Product Description

Barbie™ in A Christmas Carol is a heart-warming adaptation of the classic Dickens story filled with cherished Christmas carols, fabulous fashions and lots of laughs! The tale stars Barbie™ as Eden Starling™ the glamorous singing diva of a theatre in Victorian London. Along with her snooty cat, Chuzzlewit, Eden selfishly plans to make all the theatre performers stay and rehearse on Christmas Day! Not even Eden’s costume designer and childhood friend, Catherine can talk Eden out of her self-centered tantrum.

It’s up to three very unusual Christmas Spirits to take Eden on a fantastical holiday journey that will open her heart to the spirit of the season and the joy of giving. Barbie™ in A Christmas Carol is a family favorite to enjoy every holiday season!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #646 in DVD
• Brand: UNI DIST CORP. (MCA)
• Released on: 2008-11-04
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: AC-3, Animated, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 60 minutes

Amazon.com
The classic Dickens' tale A Christmas Carol gets a Barbie makeover in this animated holiday program about the evils of selfishness. As Barbie and Kelly are preparing for a Christmas Eve charity fundraiser, Kelly complains that the new event is interfering with the family's Christmas Eve traditions. Barbie takes the opportunity to tell her sister an important Christmas story set in Victorian England. The story is in essence the classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge, but with Eden Starling (Barbie) standing in for Scrooge, Catherine for Bob Cratchit, and young orphan Tammy for Tiny Tim. Eden is a self-centered star whose new stage show is about to open and who lives her life by the decree that "In a selfish world, the selfish succeed." Completely lacking in Christmas spirit, Eden insists that her best friend and costume designer Catherine, as well as her other co-stars, cancel their holiday plans to work on Christmas day. Eden's peaceful Christmas Eve slumber is interrupted by visits from the spirits of Christmas past, Christmas present, and Christmas future and each brings visions of misery and despair. Finally realizing that her own actions have a direct impact on the future happiness of herself and others, Eden reconsiders her selfish ways and commits to a more caring and generous way of life. While some traditionalists may cringe at the liberties taken with Dickens' well-known story, Barbie in A Christmas Carol is a powerful program that encourages the virtues of caring and compassion in children ages three and older. --Tami Horiuchi

Beyond Barbie in a Christmas Carol on DVD

More Barbie on DVD

Barbie in a Christmas Carol in Spanish

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Stills from Barbie in a Christmas Carol (click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

This one's sure to become a favorite
I bought this for my 5 year old daughter and she loves it. She has watched the movie 3 times in the 3 days that we've had it -- and I've lost count of how many times she's watched the DVD extras. The older she gets, the pickier she is about what she wants to watch more than once and she clearly wants to watch this one over and over. She is scared of a lot of movies (including some of the Barbie movies), but not this one.

The story has been masterfully re-crafted so that a younger kid can watch it without getting scared; yet the message of the original tale is beautifully preserved. The ending leaves one with a happy, positive feeling.

The music is great in this movie -- old Christmas classics like "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas", etc usually sung by Barbie and Teresa. The smart people at Mattel figured out a great way to include the "I Feel Connected" song from Diamond Castle (which my daughter and her friends can't get enough of) in one of the special features. The song is used for a humorous scene introduced by Barbie and Teresa and starring those two little dogs (Lilly and Sparkles) from the Diamond Castle.

The disk includes:

* the movie
* a menu to choose one of the several songs from the movie (Carol-oke Party, the disk calls it).
* several trailers
* a "behind the scenes" video from the Diamond Castle showing the dogs dancing to "I Feel Connected"
* a nice documentary about how a Barbie Collector Holiday Doll is designed which is told using a mother and daughter getting a tour of the Barbie factory. Warning -- your daughter will probably want to start buying those expensive Barbie Collector dolls after seeing this.

This movie is a keeper. I can heartily (really!) recommend it.

A new Christmas Classic!
This is another real winner from Barbie! The story is well told and the music is wonderful classic Christmas songs that had everyone singing along. I wondered how they would handle The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come without scaring the little ones, and they did it beautifully! The animation seems a little "flatter" than The Diamond Castle, but still very nice. This is a video the whole family can enjoy together. (Even my teenage boys hunkered down to watch!)

Great holiday movie
My daughter and I were introduced to the Barbie movies last winter and since then have purchased every movie. I bought this latest one for her two days ago and she has already watched it several times. She loves the singing (traditional Christmas tunes) and the cat Chuzzlewit. I did feel as though the animation went back a step from the last few Barbie movies...it could easily be mistaken for one of the older Barbie movies. For this reason, I rated it a 4/5. The writers do a good job in updating the original classic to make it more appealing to younger viewers. The original themes are still there, but the characters (especially the ghost of yet to come) are not nearly as terrifying as in the book. My daughter is three and was was able to sit through the entire movie without being scared (she was scared a few times in the Magic of Pegasus and Mariposa). I recommend this movie to anyone who loves the other Barbie movies or has a child that does.

******(SPOILER ALERT***** The part of Ebenezer Scrooge is played by Barbie (as Eden Starlight). She is a theater diva whose signature line is "In a selfish world, the selfish succeed". She lives her life by this and on Christmas Eve, she receives a visit from her Aunt Marie (dragging her chains of burden), who tells her that she will be visited by three spirits. She wants Eden to know that she made a mistake in raising her to believe that selfish people succeed. The first spirit appears (Spirit of Christmas Past) and takes Eden back in time to her childhood. We see her escaping the house she shares with her Aunt and sledding to visit best friend Catherine. The girls sing together for Catherine's family and are having a great time when there is a knock on the door. It is Aunt Marie, who goes in a tantrum. The spirit brings Eden back to present and Eden explains that she was never allowed any more Christmas get togethers with Catherine and her family. We begin to see why Eden is the selfish diva who hates Christmas so much. Not long after, the second spirit (Spirit of Christmas Present) arrives and brings Eden to several different places. First, to the backstage area where her crew are celebrating in spite of the fact that she demanded they didn't. They are throwing tomatoes at her picture (her friend Catherine included) and we see her begin to realize how demanding she is. Then, we are taken to the local orphanage, where Catherine has been helping the kids with Christmas caroling in hopes that the orphanage will not have to close come spring. One little girl in particular (played by Kelly) captures Eden's heart. We see some compassion from her and then she is taken back to her room for the last spirit. The spirit of Christmas future arrives (not scary at all) and tells Eden that she is going to show her the future based on the track that her life is following right now. We see Eden and Chuzzlewit at the backstage area, which is dirty and secluded. Eden wonders where her crew are and why everything appears the way it does. We learn that Eden fired her crew on Christmas for being late and since then lost her status as theater star. She is poor and alone in a selfish world. She discovers that Catherine has become a famous fashion designer and Eden decides to pay her old friend a visit. She is saddened to discover that Catherine has become the woman that Eden used to be(cold hearted and selfish). She begs the ghost to take her back. She wants to change! She awakens to find it is Christmas morning and that she can change her future. She gives her emplyees gifts, bonuses and the day off. She goes to the orphanage and adopts it in order to prevent its closing. She also makes up with Catherine and goes to spend Christmas with her and her family once again. The movie is narrated by Barbie (wearing the gown from the new Holiday Barbie series). She is telling the story to her little sister Kelly, who has thrown a fit and declared that she hates Christmas (she wants to stay at home on Christmas Eve instead of attending the hospital charity ball).