Barbie Presents: Thumbelina

Excellent quality....shipped as promised, will buy from seller anytime. Thanks my niece loved her birthday gift.

I always gave the Barbie movies wide berth before, but I watched Barbie in a Christmas Carol last December and thought it was a lot better than I anticipated so I decided to try another film in the series. I picked Thumbelina because there is no Disney version to compare it to and I have always enjoyed that story. What I did not realize (as I didn't really read the description of the movie on Netflix) is that this version has nothing to do with the fairy tale of Thumbelina. There is a little Twillerbee (why they couldn't just call them fairies and leave them at that, I will never know!) named Thumbelina in the story, but that is all this version really has in common with the traditional Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. Instead of being the story of an abnormally small girl who finds her way to live with the fairies, this version is about a couple of spoiled brats who are given everything by their parents -- including a flower patch with some Twillerbees hiding inside the flowers. It was kind of hard to enjoy the film with such horrible little girls playing the lead human roles, even if Thumbelina does teach one of them to be much better behaved by the end of the story.

I did notice that both movies have one thing in common: Barbie plays narrator while telling the children a story. This gets a little bit old as you just get into the story and then you have to pop out to Barbie responding to comments from the children she is with. While the movie was a little plasticky -- I know, I know horrible description, but really, oh so true -- in that the characters aren't really animated to look like real people, the colors were bright & eye catching and the animals were pretty cute. In fact, the pet dog owned by Makena was one of my favorite characters. He is one of those little yippy dogs who thinks that he rules the world and gets outsmarted by the Twillerbees quite often, which was awesome to see. The construction workers were a hoot, too! The plants are very fake looking, though, especially the trees and bushes.

Young children, particularly girls will enjoy this short Barbie feature. I didn't think it was too bad, but there is not a lot of storyline involved so it didn't really hold my attention. Tinker Bell was so much cuter that, if you are going to buy one, I would highly recommend getting that one instead as it is much more entertaining for the whole family -- my nephews really like Tinker Bell -- but wouldn't be caught dead watching anything that says Barbie in the title!

I personally cannot stand the Barbie movies, but my daughter (4 years old) loves this one. They all do convey a girl power feeling and she cannot wait till each one comes out!

My 3yr & 6yr old granddaughters love this movie. This movie does not have to address any problems of the world. It is a Barbie movie. Pure & simple. The girls watch it all the time. The movie is calm, music is good, colors great, characters are likeable... it is an enjoyable movie. what more can you ask for. Don't try to make every movie a "lesson". Get the popcorn, & enjoy the movie with your girls.

This DVD arrived promptly and in the promised condition. My only problem with it has nothing to do with the seller: the Barbie version is absolutely nothing like the fairy tale.