My god, what a terrible film! But do the kids care? Not really! Although, my 6 year old daughter was very disappointed that her fairytopia Barbie that she got for Christmas wasn’t in the film. The film didn’t even mention the places on the fairyland map that came with it.
I could’ve honestly written this film in an afternoon – the plot really wasn’t very good. What happened to the twin sister of the evil Laverna? We saw her floating under some horrible spell and then never heard a mention of her again! I suppose I’m extra disappointed because I know if I had an opportunity to write a story about fairies, I would have loved it, and I know I would have done a much better job than that! It also seemed that the merchandising wasn’t thought of well enough either. I mean, girls love fairies, but after watching this film, there’s only going to be one doll they’ll want, and that’s the main character, Elina. More friends in her homeland would’ve allowed more choice of doll afterwards.
And where was the handsome prince? There was a brief interlude with a merman I suppose. I can only hope that there are going to be more follow on films as there is such potential there!!
The dolls themselves are really cool. I love the fairytopia Lenara (yes, the name is far too similar to Laverna) of my daughter’s. It has a gorgeous outfit, wings that you can flap to fly, and comes with a tiny pixie, or sprite I think they call it; and a booklet and fairy map to really spark the imagination. The more expensive dolls also had a skin tinged the same colour as their outfit, and had gorgeous swirly tattoos over their body. Much better than those terrible looking Sparkle Fairy dolls! (I personally want them to bring back the Hornby flower fairies from Mary Cicely Barker) I also wanted to get the fairytopia fairy play set for Christmas, but it bloody sold out everywhere.
I think I’ve seen a plush Hue the butterfly in Woolworths. Perhaps there will be play sets of the houses in the film, nearer to Christmas this year.
Barbie Fairytopia
