With Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling coming out this summer, we, Abby Godsen (copy editor and reporter) and Jackie Bozinovski (reporter and Abby’s roommate), decided it would be a great idea to rewatch and rank (almost) all of the Barbie movies to date in celebration. Because there are so many Barbie movies to date, the reviews and rankings of the movies we watched were divided into three main sections: princess movies, fairy movies and mermaid movies. In the fourth part there will be a final overall ranking of all the movies watched and reviews for any movies that did not make it into the first three articles.
This is the fourth and final part featuring an overall ranking for all the movies watched. Any movies that didn't make it to the three previous articles will have their reviews here, otherwise, check out the other three articles to see our thoughts on the rest of the movies we watched.
NOTE: This is not ALL of the movies in the Barbie universe, but, it is most of them. We chose to feature these ones, as we felt they best represented the franchise as a whole and also met one of four criteria: it must contain magic, fairies, princesses or mermaids. However, we knew some, like “Thumbelina” and “Barbie and the Pink Shoes,” wouldn’t rank well, and we chose to omit them from our list.
20. "Barbie: The Princess & the Popstar" (2012)
19. "Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale" (2010)
Following the loss of a role in a movie and Ken supposedly breaking up with her, Barbie goes on a trip to visit her Aunt Millicent’s fashion house in Paris, only to discover it empty while Millicent prepares to sell it. In order to save the fashion house, Barbie and Millicent’s assistant, Alice, plan to put on a fashion show with the help of the Flairies Shine, Shimmer and Glimmer. We thought we were going to like this movie more than we did. The outfits weren’t super great, and there was literally no plot to the movie. The discontinuity of Ken taking an entire week to get to Paris while Barbie got there in one plane ride is a bit confusing, but it makes Ken’s struggle to reach her in Paris all the more comedic. The Flairies also have no major role in the design process other than making the designs sparkly. Is the moral that glitter fixes all your problems? We aren’t entirely sure either.
18. "Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2" (2012)
17. "Barbie: Mariposa & the Fairy Princess" (2013)
16. "Barbie as Rapunzel" (2002)
15. "Barbie of Swan Lake" (2003)
14. "Barbie and the Secret Door" (2014)
13. "Barbie: Princess Charm School" (2011)
12. "Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses" (2006)
11. “Barbie and the Three Musketeers” (2009)
Corinne is a country girl who aspires to become a musketeer like her father. In the movie, she is hired on to work at the castle where she discovers there are others who wish to fulfill the same dream as her. Along the way, they work to save Prince Louis from being killed by his uncle. Does this technically meet our initial criteria for the movies we chose to review? No, but it is a quintessential Barbie movie, so it made it onto our ranking. While it is not one of the most amazing Barbie movies, it is certainly entertaining. For example, Corinne does cartwheels for pretty much the whole movie. The plot is Corinne and her friends training to be musketeers- that’s it. What puts this movie above “12 Dancing Princesses” has more to do with Louis and Madame Hélène, in addition to Corinne’s friends having actual backstories and slight depth.
10. "Barbie in the Nutcracker" (2001)
This movie is an absolute classic that centers around Clara helping newly-turned Nutcracker Eric fight the Rat King (voiced by Tim Curry) and find the Sugar Plum Princess. What really made this movie for us were the side characters, especially Major Mint and Captain Candy. Although it may not be the most original, it is still a classic in its own way.
9. "Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus" (2005)
8. "Barbie in A Mermaid Tale" (2010)
7. "Barbie: Mariposa and Her Butterfly Fairy Friends" (2008)
6. "Barbie: The Pearl Princess" (2014)
5. Fairytopia Trilogy (2005-2007)
Note: We ranked the trilogy as a whole and not individually due to the fact that these movies build upon each other and don’t hold up well on their own. We felt it would be a more fair ranking to do the trilogy as a whole.
4. “Barbie and the Diamond Castle” (2008)
3. “Barbie as the Island Princess” (2007)
2. “Barbie: A Fairy Secret” (2011)
1. “Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper” (2004)
If, by this point, you feel like you know the Barbie universe inside and out, then we did our job. Obviously, there are more movies than we have listed here, but this should give you a good idea of where to start in preparation for the new "Barbie" movie coming out on July 21, 2023 in theaters.
These are some other rankings we did in addition to the ones we already did, just for fun.
The Best Sequel: "Fairytopia: Mermaidia"
The Best Magic Movie: "Barbie and the Secret Door"
Guilty Pleasure Pick for Abby: "Princess Charm School:
Guilty Pleasure Pick for Jackie: "Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses"
Abigail Godsen (she/her) is a sophomore majoring in Applied Information Sciences. She is a reporter and Copy Editor for The Campus Citizen. When she isn’t writing, Abby likes to cook, do crossword puzzles and drink a lot of tea. She can be summoned using tea, cardigans and books (according to her roommate Jackie).
Jackie Bozinovski (she/her) is a sophomore double majoring in Biology and Forensics. She is a sometimes writer for the Campus Citizen, but primarily is the Citizen's mascot. When she isn't doing in-depth research on obscure topics or chugging copious amounts of coffee, you can find her reading, explaining science concepts to her very not sciencey roommate Abby or talking about Drag Queens.
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