Barbie in The Nutcracker (2001)
Dec 20, 2009Animation/Barbie Enacts Fairytale
The first in a long series of animated films based on Mattel's girl's doll Barbie. This casts Barbie as a lead in an adaptation of The Nutcracker ballet
Mattel Entertainment
Barbie as Rapunzel (2002)
May 24, 2009Animation/Barbie Enacts Fairytale
The second of the animated Barbie films, this casts her as the title character in the popular Brothers Grimm fairytale, which has been considerably embellished. This suffers the glassy plasticity of the early Mainframe films
Barbie of Swan Lake (2003)
Mar 7, 2005Animation/Barbie Enacts Fairytale
The third animated film based on the popular girl's doll Barbie. This places Barbie into Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake in an okay telling, if one that suffers from the usual limited animation of Mainframe's early films
Barbie as The Princess and the Pauper (2004)
Jul 17, 2009Animation/Barbie Fairytale
Here the Barbie films turn to Mark Twain's classic (non-fantasy) tale of rags and riches and spins it as a fairytale This has the same blank, plastic style of the early Barbie films and is otherwise bland
Barbie Fairytopia (2004)
May 2, 2005Animation/Land of Fairies
The previous Barbie animated films had adapted various fairytales but this casts her as a fairy in a magical kingdom – simplistic, but one of the most colourfully animated of Mainframe's Barbie films
Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses (2006)
Dec 31, 2015Animation/Barbie Fairytale
Another animated Barbie film that leaves you quite certain that every problem in life can be solved with a positive upbeat ditty
Barbie as The Island Princess (2007)
Feb 3, 2008Animation/Barbie Fairytale
Another of the animated Barbie films, this casts her as a desert island castaway accompanied by a retinue of talking animals. Visually colourful but slight
Barbie Fairytopia: Magic of the Rainbow (2007)
Sep 9, 2007Animation/Land of Fairies
Sequel to the earlier Barbie animated film Barbie Fairytopia. Extremely colourful but essentially a fantasy version of a teenage girl high school drama that quickly slips into pre-packaged formula
Barbie Mariposa (2008)
Dec 14, 2008Animation/Land of Fairies
Another of Mainframe's interminable Barbie films that soon slip into a sameness. This is at least directed with a visual sweep
Barbie & the Diamond Castle (2008)
Jan 11, 2009Animation/Barbie Fairytale
One of the first of Mainframe's animated Barbie films, this creates a fairytale where reasonable effort gone into the animation and characters
Barbie Presents Thumbelina (2009)
Sep 12, 2009Animation/Barbie Fairytale
Another animated Barbie film, this appropriate the name of the Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale and makes it now about a fairy who preaches conservation. As these films go, this is one of the better made and comes with quite a degree of colour
Max Steel (2016)
Jan 29, 2017Film Based on Toy Franchise/Superhero Film
An ill-conceived attempt to compete amid the high stakes box-office superheroics enjoyed by Marvel and belatedly DC, this had one of the most disastrous box-office showings of 2016 … Based on a popular line of action toys, this gets nothing right – it's hard to tell it is meant to be a superhero film for half the show
Barbie (2023)
Sep 23, 2023Doll Enters the Real World
Less a film than a phenomenon, there is something ironic about a doll that is accused of promoting negative body standards ending up leading a women’s movement. Moria has just one or two issues with this.
Masters of the Universe (2026)
Jul 4, 2026Intergalactic Sword-and-Sorcery
A reboot of Masters of the Universe, this fully embraces the mythology of the animated series and gives them great life. But is also a work that is constantly deflating any chance you are taking it seriously