Barbie in a Mermaid Tale (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)Our three and a half year old daughter wanted to see this movie after seeing a preview on the Nick Jr website. The only other Barbie movie we have watched was the Nutcracker, and while it was a cute movie with beautiful ballet sequences, it had too many scary parts for her. We watched A Mermaid's Tale tonight as a special treat after a particularly traumatic day involving blood testing for allergies. I was pleasantly surprised in this movie. The animation is fantastic, beautiful and lifelike. The characters are sweet. And the story line (you must realize we are talking it's for small children who love Barbie and fantasy) is easy to follow and fun. My daughter loved it. The "scary" parts weren't too scary, some sharks, a few jelly fish, and the mean Queen. And while she is mean, it's nothing like the Queen in Sleeping Beauty that can give very young children nightmares for weeks. The movie's message is that it is okay to be different. We are very particular about what we let our daughter watch. She watches Max and Ruby, the Wonder Pets, The Berenstain Bears, Little Bear, Olivia and occasionally Maggie and the Ferocious Beast. She has seen the Tinkerbell movies, but didn't enjoy the other Disney movies, as the bad guys are always too scary. She doesn't see any network TV or commercials in general. She saw the commercial for this on the Nick Jr website, and only after we had watched it first. My husband and I especially appreciated the fact that there weren't references to things she wouldn't understand, there weren't jokes thrown in for the adults only, and that is was sweet and simple with no violence, no name calling and nothing offensive. I would gladly watch it again with her, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a parent who was looking for a sweet, fun movie for little girls who love pretend and make-believe and believe it's possible Mermaids are really out there in the ocean somewhere.

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Barbie' stars as Merliah', a surfing champion from Malibu. One minute she's a normal teenager and the next she learns a shocking family secret: she's a mermaid! Merliah' and her dolphin friend Zuma set off on an undersea adventure to rescue her mother, the queen of Oceana. With help from her new mermaid friends, Merliah' saves the ocean kingdom. In the end, she discovers what makes you different can also be your greatest strength.

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Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)I should have known when I saw this was a follow on from Fairytopia that I would be disappointed. This is the story of Elina, who in the movie Fairytopia saved her country of Fairytopia and gained her wings. In this she is sent an urgent message from the Prince of Mermaidia (who briefly appeared in Fairytopia) who asks for her to help him. The movie is full of the trials and tribulations she goes through for him, along with his girlfriend Nori. I expect it is deliberate they have named the Mermaid heroine after Japanese Edible seaweed but it seems ill-considered.
Anyway - the good things about the movie, it is brightly coloured, and the costumes for the characters are gorgeous, when Elina becomes a mermaid she looks just stunning. There are really nice messages in this - about overcoming jealousy, selflessness, sharing and the power of team work. Some of these messages are laid on with a trowel, but on the other hand it is for young children and I think the message needs to be strong. And lets get real here, the movies aren't aimed at adults. However I thinksome of hte best movies are those that can easily be watched by Adults and children together - and the best Barbie movie (I think) was Princess and the Pauper where I still find it easy to sit down with my kids and watch it. I wish Barbie movies would get back to that sort of good, singing fun.
the things I found difficult is that although there was a strong basic story (getting the immunity berry) the whole thing was quite confusing for my under 5 year olds. There is so much going on that they quickly lost track of what was happening and who was who. There were too many characters and they all seemed to have marketing tie-ins - lots of mer-ferry's, snails, mermaids, turtles, dolphins - the list went on and on. The overall story which seemed to start it all seemed a weak concept from the start. Some of the characters faces were too animated. In the early Barbie movies there still seemed to be a semblance of reality, but the merferries and so on did seem oddly characterised, almost like Japanese Anime. Perhaps it is something children like, but I prefer the traditional animation, certainly the mix of the two was unsettling at times. Lastly, there is a moment when Elina and Nori get marks of courage which look like tatoos - call me conservative, but I don't want my under 5 year old even thinking a tatoo is cool - no matter what form it takes.
There were some genuinely good moments in this film and despite its faults my children have watched it a couple of times, but it doesn't really interest them in the way that the early dancing ones (swan lake for instance or Princess and the Pauper) I really hope the next movie planned is one of these sort.

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