I wanted to like A Fairy Secret, and tried to. But I just couldn't. And this is coming from somebody who actually likes the Barbie movies(especially Nutcracker, Diamond Castle, Island Princess and Prince and the Pauper). But although I haven't yet seen Fashion Fairytale, despite hearing a lot of negative press about that one, I can't imagine until I see it that it will be worse than this. The only redeeming quality for me of A Fairy Secret was the catchy soundtrack, and even that is nowhere near as good as those for Nutcracker, Rapunzel and Swan Lake. I disliked the animation here, entries like Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Diamond Castle have beautiful animation that is full of colour and fluidity, but here the colours are lifeless, the backgrounds blocky and the character designs at their most plastic. The writing focuses far too much on fashion(seemingly fashion is like the most important thing in the world) and behavioural snobbery, and the story instead of being charming with good messages is formulaic and rushed with values of stealing boyfriends and vanity. The characters are no longer cute, but now act like childish brats, especially Ken. Barbie in another of her as...roles is no longer resourceful and kind but now a stereotypical teenager, the anti-thesis of her persona in the first place, in other words she's at her least likable. The voice work is stilted, nobody sounds natural as their characters, granted I wasn't expecting any big names to pop up and practically embody their roles like in Nutcracker, Rapunzel, Swan Lake and Three Musketeers but at least the voice actors could've sounded as though they were bringing some kind of life to the proceedings. Overall, a huge disappointment, I'm expecting little from Fashion Fairytale but I just pray that it isn't worse than this. 2/10 Bethany Cox
Review of Barbie: A Fairy Secret
