31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun Movie for Older Girls - Great Soundtrack, June 16, 2006
I am the mother of a six year old girl and she loves Barbie. When this movie came out I was skeptical. The movie is deffinitely aimed at an older audience than the previous Barbie movies. I got it, and sat down with my daughter because I had a feeling it was not going to be what she expected. Of course some questions came up as a result of the storyline, and I answered them in a way she could understand. (why are they so skinny? was one of them, also why do they have boyfriends?) The truth is that she ended up getting bored and walking off to play.
That being said, I enjoyed the movie as a mature adult. It reminded me of the brat pack type 80s movies like Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles. It was fun for me to watch. I think that older girls will relate to this Barbie movie more than any of the other Barbie movies released so far.
The Barbie Diaries has a sweet story, not very original but deffinitely entertaining for an older audience. The animation is not great but it does have a style all its own (very different from the Barbie princess movies). The DVD has some extras but for the most part nothing that is very impressive.
There is one outstanding feature of this movie that must be pointed out and that is the soundtrack. Even my daughter loved it. In fact she asked to watch the Skye Sweetnam video over and over, "playing" along with her guitar and pretending to be a rock star. The sountrack is catchy and is really good if you like girl pop-rock music. I would love to get these songs on a CD. This is a soundtrack I would deffinitely buy. It's a real shame that so far the soundtrack is not available for purchase.
All in all, I would say that for older girls this movie will probably be fun to own. For grown-ups who enjoyed the high-school crush movies of the 1980s this movie will also be enjoyable. If you are looking for something a little girl will like, you will probably be better off with one of the other Barbie movies, or you should wait for the next one this fall: The 12 Dancing Princesses.
I gave the movie 4 stars because although it is not as good as the other Barbie movies, it does cater to the interests of its intended audience, and it addresses issues that they relate to. Bottomline - It's better than many other teeny bopper movies out there and it has a better soundtrack than most standard pre-teen fare.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not for young children!, July 20, 2006
Warning to Moms of young children. I let my 4 year watch this movie. She adores it and I did not think I had anything to worry about with it until she started saying "I Hate My Life". When I asked her where she learned to say that and she said from the Barbie movie. Sure enough, that's what Barbie says in it. I am shocked phrases like this were in a Barbie movie and I am very disappointed
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66 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Should be rated in advance, January 27, 2006
Very disappointed by the preview. My daughter loves all of the Barbie videos and is now very interested in a video that highlights "sophmore year," and "did he kiss you?!" comments.
Up until now Barbie videos have been based on fantasy play and imaginative play and this new viedo applies to real life situations that are too old for the crowd of girls it has always appealed to.
Lions Gate or Mattel has, in my opinion, missed the mark on this one. Any parent who buys this Barbie Diaries video for their young daughter is just wishing their youth away.
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