Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return

This animated film has a pretty complicated history. I heard about it a few years ago & was intrigued by it as it had an all-star voice cast, but there wasn't really much promotion other than some behind the scenes videos, interviews with the cast & some stills. Also, it was originally titled Dorothy of Oz & is also based on one of the more recent books in the Oz series, which had the same name as it's original title. The movie also had a lot of delays for no reason whatsoever, but I'm guessing it was so it could be out around the time when other Oz related things in the media became popular like Wicked, Oz: The Great & Powerful & Once Upon A Time when it had a plot involving Oz & the Wicked Witch of the West in the third season. Anyway, directed by 2 former Disney animators & having it's all star cast under it's belt, will this movie bring back the nostalgia of the 1939 classic, or will it make me feel like falling asleep in a field full of poppies? Let's go somewhere over the rainbow & find out!

Story: Since this is a Wizard of Oz sequel that is based on a book, you'd think they'd keep in the same continuity of the original movie! Actually wrong! This pays as much tribute to the original movie as much as 100 yard dash for people with no sense of direction! I mean, Kansas looks like it's set in modern times with cars being used & the characters wearing modern-ish clothing, despite the fact that the first film was set in the early 1900s! It doesn't really help that the continuity is all over the place in it's own story, which makes the movie feel confusing overall! It doesn't really help that the overall premise is essentially a watered down version of the original film as the characters, old & new express nothing as to why we should care for them & the pacing is just so tedious & slow. I'm not gonna lie, I felt like falling asleep when watching it! It doesn't really help that there are subplots like the romance between Marshal Mallow & the China Princess and Wiser wanting to fly are either forgotten then come back as if we had to remember, or end up going nowhere once they are resolved. Also, the parallels with Oz & Kansas this time round are just so pretentious & treat the audience as if they're stupid & the message is just hand fisted so hard! In fact, this whole movie just doesn't feel like a Wizard of Oz movie/sequel half the time as they don't even mention things at all like the ruby slippers, the Wizard himself, the poppy field & when Dorothy also killed the Wicked Witch of the East! I know that you could argue that it wants to be it's own version of The Wizard of Oz, but the few things mentioned are evidently from the 1939 film! Overall, with a poorly written & executed story with confusing logic, it results in a boring, generic & overall heartless story!

Animation: Although this is made by the same people behind the Tinker Bell movies, this is somehow much worse! Yes, animation is mostly dependent on budget, but here, it's just amateur! If it wanted to look 'good' then they should've at least made it direct to DVD as it doesn't come close to theatrical quality compared to other animated films out there! The character designs seem like they're going to for cartoony/Disney style, but it really doesn't fit well into computer animation & it doesn't help that their eyes most of the time look dead & lifeless. The character animation is also pretty stiff & at times looks like pretty lazy in that they couldn't be bothered to make the characters express emotion through their movements. But this is nothing compared to the texturing which is awful! Things like the china on the China people, the fur on the Cowardly Lion and candy in Candy Land doesn't loook or feel like what it's supposed to be. As for the backgrounds, although it doesn't really feel like Oz, it does look nice. I will admit that the China Kingdom, Cave of the Fireflies & Candy Land do look pretty nice to look at, if you can ignore the poor texturing & the fact we barely look at them thanks to the poor pacing. Anyway, I'll also say that the special effects like the tornadoes and Jester's magic are also nice to look at & actually make the film look good. Despite that, the movie can look pretty (I think unintentionally anyway) scary, especially in the scenes with the puppets, the Jester's magic or when the characters make unintentionally scary faces directly at the camera! However, the rendering on the humans & overall quality of the movie avoid the animation from being anything past 'OK'.

 

Characters: Remember when the Wizard of Oz characters were all loveable & memorable? Yeah, now they're completely butchered! Dorothy, voiced by Glee's Lea Michele, is now a generic heroine with barely any character or development. I didn't really care for her so next! The Jester, voiced by Martin Short, is just there to be the central conflict and nothing else. Even if he's the Wicked Witch of the West's brother, his backstory is pretty weak & his motivation to take over Oz is just the same as his sister's in the last movie! Scarecrow, voiced by Dan Akroyd, Tin Man, voiced by Kelsey Grammer & Lion, voiced by Jim Belushi are pretty much unrecognisable thanks to the changes since the last movie & have lost all of their charm. Glinda, voiced by Broadway legend Bernadette Peters is barely in the movie other than to cause nightmare fuel & because she was in the last movie! Seriously, she doesn't even have a song despite her voice actress! As for the new characters, they are no better as they have no motivation other than to help Dorothy, they have no depth to them & are just blank slates! Wiser, voiced by Oliver Platt, is a fat owl whose schtick just talks a lot (depsite ironically not talking for much of the movie), the China Princess, voiced by Megan Hilty, is just a selfish brat that eventually becomes Marshal Mallow's love interest & is pretty much useless after their 'arc' has ended & Marshal Mallow, voiced by Hugh Dancy, is a 'sweet' man with authority that is just there to be in love with the China Princess. Oh yeah, and there's Tugg/Tank, voiced by Patrick Stewart, a boat/catapult made from an aging tree who has no personality & is only there so Dorothy & her new friends can get into some conflict as well as for transport & to help during the big fight near the end. Other than that, the characters are all hollow, lifeless & horribly butchered! Doesn't really help the voice acting is pretty bad!

Songs: Remember when the 1939 film had some of the greatest songs of all time like Over The Rainbow & The Merry Old Land of Oz? Yeah, that doesn't exist here! Although I personally love animated musicals, all of the songs in this are just bland, unforgettable & worst of all, modernized! When The World Turns Upside Down is this movies really abysmal attempt to re-enact Over The Rainbow, but it's not memorable & doesn't stand well as an I Want type of song. The Candy Song is just awful with a rock feel to it which is bland & forgettable as well as filler. But it's not as bad as Work With Me which has no purpose at all to be in the movie at all besides the characters having nothing else to do to stretch the running time to 90 minutes! And it also features a cameo from Bryan Adams as a singing beaver! The Jester's song is possibly the worst villain's song I've heard in a while, isn't memorable & is just there because the movie needs a villain's song and for Martin Short to sing (even though freaking Bernadette Peters doesn't sing at all) Even Then is the obligatory love song which features Dorothy for no reason other than Lea Michele needs to be featured in almost every song in the movie! The songs just give the movie a dated feeling with the pop twists to them & are just there because the 1939 film was also a musical! This is an example of why you should carefully consider who you should hire to compose the musical numbers in your movie since Bryan Adams did them for this! Of course they're gonna have a crappy pop guitar motif!

Overall, this is one of the laziest animated films I've ever seen & is pretty much the antithesis of the original 1939 film! Rather than a heartwarming story, this one is cliched, confusing & inconsistent. Rather than beautiful & groundbreaking visuals, this one has amateur & freaky visuals with nothing to show off. Rather than memorable & loveable characters, this one has generic characters not worth caring about. And finally, rather than timeless & classic songs which have become hallmarks in cinema, this one has dated & unecessary songs! I highly recommend avoiding this film & sticking with the 1939 film! Or if you want a good Wizard of Oz sequel, them watch Disney's Return to Oz, even if the visuals are scarier, but they're intentional as the special effects are incredible & the story & characters are creative & actually stick to the continuity of the books.
Story: 2/10
Animation: 4/10
Characters: 2/10
Songs: 2/10
Overall: 2/10

Jammin' In Jamaica

This is the first movie from the MyScene series & thankfully, the last Barbie related movie I'll be reviewing in a while unless I review The Secret Door & Princess Power when they come out. Oh the joy...! Released in about 2003 and like Masquerade Madness, this one came with any My Scene doll you got, and again, I got one (Chelsea I think it was) when on sale & on a whim since I heard about the movie & wanted to watch it. Yeah, I was 8, I liked anything Barbie/Bratz/My Scene at the time! And thankfully, unlike Masquerade Madness which couldn't even scrape 30 minutes, this one has a running time of about 45 minutes! At least then the money can feel like it ws actually spent on something time consuming! Anyway, can sunny Jamaica make this movie feel like a holiday to watch, or will this feel like being on the holiday from hell? Well, let's find out!

Story: In this one, the MyScene girls go to Jamaica while the guys' band Urban Desire are there for a competition with Madison as their manager. Beforehand, Barbie, Chelsea & Nolee had to earn money themselves to get there as only the band got the free trip. This coincides with a subplot of Barbie feeling like her boyfriend River has no time for her due to band rehearsals & spends most of his time with Madison, getting jealous. Then when she catches them hugging after they tell each other their friendship is purely platonic, she runs away causing the band to get disqualified as River turned up late for rehearsals cos he was looking for Barbie. When Barbie realizes the truth, she makes up for it by setting up an afterparty for the competition with the band performing & a guy from a record company gives them a recording contract. It's not bad as it's mostly original with avoiding the cliche of the band winning the competition, but the fact that Barbie spends most of the time whining over it makes it hard to sympathise with her& Madison does tend to be a bit clingy with River. Other than that, the movie just consists of montages of them on the beaches in Jamaica & Ellis wanting to ask the new member of the group Delancey out, which is very quickly resolved by the end. I will say thankfully they don't go the stereotype route with the people of Jamaica or it's portrayal of the island, but besides that, the plot is meh. Not good, but not bad either.

Animation: Yeah, like the other 2 MyScene films, the animation is pretty subpar. The character designs are the same with the realistic/doll-like look, but this time a bit worse as the guys are nowhere near as polished. The character animation is a bit stiff & again, the CGI backgrounds are pretty jarring. The backgrounds of New York & Jamaica are surprisingly generic as New York mostly consits of streets or Jamaica mostly being on beaches or at one point, a small market which is never seen again. Another problem I have is that it's blatantly obvious when they loop or repeat different bits of animation over & over, pretty much showing how low budget it was. Honestly, there's not much to say about the animation. It's cheap quality just like the others except this time a bit worse!

Characters: Like the other MyScene movies, the characters can easily be categorised by their character traits. Barbie this time round is still the same, but she often whines & complains about her boyfriend not spending enough time with her even though he's in the middle of for a very important competition which could GET HIM A RECORD DEAL! If I were her, I'd support him & let him be able to have time to rehearse. Madison also got on my nerves as she was pretty egotistical & clingy with River even if she says she wouldn't be with him. Chelsea & Nolee are oddly barely in it besides it being a My Scene movie & Delancey, Chelsea's cousin & the newest MyScene member is a sporty surfer girl, but that's all there is to her. The guys pretty much have no personality besides being fun loving & River being a loving boyfriend despite having to spend most of his time focusing on the competition or Sutton being a flirty British DJ member of the group. There's not much else to say other than that their personalities are pretty much as plastic as the dolls!

 

Overall, this one is meh with a predictable story, worse animation compared to the others & cliched characters. I'm not really sure I can recommend this to anyone, but I will say that the songs Urban Desire sing are worth listening to as they're actually pretty good. This one feels the most unecessary and is the most evident one with being a cashgrabber for the dolls.
Story: 4/10
Animation: 3/10
Characters: 3/10
Overall: 3/10

Masquerade Madness

This is the second one in the MyScene franchise (yeah, I'm kind of doing this backwards) & came free with a MyScene doll in the Masquerade Madness line. I did get a Barbie one for Christmas which came with the DVD & I loved it when I was younger! And I'm guessing my parents had to pay a lot of money if it came with a DVD since everything with dolls are overpriced these days! Anyway, can this movie show that the price was worth it or was it too extortionate for the additional cost? Let's find out! And by the way, there are little to no stills I could find online so I had to get creative!

Story: The main plot involves the girls doing a fashion show as part of a fundraising project for their school while the main conflict comes from Chelsea having to hide the fact that she's failing maths & Hudson is tutoring her while having to make the costumes for the show. And there's another subplot which connects to the conflict as the girls are hiding the fact they're doing a surprise party for Chelsea at Madison's & Delancey has to do her best to not tell her despite being terrible at keeping secrets. I will give them credit that it does deal with realistic problems with teenagers like studying with Chelsea's subplot about Hudson tutoring her with maths & having to lie that she's secretly going out with him. But then half the time, it's mostly the secrets being hidden & them organising Chelsea's birthday party & the fashion show which the movie is leading up to. You could argue there's no plot as there's no antagonist or proper goal or 3 act structure, but at least there's conflict. Overall, it's just OK. Not awful but not all that great either.

Animation: Yeah, like in MyScene goes Hollywood, the animation is pretty subpar. The movie in a whole feels like it was made on Flash with the 2D characters, even if the character animation itself is pretty good. But I will say that sometimes, they tend to just freeze the animation & have them blink from time to time, in particular during the phone call scene, and it is a bit weird to watch. Another problem I had was the CGI backgrounds, which were very jarring with the 2D characters. even if the backgrounds themselves actually looked good from a production design point of view. Also,the costume designs look good for the fashion show. There's not much else to say about the animation other than that it's OK.

Characters: Even if they kind of have their own arcs, all the girls feel like the same character. Barbie is, Madison is the token sassy black friend (and is more toelrable than she was in MyScene Goes Hollywood), Nolee is the token Asian friend that's smart & meditates, Chelsea is the rehead fashion loving friend & Delancey is the sports loving girl that has to lie that she has a crush on Hudson as she's terrible at keeping secrets. OK, yes they're cliched, but at least their dynamic as friends is good. If anything, the boys are more entertaining than the girls, like Hudson being forced into the situation with Chelsea while tutoring her in maths & actually having a crush on her. Ellis is the surfer dude type and is Delancey's boyfriend, Sutton is the British friend & River is nothing more than Barbie's boyfriend that likes rock music. There's not much to say, they can all easily be defined by the stereotype rather than being given any development! Well, at least they're not hateable or intolerable.

 

 

Overall, Masquerade Madness is pointless. The plot isn't anything new or does anything exciting, the animation is direct to DVD quality & the characters are all stereotypes of stereotypes. I'm not really sure I can recommend this to anyone cos honestly, I found it boring & almost instantly forgot everything about it. Maybe MyScene fans will, but there's no doubt that this was made to get a quick buck for the dolls as it's not even 30 minutes long.
Story: 4/10
Animation: 4/10
Characters: 3/10
Overall: 4/10

MyScene goes Hollywood: The Movie

Since I'm done with doing all 27 Barbie movies so far, I thought I might as well do the MyScene movies starting with MyScene Goes Hollywood: The Movie. This direct to video movie was the first full length movie for the franchise MyScene, a more mature version of Barbie about 5 girls (including Barbie herself) living in New York together with their boyfriends. This one is particularly notable as it stars an actual Hollywood actress! Who is it you may ask? I'm not kidding people, the queen of rehab and craziness herself Lindsay Lohan! And obviously, this was made before it all happened, around her Mean Girls era when she was still a teen icon! Pretty much dates the movie instantly! Anyway, can this movie show that the girls can make this feel like a major Hollywood flick, or is this one big flop? Let's find out! And by the way, there's still Masquerade Madness & Jammin In Jamaica to do for this!

Story: Since the title has Hollywood in it, you'd think it would be about the girls going on a trip to Hollywood & meeting Lindsay Lohan. Actually no! In this, the girls ends up becoming extras in a spy flick filmed in New York starring Lindsay Lohan after Delancy lies to a security guard to get onto the set! And somehow, they never bother to check on them! Not only that, but Westley (in the UK & Europe, we called her Westley, in the US she's Madison) ends up in a small role after the original actress breaks her leg & fame goes into her head despite the fact she only has 5 lines in the movie! I mean, 5 lines is literally nothing yet she acts like she's one of the main actors hanging out with Lindsay & blowing off her friends! Yes, it's that kind of plot! The one with the 'fame going into a girl's head & blowing off friends until realizing the error of her ways and friendship is the most important thing' plot like every chick flick ever made! Seriously, isn't that similar to Mean Girls?! Another Lindsay Lohan movie but better because is made fun of teen social commentary?! But in this case, Westley is freaking intolerable! Even Barbie lampshades that she only has 5 lines, her character has no character & that they probably won't remember her once they go back to LA to finish shooting! It's predictable from top to bottom! And it is a bit strange that they act like they're the main stars at the red carpet premiere at the end! Oh yeah, and Chelsea is the butt monkey in her own little subplot as she gets parts like 'Sweat Girl', 'Muck Girl' and 'Trash Girl' in the movie & Delancey has a running gag about being at the craft service table! It doesn't really help that the movie pads itself out with a ton of montages which don't further the story! Well, it is interesting that they do show some parts of behind the scenes of movie making like the trailers, costumes, director & even spoofing bloopers! Unfortunately, the main plot in itself is just generic & predictable.

Animation: Since this is direct to DVD, the animation quality is pretty much the same! The character designs are pretty much the same as the dolls, expect not as caricatured with the facial features, even if at times, the girls don't look like they have noses. And it doesn't really help the lip synching is off. The character animation isn't that bad, and I will say some of the spy scenes for the movie are actually choreographed well, and they do a good job on animating horses. The backgrounds most of the time look generic despite the fact that it's set in New York. Unfortunately, like I said, it's a direct to DVD film, and therefore, the quality is not all that great. Most of the time, there's no lighting & makes the characters look completely flat with no dimension! Also, not only do the backgrounds look generic, the exterior scenes are mostly in CGI and the quality is pretty bad, as well as the editing being pretty weird! Well, I will say it's better than the webseries they did!

 

Characters: Barbie is the obligatory leader who is the most level headed one when it comes to Westley blowing her and her friends off, Chelsea is the red-head fashion loving girl, Nolee is the Asian who loves yoga, Delancey is the sporty chick who always eats at the craft service table & Westley is now an egotistical bitch who is just intolerable and is embarassed by her friends despite the fact she only has 5 lines in a very tiny role! Boy, that's a load of hard work, do you need a bloody publicist and agent while you're at it?! Lindsay Lohan is Lindsay Lohan...from 10 years ago! Actually, she pretty much has no personality besides just being a down to earth actress, except Lohan herself sounds like she doesn't really give a crap! Ryan Ridley is just a douchebag leading Westley to believe that she's his girlfriend all for the sake of publicity! And the girl's boyfriends can be funny, but they're really there to either be idiots like Ellis and Hudson around Lindsay or to be arm candy for the girls! That's about it for the characters. They're all either bland, boring or very annoying!

 

 

Overall, this is pretty weak with a cliched story, bad animation (better than the CGI Barbie movies anyway) & characters as thin as tissue paper. It's pretty obvious that Miss Lohan was used as a marketing tool to get people to buy the movie as well as the dolls & I don't really blame her for not really caring as her performance clearly showed! And did I forget to mention HARVEY WIENSTEIN IS IN THIS MOVIE?! And considering how the Weinstein Company usually treats their animated films, this one was pretty much set up to be a lost cause! Anyway, I can only really recommend this to people who want to say they watched every Lindsay Lohan movie or those who like/d MyScene!
Story: 3/10
Animation: 4/10
Characters: 3/10
Overall: 3/10

Barbie: The Pearl Princess

Finally, onto the last Barbie movie for now (well, I may review Barbie & The Secret Door once it comes out next month) & the most recent one in the third generation Barbie movies being released in February of this year, The Pearl Princess. And no, it's not a spin-off or sequel to the Mermaid Tale series as the main character is called Lumina (what the hell kind of name is that?) & Oceana doesn't appear once. Anyway, can this movie be as pretty as a pearl, or is it as insufferable as having to untangle a pearl necklace? Let's find out!

Story: In this one, Barbie stars as Lumina, a mermaid capable of magically controlling pearls for beauty purposes & is meant to keep it hidden from everyone because of her aunt, gets a job as a stylist near the castle & turns out to be a princess (which is unsubtly implied & blatantly obviously revealed the first 10 minutes of the movie) even though the villain wants to kill her parents & have his wimpy son be king instead. Isn't that like A Mermaid Tale? And Princess Charm School? And Tangled? And The Little Mermaid? This is the result! It is literally the plot of those of those Barbie movies & Disney movies put into one! This is pure laziness & it surprises me as the plots were slowly getting better, and I say 'better' very loosely. It doesn't really help that they try to add pop culture references like Star Wars & Lady Gaga which date the movie instantly & put in a ton of padding at the beginning as well as making 'big twists' & foreshadowing feel really anticlimatic! But the biggest issue I have next to the copying other movies & lack of originality is the very slow pacing. It honestly felt like an eternity to watch & there were barely any segways into different scenes & they felt like they were dragging on & on when it was unecessary. Overall, a cliched mess which we've seen many times before!

 

Animation: Yet again, the animation does look a bit more more polished, but is still subpar. I will say that they do a bit better in the world looking like it's underwater, even if it's just shoehorning some bubbles here & there & the scenes of the ocean are very nice to look at. And I'll also say that the magical effects have also had an upgrade as well as being colourful (and by that, I mean full of pink & purple) Also, the character animation is stiff again, & for some reason sped up to make it seem more fluid. And I'll admit, the texturing on the scales of each type of fish was a mild improvement compared to before as well as the seaweed & lighting on the sea & the backgrounds actually do look nice. Honestly, this is one of the few times where the animation is the highlight in a Barbie movie, even if it still doesn't look all that great.

 

Characters: In this one, Lumina is pretty much the cliched fun loving princess-y character that is able to change the colours of magical pearls & wishes to be independant despite being told not to but breaks the rules anyway never thinking about the consequences & gets a job as a stylist. Yeah, the parallels between her & Ariel from The Little Mermaid are unavoidable! Her best friend Kuda, a seahorse, is the annoying obligatory animal sidekick with nothing else on her, moving on! Her Aunt Scyilla is the overprotective guardian that hides the fact Lumina is a princess from her in order to protect her from the villain Caligo & has to make the posion for him to kill Lumina's parents. Caligo is the cliched villain that want his son the be king like the Fairy Godmother from Shrek 2 & to also kill the king and queen in the process. Fergis is his wimpy & clumsy son of wishes to be a botanist instead of king & falls in love with Cora. He annoyed the hell out of me as did Murray, an eel which reminded me of Kaa from The Jungle Book as well as Flotsam & Jetsom from The Little Mermaid. Spike is the friend Lumina makes on her trip to the castle that looks 'scary' but really is shy & wants to make friends that is forgotten until the last 20 minutes of the film...a little bit cliched huh? Cora is the obligatory other new friend that falls in love with Fergis & Prince Delphin is the obligatory love interest with no personality whatsoever & barely has any screen time. Overall, too many characters with little to no development or personality!

 

Overall, this is a pretty weak one with a story that has been told millions of times with nothing new & one dimensional & boring characters, but oddly enough some decent animation this time round. I'm not really sure who to recommend this to as the quality overall is not all that great & didn't really need to be made in the first place. With The Secret Door coming out, I wonder what route the Barbie movies will take as oddly enough, the third generation is actually getting better as the movies progress. Albeit, very very slowly!
Story: 2/10
Animation: 5/10
Characters: 2/10
Overall: 4/10

Barbie and her Sisters in a Pony Tale

This would be the second Barbie movie to feature her & all of her three sisters (Skipper, Stacie & Chelsea) doing something together after A Perfect Christmas (like I mentioned, it's going on my Animation Advent Calendar this year) and this time round, it has more girlyness by adding horses and ponies into the mix. This one also features Kelly Sheridan as Barbie rather than Diana Kaarina despite being a different Barbie movie compared to the others & being made by a different animation studio, Arc Productions, compared to the other ones (this also happens to be their first feature length film to animate). Anyway, does this movie show that Barbie, pink & horses go well together, or is it as bad as cleaning out a horse's stable? Well, let's find out!

Story: In this one, Barbie, Skipper, Stacie & Chelsea Roberts (yes, their last name is finally mentioned in a Barbie movie) go to their aunt's ranch/riding academy in the Alps as there is a tournament going on which pretty much means the fate of the ranch is in it's hands as the prize is money & they need it for the academy to remain open as they may have to sell it due to a lack of students going. Yes, it's that kind of plot where they have to save something which means so much to them like every other movie. And it's as cliched as it gets! There's another plot with Barbie discovering a type of horse breed that has been hidden & the villain doesn't want them to be known for no reason whatsoever. They do try & add subplots for Skipper, Stacie & Chelsea, but they're either forgotten, not important, or really annoying. It doesn't really help that there's barely any pacing & it feels like an eternity despite being just over 70 minutes. Even if it's nice to see a movie just about Barbie & her sisters, the plot is cliched & honestly pretty boring.

 

Animation: Since this is technically the first time I'm talking about the animation since this is the same company that did A Perfect Christmas, the animation is pretty different. The character designs are much more plastic-y and cartoony looking & it is very creepy to look at, despite the much improved rendering on the hair models. The character animation is also pretty stiff, even if it fare better on the animals, specifically the horses. One part that particularly impressed me was the use of 2D animation in the flashback sequence about the Majestiques, being very stylized with the animation on the horses. The backgrounds of the Alps do look pretty nice as well as the academy itself looking pretty good, despite the poor rendering. I will also say that the texturing on the grass, trees & water looks much better than before. Even if the animation on the people isn't all that great & sometimes looks more like a PC game, at least the backgrounds do look nice.

 

Characters: In this one, Barbie is the oldest that's a natural at horse riding & is the one that decides to train a rare Majestique. That's about it. Skipper is the technology obsessed teen that doesn't want to ride & would rather post on her blog. Stacie is annoying & has trouble with handling her horse & Chelsea is the youngest and is easily the most annoying one out of them that whines and complains that she has a small pony compared to the others despite being a bit too small for them. Heck, she's the one that causes the conflict near the end by stupidly deciding to try & ride a bigger horse during the party & has no consequences to her despite causing an injury to Etienne. Monsieur Etienne is the over the top riding master with a very stereotypical French design & accent but has a good heart, Max & Marie are brother & sister with the former being very proper & organised while the latter is wild & fun loving. Phillipe, the villain & owner of the rival riding academy, has no reason to be evil & hide the Majestiques at all besides the fact the movie needs a villain. Jonas is Skipper's love interest despite being in the rival academy, Marlene is the aunt that owns the academy & I think that's it for the characters. Overall, they're one dimensional or annoying!

 

Overall, this one is pretty pointless besides having a Barbie movie with horses. Although the animation is OK, the plot is cliched & boring & the characters are either one dimensional or annoying! I'm not really sure I can recommend this to anyone. Equestrian lovers might not like that there's hardly any dressage, but maybe little girls that would like to horse ride might.

Story: 2/10

Animation: 4/10

Characters: 3/10

Overall: 3/10

Barbie: Mariposa & the Fairy Princess

Yep, after 5 long years, Barbie: Mariposa and her Butterfly Fairy Friends got a sequel! Seriously, I thought it would be the last time we got into the Fairytopia series/spin-offs! Wouldn't kids that watched the first Mariposa film have grown out of the Barbie/Fairytopia movies by now? But nope! Let's just hope that Elina & Bibble don't annoy me if they actually appear (which thanfully, they don't)! Anyway, unlike the last one, Kelly Sheridan is the one to voice the Mariposa character unlike before where they got voice actress Chiara Zanni (AKA the first Barbie character to not be voiced by Kelly Sheridan or Diana Kaarina) Anyway, can Mariposa actually be able to fly to the top second time round in this movie, or is it as mediocre as the first Barbie Mariposa movie? Let's find out!

Story: Like A Mermaid Tale 2, this movie recaps the events of the first film, which is used creatively (and I really mean with a generic storybook opening) & is often used to explain the past events of the movie. Overall, the plot is a generic culture clash one due to a misunderstanding, which coincides with the friendship between Mariposa & Princess Catania. It's just so generic & predictable that it literally took me 5 minutes to guess the whole plot when watching the opening. Even Delgo did it better! It doesn't really help that the villain's plot is also generic & cliched, the plot of Mariposa needing to bring peace between the butterfly and crystal fairies has been told already like Pocahontas. Heck, they even use the annoying sidekicks to parallel the conflict like it said movie! It doesn't really help that the moral of the movie is in your face & blatantly obvious involving friendship! Overall, it's a cliched piece of drivel, even if the friendship between Mariposa & Catania is kind of nice.

 

 

Animation: Compared to the first film, the animation is a massive upgrade. The character designs are much more polished compared to before & there's much more detail in the hair, skin & magical effects. Heck, even the wings are more transparent even with the colour. Also, the clothing actually moves more naturally when the fairies are flying. However, this doesn't mean that it's good overall. The character animation itself is pretty stiff & is sometimes sped up, especially in the flying scenes & it seems they still haven't got over the habit of using the same model but changing the hair colour, eye colour, skin colour & outfit after so long. Also, the backgrounds are actually more creative as we get to see more than just the world where Mariposa lives & to their credit, the rendering with the textures & lighting is a thousand times better than it's predecessor. Even if the animation is a big improvement from the first film, it still has the flaws of a direct to DVD film.

Characters: First, there's Mariposa, an intelligent yet shy and clumsy butterfly fairy that has to bring peace to the butterfly fairies & the crystal fairies due to being ambassador. She's just as generic as before. Princess Catania is the generic pretty princess despite also being shy & likes to read like Mariposa. Her father, Prince Regallius is the prejudiced closed minded dad as Mariposa's clumisness gets in the way of him seeing what butterfly fairies are really like. Zee is the incredibly annoying animal sidekick trying to copy the Minions from Despicable Me, Prince Carlos is the generic love interest & his mother is the same generic loving  & wise queen. Sorry for saying generic a lot, cos every character in this is generic! I'm gonna have to get a thesaurus in a minute Anyway, Gwyllion is the typical villain that wants revenge over King Regallius, even if her design is pretty creative & her bat sidekick is pretty much a rip-off of Bartok from Don Bluth's Anastasia. What else is there to say? They're all one dimensional, annoying & most of all, generic.

Overall, this is just as bad as the first Barbie Mariposa movie. Although the animation is better, the plot & characters are all annoying & generic. I guess fans of the first Mariposa film would like this, as well as little girls that like butterflies & fairies, but there is nothing for anyone else.
Story: 2/10
Animation: 4/10
Characters: 2/10
Overall: 3/10