DVD form until it formed an entire collection. I got to learn about famous ballets in my youth because of Barbie’s renditions of them; Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, to name a few. And for several years, they found a lot of success as young girls resonated with them.
Now, I do not believe there has been a proper buzz for the animated films since, well, ‘Barbie in the Pink Shoes’ that came out in 2013, and being the former demographic for the movies, I think I can speak for a lot of people as to why.
Old Barbie movies had this element of whimsy. Let us take the Diamond Castle movie for example. The setting itself looks straight out of Skyrim, but more flower-y. It captures the fantasy feeling from all the sceneries it has to offer; Liana and Alexa’s cottage, the blooming valley, the chaotic village, the dark forest, even Lydia’s lair.
If we pick scenes from other movies, it would not pose to be much of a challenge either. Any child growing up with these films would utter at least once about how they wish they could roam around in those locations.
This brings us to the stories these settings tell us. Most of them are strong retellings of classics and ballets. I touched earlier on how I only got exposed to ballet narratives because of Barbie, but what if I told you I also got introduced the most beloved Christmas story by Charles Dickens because of Barbie?
Barbie in the Christmas Carol is a movie I believe to be an excellent piece of media. In most movies, Barbie plays as a hero of the story, yet here, she is the selfish opera singer who takes the place of Ebenezer Scrooge.
Her character design is by far the most unique one out of all the characters she usually plays as. Emerald-green eyes against her usual blue, strong curls for hair instead of the classic waves, her posh British accent with a pitch, and how she presents herself as a whole.
I usually sell this movie to the girls saying, “Oh, you haven’t watched this? Well, what if I told you, that in this film, Barbie is… A VILLAIN?!” and it gets them each time, because the Barbie everyone is familiar to is the kind-selfless personality.
If you know Dickens’ Christmas Carol, you would know what to expect – Scrooge is a jerk that does not appreciate Christmas and has one night to change his mind with the ‘help’ of three spirits, or his future would end in a melancholic fashion. In Barbie, that premise stays the same, but the story is far more beautiful if you ask me.
The movie opens with a Barbie’s little sister, unhappy that her and the rest of the family will be celebrating Christmas differently this year. And in a fit of frustration, she yells how she hates the holiday, Christmas. Barbie then takes it upon herself to tell the story of Eden Starling – the name set for Scrooge’s character.
Eden Starling is a household name in London, a star opera singer. You would not expect her to be Scrooge as the story opens with her singing ‘O Christmas tree’ and being praised by the audience. But not too long after, she throws a bouquet of flowers across the backstage and utters the famous ‘bah humbug’. I do not think the film makers could have had a more perfect way and time to address who she is from the original.
The film then introduces the supporting characters. While all of them have their own unique quirks, the person that stands out the most narrative-wise is Catherine Beadnell, Eden’s oldest friend. If I were to be asked about what makes this rendition of Christmas carol stand out, it would be the complicated yet heart-warming relationship that these two women have.
They were torn apart in their youth by Eden’s strict and unforgiving aunt, but later put their talents together to form Eden’s company, as Catherine had the perfect hands to design costumes for Eden’s stage acts. On paper, they are friends, but under the surface, Catherine is desperate to find the young Eden in the cold adult version of her once best friend, whereas Eden takes advantage of this connection they share to put Catherine to work.
A lot of care is put into these films to respect the original mediums, yet their own twists present to differentiate from the rest, as evident in the Christmas Carol movie. The old Barbie movies always held high stakes in their narratives, accompanied by a strong cast of characters that help push the message they want children to hold deeply in their hearts. To illustrate, Barbie: Fairytopia communicates that whatever it is that makes you different is what makes you special.
The old Barbie films’ scores are still hits with the lyrics still living in many people’s recollection. The lyrics themselves were honestly amazing for their time as well. The powerful ballad from Erika and Anneliese’s song yearning for freedom contained the lines, “I close my eyes and feel myself fly a thousand miles away. I would take flight, but would it be right? My conscious tells me to stay.” The voices of Kelly Sheridan and Julie Stevens made me feel a feeling I never could describe when I first heard them unravel their melody on my screen.
So, what happened after? Well, Barbie movie fans saw a decline in the quality of stories being put out by the franchise. They had lost their spark it felt like, and their efforts that went into the movies felt nothing more than a way to produce more dolls to grab more profit. It did not feel as if Barbie was catering to the audience that once loved their movies. Yes, with time, children grow, but what was another great point for the old films was that people of all ages could appreciate them.
If we were to take a look at ‘Barbie and Her Sisters in a Puppy Chase’, it has truly got to be the most infuriating movie of them all with how uncharacteristically irresponsible Barbie is looking after her siblings. She gets them stranded with only granola bars to feast on in the woodland area they happen upon. The whole ordeal just felt childish and useless. My point is, they targeted a much, much younger audience, most likely misunderstanding who the classic films were for.
The burning question now is why not recreate the feelings those Barbie movies instilled? Greta Gertwig and Margot Robbie’s movie was proof of how much people still love Barbie regardless of their age. It found massive success and even got a plethora of male audiences to enjoy it, despite a lot of them not being open to the idea of Barbie at first.
Technology and animation have come a long way since then. It would take one classic retelling from Barbie to bring the franchise back to life. For years now, fans, including myself, have been wishing for either entire remakes of some of the movies using the latest methods of animating movies, or a brand new one that has the heart of the old movies. It would not take long for the fans to notice and would bring water to the drought.
Considering their previous successes, making the film(s) would not present a problem, and everyone knows that – hence, the frustration. Everyone knows that the Barbie still has the potential to give so much more to this newer generation as well as the old.
Another villain on the same caliber as Preminger, antagonists like Raquelle, Ken playing diverse roles as Barbie’s love interest, and so on. They have a solid foundation of characters and settings, so to not utilize them would just be a shame.
Should the day come where this wish of mine to see a new Barbie movie come to theatres, I think the little girl in me would show herself once more to embrace it fully, as I have with 2023’s Barbie.
