Barbie: Merveilleux Noël

When I first put this on for my girls I thought I'd bought a rip off of a Barbie film or something! This is so unlike any of the other Barbie films. I have sat through all of them with my daughter with a little bit of guilty pleasure as the songs are usually fun and the story lines are well thought out. As another reviewer mentioned, the voice acting is awful and almost painful to listen to. The story line is basic and it just seems like they must have really rushed this film to get it out in time for Christmas as there was so little thought that went into it.

They definitely need to take a step back towards their older films. I disliked the changes they made recently by giving them all giant heads (!) and they always did the classic stories very well. Having said that most of the films have been fairly fun and entertaining. This was not. They definitely need to bring back Kelly Sheridan for the voice acting.

However, for a 5 year old this was good viewing. My children enjoyed it though I don't think (and hope) that it won't be one that gets chosen all the time.

The storyline and message is passable but the voice acting leaves much to be desired and the singing is TERRIBLE. I understand that they wanted Barbie to be more "modern" so they had a casting change from the original woman who voiced Barbie. But if she is going to sing she should still have a gorgeous, stunning voice. The singing voice of Barbie (and every other character) is disappointing. The songs had so much potential but I can barely stand listening to these average voices. Especially considering the singing voice Barbie used to have (Kelly Sheridan). What a let down, I hope the producers take note. Barbie is supposed to be what everyone else deems as the perfect person...good at everything...except apparently singing. Sure, her voice is more raspy and "modern" now but being modern doesn't mean you need to sing like an amateur. And what's with the child's voice? She is what, 6 or 7? Why isn't a child of that age portraying her? The animation has also gone downhill since A Mermaid Tale and Fashion Fairy Tale. I hope this is a one time flub and Mermaid Tale 2 will bring back the awesomeness of the other films. And please, if she's going to do another film where she is singing, BRING BACK KELLY SHERIDAN. What you have done to Barbie is not awesome, cool, trendy or modern. You are making her boring, average, shallow and untalented.

I thought the Barbie movie was a good holiday movie and it was good like the other ones. The musical songs were catchy if you can deal with Chelsea being annoying sometimes but all sisters are annoying but overall good watch

Barbie: A Perfect Christmas is adorable! It centers around Barbie and her sisters this time around and is different. I have no idea why a lot of people hated this movie. It's super fun and has some great music! I enjoyed the voice acting and the story. The whole idea of having the perfect Christmas where your loved ones are is terrific. Although, Chelsea was super annoying. Definitely one of the better Barbie movies!

I have made no secret of having a soft spot for the Barbie movies. Neither of them are perfect movies or among the best movies I've seen, but they're charming and mostly have their heart in the right place. I had mixed feelings on A Perfect Christmas. It is better than A Fairy Secret and Fashion Fairytale, but not as good as Nutcracker, Diamond Castle, The Prince and the Pauper and Island Princess. What I didn't like very much were the character designs which consist of big heads and eyes and tiny mouths(though thankfully Barbie doesn't look as anorexic as she did in Fashion Fairytale for instance) and the singing which not only sounded forced but completely different to the voice actors. Regarding the voice actors they aren't as stilted as in Fairy Secret and Fashion Fairytale but lacking the fluency of Rapunzel for example(plus Kelly Sheridan is sorely missed). And there are times where the dialogue is corny, though thankfully less "bad-attitude" driven Fairy Secret and Fashion Fairytale. However, the character designs aside, the backgrounds are less rough and more colourful though still not as stunning as Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Diamond Castle, and the music is very sweet and catchy. I also admired the story, which had more heart than especially Fairy Secret, and the message is of the importance of Christmas, a step in the right direction compared to the hate and vanity that Fashion Fairytale seemed to promote. The characters are well-meaning and cute in general, not as spirited as in earlier entries(Rapunzel, Three Musketeers and Nutcracker as examples) but not the stereotypical brats from Fairy Secret and Fashion Fairytale. So overall, passable, not among the best or worst of the Barbie movies. By all means it could've been better, but compared to Fairy Secret and Fashion Fairytale it could've been worse as well. 6/10 Bethany Cox