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Barbie Fairytopia - Magic Of The Rainbow

Director: William Lau
Average Customer Rating:

List Price: ~~£18.99~~
Our Price: £2.22

Product Details
Audience Rating: Universal, suitable for all
Binding: DVD
EAN: 5050582475586
Format: PAL
Label: Universal Pictures UK
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UK
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Universal Pictures UK
Region Code: 2
Release Date: 2007-03-19
Running Time: 74
Studio: Universal Pictures UK

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Editorial Review
Amazon.co.uk Review
Believing in oneself can be difficult, even with the support of friends. The formerly wingless fairy Elina has saved Fairytopia more than once, proving herself against Fungus Maximus and turning the evil Laverna into a frog in Barbie Fairytopia and Barbie Fairytopia--Mermaidia, but she still questions her own abilities when Guardian Azura selects her to become her apprentice and learn the all-important flight of spring--a ritual which ensures another year of vitality in Fairytopia. The taunts and snobby attitudes of her fellow apprentices serve to further undercut Elina's self-esteem, but she vows to do her best to master the flight of spring and soon proves worthy of her appointment. When the trickery of Laverna threatens to stop the flight of spring and destroy Fairytopia forever, it falls to the new apprentices to save Fairytopia. Of course, Elina will play a pivotal role in the group's eventual success or failure. Prepubescent attitudes and shallowness reign among most of the apprentices, but most eventually see the error of their ways and the clear message is the importance of believing in oneself. (Ages 3 to 9) --Tami Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Not the best for adults but a huge hit with small children, 2007-05-20
Comment: Compared with some of the other Barbie videos I was slightly disappointed with this, but the target audience certainly were not. In the week we rented this film I have lost count of the number of times my children have watched it.

For reference, this is the third in the "Fairytopia" sequence which currently consists of:

Fairytopia
Mermaidia
Magic of the Rainbow.

Before we first rented one of the Barbie videos for my daughter, I was expecting them to be trite, over-commercialised, over-sugary and over here. In general, however, I have been pleasantly surprised.

Yes, they do have a lot of commercial spin-offs and a high saccharine count, but the quality of the Barbie films we have subsequently bought or rented, including all three "Fairytopia" films, was significantly higher than I had originally expected before watching any of them. These films have not just kept my children engrossed for hours - including my son as well as my daughter - but introduced them to some beautiful stories. Several - but sadly not this one - also introduced my children to some truly wonderful music.

On more than one occasion I have been listening to a CD of a classic such as Beethoven's pastoral symphony, or "The Queen of the Night's aria" from Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute", and my five year old daughter has recognised and expressed appreciation of the music, and correctly remembered which Barbie film had used it. ("Magic of Pegasus" and "Mermaidia" respectively.)

So I was very disappointed that "Fairytopia - the magic of the rainbow" did not continue this tradition: no great classics this time, the musical score is just competently written filler.

The film continues the story of a Barbie as the good fairy Elena, and her "puffball" companion, who seek to protect the land of the fairies (Fairytopia) from being taken over and ruined by the evil Laverna.

This time the "puffball" comic relief character gets a romance of his own.

Those people who enjoy criticising the way Mattel operate the Barbie franchise will not have much difficulty finding things in this production to sneer at. If you, or more importantly your kids, are allergic to an excess of twee sweetness, then this film and the Barbie videos generally may not be for them.

And the female characters are all on the thin side of plausibility: I'm not worried that watching this is going to give my own daughter anorexia as she likes food too much and has a good sense of the difference between fantasy and reality. And after all, the characters in this story are fairies, complete with wings! However, if you are worried that your children may be forming an unrealistic idea about how thin a healthy female body shape is, it is not quite impossible that this film may contribute to it.

But on the plus side: it is beautifully made, it will hold the attention of most small children for long enough for the typical exhausted parent to clear the mess they have made in several rooms of the house or collapse for an hour's rest after doing so. And there are still a few more sophisticated jokes thrown in, so you won't be completely bored to death if you decide to watch it with your offspring.

Overall this is not, in my opinion, quite as good as some of the previous Barbie videos, including the first two Fairytopia" titles, but anything which can hold my children's attention as well as this film did clearly has something going for it.

Having rented the title to try it out, I then bought it for my children, as part of the triple DVD set with all three "Fairytopia" titles.