Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses

I do get some pleasure out of the Barbie movies, and the 12 Dancing Princesses is no exception. The animation is mostly full of lovely colour, fluid backgrounds and nuanced facial expressions. True, the animation in the dance sequences is not very inspired, but none of it is bad as far I could see. The music is whimsical and catchy, the dialogue is decent with some fun moments even with some corniness, the story has a lot of charm and heart making an existing story fresh in terms of storytelling and while the characters are not much different from the types of characters from the previous Barbie movies they are likable still. The voice acting is solid from all involved. Overall, a very charming movie. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I have a 4yr old daughter, and before this movie she was all about the Disney princesses, now she watched this movie and all she can talk about is Princess Genevieve, and all her sisters. I definitely recommend this movie for all young girls. This movie is one of the best from the Barbie collection. It shows all the good values that any mother would love to encourage on there little girls. With the great songs and dance moves, it gets my daughter up and trying to mimic the moves. The extras are also good, one even works on how good your memory is. I would definitely have say it is a must see for kids and grown-ups alike.

This movie was very cute and totally little girl appropriate. My nieces have watched it non-stop since they've gotten it, and as a result I've seen it nearly 4 times all the way through. I can't get enough of it. The CGI images are great to watch, the humor is good, and the ballet portrayals are excellent. Although the story line has a few holes, no little girl will pick up on them, and as an adult, the movie is so charming that one hardly even notices. Just keep in mind that it is a Barbie movie, and, though cheesy at times, in my experience, this one lives up to the high standard which the other Barbie princess movies have set for it. I would recommend this to anyone who has a little girl who has always wanted to be a princess. It teaches a good lesson as well. Everyone is special and different in their own way, and everyone can make a difference.

The princesses get tortured mentally getting forced to drop everything they love to become ideal ladies like the description for the movie says. Similar to Cinderella the evil stepmother. This is pretty good for 2006 era of television and movies. This is a child friendly version of the mentality that children will go through once they start being treated poorly and go to imaginary places to cope with the new stress of a different life and routine.

This 3D animation was expressive and silly animal pets that are unusual and exotic for modern life. With a indian parrot when no one in the film is of that region. Shows the parrot was adopted later on in its life, and also gives some silly nice diversity for the film.

This is a nicely-done story with pretty music, lots of dancing, lots of big sister/little sister interaction (almost all of it positive), and lots of wishes granted. There are funny moments that older children and adults will enjoy, such as when King Randolph exclaims, "They're just SHOES! Aren't they?" And tender moments such as when Princess Genevieve comforts her youngest sister, Lacey, after a blunder.

The animation is perhaps not as good as Disney, but it still is very good. The facial expressions are nuanced, particularly for Genevieve, King Randolph, Duchess Rowena and her servant, Derek the cobbler, and little Princess Lacey. My only quibble on the animation is in the dance sequences where the dancing princesses become absolute carbon copies of each other without the slightest deviation -- even the three youngest copy the dance steps perfectly. I would have liked to see a little more individualism in the dancing, considering that these girls are not professional ballerinas or chorus dancers.

The resolution of the story is handled cleverly to get rid of a villainess without actually hurting her. There is some violence done to guards in the story, and the villainess's monkey is mean to other animals in the story.

My 4-year-old daughter loves this movie and has watched it repeatedly, and I have found it to be quite acceptable for her to watch.