I adore teen movies, and I had a blast with this one.
The animation has not aged well, even for the 2006 standards. It looks awkward and I can't get over Barbie's hair and how it's animated. Now that I've seen this way too many times I can see some awkward textures in the background, but it was never too much to take me out of the movie.
Barbie isn't suddenly a Mary Sue who is adored by everyone and instead has to face the worst place anyone can go to..high school! She faces the world of teenage drama and worries if she is doing too good at schoo. She has her two friends, Tia and Courtney to keep her back and they are in a band together and also Kevin who eventually develops feelings for Barbie. There is also Rachel no wait..Raquelle and her two 'minions' who take everything from Barbie and are portrayed as bullies, and Rachel as the 'popular girl'. I'm surprised they didn't give Raquelle black hair like in the other movies. They are one dimensional at times but also had their moments where they felt like real teens.
I was surprised on how good the dialogue is. I could say it's realistic but the movie is probably too old to apply on modern teenagers. They managed to sneak in a few jokes that I didn't notice until years after. (Eg, Kevin saying he recorded the cheerleading practice and managed to capture drama between Rachel and her boyfriend. He is asked why he recorded the cheerleaders and he just avoids it by saying ''Do you want to see this or not?'') I haven't seen it like this in any other teen movie. Yes my expectations are low, I'm used to these types of movies having lackluster dialogue.
Since Barbie is now in a band, there is music, and I can say that the songs her band made are either okay or good. The background songs in this are just the same three or four but it fit the 'aesthetic' of the movie well enough.
(Also this movie has bloopers in it's extras! Remember back when we had these?? This movie has really good ones!!)
The story itself...if you have seen any teen movie with a romantic plot, you have seen this one. It's a bit overdramatic but hey, teens are overdramatic and it never felt too much. And I enjoyed this despite knowing excatly what would happen just after the first 10 minutes had passed.
I can understand why the preschoolers who watch Barbie movies might want to skip this one but if you are a bit older, give this a shot. It's actually really great.
