Product Description

Barbie stars in this tale about a young princess who is transformed into a swan.
Genre: Children's Video
Rating: G
Release Date: 22-AUG-2006
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5702 in DVD
• Brand: Barbie
• Released on: 2003-09-30
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .28 pounds
• Running time: 81 minutes

Amazon.com
Barbie shines in her third animated movie, an adaptation of the classic ballet Swan Lake. A young girl named Odette (played by Barbie) follows a beautiful unicorn into the enchanted forest and picks up a magic crystal that proclaims her destiny as savior of the enchanted forest. Odette, hampered by an overwhelming sense of insecurity, proclaims herself unfit for the job and sets out to leave the forest when the evil wizard Rothbart (voiced by Kelsey Grammer) turns her into a swan. Bolstered by the powers of the magic crystal, Odette vows to defeat Rothbart. Meanwhile, love blossoms between Odette and the town's Prince Daniel and, eventually, Odette finds a courage within herself that, combined with her intelligence and the true love between her and the Prince, proves powerful enough to defeat Rothbart. The computer-generated animation in this 83-minute presentation is vivid and lifelike, the London Symphony gives a wonderful performance of Tchaikovsky's original music, and the choreography and dancing is nicely done thanks to Peter Martins and the New York City Ballet. (Ages 3-8) --Tami Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Lovely adaptation of the Tchaikovsky classic ballet...
This film is not just for young Barbie fans. It is also for their moms - particularly moms like me who grew up admiring Tchaikovsky's beautiful "Swan Lake" ballet. I saw it performed by the Royal Ballet in London as a teenager and have been enraptured with the story eversince.

I purchased this DVD for my 3 year old daughter for us to watch and enjoy together. My daughter loves it because of the sweet story, playful characters, the dances and, of course, for Barbie! What I enjoyed about this movie is how it captures the spirit of the ballet. Any decent adaptation of "Swan Lake" needs to incorporate Tchaikovsky's music into the story and this movie does just that. Add to this the lovely ballet that the characters perform and a plot that stays fairly true to the original (albeit minor changes to make it more G or PG-ish). In this case, Odette becomes lost in the Enchanted Forest and is captured and transformed into a swan by the evil Rothbart. The fairy queen helps her by changing the spell so that she becomes a swan by day but transforms back to her old self at night. While wandering the forest the Prince Daniel meets and falls in love with Odette but only through courage and strength can Odette find a way to defeat Rothbart and break the spell.

This is a lovely story that any young girl (and her mother) would enjoy. The CGI is splendid and the movie is filled with beautiful scenes and landscapes. The dance sequences are lovely and are lifted almost directly from Tchaikovsky's ballet and the music, of course, is wonderfully incorporated into the film. Highly recommended for Barbie, Swan Lake or young ballet fans, their sisters and their moms!

From a Barbie skeptic...
Barbie. I tried to keep her away from my rough and tumble twin girls as long as possible. I relented two months ago, for their fourth birthday. I just couldn't squelch their girly-girlishness any longer. First came the dolls, then the outfits, and now the accessories. Great-Grandma bought them this dvd, Swan Lake, while we visited for Thanksgiving. The whole family is pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it is! It successfully kept the two older brothers and daddy out of the kitchen for a good part of the afternoon!

If you are not freaked out by fantasy, crystals, unicorns, and magic, than I assure you, your little girl will enjoy this dvd. I think what I really enjoyed about it is that it uses the classical Swan Lake music, rather than Disney-esque songs. So if I have to listen to it in the background every day for the next week or two (as children are wont to do with a new dvd), it is much more pleasant than listening to inanimate objects singing mind-numbing verse.

The animation is very realistic, especially the dance sequences. The story is about good vs evil, and courage. There is humor, beauty, some scariness, and of course, true love.

The additional featurette about girls and music was very interesting. It features five teenage girls and how music is such a strong part of their lives (two violins, one cello, one harp, and one trumpet). My girls have now taken to "performing" music for us, using a little electronic keyboard and a guitar, which they prop between their legs like a cello. They even "rehearse" prior to performing. I think a love of music is vitally important in creating a well-rounded soul, and I am thrilled that this Barbie featurette gave them an impetus to actively participate in music-making, rather than just listening.

Again, it was much better than we expected. I'm beginning to think this Barbie-thing could be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to expanding my Barbie horizon.

Lovely music, lovely dancing, and an approachable classic for girls
Next to the Princess and the Pauper this is the favourite movie in our house for my under 5 yr old girls. It is beautifully animated, generally quite gentle and pastle in colours (so different from Fairytopia and even RApunzel), it has lovely clear messages and great music.

This is the story of Swan Lake retold for Barbie. Here she plays the role of Odette who is the daughter of a baker in a small town. Her sister is a tom-boy who loves riding horses - this sister seems quite superflouous to the story, I have never figured out why she was put in here at all.

Anyway, Odette follows a Unicorn back through a secret entrance to a magic forest. There she saves her but cutting a rope with a jewel which she has found. This turns out to be a magic jewel which only a special chosen one can pick up. It seems it is Odette who is chosen, but before she can do anything she is turned into a Swan by Rothgar who has been terrorising the forest. The Fairy Queen makes a crown out of the jewel to protect her - and changes the spell as best she can so Odette is a swan during the day and girl by night.

Odette is saved by love when a Prince, drawn into the forest by Rothgar to kill the swan, falls in love with her beauty - first as a bird, and then as a girl.

The film departs from the standard Swan lake at this point - there are lots of animals enchanted by Rothgar - but in the end it is love, and friendship which overcome all. A really nice message.

The dance scene where Rothgar puts an enchantment over his daughter Odile so that everyone thinks she is Odette is quite confusing for my littlies but does not distract from their enjoyment. The dancing is very beautifully done, lovely animation here.

I also loved the colours in this, they tended towards rich pastels rather than the glaring brightness of Rapunzel and Fairytopia

Finally, the music. I loved it - it is of course from the Ballet itself, and it is lovely. I think this is such a nice way for children to be introduced to ballet and to classical music.

A great movie, good messages and fun to watch as a family.