In this, the most recent release in the Barbie movie series, our golden girl stars as Genevieve, the seventh of twelve daughters born to a loving king and queen. Unfortunately, the queen has passed away, leaving the king alone to raise the children, but he’s done fairly well on his own. Each girl has their own personality and their own talents, and their days are spent developing those talents. Each afternoon they gather together to dance, a tradition their mother began. She loved dancing and even had a pavilion built outside the castle for that purpose.
The king begins to fear that his daughters are not ladylike enough to be real princesses, so he asks his cousin, Rowena, to come give them etiquette lessons. She immediately takes over, fools the king into thinking that what she’s doing is best, and systematically begins removing everything the girls love, including dancing. Her plan is to take over the kingdom, and by controlling the girls, who will one day rule in their father’s stead, she thinks she can accomplish this plan.
One night, Genevieve discovers something amazing: the pattern in the stones on the floor in the princesses’ bedchamber matches the covers of twelve books their mother had specially made, one for each girl. The books tell the story of a princess who loved to visit a magic island where she could dance to her heart’s content. She stepped on magic stones to unlock the key to that land, and Genevieve wonders if the stones on their bedroom floor just might do the same. Magically, a staircase appears and takes the princesses to the magic island, and they spend all night having fun away from the overpowering presence of Rowena.
I liked this movie quite a lot. The love interest, Derek, seemed more like a real person than the other male characters we’ve seen in previous Barbie movies. It was refreshing to have twelve leading ladies, instead of just one. My only complaint with this movie is the same complaint I have with most of them – Barbie has a pet, who is nice. The villain has a pet who is not nice. They can talk to each other, and in the end, the good pet beats the old pet. If we could step away from that theme, I’d be good with life. All in all, this is a good addition to your Barbie movie collection.
Related Blogs: