It’s hard to think of many other fictional women with the same level of iconography as Barbie. For decades now, Mattel’s signature doll has gone through countless evolutions, variations, expansions, job titles, and of course, adaptations. A long gestating live-action film, directed by Greta Gerwig and featuring Margot Robbie slipping into the character’s iconic high heels, is set to hit theaters this weekend. But this is far from the first time Barbie has embraced the medium of cinema.
Since 2001 all the way up to the present day, Mattel has worked with numerous animation studios producing direct-to-DVD, and later direct-to-streaming, animated films based on the toy line. Some of them feature Barbie playing an entirely different character, many feature Kelly Sheridan voicing the title role, and all of them are less than 90 minutes long, which made me think it would be easy to go through and rank them all.
It was not easy. Over the past couple months, I have watched over 40 of these things and while I wouldn’t consider any of them worse than mediocre, some are even surprisingly good, my brain has most certainly gone numb. But now, I’ve finally finished the films (and only the films. None of the TV shows or standalone specials) and can share my overall thoughts with you lovely readers. Without further ado, let’s begin.
#43. Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia
If there’s one word I would use to describe this movie, it’s “annoying.” The characters are annoying, the dialogue is annoying, its laughably inconsistent and plot hole-ridden story is annoying, even the ugly visuals are frankly annoying to look at. Like most of these, it’s mercifully short, but that’s about the only positive I can give here.
#42. Barbie in A Mermaid Tale
Throughout this marathon, I came to hypothesize that Barbie and mermaids simply don’t work well together. While this isn’t strictly true, I don’t think you can really blame when this and the previous entry both revolve around mermaids and are both this bad. There’s no real plot progression in this film, things just sort of happen. And when things aren’t happening, there’s a seemingly endless barrage of bad puns and surf montages.
#41. Barbie Fairytopia: Magic of the Rainbow
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The last of the Fairytopia trilogy (Yes, really), this feels less like a proper film and more like an extended pilot for an unmade TV series. New school setting that could easily be used for episodic adventures, large ensemble cast, and so on. It’s still mostly boring and features far too much of the obnoxious flying hairball that is Bibble, but it’s at least more of a novelty than the previous entries on this list.
#40. Barbie: Fairytopia
The main problem with this movie is that it’s just so boring. The main character arc is sound but the basic quest narrative drags on and on despite the movie itself being under an hour and a half long. Combine that with the aforementioned Bibble still being intolerably annoying and you’re left without much to recommend.
#39. Barbie Presents: Thumbelina
The film’s pro-environmentalist and anti-peer pressure messages are certainly admirable, but that doesn’t excuse how agonizingly dull it is. The main story arc and characters are far too basic to go on for as long as they do. Thumbelina herself is a decent protagonist and the construction foreman with a weirdly personal vendetta against plants is pretty funny, but those are the only nice things I can really say.
#38. Barbie in the Pink Shoes
So most of this film’s story centers on Barbie’s character Kristyn getting involved in the plots of several classic ballets. When she prevents the tragic ending of Swan Lake, the Snow Queen from the ballet of the same name scolds her for preventing the story from going the way it’s supposed to. Therefore, she has the exact same motivation as Miguel O’Hara in Across The Spider-Verse a full decade beforehand and this bizarre coincidence is the one interesting thing in this otherwise dull movie.
#37. Barbie & Her Sisters in A Puppy Chase
This vastly inferior sequel to 2015’s Great Puppy Adventure has a few nice moments, but that doesn’t stop it from being a surprisingly frustrating watch. Erica Lindbeck’s performance as Barbie sounds weirdly flat, the visuals are worse, and the conflict feels artificially drawn out at every turn. The central conflict itself only happens because the normally intelligent Barbie thought it would be a good idea to let her dogs play unsupervised in the middle of the woods without so much as a fence to stop them from wandering off and no one in the film ever acknowledges this incredibly stupid fact.
#36. Barbie in the Nutcracker
The very first Barbie film is a largely mediocre retelling of the titular classic ballet so desperate for content despite its short runtime that its denouement goes on for a full fifteen minutes. However, the early 2000s CGI is often so ugly as to be unintentionally hilarious and the legendary Tim Curry gives a wonderfully hammy performance as the Mouse King, so it’s at least amusing enough.
#35. Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2
For most of my marathon, I noticed that only the bad Barbie movies ever seem to get sequels, which I took as a clear sign that the universe is out to get me. A handful of decent jokes and an admirable message do manage to elevate this from the awfulness of the original Mermaid Tale to basic mediocrity, but that isn’t exactly high praise.
#34. Barbie of Swan Lake
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This movie largely retells the classic ballet of the title but with a lot more talking animals and a decidedly happier ending to accommodate the younger demographic. It’s mostly dull, but it does feature a delightful troll named Erasmus as well as Kelsey Grammer’s Rothbart enthusiastically shouting “Ducky!” for no apparent reason, so points for that.
#33. Barbie Mariposa
The Fairytopia sub-franchise rears its ugly head again with a spin-off that is thankfully much better than its source material. The annoying animal sidekicks still drag it down, but the characters are relatively charming, the message is positive if basic, and there’s even a handful of genuinely funny moments.
#32. Barbie: A Perfect Christmas
The big issue with this movie is how aggressively basic it is. All of the conflicts are things you’ve seen a million times before in other better movies. However, the songs are all pretty catchy and Skipper’s arc about wanting to do things on her own actually works rather well.
#31. Barbie Mariposa & The Fairy Princess
It’s no masterpiece, but it’s enjoyable enough and has some surprisingly on-point and effective commentary on the dangers of bigotry. It’s also the only entry in the Fairytopia sub-franchise to not feature any stupid animal sidekicks, therefore it is automatically the best one of those.
#30. Barbie as Rapunzel
The second Barbie film isn’t exactly great, but it works well enough. The supporting cast are all fairly charming, Anjelica Huston’s Mother Gothel makes for a strong villain, and Rapunzel herself is a very proactive character, a rarity in most pre-Tangled versions of this story. The one weird thing is that Rapunzel’s iconic long hair is barely a footnote in this version.
#29. Barbie in A Christmas Carol
This is one of the most fascinating Barbie movies conceptually since across all incarnations, Barbie herself is meant to be an inherently kind and likable character; whereas the protagonist of A Christmas Carol spends the majority of the story being anything but. Even the film’s framing device features Barbie’s little sister pointing out what a departure having a mean protagonist is compared to a typical Barbie film.
Beyond that novelty, it’s mostly just the classic Dickens story with the edges sanded down (The Tiny Tim and Scrooge analogues don’t even die in the bad future), but if you like A Christmas Carol, the core of the narrative is still very much intact.
#28. Barbie & Chelsea: The Lost Birthday
Most of this movie feels like a bizarre fever dream with no discernible explanation until the twist ending, which will shatter your mind if you’re Chelsea’s age or younger. If you’re any older than that, you will either feel like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner or roll your eyes at how predictable is. Still, it’s cute, harmless, and has a pretty catchy song at the end.
#27. Barbie & Her Sisters In A Pony Tale
This movie is a fairly basic “Save The Rec Center”/”Save The Animals” story with a magic gimmick tossed in, but it ranks this high because of one key scene. When they’re talking about the backstory to this mythical horse breed, the film cuts to a stylized 2D animated sequence that is easily the most visually stunning thing in any of these movies. That alone makes this film worth watching.
#26. Barbie: The Pearl Princess
This is a fairly basic narrative with a painfully obvious twist, but the extended cast of characters is fairly charming, the pearl magic gimmick is pretty unique, and it’s paced rather well. Credit where it’s due, this movie convinced me that Barbie and mermaids are not an inherently cursed combination.
#25. Barbie: Spy Squad
Like any good spy film, this movie has some strong action set pieces, a ton of cool gadgets, and a few double crosses for good measure. It may not beat the best of Bond or even reach the heights of something like Kim Possible, but it’s fun enough on its own.
#24. Barbie: Dolphin Magic
I was expecting to hate this given my frustrations with the overly friendly depictions of dolphins in media (They’re monstrous bullies in the wild. Look it up.), but it’s actually pretty fun. An admittedly basic “Save the animals” story with some cute moments and a welcome helping of gay subtext between Barbie and the mermaid Ayla.
#23. Barbie: Mermaid Power
This direct sequel to Dolphin Magic features significantly less pro-dolphin propaganda and significantly more mermaid society deep lore heavily inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender. Plus, there’s a pretty catchy musical number and it carries on its predecessor’s gay subtext by giving Barbie not one, but two potential girlfriends.
#22. Barbie and the Secret Door
This Alice In Wonderland-inspired tale features some catchy music, a cavalcade of charming characters, and humor that manages to mostly land despite it not being nearly as funny as it thinks it is. Also, the villain is a bratty five-year-old girl who gets defeated the same way that Megatron does in the first Transformers movie.
#21. Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus
The fantasy quest narrative is ultimately a bit generic and the film feels too long despite being under 90 minutes, but it’s a charming story with good characters and a surprisingly authentic conflict. Plus, during the end credits, there’s Pixar-style bloopers and an original song performed by future Academy Award winner and Captain Marvel herself, Brie Larson.
Related: Barbie Star Ryan Gosling Almost Starred In Avengers: Infinity War And Endgame As A Marvel Superhero
#20. Barbie in Rock ‘N Royals
Everything about this film has major “Mid-2000s Disney Channel Original Movie” vibes and I mean that as a compliment. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before and it’s not winning any awards, but the songs are catchy and the film’s infectious energy will likely win you over if you’re into the kind of TV movies it’s influenced by.
#19. The Barbie Diaries
This is the only pre-2010 Barbie film to use a contemporary setting, but beyond that novelty, it has a surprising amount to say about peer pressure and toxic high school clique cultures. It’s Mean Girls for the audience that isn’t quite old enough for the actual movie and would probably rank higher on this list if they had included more than one type of scene transition.
#18. Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses
As the title suggests, this movie has 12 main characters and they somehow all manage to feel unique and compelling despite the short runtime. It definitely feels like it would’ve been better served as a musical, which it is not despite several prolonged dance sequences, but overall, it works for what it is.
#17. Barbie: A Fairy Secret
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This is one of the only Barbie movies to feature Ken at all and his role in the story is to get kidnapped, nearly be forcibly married to a fairy queen, and comedically stumble his way into surviving a magic duel before getting rescued by Barbie. That alone makes this worthy of a spot in the Top 20.
#16. Barbie: Princess Charm School
Most of this movie is fairly basic “The small-town girl doesn’t fit it in with high society” shenanigans seen in films like The Princess Diaries but it’s a well-executed version of that and in the last 30 minutes, it turns into a surprisingly solid heist film.
#15. Barbie & Her Sisters in the Great Puppy Adventure
This movie is essentially a cross between Air Bud and a gender-flipped version of The Goonies and while it may not be quite as awesome as that description makes it sound, it comes shockingly close. Plus, it introduces the stylized character designs that would become standard for the franchise going forward.
#14. Barbie: Epic Road Trip
The main hook of this movie is the use of viewer choices to present multiple branching narratives a la Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. While not nearly as expansive as that, Epic Road Trip is surprisingly robust for a novelty aimed at young children. There is some crossover between paths, but most feel remarkably unique and there’s a total of 8 possible endings that I managed to get about three of. It might rank higher if they didn’t make heteronormative conformity to Barbie’s relationship with Ken the “best” ending.
#13. Barbie and the Three Musketeers
You know how everyone questions why The Three Musketeers has that name despite there being four of them in most incarnations? Well, the fourth musketeer in this movie is Barbie herself and she’s billed separately from the others, so no one can complain about name accuracy. Plus, it’s a fairly solid action film with strong feminist themes and Tim Curry comes back as the bad guy.
#12. Barbie: Video Game Hero
After years of championing feminism, the Barbie films finally made an entry to represent the truly oppressed: gamers. All joking aside, this movie is a lot of fun. Multiple unique art styles, a strong ensemble cast, and a simplistic but wholesome “Be Yourself” message told through a “Girls Who Code” lens. It definitely loses points for turning into a Just Dance commercial at the end though.
#11. Barbie: Princess Adventure
The first of Netflix’s Barbie films opted to remake 2004’s Princess and the Pauper for the second time (Third if you count Rock ‘N Royals). While not as strong as the franchise’s previous attempts at this story, it’s still relatively strong with charming leads and an infectiously catchy soundtrack.
#10. Barbie: Big City, Big Dreams
This film serves as the introduction to Barbie “Brooklyn” Roberts, a new character who coincidentally has the exact same name as the Barbie we all know, except she’s from Brooklyn instead of Malibu. The relationship between these two, the excellent soundtrack, and the extreme amounts of “possibly unintentional but also maybe not” queer coding throughout the film elevate this otherwise standard “Trying to make it in New York” story into a Top 10 contender.
#9. Barbie: The Princess and The Popstar
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The first Princess and the Pauper remake doesn’t reach the heights of the original, mainly due to an extremely superfluous villain and the unnecessary addition of magic elements to the story, but it’s still a lot of fun. The two leads are both very compelling, the shift to a contemporary setting works rather well, and the soundtrack is excellent; even including a pop remix of the original’s “To Be A Princess.”
#8. Barbie as the Island Princess
This movie feels like a cross between Tarzan and Moana and it kind of rules. Rosella is one of the best protagonists in the franchise, the cute animal sidekicks never overstay their welcome, and the songs have a genuine Broadway feel to them that helps elevate the story.
#7. Barbie: Skipper and the Big Babysitting Adventure
The latest of the animated Barbie films is way better than it has any right to be. Skipper makes for a shockingly compelling protagonist, the emotional stakes feel grounded and authentic, there’s some really cool 2D animated segments in addition to the usual CG style, and it might be the funniest entry in the whole series. I genuinely lost my mind at the “demise of DVDs” line.
#6. Barbie and the Diamond Castle
This might be the most deliberately queer-coded Barbie movie (The two leads wear dresses in the bisexual and lesbian pride colors towards the end) and had they committed to that, this might be #1. It still ranks fairly high regardless thanks to its charming leads, delightfully despicable villain, and catchy soundtrack; but the systemic homophobia of the 2000s prevented it from being that much better.
#5. Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale
For about the first fifteen minutes, I genuinely thought A Fashion Fairytale would take the top spot. Barbie was finally just Barbie instead of playing another character, the film featured a contemporary setting in which Barbie was dealing with real problems in real ways, and Ken showed up for the first time in any of these films seemingly just to break up with Barbie over the phone. Everything about the film seemed kind of perfect. And then the fairies showed up.
They aren’t bad characters, but the introduction of magic into an otherwise grounded narrative made the otherwise shockingly subversive nature of the story ring a bit hollow for me. It’s still a very fun character-driven rom-com with fun takes on the classic tropes, but it just misses the mark on being the best.
#4. Barbie in Princess Power
I watched this and The Flash on the same day and I genuinely think this is the better superhero movie of the two and I don’t know which film that says more about. It may be a relatively simple riff on Superman and Spider-Man, but Princess Power is still just plain fun from start to finish and if you’re as big a sucker for superhero storytelling as I am, you’ll probably get a kick out of it.
#3. Barbie: Star Light Adventure
Maybe I’m just a mark for science-fiction, but I loved this one. It’s largely a riff on Star Wars and Star Trek, but it works thanks to charming characters and surprisingly impressive visuals for direct-to-DVD CGI. It’s also better than at least five Star Wars and five Star Trek movies respectively, so make of that what you will.
#2. Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper
If there was any Barbie animated film I could genuinely recommend, it would undoubtedly be this one. The two leads are remarkably charming and compelling characters, Martin Short’s Preminger makes for a fantastic villain, and the soundtrack is legitimately on par with the best of the Disney Renaissance. Its poorly aged visuals do slightly hold it back, but it still stands as the best of the franchise’s animated entries.
#1. Barbie (2023)
It probably shouldn’t be a surprise that the hotly-anticipated live-action adaptation lands at #1, but even I found myself taken aback at just how well Greta Gerwig’s Barbie genuinely works. An extremely funny film with excellent musical numbers and immaculate costume design that also functions as a deep and moving analysis on feminism, capitalism, the patriarchy, and what it means to be human. If Barbie can be anything, I’m glad she’s this.
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