Barbie: Princess Charm School

Thankfully, this Barbie movie wasn't released in cinemas like the last film & clearly Mattel knew what was clearly intended as a direct to DVD film should stay as a direct to DVD film, even if they made a big profit out of it the first (and hopefully last) time when they decided to bring one of their obvious cashgrabbers to the big screen! So does this movie show Barbie's charm can get her straight As, or is this as bad as getting detention? Let's find out!

Story: It's your typical rags to riches plot with Blair going to Princess Charm School, not fitting in, realizing her self worth, becoming popular and possibly the most contrived part of it all, finding out she's the rightful heir to the throne where her school is as her birth mother was Queen of Gardania! It's not bad, but others have done it better! I will say the idea is interesting & had potential, but it comes with many flaws & plot holes! The 'Charm school' to train princesses is treated much more like a finishing school! Seriously, if they wanted to make it a finishing school, then make it a finishing school! Not once do they ever bring up the political side of running a kingdom & would rather focus on grace & poise or learning to dance etc! In fact, the whole concept is pretty ridiculous considering being a princess is mostly derived from your birthright, not some fancy degree! And choosing a commoner for a scholarship via lottery is just stupid! It doesn't really help that they try to add in a romance between Blair & this other boy from the Prince Charming School which is rushed & forgotten until the very end! And the villain's plot, again makes no sense! Seriously, if she killed her sister in law (who may I remind you was a queen & her brother king) & wants to live her dream of being a princess through her daughter, shouldn't she already be a princess in the first place? I can see the concept of all of this, but it's really watred down with the generic plots & pretentiousness!

 

Animation: I will give it this, the animation is an improvement over the last installments. The character designs aren't as creepy (at least on the women anyway) & the texturing on the skin & hair is a small step up, even if it still looks plastic-y & underdefined. The character animation is also an improvement, but you can tell when they use motion capture & it sticks out like a sore thumb. The backgrounds of the charm school look pretty good like a finishing school but with a modern flair, but it's much more underdefined. If there is something that really has improved, it would be the texturing on the clothing, even if it looks like they've put the texturing over the model rather than trying to make it look & feel like what it's supposed to be, like silk & leather. And I'll give them credit that the designs of the costumes themselves actually look good! The animation is improving, I'll give them that, but it's really just baby steps.

 

Characters: Blair Willows/Princess Sophia is clearly supposed to be like Mia from The Princess Diaries being a fish out of water/underdog stereotype that is clumsy, but I'll give them credit that she's a huge improvement over other Barbie protagonists. Her adoptive mother is the generic loving mother who's sick & needs money for proper health care & her sister Emily is a huge princess fangirl that entered Blair into the lottery draw hundreds of times for the scholarship! Delancey is the stereotypical blonde bitch from every high school movie but then changes her mind once she realizes howcontrolling her mother is (who by the way is a terrible villain even though she killed her own sister in-law). Blair's friends Isla & Hadley, are the token brunette & Asian friends who love sports & music and are there to make Blair appear more perfect despite being clumsy, and her Prince Charming Prince Nicholas is just the generic love interest & also likes her for who she is! And the comedy relief fairy (because everything is better with pink fairies!) sidekicks are also annoying & useless! But then there's Portia...and she is freaking intolerable in this! All she is is a vapid airheaded side character to the villain is take things literally all in an annoying voice! She is easily the worst character in this movie & is a bad influence to girls everywhere! Although the protagonist is better than others I've seen in the Barbie movies, it's all dragged down 6 feet under with generic & annoying side characters!

 

Overall, while I can see a concept & the animation is better, this movie is a generic mess with a dull story & characters that nobody cares about. I'm not sure who I really can recommend this to, little girls may like the whole princess thing & the main character, but that's about it! There's nothing for the parents to like, even if it tries to be serious & having the villain actually murder the main character's mother!
Story: 3/10
Animation: 4/10
Characters: 2/10
Overall: 3/10