*Full reflections on each movie coming soon!:)
Welcome Back to Disney! I hope you enjoyed my last post on The Chronicles of Narnia: Every Movie in the Franchise, Ranked. 📺🤴🤴👸👸🚉🚪🦁❆🏔⚔💓 For today's post, I'm talking about all things BARBIE (well, mainly about the Barbie Cinematic Universe). 'Cause on this day (March 9th), 65 years ago, the FIRST Barbie doll was introduced to the world and the rest is history.🎉💖👩📺📼🎀👠💄👗🩰 🏰🗺🎤🎶🎭✎📔🥁🎸🎹⭐💃🎬🎥🎨🖌👸🦄🏕🎽🏃🍽🧚👑⛸❆🏔🌅🐬🐟🐠📰🏫📚📣📽🎼🌎⚔🏄✂👝🕴📕🎒🏇💻🎌🏀🏈⚾⚽🏆💇💈🦸💎⏳💰🔍🔑🔦🐕🎪🎢🕵🔭✨🌠🌑⌚📹🎮💗🎂
Yes, I know. You might be wondering why I've created this post when Barbie has nothing to do with Disney. Well, I wanted to re-watch (and for some watch for the FIRST TIME EVER) EVERY Barbie movie because I was feeling Barbie-inspired and I just sort of wanted to relive and reminisce about all things Barbie when it comes to my childhood and what I grew up watching and LOVING from the franchise. And since March 9, 1959, is Barbie's official birthday, and March is Women's History Month, I thought that this post would be the perfect way to celebrate BOTH. So, I created a new section on this blog simply titled, & MORE, for posts I want to do in the future that are not Disney-related, much like this one.🎉😊
My childhood (as I'm sure a lot of girls' childhoods) consisted of playing with Barbie dolls, when I wasn't going to school, watching TV (Disney Channel😉😊), singing, and/or playing other things with my sisters. Now, I personally, became a much bigger fan of Bratz dolls and that whole thing a little later on in my childhood. But early on in my childhood, from like ages 3-6, I was all about Barbie.👧💗🎀 In fact, when it comes to Barbie merch, I pretty much had it all. From the dolls and accessories, to the movies, clothes, and shoes. I even had a Barbie fishing pole when I was a little kid🎣, a Barbie watch⌚, a Barbie beach towel, Barbie roller skates, and my 3rd birthday party was Barbie themed (from the birthday cake to the gift wrapping paper🎂🎁). Some of these things which you can see in the pictures and video clips below.
(me being silly, with one of the many Barbie dolls and toys I had as a kid)
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(the red Barbie car I had as a kid💓)
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(My little sister's DVDs of ALL the Barbie movies that I used for this post)
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I also remember being pretty obsessed with the Barbie song, "Barbie Girl" by Aqua, when I was a kid. Not knowing at all what the song actually meant and I had no idea who even sang it at the time, but that's an innocent child's mind for ya.🤣 And I just researched that the song came out in 1997, but I was only just born then, and I definitely heard the song for the first time much later than that. So, that's interesting. But, take a listen below for all the Barbie nostalgia vibes in a song.
Like I briefly mentioned before, at a certain point during my childhood years, I switched from playing with Barbie dolls to playing with Bratz dolls. But even during my Bratz dolls phase, I would still sometimes pick up a Barbie doll when I wanted something different to play with and I would also use my red Barbie car (the one pictured above) for my Bratz dolls to ride in all the time. So, no matter what, Barbie was still interconnected throughout my childhood in some way. And when it comes to the Barbie movies specifically, (which is what this post is mainly about) those also always seemed to show up even past my childhood into my teen years. When I was a teen, and was watching TV even more often than when I was a kid, I would always try to check out what the newest Barbie movie was that would premiere on the weekend on Nickelodeon. And, while creating this post, I was trying to think of the FIRST Barbie movie I had ever seen as a little kid, but I don't remember at all. I mean, I know it had to be one of the "older" Barbie ones, like Barbie in the Nutcracker, but I'm just not 100% sure. However, I do remember the FIRST Barbie movie I ever received as a gift (and one that I still have on DVD). That movie being, Barbie as the Princess & the Pauper (see eighth pic above). Now, I don't remember at exactly what age I got that movie but I know it had to be when I was under 10 years old. 'Cause I also actually have such a special, vivid memory of watching Barbie as the Princess & the Pauper when I was 10-years-old, which I will go into more detail about later in this post when we get to that movie in the ranking.
If you've been reading this blog for a while now, then you already know that I also have two sisters.👩👩👩💕So, as a kid I would play Barbie dolls with them and if one of them had gotten a Barbie movie(s) (which they did), we of course had times where we would hang out and watch them together. So, I wasn't the only fan of Barbie in my family and all the Barbie things in our house were not just coming from what I had. 'Cause my sisters had their own Barbie stuff, too. Obviously, at a certain age, I had to grow up and stopped playing with Barbie dolls (as one does) and other Barbie-related toys.😢👎Therefore, after my kid years were over, Barbie things were few and far between for me. By the time I was a teen, I was just left to watching the Barbie movies that would premiere on Nickelodeon, cause you're never too old for those right?😊📺Anyways, fast forward to 2021, (during the thick of the pandemic) when there was really nothing much else anyone could do but consume content, whether that be from Tik Tok, YouTube, or cable TV. So, that's exactly what my sisters and I did. It was at that time when we decided to binge watch EVERY Barbie movie (I believe in chronological order, if I remember correctly) since we hadn't seen ALL OF THEM before that time. So we watched majority of them together for the FIRST TIME as sisters and it was something fun during such a hard time in everyone's lives. It was definitely one highlight of that year (2021) and time for sure.
Now it's 2024, and because I wanted to feel all those Barbie vibes again and relive a little bit of those special memories in 2021, I decided that it was the perfect time to re-watch all these movies yet again. Although, for some, it would still be the very FIRST TIME I had ever watched them because even during that time in 2021 (during the pandemic) when my sisters and I were binge watching these movies, I opted out of watching some of the "newer" Barbie movies (the ones that came after 2013, except for Barbie: Starlight Adventure, cause I had already seen that one a couple years prior). So, I hadn't seen EVERY Barbie movie until NOW. In other words, I can NOW say, that I've seen ALL 36 Barbie movies. And the only reason I put "(Almost) Every" in the title of this post is because I still chose to only watch the Barbie movies from the FIRST one that came out in 2001, Barbie in the Nutcracker, to the LAST one (or 36th one) that came out in 2017 titled, Barbie Dolphin Magic. 'Cause after 2017, they got into the Barbie vlogger movies and it was post-Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures, which changed the course of the franchise completely, yet again and I just wasn't interested in watching those at all and I just knew they wouldn't be high on my ranking anyways. So, that's why I didn't include them in this ranking. But 36 out of the 42 that are currently out there and have been released, is still A LOT and still the MAJORITY of the movie franchise, which is good enough for me.😊👍
For those of you who are NOT familiar with the ICONIC multimedia brand that is BARBIE, or ARE fans and would just like to learn a little more about it (like I did while researching for this), I'll share with you some history about it. On March 9, 1959, Ruth Handler, a mother and visionary entrepreneur, created the FIRST Barbie doll. Ruth's inspiration for Barbie came from watching her daughter project her dreams and aspirations onto paper dolls. At a time when the market only offered baby dolls for girls to imagine themselves as caregivers, Ruth invented the fashion doll category with a three-dimensional doll that girls could use to imagine their future selves as more than just a caregiver. Barbie (aka Barbara Millicent Roberts) came with a full array of accessories and debuted at the American International Toy Fair in New York. After being so well received locally in the United States, this sparked a revolution in the toy industry. 'Cause even though toymakers mass-produced toys for years before Barbie, none of them had adult features. In other words, Barbie's adult features made the toy a first of its kind. Since then, numerous likenesses of the doll were released which later evolved into what is now considered as "Barbie's friends & family", with clothes and accessories to accompany them. Interestingly enough, Barbie's marketing strategy relied on television advertising. Barbie was the sole sponsor of the Mickey Mouse Club (Huh, I guess there is a little bit of a Disney connection😉😊), for example, marketing directly to children. Which, at the time, that approach was unique. Various print hardcover and comic books starring Barbie were also released through partnerships and/or deals with Marvel Comics, Dell Comics, and currently Papercutz, It's estimated that over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in over 150 countries.
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(the first Barbie doll was introduced in both blonde and brunette on March 9, 1959)
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(the FIRST Barbie commercial from 1959)
However, the net popularity and sales of the Barbie fashion doll on the toy market began to decline in the 1980s. And in 2001, it struggled further when MGA Entertainment introduced a line of dolls under the name BRATZ. The Bratz more fashionable clothes, distinctive and sassy looks, and exaggerated features contrasted with Barbie's more "proportioned", older, more "realistic", and "idealized" features. Therefore, Mattel attempted to rebuild the Barbie brand in order to keep the toy relevant to consumers in the modern age by bringing in consultants and conducting research on key market groups. After initially considering changing something of the doll's figure, Mattel consultants later claimed that the doll's figure could not be changed because "being consistent is one of her biggest strengths". Mattel's team also considered introducing lines of Doctor or Lawyer Barbies to target market audiences of career women and their daughters. However, girls were spending more time online than playing with physical dolls, per their research. Therefore, in favor of looking for more interactive platforms through online or digital media, targeted career Barbies were discarded.
In response, Mattel began adapting Barbie into various facets of media and entertainment that went beyond just the TV advertisement of its dolls and related accessories. Which was a prolific marketing strategy in the past. For the first 16 movies in the Barbie Cinematic Universe, Barbie is featured as a virtual actress playing the main character and is often portrayed as a "modern girl" telling the story to one of her sisters or a young friend - as a parable to present events happening. According to scholars who examined how the Barbie films differ from other princess narratives, they have concluded that Mattel intentionally attempted to improve its brand based on feminist criticisms through storytelling in the films.
In 1987, Mattel produced two TV specials, Barbie and the Rockers: Out of This World and its sequel Barbie and the Sensations: Rockin' Back to Earth. Both of which featured Barbie as the leader of a rock band.🎶🎤🎸Often seen as being Mattel's answer to rival fashion doll Jem from Hasbro. Before those TV specials, Mattel avoided media projects for Barbie "for fear of giving Barbie a cartoon-type personality and not leaving anything to the imagination". And although those TV specials were often speculated to be potential pilots for a regular Barbie series, no series ever happened. Instead, both specials were released direct-to-video by the children's division of Media Home Entertainment, Hi-Tops Video. Another series was planned for the fall of 1987 by the newly-formed Mattel division MTS Entertainment, which was an unusual newsmagazine aimed at kids and teens that was intended to feature both animated and live-action segments. But, due to a flooded syndication market for children, the series never progressed beyond a presentation at the 1987 NATPE convention.
After the broadcast syndication of two TV specials in 1987, numerous video game releases in the 1990s and the rise of home video marketing at the time, Mattel launched a self-titled in-house entertainment division in 2001 and partnered with Canadian Company, Mainframe Entertainment (now Mainframe Studios) and began the creation of the Barbie films with the direct-to-video, first computer-animated, full-length feature film release of Barbie in the Nutcracker. This was also used as a strategy to rival television channels like Disney and Nickelodeon which were on the rise when it came to original children's entertainment. Mainframe continues to produce the majority of films in the Barbie film series, as well. The first decade of Barbie films was dominated by stories/tales. For instance, Barbie in the Nutcracker was based on E.T.A Hoffmann's classic tale and Tchaikovsky's accompanying ballet music, and the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales such as Rapunzel and The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina and Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers were also stories/tales used for these films. Within the films, Mattel also included performances by well-known orchestras and companies, such as the New York City ballet, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Czech Philharmonic. On behalf of Mattel's marketing team, these associations could have been included as an enrichment strategy to help the films be seen as educational.
The films initially revolved around Barbie being re-imagined as a princess and eventually expanded into various worlds of fantasy and fashion. A primary benefit of this strategy being that Mattel could sell dolls specific to each film separately from the video sales and merchandise related to costumes, props, and sets from the films. Then-senior vice-president for girls marketing at Mattel, Tim Kilpin, stated: "What you see now are several different Barbie worlds anchored by content and storytelling. A girl can understand what role Barbie is playing, what the other characters are doing, and how they interrelate. That's a much richer level of story that leads to a richer level of play." The strategy apparently worked, as Barbie sales led by the princess line, "increased by two percent in 2006, saving Mattel's bottom line at a time when its worldwide share of the toy market was declining."
Barbie as Rapunzel, the second film in the series, saw the debut of the film series on American TV via Nickelodeon as television specials. When it came to home video formats, following a general gradual decline in the use of the format and the transfer of distribution duties for the series to Universal in favor of DVD releases only, the release of the series on VHS ceased in 2006 after Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia. Since 2012, Barbie has appeared in several TV and web series. Such as Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse, Barbie: Dreamtopia, Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures, Barbie: It Takes Two and Barbie: A Touch of Magic. Aside from being in lead roles, Barbie has also appeared as a supporting character in the Toy Story films (from the second one onwards, and in its 2011 short film Hawaiian Vacation) and in the My Scene media franchise.
With the release of Barbie in the Pink Shoes in 2013, the Blu-ray and digital copies (branded as "Digital HD") were introduced to accompany the DVD. In 2015, Barbie began appearing as a vlogger on YouTube called Barbie Vlogger where she talks about her fictional life, friends and family, fashion, and even charged topics such as mental health and racism. The 35th film entry released in early 2017, Barbie: Video Game Hero, marked the last time a Barbie film both aired on American TV and released on home video formats. 'Cause in 2017, in an attempt to focus on expanding the franchise to other audiovisual media formats, the film series was put on hiatus after Barbie: Dolphin Magic, which served as the pilot to the inaugural TV show in the franchise, Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures. Later in 2020, Mattel revamped the films as animated "specials", beginning with the musical, Barbie: Princess Adventure.
On July 21, 2023 a live-action adaptation of the toy line from Mattel Films in association with LuckyChap Entertainment and Heyday Films was released (A film that I still haven't seen and don't ever plan to. Sorry, not sorry😊). The film was directed by Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote the screenplay by Noah Baumbach, and starred an ensemble cast led by Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken. This live-action film started a whole new era and revolution of Barbie. As the film's simultaneous release with Universal Pictures' Oppenheimer was the catalyst of the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon, encouraging audiences to see both films as a double feature. The film grossed a worldwide total of $1.446 billion (or "Barbillion" according to Warner Bros.) and achieved several milestones, including the highest- grossing film of 2023 and the 14th highest-grossing film of all time. It set the record for any film that was not a sequel, remake, or superhero property. Also becoming the highest-grossing live-action comedy of all time, smashing the domestic record formerly held by Home Alone (1990). It is also the first film by a solo female director to cross the $1 billion mark worldwide. Barbie is also the fastest Warner Bros. film to reach $1 billion, beating Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011). In late August of 2023, Barbie surpassed that same film again, becoming Warner Bros. highest-grossing film (not adjusted for inflation). The film surpassed $1.365 billion at the global box office, by September 2, replacing the Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) as the highest grossing film of the year. Additionally, it surpassed the previous record held by Jia Ling for Hi, Mom (2021), for highest grossing film by a solo female director. It was also named one of the top 10 films of 2023 by the American Film Institute and the National Board of Review. It received critical acclaim and many other accolades, including eight Academy Award nominations (among them Best Picture), winning original song for "What Was I Made For?". That song also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song while Barbie was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. And that's been the latest piece of content brought about when it comes to the Barbie film series. But there are still dolls being made, mini-series on YouTube, and animated "specials" being released through Netflix.
Going back to the dolls for just a second, (where this whole thing originally started) critics often criticize Barbie for being an unattainable ideal of a woman. But, while her figure alone is unrealistic, over the years Barbie has evolved in both style and shape. In fact, in 2019, the Barbie brand honored pioneering women across several eras, as well. The modern Barbie now offers positive role models in science, business, education, and more. Barbie continues to change, year after year, keeping up with the styles and headlines. And the same can be said when it comes to the movies that are a part of the Barbie Cinematic Universe. Although, in my opinion, they still have a little more growing to do. But overall, when it comes to the dolls and/or the movies, the Barbie brand continues to empower girls to imagine themselves in aspirational roles from a princess to a president. Staying true to Ruth's original philosophy, in that through watching these movies (or, for little girls, playing with the dolls), a GIRL (or WOMAN) should know that she can BE ANYTHING she wants TO BE and to know that we have choices in life. That girls/women don't have to limit themselves to be or do just one thing. And, for me, re-watching these movies has reminded me of that.
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Just a brief note before we begin: This ranking only includes the Barbie movies that were released from 2001 to 2017. So, I started with Barbie in the Nutcracker and ended my re-watch with Barbie: Dolphin Magic (pre-Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures). Also, this ranking is just my opinion. Although, I will admit that I am a little bit biased when it comes to the Barbie movies I grew up with, but I really did try to remove some of that nostalgia aspect when making this list.
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Now, for real this time, let's get into A Definitive Ranking Of (Almost) Every Barbie Movie!🎉💖👩📺📼🎀👠💄👗🩰 🏰🗺🎤🎶🎭✎📔🥁🎸🎹⭐💃🎬🎥🎨🖌👸🦄🏕🎽🏃🍽🧚👑⛸❆🏔🌅🐬🐟🐠📰🏫📚📣📽🎼🌎⚔🏄✂👝🕴📕🎒🏇💻🎌🏀🏈⚾⚽🏆💇💈🦸💎⏳💰🔍🔑🔦🐕🎪🎢🕵🔭✨🌠🌑⌚📹🎮💗🎂
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from WORST TO BEST...
#36 Barbie Fairytopia: Magic of the Rainbow (2007)
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#34 Barbie: Dolphin Magic (2017)
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#32 Barbie in a Mermaid Tale (2010)
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#31 Barbie: The Pearl Princess (2014)
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#29 Barbie: Spy Squad (2016)
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#28 Barbie in Princess Power (2015)
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#27 Barbie & Her Sisters in A Puppy Chase (2016)
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#26 Barbie & Her Sisters in A Pony Tale (2013)
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#25 Barbie & Her Sisters in the Great Puppy Adventure (2015)
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#24 Barbie in Rock N' Royals (2015)
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#23 Barbie in a Mermaid Tale 2 (2012)
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#22 Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus (2005)
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#21 Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia (2006)
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#20 Barbie: Fairytopia (2005)
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#19 Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale (2010)
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#17 Barbie and the Secret Door (2014)
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#16 Barbie: Star Light Adventure (2016)
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#15 Barbie: The Princess and The Popstar (2012)
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#14 Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses (2006)
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#12 Barbie in A Christmas Carol (2008)
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#11 Barbie: A Perfect Christmas (2011)
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#8 Barbie: Princess Charm School (2011)
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#7 Barbie and the Three Musketeers (2009)
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#6 Barbie in the Nutcracker (2001)
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#5 Barbie: Mariposa and her Butterfly Fairy Friends (2008)
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Well, that concludes A Definitive Ranking Of (Almost) Every Barbie Movie!🎉😊💗👧📺 I really ENJOYED getting to go back and re-watch these movies, and for some, getting to watch them for the VERY FIRST TIME. And I hope you enjoyed reminiscing with me and reading my thoughts about them here, too. It was really interesting watching ALL these movies in chronological order and seeing the evolution of Barbie, not only physically, but also just her as a character with her many different interests, careers, hobbies, and storylines. I still prefer the "older" Barbie movies, but I actually enjoyed some of the "newer" ones more than I initially thought I would. As you can also tell from reading my reflections of these movies, there are SO MANY great messages one can take away from each and every movie. But again, the overall message of these movies (that reflects the Barbie brand in general) remains the same in all of them, which is that YOU CAN DO AND BE ANYTHING YOU WANT. It was also interesting to see, after watching all these movies, how much I've changed when it comes to my thoughts and opinions about them and my least and most favorites from the franchise. Especially, when I compare my ranking now to the mock ranking I created last time I had watched majority of these movies with my sisters during the pandemic. 'Cause as you can see in the pic below, my ranking of these movies THEN is quite different from my ranking of these movies now. But, the majority of these movies are truly GREAT. Just a few, in my opinion, are FAR BETTER than the rest. So, I would love to know, comment down below what your favorite Barbie movie is and come Back to Disney soon for more!✌💖😊🎉 HAPPY NATIONAL BARBIE DAY & WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH!!👸💕🎉
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My mock ranking from 2021 when I watched some of these same movies. Excuse the bad handwriting :)
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P.S. And thanks to my little sister (Amber) for letting me borrow all your DVDs, so I could watch these movies.💓:)
*Oh, and I couldn't include all the fun facts about Barbie, or this post would be way too long. So, if you would like to know even more fast facts and things about the Barbie brand, click the links below:
https://www.barbiemedia.com/about-barbie/fast-facts.html
https://www.barbiemedia.com/timeline.html
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/g2530/barbie-dolls-history-facts/
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