The following quotes are from the Tangled topic, in the Other Disney forum:
It’s true that The Barbie Diaries is of noticeably lower quality than the others. It was made by Curious Pictures. Kelly Sheridan as the voice of Barbie is an odd common element with the others.
The Barbie movies occupy an unusual space in the world of CG-animated features. They are largely direct-to-video releases (a couple have had theatrical releases around the world) produced on low budgets by Rainmaker (formerly Mainframe) Entertainment in Canada. As many folks here point out, the computer animation is primitive compared to CG-animated theatrical releases. Certainly it’s well below Pixar quality. Even so, the quality of the animation has noticeably increased over the course of the series, which appears to be still going strong after 20+ movies. Also, the quality of music and songs is at least average and often better than average, and there is more depth of character and story than one might expect given the nature of the films as merchandising tie-ins.
More interesting is that the Barbie movies are based on motion capture, especially in early entries, for which dancers or skaters were heavily used…yet, because of the comparatively primitive CGI, modeling, rendering, etc., the result is an avoidance of the uncanny valley. In other words, the characters look like animated dolls that are unquestionably not human, so there’s little or no creepy dead-eye effect as with the Zemeckis films. It’s also appropriate to the brand–why not make Barbie movies that look like animated Barbie dolls?
All told, the productions are worth a look by open-minded viewers. At least for the sake of my daughters, I’m glad there are Barbie CG-animated movies available. But as an animation fan, I’d be lying not to admit that I also find more to enjoy in the movies than might be expected. Personal favorites: The Princess and the Pauper, The Magic of Pegasus, The 12 Dancing Princesses, and The Three Musketeers.
Omg…these movies were a HUGE part of my childhood. I didnt even care about the animation. I probably collected every single one from “the Nutcracker” to “Mariposa.” Though I’ll admit that the newer ones seem to be going downhill.
IV: The Princess and the Pauper is arguably the Barbie movie closest to Disney quality, and it’s certainly a better Disney-like movie than several of Disney’s direct-to-video sequels.
Yehz, I admit I’m a Barbie movie fan. I haven’t seen all of them and I’m not a fan of all of them, but I have to say that the ones I like best are wonderful. Maybe it’s just my girly side or the fact that I’ve always had Barbie dolls growing up or maybe my love of glitter, but I enjoy them. My faves are Swan Lake, Princess and The Pauper, Magic of Pegasus, The Island Princess, and The Three Musketeers. I haven’t noticed the animation’s quality as much as I have noticed some of the effects, such as water and hair, being slighly less than perfection. Of course, I don’t really let that kind of thing detract from how much I enjoy a film, I think they do a very good job and I enjoy seeing them when I get the chance.
There’s a new Barbie webseries available on the Barbie YouTube channel and… it’s just amazing.
Instead of being a princess, or a rockstar or whatever, the Barbie dolls are actually dolls. And they’re perfectly aware that they’re dolls. The only thing I can really compare it to would be Toy Story 3 - they use the oversized Barbie brushes and makeup, all of their furniture comes from stickers…
It also completely pokes fun at the whole Barbie franchise - in one episode Barbie comments about how it’s her and Ken’s 43rd anniversary, in another Barbie says “You know, I’ve had so many careers it’s hard to keep track of all 135 of them. And counting!”
Anyway, it’s called Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse and it’s a parody of a reality TV series that follows Barbie and her sisters Skipper, Stacie and Chelsea, their pets Blissa, Taffy and Tawny, her boyfriend Ken and their friends Teresa, Nikki, Ryan and Raquelle.
You can watch it here, but be warned, it’s incredibly addictive. It’s even amassed a sort of cult following over on tumblr.
I like the tongue in cheek, self-aware humor.