Barbie, princesse de l'île merveilleuse

Despite the title and the horrid animal animation, it was quite a charming movie!

Of course, my only complaint is the animation but it was 2007 so I cant try to look past that to enjoy this sweet and heart-warming movie.

I came to this because I had a bad experience watching the Disney "Cinderella," and wondered at what passed for acceptable these days. I chose what I thought would be the gene with the lowest standards. I picked wrong. I should have gone with preteen boy anime, because this is pretty darn good.

The animation is actually good. The rendering isn't naturalistic, but since this is supposed to be a doll, its apt. What struck me was how natural the movements of the princess (played by Barbie) were. I think this must have been a marketing decision, because if I recall the doll itself is stiff. The decision to have the girl play with what could be sold as stuffed animals also clearly influenced the story.

The story itself was pretty standard; one arc but with enough elaboration to qualify as long form.

But what made this stand out was the music. This was actually a very professional assembly, on the order of production values every bit as good as your standard Broadway musical. Naturally, the songs are pulled from that formula book. There's nothing to get excited about in terms of depth; its just that this was not taken lightly. The little girls who watch this, at least get the respect of not being taken for granted.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

I have a 18 month old daughter and a 3 1/2 year old son and if there is any one video in their small collection that will keep them BOTH happy, its the Barbie series. I have a couple of them and so far, this one is the favorite of my entire family. Even my husband LOVED it, which is saying a lot since he's not into Barbie. The music is so wonderful and catchy. I had to hunt down the "I Need to Know" song for my husband's Ipod, I do encourage you to find it. You can purchase it online. There is a UK cd available as well. This is a great video and I hope they continue to produce more Barbie Musical videos. I'm already planning on a Barbie themed Christmas this year for my daughter. She may not be able to play with the toys, just yet, but she will have them when she can. I do recommend this video as well as the other Barbie vids in this series. They are great for all ages.

I do think the Barbie movies deserve more respect than they do. None are among my favourite movies of all time and none are the best movies I've seen, but I find them cute, entertaining and charming with good morals, nice characters and the animation and music are also not bad at all and generally get better. The Island Princess is in my top 5 favourites of the movies, alongside Nutcracker, Diamond Castle, Prince and the Pauper and 12 Dancing Princesses(I also have a soft spot for Rapunzel and Swan Lake as well as they were along with Nutcracker the first ones I watched). In fact all of them are worth watching, even my least favourite Mariposa(and that is still quite good). Here the dialogue is occasionally corny, but on the most part sweet and heart-warming. The vocal performances are spirited, and the story is simple but cute and charming with lots of heart and positive messaging. The characters are not complex, and they don't need to be, instead they get through by their likability, Rosella is an identifiable lead and her animal friends are adorable. The music is catchy and well-sung, and the animation makes Island Princess one of the best-looking Barbie movies to date(the best looking ones are Nutcracker and Diamond Castle in my opinion) with its bright colours and beautiful backgrounds. Overall, a very nice movie that should be given a chance without any prejudice. I do got toddler friends who adore these films, but I have seen numerous examples of adults who have been satisfied with their child's enjoyment and have liked some of them too. Just for the record I happen to be somebody from outside the target audience(20 as of now) and while I can think of better movies I enjoy them too and I am not afraid to admit it. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I loved this movie in so many ways. It is very nostalgic for me & the songs are soo good. Rosella has a great story, and one that teaches the audience something!