Who payed the critics

So much average

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

A lot of people don't even realize the sheer number of Barbie movies there are out there. Well, I'm usually referring to the ones made in the 2000's. It seems like every direct to video animated movie is traditionally animated. It's nice to see something different. This is ranked as the best Barbie movie ever made, which isn't really saying that much. Barbie plays some woman named Blair.Odd she'd play someone when she's already a character. She wins a contest to go to a princess school and they actually do set up the story pretty well. It's revealed that she's a missing princess herself and the rightful heir to the throne. There's this rich girl bully who redeems herself by revealing she's only that way because of her parents. That must be a trope. Not the most original idea, but it is pretty good. **1/2

I have seen many, many films. We all have. And I do recognize the fact that Barbie movies are made for a particular demographic, however this does not excuse terrible writing! The movie is cheesy beyond belief and has awful dialogue. The plot is atrocious too, not to mention the stereotypical portrayals of women, however this is a Barbie movie and they're all like that. Back to my point though it would literally not cost anything to write a good script! Many many good children's movies have been made with fantastic screenplays (take the lion king or Aladdin, for example.) yet it seems consistent to me that Barbie movies are all terribly written and terribly animated. Very little time has been put into most aspects of this film. One of the few good points I can give it is the voice acting, which is a credit to the actresses and actors, given the shoddy screenplay and characters they had to work with. Don't watch the film. Save yourself the two hours and watch something good. Oh and the very worst film I've seen is battlefield: Earth. That one is worse than this.P.s: the sound editing is bad too. Urgh just... Urgh.

Barbie: Princess Charm School is never going to be one of my favourite movies, but especially for its target audience it is very charming. It does have some moments of corny dialogue(though most of it has some nice humour that children and adults alike will appreciate), and I do miss Kelly Sheridan, who was always likable and was getting better every time. However, the animation is lovely, fluid and colourful with attention to detail that was most welcome. The music fits perfectly, and is memorable also, and the story is told very nicely with as always a good message and charming as it should be. The characters are on the clichéd side, but likable in alternative to annoying(it's when clichés are annoying when I mind). The voice acting I had little to no problem with. Overall, charming and well-done, not my favourite Barbie movie but despite Sheridan's absence is up there with the better ones. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I'm going to give this a 9, not for its standing in the history of cinema, but for the simple fact that it made my three girls really, really happy - and it has good values without being prissy about it.For girls under the age of 10 it really is entertaining.The plot is appealing - a girl, Blair Willows, wins a lottery ticket to the Princess Charm School, and discovers her inner strength.All I can say is we all watched this as a family movie night, and we adults normally phase out fast, but both my wife and I really enjoyed this thoroughly and the kids just loved it - it's fun, and funny, and exciting and even though you know the tie-ins are there it actually stands up as a good kids film in its own right.Charming? You betcha.