Dr. Donna's Review

About the Film

After the unpleasant encounter with the movie director and the surprise phone message from Ken, Barbie sets off to Paris to visit Aunt Millicent, the fashion designer. When she learns that Aunt Millicent’s business is about to close, she steps in with initiative and confidence to help Aunt Millicent and her young apprentice, Alice, keep the business open. Together with three magical “Flairies” and three clever pets, the friends explore creativity, fantasy, and intrigue in the world of fashion design.

The story will appeal to children from 4 to 10 years of age. The thematic messages of the story will best be understood by the older group, e.g., 6 to 10 year olds.  Younger children will miss some of the subtle messages but they will enjoy the fantasy, humor and special effects.  While the special appeal of the story is to girls, boys too will benefit from viewing and discussing the story’s themes. The audience will see Barbie in this role as a confident, intelligent and aware teenager.

 “Barbie:  A Fashion Fairytale” introduces children to three major concepts that are illustrated throughout the storyline:

Personal Empowerment  - The story highlights characters demonstrating respect for: themselves and other people, making, nurturing, and learning to value friendships, modeling of empathic behaviors such as listening, sharing, comforting, and talking about their feelings and needs.

Self-management - The story presents strategies for: identifying and managing emotions, understanding that values are reflected in behavior and actions, showing that compromise and cooperation are necessary, important and a part of resolving conflict, showing that competition is normal and that winning isn’t everything, and demonstrating the thinking skills needed for determining and judging right and wrong.

Socialization – The story shows that individuals have something unique to offer the world and promotes that being different can be a source of pride. It also shows that skills and abilities are not specific to gender. The storyline demonstrates that there are consequences to not fulfilling a commitment, and that love can be expressed in many different ways.

Talking points

Help children recall the basic plotline of the story.  Older children will be able to incorporate the interlocking events but younger children might be confused.  Help both age groups get these basic ideas:

• Barbie did not do anything wrong when she expressed her opinion to the movie director. Help younger children understand that there is nothing wrong with politely expressing a different opinion. Talk with older children about whether or not he was justified in firing her.  Barbie began to lose confidence in herself and her choice of an acting career after the encounter. Talk about how she handled those feelings.

• Barbie was upset by Ken’s phone message saying that he wanted to break up. Talk with children about why this was upsetting. Talk about how it would feel to get a phone message from a special friend say “I don’t want to be your friend anymore.”  Help children understand the plotline about Ken’s message. Help them get the point that Ken’s message was a nasty trick played by Raquelle. It was this realization that prompted Ken’s decision to make the difficult trip to Paris to see Barbie.

• Barbie had a lot of respect and affection for Aunt Millicent and that is why she decided to go to visit Aunt Millicent when she needed a change. Aunt Millicent was an important “role model” for Barbie. Role models are those who possess the qualities that we would like to have and those who have affected us in a way that makes us want to be better people.  What qualities does Barbie admire in Aunt Millicent?  Ask children who the role models are in their lives. Having good role models and turning to them in time of need is an important aspect of personal empowerment and self-management.

• When Barbie found out that Aunt Millicent planned to close her fashion business, she knew she needed to come up with a plan to save the business.  Barbie’s plan required hard work, imagination and the help of others.  Talk about some of the things she needed to do to implement her plan. (She needed to inspire and encourage Alice to “believe in yourself” and create new designs. She came up with the idea to include “pet fashions” and encouraged Jacques Russo to create the designs. She unlocked the secret code that released the “Flairies,” the three magic creatures/fairies (Shyne, Shimmer, and Glimmer). She convinced the Flairies to help with the fashion designs so they can save the building and their magical powers.) 

• Even though Jacqeuline and Delphine (the villains) kidnap the Flairies and force them to “glitterize” their fashions, the magic doesn’t work. Help children understand why not. (Because the Flairies are not “inspired” by Jacqueline’s designs and so the magic is not stable. It breaks down during the fashion show.)

• Talk about Ken’s difficult journey to meet up with Barbie. Why did he keep trying in spite of the many obstacles he encountered?  What was their reunion like?  Who fixed the tear in Ken’s pants?

• The movie is summarized in the statement, “Magic happens when you believe in yourself.” Talk to the children about the meaning of this important message. Ask them how it might apply to their own life or people that they know.

Parents should be aware of a few scenes that depict undesirable behavior in a humorous manner. Parents may want to point out that these behaviors are not, in fact, funny and could be dangerous if imitated by children. The specific scenes are: a young boy blowing his nose on Ken’s arm, a character pulling on a pair of binoculars while the strap is around the neck of another character, and a character spraying perfume directly into the face of another character.

Activity ideas
Have children draw pictures of scenes from the beginning, the middle and the end of the story.  Help them write a caption under the picture. Post the picture for all to see.

Barbie and Alice sketch fashion designs.  Gather a blank notebook and work with the children to sketch some of their own favorite items such as clothing, sports equipment, pets, people, vehicles or landscapes. Use colored pencils, crayons, markers, pastels, or watercolor paints to make the designs vibrant and colorful.

Barbie shows initiative when she offers to help Aunt Millicent with her business. Discuss with the children a business that they might like to start. Some ideas might be yard work for neighbors, a lemonade stand, and entertaining neighborhood children while their mom fixes dinner.  Starting a business is a big job. Recall Barbie’s advice to Alice “When you have a big job to do, break it down into small steps.”  Help children lay out the steps of a plan.

There are many interesting vocabulary words and new terms used throughout the movie.  Some examples include:  gesture, inspire, muse, genius, artistic integrity, destiny, brainstorm, believe, adventurous, success and talent.  Work with the children to list these words and look up the definitions. Some ideas for reference resources and tools include a traditional (bound) dictionary, an on-line dictionary (www.dictionary.com), word processing dictionary or Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org).

Barbie saves Aunt Millicent’s business with a fashion show.  Work with the children to put on a fashion show. Gather clothing from family, friends and second-hand stores. Have fun creating different styles and costumes.  Remember to include pets – if they will cooperate just like Barbie did with Sequin and Jacques Russo.

Book suggestions: These books are recommended to encourage you to read to and with children about the themes from the movie.

Children's Favorite Classic Fairy Tales (compiled by Madison Park)

This is Paris by Miroslav Sasek

See What You Can Be: Explore Careers That Could Be for You! (American Girl Library) by Diane Heiman, Liz Suneby, and Tracey Wood

Fashion Frenzy (Beacon Street Girls #9) by Annie Bryant

The Princess and the Pea by Lauren Child