By MICHELLE WILLSON, Features Editor
The Barbie movie franchise is just as good as I remember.
This week, I decided to relive my childhood and watch two of the Barbie movies.
First, I watched the “Barbie and the Princess and the Pauper,” an absolutely flawless movie. To be honest, the graphics are worse than I remember, but it just adds to the nostalgia.
Not to mention that the songs are amazing. I am a little upset that they ended up giving one of the best songs to one of the worst villains. Do I think it’s the best song because I am an alto and I can actually sing it? Maybe. But still.
If you haven’t watched it, the movie follows a princess and a seamstress who look exactly the same. The princesses country is about to go bankrupt, and her mom is going to marry her off to a neighboring prince to save them. But the queen’s adviser, Priminger, has some other ideas.
He struck gold in a mine, and he wants to be the one to save the country by forcing one of the women to marry him. He ends up kidnapping the princess in hopes that it will cancel the wedding to the prince so he can step in and save the day.
The only thing that I don’t like about this movie is how creepy Priminger is. He is an old man who wants the young princess to marry him, and it’s written off as normal. Even as a child, this situation did not sit right with me. I do not think it’s a good message to put in a children’s movie because it makes it seem normal, and that could lead to some really bad real life situations.
I think what I liked so much about this movie growing up is that, through the princess’s help, it’s the pauper who ends up really stepping in and saving the day —and the cats.
Serafina and Wolfie are the princess’s and the pauper’s cats, who also have a love story in the movie, and they end up with lots of little kittens that are so cute.
The second Barbie movie I watched this week was “Barbie on Swan Lake.” This one I don’t remember watching as much as a child, but it still brought a sense of nostalgia.
The whole movie is basically Barbie telling a story to a camper at the camp she works at. It follows this girl who kind of lived a poor life. She sees a unicorn and follows it into a magical forest.
She ends up saving the unicorn, and the creatures of the forest realize she’s the one in their prophecy. The land is being taken over by an evil wizard, and she’s the only one who can save them.
The wizard has been turning people into animals, and eventually, she gets turned into a swan. The only way for her to get changed back into a human and stay that way is if she has someone confess their true love to her.
But the evil wizard tries to stop that from happening by transforming his daughter to look exactly like the human form of the girl.
Both of these movies are really well laid out. Some of the Barbie movies have taken stories from others and use them as their own, which I don’t mind. It’s not like I’m expecting a surprise ending.
I give both these movies 5 out of 5 stars, mostly because they helped me relive my childhood. But I also love the old animation styles and the colors used.
I recommend these movies to anyone who has or hasn’t seen the Barbie movies. If you have seen them and like them, absolutely watch them again. It’s a whole new experience watching them when you’re older.
If you haven’t, I suggest starting with “Barbie and Princess and the Pauper,” mostly because that’s my favorite. And I honestly don’t think any other movie will top that.