Barbie of Swan Lake

Lovely adaptation of the Tchaikovsky classic ballet...
This film is not just for young Barbie fans. It is also for their moms - particularly moms like me who grew up admiring Tchaikovsky's beautiful "Swan Lake" ballet. I saw it performed by the Royal Ballet in London as a teenager and have been enraptured with the story eversince.

I purchased this DVD for my 3 year old daughter for us to watch and enjoy together. My daughter loves it because of the sweet story, playful characters, the dances and, of course, for Barbie! What I enjoyed about this movie is how it captures the spirit of the ballet. Any decent adaptation of "Swan Lake" needs to incorporate Tchaikovsky's music into the story and this movie does just that. Add to this the lovely ballet that the characters perform and a plot that stays fairly true to the original (albeit minor changes to make it more G or PG-ish). In this case, Odette becomes lost in the Enchanted Forest and is captured and transformed into a swan by the evil Rothbart. The fairy queen helps her by changing...

From a Barbie skeptic...
Barbie. I tried to keep her away from my rough and tumble twin girls as long as possible. I relented two months ago, for their fourth birthday. I just couldn't squelch their girly-girlishness any longer. First came the dolls, then the outfits, and now the accessories. Great-Grandma bought them this dvd, Swan Lake, while we visited for Thanksgiving. The whole family is pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it is! It successfully kept the two older brothers and daddy out of the kitchen for a good part of the afternoon!

If you are not freaked out by fantasy, crystals, unicorns, and magic, than I assure you, your little girl will enjoy this dvd. I think what I really enjoyed about it is that it uses the classical Swan Lake music, rather than Disney-esque songs. So if I have to listen to it in the background every day for the next week or two (as children are wont to do with a new dvd), it is much more pleasant than listening to inanimate objects singing mind-numbing...

Lovely music, lovely dancing, and an approachable classic for girls
Next to the Princess and the Pauper this is the favourite movie in our house for my under 5 yr old girls. It is beautifully animated, generally quite gentle and pastle in colours (so different from Fairytopia and even RApunzel), it has lovely clear messages and great music.

This is the story of Swan Lake retold for Barbie. Here she plays the role of Odette who is the daughter of a baker in a small town. Her sister is a tom-boy who loves riding horses - this sister seems quite superflouous to the story, I have never figured out why she was put in here at all.

Anyway, Odette follows a Unicorn back through a secret entrance to a magic forest. There she saves her but cutting a rope with a jewel which she has found. This turns out to be a magic jewel which only a special chosen one can pick up. It seems it is Odette who is chosen, but before she can do anything she is turned into a Swan by Rothgar who has been terrorising the forest. The Fairy Queen makes a crown out...

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