Barbie: The Ultimate Heroine

Before I had a little girl of my own, I vowed to keep her from those barely clothed Barbie Dolls. I had grown up playing with Barbie, the perfectly sculpted woman. In a society that idolizes perfect women with perfect figures, I didn’t want to subject my daughter to that mentality and to subconsciously compare herself to Barbie’s impossible proportions. But as she got older it became more obvious that Barbie was a force to be reckoned with, so I relented to the Princess Barbies. After all, they were clad in long flowing gowns instead of those skimpy clothes so many of the other Barbies were wearing.

Then I fell in love with Barbie videos and all vows were off. After ten years of Barnie, Psalty the singing song book, Disney Sing-a-long, and Wee Sing, I was ready for a change and delighted when my daughter skipped all the PBS toddler shows and went straight for Barbie: The Princess and the Pauper. I think it was her older cousin’s influence, but it’s one influence I didn’t grit my teeth at.

I was pleasantly surprised by Barbie who portrayed both classic and new characters and was not your typical damsel in distress princess. She was strong, independent, her own hero! And it didn’t hurt that she sang! I was definitely hooked on Barbie DVDs after that first video and as excited as my daughter when new Barbie adventures came out. Needless to say, themed Barbie dolls filled her wish list, and I didn’t hesitate to indulge her in these fun Barbie character adventures.

So when Mom Central invited me to try out the new “Sing Along with Barbie” DVD I was excited!

12 Barbie songs comprise this DVD which is basically 12 scenes ripped from some of our favorite Barbie movies like “The Island Princess,” “Barbie and the Three Musketeers,” “Barbie and the Diamond Castle,” “The Princess and the Pauper” and a few more. My seven year old daughter was able to follow along with the purple highlighted words, like you’d do in karaoke, though we did notice when there was a duet, it was harder to follow. We did figure out that the second singer’s lyrics were on the bottom, but my son pointed out it would have been better if the words were highlighted a different color. One negative is that since the songs are scenes from the movie, there is talking involved and that talking is also highlighted across the screen as if the tv text was just turned on, but that is easily overlooked.

I’m not sure who enjoyed the dvd more, me or my daughter, but I’m sure we’ll have plenty more opportunities to find out!

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Mattel. In addition, I received a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate.”