After seeing all the reviews on how amazing this movie was I was super excited. Going into it I loved a couple things: the animation was gorgeous, the dance moves were improved, the voice acting was great (except for Barbie), and the songs were beautiful. Now if only that would have made the story better.
The concept is overused now and needs to stop. They tried to relate to kids and show things that aren't funny or cool. I wanted to see more of Amelia but they only show her a couple times. And I hated how Barbie and Amelia were the same person. They could've at least made her a brunette. Plus, the whole ending is a disaster. Every second the action was just thrown in random bits and ended in two seconds. Also, the singing was super out of place and didn't need to happen.
Overall, don't bother.
21 Reviews
Déjà vu
sidneyforeman7 September 2020
I've watched all the Barbie movies as a child and now I've watched all of the newer movies and shows with my daughter. Princess Adventure was still enjoyable to watch, but the whole concept of trading places has been done before (like multiple times).
Old plot but it's still doing okay.
XueHuaBingYu16 January 2022
This one is kind of like "Princess and the Popstar". I'm not saying it's not good. It's kind of enjoyable for some length. But watching the same plot with some extra things couldn't give me the taste of watching a whole different plot. So, if they have done it with some different plot and not repeating the old ones, it'd be better.
Original scores need to be improved. The songs are not good as those ones in "Princess and the Popstar".
All in all, although it's an old plot, it's not that good but not that bad either. It's like it's in the middle. So, I'd say it's enjoyable for first watch.
Original scores need to be improved. The songs are not good as those ones in "Princess and the Popstar".
All in all, although it's an old plot, it's not that good but not that bad either. It's like it's in the middle. So, I'd say it's enjoyable for first watch.
Waste of Time
vipvrkcicctwgachwd3 September 2020
Honestly, have loved Barbie movies all the way up until their Princess and the Popstar debut, everything after has been deplorable. The worst thing about this movie is there is no plot that makes sense, and when you realize what plot they (kind of?) went for it was extremely shallow. They preach in the movie about being yourself but also choose not to recognize the privileges the princess has of getting everything she wants whenever, which sends kids the wrong message. Basically, be who you are if you have the means to. Characters looked like they were copy pasted and hardly anyone changed outfits throughout the movie so it's obvious production value was low. It's not worth the watch.
OUTRIGHT DUPLICATE
esstellle5 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Mattel, this is the third, I repeat, THIRD time a movie with the idea of "Prince and the Pauper". To be entirely genuine, Princess and the Pauper is presumably one of my preferred Barbie movies. It had the entire display of a fairytale without the magic. It also had a unarguably perfect ending. It was elegant, simple and simply dream-like.
Though I am not sure I can state the same for Princess and the Pop-star and Barbie: Princess Adventures. Not to make this a rant, but both movies were undeniably disappointing. Hey, it's cool that Barbie vlogs and all but it's much too common and unoriginal to be fairly interesting.
Please, whoever came up with the preposterous idea to re-make Princess and the Pauper, I do not like you. Also, again. Please, whoever came up with the absurd idea to change the animation style, I do not like you either. Barbie doesn't even look like barbie! Now back to the movie. To be utterly honest, it seemed like the team just started to reanimate Princess and the Pauper and the director added last minute changes so it isn't so obvious. But mind you, it's very utterly obvious.
Barbie, to me, was all about being NOT what I am. To be frank, I am quite boring and so are most vloggers. Another thing that pissed me off was that Prince Yohan saw her necklace and the media captured her in the necklace when it wasn't even there in the actual scene! It seemed like the director was like "Hey, how do we make this different? Oh yeah! Just change it so she gets caught literally on the first day." It's no fun and suspense. There's was NO fun and suspense. Barbie's friends and all had no input in the movie except singing a song and dancing. I see no moral and no inclusion here. I could go on and rant about so many other scenes but to do so would be merely a waste of time.
Though I am not sure I can state the same for Princess and the Pop-star and Barbie: Princess Adventures. Not to make this a rant, but both movies were undeniably disappointing. Hey, it's cool that Barbie vlogs and all but it's much too common and unoriginal to be fairly interesting.
Please, whoever came up with the preposterous idea to re-make Princess and the Pauper, I do not like you. Also, again. Please, whoever came up with the absurd idea to change the animation style, I do not like you either. Barbie doesn't even look like barbie! Now back to the movie. To be utterly honest, it seemed like the team just started to reanimate Princess and the Pauper and the director added last minute changes so it isn't so obvious. But mind you, it's very utterly obvious.
Barbie, to me, was all about being NOT what I am. To be frank, I am quite boring and so are most vloggers. Another thing that pissed me off was that Prince Yohan saw her necklace and the media captured her in the necklace when it wasn't even there in the actual scene! It seemed like the director was like "Hey, how do we make this different? Oh yeah! Just change it so she gets caught literally on the first day." It's no fun and suspense. There's was NO fun and suspense. Barbie's friends and all had no input in the movie except singing a song and dancing. I see no moral and no inclusion here. I could go on and rant about so many other scenes but to do so would be merely a waste of time.
Perfect Musical
babsgram1 September 2020
The WORST Barbie Movie
asdfghjkl919378127 November 2020
Starting off: Reused storylines. We have seen the "oh somewhat normal person switches lives with a princess and learn to be themselves" literally three times now. The Princess and The Pauper was the first one, which was a PHENOMENAL movie. Then we had The Princess and The Popstar, which to be honest was not that bad. Sure it was just a copy of The Princess and The Pauper, but the animation was okay, the characters were likable, and the music was great. And then... you have THIS. Stale characters, all of them nearly identical, with bad characterization. Barbie and Amelia are the exact same character. Bland, boring, rich girls. Mediocre songs, stale animation, and awful writing.
Next up: The character designs and modeling. The costumes for the characters are ATROCIOUS. T-Shirts with a ball gown skirt, with stars all over it? TACKY. The previous barbie movies, she's worn beautiful dresses, with somewhat accurate designs to the time period. In this one, they tried to fuse modern designs with royal designs. And they failed. The models of the props were AWFUL, looking like cheap plastic with rough edges. Honestly, you can tell they went cheap with this. Now, I don't blame the crew for this, I would never. The real problem is clearly the companies running it.
The sets: Now, I get they were trying to be clever and make it all look like a dollhouse, but honestly, they failed. It just looked bad and tacky.
The biggest issue is that they tried to be clever with this. We don't want Barbie to be the main character, she's much better when she's an actress, playing someone else. When they write Barbie as the main character, she just melds into the background with all the other characters, until they're a blob of fart jokes, fAsHiOn, clumsy, and dumb moments. There is nothing memorable about this movie, and I think the companies behind it need to go back to their roots. Because if they continue down this road, they will have no fans left. You want animation to be enjoyable for both kids, parents and adult fans. And honestly? I don't even think KIDS would enjoy this movie. 1/10, I would give 0/10 if I could.
Next up: The character designs and modeling. The costumes for the characters are ATROCIOUS. T-Shirts with a ball gown skirt, with stars all over it? TACKY. The previous barbie movies, she's worn beautiful dresses, with somewhat accurate designs to the time period. In this one, they tried to fuse modern designs with royal designs. And they failed. The models of the props were AWFUL, looking like cheap plastic with rough edges. Honestly, you can tell they went cheap with this. Now, I don't blame the crew for this, I would never. The real problem is clearly the companies running it.
The sets: Now, I get they were trying to be clever and make it all look like a dollhouse, but honestly, they failed. It just looked bad and tacky.
The biggest issue is that they tried to be clever with this. We don't want Barbie to be the main character, she's much better when she's an actress, playing someone else. When they write Barbie as the main character, she just melds into the background with all the other characters, until they're a blob of fart jokes, fAsHiOn, clumsy, and dumb moments. There is nothing memorable about this movie, and I think the companies behind it need to go back to their roots. Because if they continue down this road, they will have no fans left. You want animation to be enjoyable for both kids, parents and adult fans. And honestly? I don't even think KIDS would enjoy this movie. 1/10, I would give 0/10 if I could.
Amazing!
naviarobinson1 September 2020
I really wish y'all will tell me how old you are
ireenchau3 October 2021
So I'm writing my thesis paper on the downfall of Barbie films, and it's really killing me that none of these IMDb reviews are showing ages. I have to know if these recent films are hitting their target audience (kids 3-6, probably girls) or not. (I'm 21, BTW, and an animation student/writer.)
I believe they are because all the critical reviews sound like they're from older people, and I'm pretty sure kids 3-6 think this is a cool movie and don't care about the narrative deficiencies and lack of emotional storytelling techniques in Barbie Princess Adventure.
Let's be real, people who aren't 3-6, this movie is not for us. Mattel does not care about making their movies palatable for people outside their target demographic. Assuming skilled writers cost more, they're totally cutting costs where it doesn't matter.
But that's not stopping me from watching it, so let's roast the crap out of Barbie Princess Adventure.
This is yet another movie trying to chase after the glory of Princess and the Pauper, but I don't think the writers understand that the popularity of Princess and the Pauper is NOT due to the switching places trope, but because of the masterful storytelling (and Preminger, of course). This movie does NOT have those things.
It preaches the theme of "being yourself" but offers no concrete evidence of the characters experiencing that. Barbie is perfect. She literally performed a complex horse show involving acrobatics with no prior preparation. Amelia is boring. She keeps saying that she needs to "be herself" and that she has opinions and dreams, but NEVER in the entire 1 hour and 12 minute films does she EVER tell us what they are. Ever. All she does is walk around in a park, and she's on screen for maybe 10 minutes in total.
At the end she says she's ready to be queen, but sis--all you did is walk around in a park!!!
The only concrete thing we know about Amelia is that she likes all the ice cream flavors, and that's only because she TOLD us, like she TELLS literally everything else about herself!!! (Okay but I have to give credit where it's due, the beginning where she chooses the plain necklace over the fancy one is decent, but that's the only instance of showing instead of telling that I can think of.)
The message of this film is admirable, but it feels vague and preachy because neither of the main characters actually experience anything concrete relating to the theme. That is why it feels meh, despite it trying so hard to be inspiring. Because there's no heart to this and no emotion. The characters don't struggle, and there is no reason to empathize with them.
And the environments are ugly. What the heck were the concept artists thinking when they designed that castle???? And the outfits are also garbage. Early 2000s Barbie movies had wack animation but at least they made an effort to make their designs appealing.
Ugh, anyway. Sadly the two films after this aren't any better. I don't think Barbie is gonna have any good films for a while.
I believe they are because all the critical reviews sound like they're from older people, and I'm pretty sure kids 3-6 think this is a cool movie and don't care about the narrative deficiencies and lack of emotional storytelling techniques in Barbie Princess Adventure.
Let's be real, people who aren't 3-6, this movie is not for us. Mattel does not care about making their movies palatable for people outside their target demographic. Assuming skilled writers cost more, they're totally cutting costs where it doesn't matter.
But that's not stopping me from watching it, so let's roast the crap out of Barbie Princess Adventure.
This is yet another movie trying to chase after the glory of Princess and the Pauper, but I don't think the writers understand that the popularity of Princess and the Pauper is NOT due to the switching places trope, but because of the masterful storytelling (and Preminger, of course). This movie does NOT have those things.
It preaches the theme of "being yourself" but offers no concrete evidence of the characters experiencing that. Barbie is perfect. She literally performed a complex horse show involving acrobatics with no prior preparation. Amelia is boring. She keeps saying that she needs to "be herself" and that she has opinions and dreams, but NEVER in the entire 1 hour and 12 minute films does she EVER tell us what they are. Ever. All she does is walk around in a park, and she's on screen for maybe 10 minutes in total.
At the end she says she's ready to be queen, but sis--all you did is walk around in a park!!!
The only concrete thing we know about Amelia is that she likes all the ice cream flavors, and that's only because she TOLD us, like she TELLS literally everything else about herself!!! (Okay but I have to give credit where it's due, the beginning where she chooses the plain necklace over the fancy one is decent, but that's the only instance of showing instead of telling that I can think of.)
The message of this film is admirable, but it feels vague and preachy because neither of the main characters actually experience anything concrete relating to the theme. That is why it feels meh, despite it trying so hard to be inspiring. Because there's no heart to this and no emotion. The characters don't struggle, and there is no reason to empathize with them.
And the environments are ugly. What the heck were the concept artists thinking when they designed that castle???? And the outfits are also garbage. Early 2000s Barbie movies had wack animation but at least they made an effort to make their designs appealing.
Ugh, anyway. Sadly the two films after this aren't any better. I don't think Barbie is gonna have any good films for a while.
So disapointed
supatsaramink26 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
As a fan of Barbie movies, I think this one is really disappointing. The plot is similar to "Princess and the Pauper" and "The Princess and the Popstar". There was nothing surprising in this movie at all, especially the plot (which is predictable). Princess' dresses are not quite good too. But what I like about this movie is the moral of it, which tell us to be proud of who we are and to be confident.
Stick With The Classics
fastandfuriostmp15 December 2020
You're better off watching Barbie movies before 2012 and Princess Charm School. It's been a while since they last made a Barbie movie, so I had hopes that maybe they took time to make something good, but this movie fell flat. It so, so bad. They try to mix fantasy with modern elements and they failed at doing so. I don't mind a reused plot as long as they make changes that separate the two, but this felt like a very poorly done version of Princess and the Pauper. I thought Princess and the Popstar was bad, but this movie proves that they lack creativity and effort.
Can we just move on
ninjathesecond3 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Never thought i would see one of these again, after all the recent failures, a barbie movie. The woman who is stuck in the 60's with the same old story again and again.
Here is is trying to find who she is, but is now surrounded by the internet and all the modern trappings.
The problems are: she keeps staring into the camera and making statements. Has surrounding characters who could have been removed and it would have made no difference to the ending. Not more animals, the oldest trick in the book.
People watch movies to be entertained. Entertain us and we will not care about anything else. And that is the problem, the movie is not entertaining. Look at big hits like frozen, shrek and see how good stories are written. How characters start off as the anti-hero, then we find out more about them and why they behave in this manner. We find their fears and desires, how they rise up to face these. We feel what they feel and we grow to love them.
This is just another attempt to sell merchandise.
Flawed But Still Solid
blytheandferb-911722 July 2022
While the movie has some issues, it's one I can watch over and over again. To get my negatives out of the way, while the Trey stuff is funny, it could've been cut down, especially his song. I also feel like the stuff with Ken trying to get closer to Barbie could've been better integrated into the plot. The villain is entertaining, though he would've benefited from more buildup. Besides that, I really enjoyed this movie. A "Prince And The Pauper" type plot has been done before, but they make it work. Barbie just wants to make things better for others without feeling like she has to conform to what others want. She's shown being brave, smart, and resourceful. Amelia is someone who could've been written poorly, but she genuinely wants to be a good ruler for her people. For all the issues she had sigh Alfonso, she does appreciate what he does. It has a pretty powerful message about not being trapped in the box of other people's expectations. All the characters are enjoyable in their own way. The music is very strong, with the cast bringing their A Game. The climax is also exciting. So, I enjoyed this. It's not perfect, but its heart is in the right place. I recommend it.
Underwhelming
lorelainewett10 December 2020
It's an okay movie. I guess. The whole switching places idea has been done more than once before but this has to be the worst version. The whole movie is just bland. Everything!! The script, animations, storyline etc. it's just not good. A toddler would probably like it but no one else.
I didn't like it that much
coxaneesa14 April 2021
I wanted to like it,because the dream house adventures series is really good. But this fell short of what the series offers. The characters are shallow like others have said. All the songs scream me me me! Like at the end when everyone was singing and dancing together all they could sing is this is MY moment,all of them were there,why couldn't it be this is OUR moment. It seems selfish,and when your making your own decisions you should be willing to listen to your parents or a well meaning friend. It could have been a lot better.
It's modern
trudsters12 December 2020
Great movie with a strong message
arlindazhegu-2765323 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I really enjoyed it. I've watched every single Barbie movie and series.
This one was really good. I know that we have seen switching places in other Barbie movies too and it's not an original idea at all, but it still managed to be fun and give a strong message. It shows how important is to be yourself and to be free. Sometimes it's okay to run away, to see your life from the distance, to see what you truly want, who you really are and what potential you have to become even better.
Barbie is always so inspiring. She's a great role model. She inspires me to be a better version of myself. I love it how positive she is. She's always making new friends and living great adventures.
The songs were so catchy and meaningful.
I'd love to see other new Barbie movies.
Lovely film
saviormanning-565232 September 2020
I love this movie so much! If you haven't seen it yet please do. Its a good barbie movie which we haven't had in a while, it gives me old barbie movies vibes and the songs are so inspiring even the characters! Children of all ages and adults will enjoy this!
Cute movie
dianamarinelli3 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
In my opinion I thought the movie was cute and all but I prefer the old ones and would not put it in their top ten.
The switching places plot line gets very old but I will still watch it and can the creators think of something more creative and the Barbie and the look alike act stupid at times that I cringed.
Also I was looking forward what kens secret was but sersiously? A dance? I was looking for something big? I think they rushed the movie too much and could have spend more time on making a back story for the princess.
Overall a cute movie with flaws but enjoyable
The switching places plot line gets very old but I will still watch it and can the creators think of something more creative and the Barbie and the look alike act stupid at times that I cringed.
Also I was looking forward what kens secret was but sersiously? A dance? I was looking for something big? I think they rushed the movie too much and could have spend more time on making a back story for the princess.
Overall a cute movie with flaws but enjoyable
A Few Issues Don't Take Away From How Great This Is
blytheandferb-109679 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This movie that definitely has a lot going for it. To end this on a positive note, let me get my issues out of the way. Some of the stuff involving Ken and Trey could've been done better. It seems like they were going somewhere in them having some kind of oddball dynamic, and Trey learning to be more humble, but it doesn't go anywhere. Ken trying to get closer to Barbie doesn't really go anywhere, but at least he helps out with the climax. Some of the humor could also be better written. As for everything else, it's top marks. All the songs are really fun to listen to. They're all fun and/or inspirational in some way. The characters definitely help make this work. We have Barbie trying to become a more famous Vlogger, but for the selfless reason of wanting to leave an impact on the lives of other people. She's shown to be pretty sweet, smart, and humble, and knows when to rely on her friends. In fact, she even rejects Rose Ross's offer to put her vlog on her show when her manipulated video makes it seem like she's shallow. Amelia is definitely a well written character. Her wanting to be a normal girl and escape royal life may seem unreasonable, but they make her likable. She appreciates how Alfonso cares for her, but she feels like she can't make her own choices due to how everything is planned out. Similar to Barbie, she's sweet and humble, but unlike her doesn't seem aware of what the outside world is like. She definitely proves herself in the climax. The message of the movie is pretty spot on, in how you shouldn't have to conform to what other people expect of you. That is definitely universal. While some things in the narrative could be fixed, this is something I can definitely watch over and over again.
See also
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