Movies-TV

Rapunzel Lets Down Her Audience After Sparkling Nutcracker

Barbie in The Nutcracker quickly became a favorite with our family when it was released last year. So we were psyched to see the new video featuring the animated doll as Rapunzel. Alas, like the princess's glorious golden hair, we were let down. As in The Nutcraker, Rapunzel features wonderful classical music (Dvorak's New World Symphony), dazzling animation, and a touching story. But the layers of meaning, adult-level jokes, and high diction of Nutcracker were missing here. Barbie was dumbed down. Remember the "insolent mice" and "cheeky blighter" of The Nutcracker? Those challenging and delightful phrases have been replaced by lame, contemporary dialogue such as, "I call 'em like I see 'em" in what may be an attempt to make the old fairy tale new, fresh, and relevent. Alas, poor Barbie, we liked you better when you used bigger words. Our children - ages six, four, and two - liked it well enough. But we adults hope the Barbie writers pick up Rapunzel's magic paintbrush and use it to paint the next script with the sparkling and intelligent colors we loved in Barbie's debut.

"Best movie I have ever seen!" .. At least that's

what I told my husband when I become so enthralled I delayed dinner preparations for an hour and a half. I got totally sucked in to the creative energy of this film. My 3 year old daughter completely followed the plot and loved it to. Much better than the Nutcracker which was beautiful but did not have as much of plot. We rented it and now I must go out an buy it. It truly is incredibly wonderful.

I'm a 16 year old guy, and I think some of it is cool!

I bought this video for my little sister, who is in to barbie. she loved "Barbie in The Nutcracker", so I got this one as a gift. She was happy I got it right away, I put the tape in the VCR. The plot is slow, and at times girly, but has some cool action. There is a part where the Prince, has a sword fight. The
animation is way better than most other kids movies, at times it looks real, overall this is for girls, but boys like me, may have fun seeing this too.

Another great movie from Barbie

I love watching this movie with my 5 and 3-year-old kids. This is truely a fun and enjoyable movie for kids of all ages and even adults. Also this movie is very child-friendly with very little frightening scenes compared to Barbie's first movie "Barbie in the Nutcracker". Even the evil Gothel wasn't that scary compared to the evil Mouse King. The picture quaility is very good, and the music is delightful. I'll recommend this movie to everyone.

Beautiful animation of a classic fairy tale.

They've done it again! Now along with the enchanting Barbie Nutcracker, we have Barbie as Rapunzel. As with the former, this movie is a computer animated glory of a movie. Rapunzel is kept captive in the witch Gothel's castle which is beyond a magical wall that no one can see past. With the help of her friends, Hobie the rabbit, and Penelope the dragon (whose father is Hugo, guardian of the castle), she finds her way to the outside world and meets Prince Stefan in a palace garden.

When Gothel learns of her misdeed, Rapunzel is trapped in a tower with no hope of escape. Her silver hairbrush is touched by magic and becomes a paintbrush that forms paintings that can take one anywhere so of course, Rapuzel goes back to the garden in the hopes of finding Prince Stefan. He invites her to a masked ball and while dressing in the tower, she is found out by Gothel.

What happens from there is, believe it or not, a story of love, betrayal, and redemption. I enjoyed it just as much as my 3-year old! There were just a couple of scenes where she was frightened by Gothel (one in particular during the dream sequence where the Prince asks Rapunzel to let down her hair and a giant Gothel captures her in her hand).

All in all, this is another awesome Barbie DVD and like I said in my Barbie Nutcracker (also very worth watching)review, I hope there are many more Barbie movies to come!

Very impressed

I'm 11 years old and I liked this movie, it was the only thing on one day, and I was instantly hooked, my little cousins also love it. I mean it was a twist on the orignal story, yet it was sort of classic, although it was mostly not, I was inspired to go out and buy the dvd and the doll! It even inspired me to see the other ones, yet this one is still my favorite.

A wonderful way to introduce children to the classics!

My kids love this movie! What a wonderful way to introduce them to the classics and have it enjoyable :)

A Pleasure To Watch

This was the first of the three Barbie movies I watched. I loved this little family film, and it inspired me to watch the other two, although, Rapunzel still remains my favorite (and the only one I own the dvd of).

Honestly, I never liked the original Rapunzel story (a bit silly)and when I sat down to watch this with my niece and nephew, I was not looking forward to another cornball children's show. The changes made to the story were definate improvements
I think.

I was very happy with it and the kids love it too!

My nephew (4 years old) likes the movie eventhough he is a boy, I would probably not expect this dvd to be in a single man's collection, but to everyone else with kids, you'll enjoy it. Nothing not to like really, just a simple, clean, fun movie for the young and the young at heart.

I hope they continue to make barbie movies that are more fantasy story oriented (like Rapunzel) rather than the other two ballet based films in which I found the long dancing scenes to be a bit nausiating, takes away from the film I think.

GAAAAH!!!

Where will I start with what's wrong with this movie. Barbie is TRULY unworthy to be in a movie of any kind, even in a Barney video. What good is a respectful, girly, and fluffy heroine? Now that's a big yawn-maker.

I now REALLY hate this movie, even from the start and I always will. The first time I saw this movie I might have as well killed myself by jumping off a 200-foot building. Heck, this movie smells like dung and boogers. The characters are TOTALLY two-dimensional, which sounds dumb coz the movie's 3-D. Anyway, I just wanna get that bee-atch off the screen. I'm gonna feed this...this thing to a komodo dragon! I hope it will rot and decay! As for the protagonist, I will step on her body, squish everything out, and put her near the bulldozer! Now THAT oughta be action! I mean, sure she is a model to little girls, blah and blah, but why would we want our daughters to sit through a movie and trying to emulate the nasty s****y thing that happened to be displayed on the cover. If you think I'm ruff, and this review is wack, then trust me you'll end up loving me after seeing this mess of a movie. Boys hate it, and when the girls grow up they will too. Although this is a HATEABLE movie, Barbie in the Nutcracker was SO MUCH WORSE.

GAAAAHHH! I HATE Barbie videos!

Animated Bad Acting...

As an adult, I absolutely can't stand this movie. It appears to me to be bad acting in animation form. As if they watched a bunch of church-pageant-level players act out the scenes and put them in a cartoon. Perhaps it's the script, which is horrible. If I hear the words "Mighty Dragon" again, I think I'll scream!

However, my daughters LOVE this movie. I have three girls 4 and under, and it's a commonly requested video at our house. Hence, the two stars I've given it.

My advice is if you have children who have already seen this movie, it's probably a must-have. Otherwise, I recommend avoiding this one. If you're looking for a Barbie movie, Swan Lake is better.

Barbie as Rapunzel

For me, the only redeeming quality of this DVD is that the music backdrop is Dvorak's New World Symphony played by the London Symphony. It doesn't follow the original "Rapunzel" story. However, my twin 4 yr. old girls enjoyed it! They enjoyed the side-kicks more than the main characters. All in all, an acceptable family film.

This one took me like a storm in the night.

I remember last year before christmas I wanted a movie something different and this was it.I sat until after twelve midnight I had to view this movie twice, back to back then literally had a panicattack cause I had to have the dolls to display at home for myself It was like becoming a lil girl all over again.Once you see the movie you'll absolutely fall in love with your favorite barbie doll again or maybe Barbie as Rapunzel will become become your new Barbie ir 1st,either way you can't go wrong,After a long day and a long bubble bath sit back relax and watch Barbie as Rapunzel you'll be glad you did.I did and will cherish it Forever.

A real treat!

As a 46-year-old grandmother, I first rented this DVD for my 6-year-old granddaughter. We were both so charmed by the movie that I immediately purchased my (our) own copy. The story is excellent, the characters well drawn, and a special bonus is the beautiful soundtrack. The animation is amazing, and I think many people would be surprised by how much they would enjoy this movie if they just give it a chance.

Another Beautiful Barbie Tale

The animation is beautiful, the music pretty. My girls, ages 6 and 4, adore this movie - they especially like the 'dressup Rapunzel' game on the DVD. The extra's are interesting, too and worth watching.

This is one movie that any young (or old)barbie fan will enjoy many times over.

As a mom of two young girls....

Personally as an adult I'd never watch this movie. But if you have little girls who want to be "a queen, fairy, ballerina princess" like my girls, then your daughters will love this movie. They watched it over and over.

A delightful movie for the kids and adults alike

This is a beatifully done rendition of the story - who cares whether it is faithful to the original? This is eminently suitable for kids and adults alike - to transport them into another world for an hour or so. Parents, children and grandparents can watch this and be entranced. The animation is superb and the soundtrack is heavenly. There is nothing that could have been improved in this DVD version. A few more extras may have been nice. However, for me, this has eclipsed the Lion King as the best children's animated story.

a disgrace to the original fairy tale

This movie has nothing to do with the original brothers grimm fairy tale. Although the animation is all pretty and pink, the movie doesn't even come close to the rapunzel story. It was slamming the tale so much, I'm sure the brothers grimm would be turning in their graves by now. If your looking for the real fairy tale try the shelley duvall fairy tale theatres they at least stay true to the original.

CALLING ALL GIRLS CALLING ALL GIRLS

EXCELLENT Movie for all girls. I am 21 yrs old and I loved this movie.

YOU MUST SEE THIS FANTASTIC MOVIE!!!

I am not a big Barbie fan so it took alot to get me to see this movie. I couldn't believe how wonderful it was. The story line was captivating, the graphics were fantastic and Angelica Huston was superb.The music to this film is by the London Symphony Orchestra!! You MUST see this movie!! WOW

So much better than Barbie In The Nutcracker!!

I bought Barbie In The Nutcracker last year. I must say that it was "ok" but not great. But Barbie As Rapunzel is so much better! It kept my attention so much more than the Nutcracker ever did! So I say the same for my eight-year old niece. I highly recommend this movie for girls of all ages LOL!

I agree the graphics will remind you of a video game but you'll get passed that! Happy viewing.