I know that I am not the only one when I say that I am beyond excited about the new Barbie (2023) movie. The recent teaser trailer was exactly that — a tease. The fact that we are going to be seeing Barbie’s Dream World live-action is making me feel nostalgic for the pink Barbie castle and the hundreds of Barbie dolls I used to play with for hours on end. So, in honor of the Barbie (2023) movie, I wanted to rank my favorite Barbie movies from my childhood because they built the foundation of my love for Barbie.
- Barbie: Mermaidia (2006)
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Sorry, but Barbie: Mermaidia is a great movie. It was the second movie of the Barbie: Fairytopia trilogy, and it was my most-watched Barbie movie. It had the perfect combination of fairies and mermaids. And the story was pro-girl power with Elina being the one saving the handsome prince. I loved all the characters, and the evil Laverna was probably my favorite Barbie villain. The fact that Bibble is in the movie is enough to make it a top-tier watching experience.
- Barbie as the princess and the pauper (2004)
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Listen, I know you might be mad at me for not putting this film as number one, but I do love this movie. Annaliese and Erika were my favorite Barbie dolls to play with, and I truly enjoy all the songs. Martin Short as Preminger was perfect, and his song “How Can I Refuse” is a bop and we all know it. TikTok definitely made us Barbie fans become nostalgic again for this movie because it made Preminger’s song and “I am a Girl Like You” big trending sounds.
- Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses (2006)
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I remember when this movie came out, McDonald’s had the mini dolls of the 12 sisters, and I collected all of them. I was obsessed with playing the video game on PlayStation 2, and I am pretty sure I played through it at least 20 times. The movie’s concept was sweet and taught me from a young age why you shouldn’t allow people to stop you from enjoying your passions, while also breaking down the concept of “unladylike” behaviors.
- Barbie of Swan Lake (2003)
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We have Barbie as the Swan Princess in this cute adaptation of the classic ballet. I believe that Barbie formed my admiration for not only Tchaikovsky but classical music in general. I think that Barbie’s dress in this movie was perfect and probably my favorite from the all the movies. I also liked how the side characters were kids who had a spell casted on them so they would turn into woodland creatures during the day, and their outfits were inspired by their animal counterparts — so cute! I think this film is also one of the reasons I wanted to do ballet as a kid, because I wanted to be a ballerina just like Barbie.
- Barbie in the nutcracker (2001)
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Finishing off with another Barbie adaptation based on the ballet with music composed by Tchaikovsky, we have Barbie in The Nutcracker. I always found this to be a holiday favorite of mine. The music is true to the original material, and the stylization of the movie makes a classic ballet very palatable for girly girls like me. The fact that Tim Curry voices the Mouse King is also iconic.
It was nice taking a trip down Barbie memory lane and remembering the movies that I was absolutely obsessed with. I was born in 2001, and in my opinion, the Barbie movies around that era were unmatched. I would say that I stopped watching Barbie around the time Barbie Mariposa (2008) so my apologies if anyone was hoping to see some of the more recent ones. Sorry, we’re sticking to the classics here. But, for now, I am looking forward to seeing Margot Robbie as Barbie and bringing back “Barbie-mania”!
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