Barbie: The Diamond Castle Review

There are so many "Barbie"products, including cereals, toys, dolls, collector items, and more.  There are even DVD's featuring Barbie characters I have never heard of before, like Mariposa or the Island Princess.  After my daughters love of (and watching) "Mariposa" enough times to wear out the DVD when she requested "Barbie and The Diamond Castle"  I did the unheard of in our household. I purchased it the day it was released, without viewing it from a rental first. Due to the constant badgering of my daughter, I purchased it as a "this months" potty training gift to encourage matters along.

The Barbie and The Diamond Castle DVD features a teenager Barbie and her best friend Teresa who love music. They create songs and lyrics together and the basis behind the story is they make up the fairy tale story of two other best friends, Liana and Alexa.  Liana and Alexa have a beautiful garden of flowers that they sell in the market. While admittedly, they don't have much, they have a almost unbelievably "perky" and happy attitude to have each other and more than many others have.

On their way to the market to sell their flowers to buy food, they come across an old woman. They share with her their last piece of bread and she in return gives them a mirror, that is dirty and tarnished. Not wanting to hurt the old woman's feelings they accept the mirror. Later on that night they polish it to a beautiful shine.  Little did they know the mirror would open up to them a whole new world with witches and magic, dragons and princesses and a beautiful diamond castle.

Their song brings out the captured princess of the castle, who they decide to help. The diamond castle has been hidden from the world by an evil witch, who hates music.  Of course our magical journey includes lots of music, two cute puppies, and a unicorn.

Do the girls end up hating each other? Like in real life? Or does their friendship stand strong as they rescue the princess and the diamond castle?  You watch and see.

The Barbie and The Diamond Castle" DVD also includes bonus features of bloopers, Katherine McPhee's music video of the theme song, "Connected" as well as a sneak peek at Barbie, in a Christmas Carol.  The video on sale was $14.99.

My Viewpoint:  "Barbie, The Diamond Castle" has taught me a valuable lesson, or rather reinforced one I had normally put into practice -- watch it before you buy it. The artwork, colors and animation were well done, but my happiness with the movie stops there.

My daughter was so excited to get her movie, which she proudly carried through the movie store and all the way home, that it was immediately placed in the DVD player and we settled in for a movie night. Within moments my daughter's enthusiasm waned.  The movie was just too, too scary. The witch frightened her so much she had to close her eyes, and the dragon was also too scary.  We have tried it several times, and she still is frightened every time we attempt it, even with me right next to her. The musical scores were quite long, which made me yawn.

Overall, while Barbie and The Diamond Castle had a nice "theory" behind it, with friends being happy with what they have and working together to solve problems. It was far to scary for young children, the musical scores took up far too much of the movie. I think it may be too juvenile for teenagers -- so the acceptability of the movie is really limited.  I know some older children (8 yr old range) that may be frightened by the scenes.  They actually were pretty scary.