Barbie in a Mermaid Adventure – Barbie in a Mermaid Tale (2010)

Directed by: Adam L. Wood | 75 minutes | animation, family | Original voice cast: Kelly Sheridan, Kathleen Barr, Nakia Burrise, Gary Chalk, Maryke Hendrikse, Ciara Janson, Peter Mel, Emma Pierson, Tabitha St. Germain

The Barbie icon has been around for many decades, and now you can say that the Barbie films inspired by it have also acquired their right to exist. Between the first, ‘Barbie in the Nutcracker’, and the 2010 direct-to-DVD ‘Barbie in a Mermaid Adventure’, there is a whopping nine years, so you can safely assume that the girls who watched the first film open-mouthed. have stopped jumping for joy with the release of a new adventure of the popular pop. Over those nine years, the animations have improved, but the concept still remains the same: Mattel borrows a bit from existing storytelling and sprinkles it with a bit of magical Barbie dust. For example, this new story – how could it be otherwise – has some similarities with ‘The Little Mermaid’, but more really with Disney’s sequel to the cartoon classic, ‘The Little Mermaid 2: Back to the Sea’.

Merliah is an athletic teenager who lives with her grandfather in sunny Malibu. Her parents haven’t been alive since she was born, but the girl is happy in Grandpa’s beach house. In addition, she has two sweet friends, the cynical Fallon and the dreamy Hadley, and is a star in surfing. During an important surfing competition, part of Merliah’s hair suddenly turns pink. When she goes underwater and encounters a talking dolphin who also tells her that she can still breathe underwater, Merliah begins to seriously doubt her sanity. Even when Grandpa confirms to her that she is the daughter of a mermaid, she doesn’t believe him. But dolphin Zuma and her friends manage to convince her. Merliah turns out to be the only one who can save Oceana; the kingdom of the merfolk. For years, the empire has been ruled by Merliah’s evil aunt, who also keeps her mother captive. Would Merliah be able to…?

Well, you can probably provide both the question and the answer yourself. As mentioned, the animation has been improved a lot: obviously not comparable with the high-quality productions that the major animation studios deliver, but the image is razor-sharp, the film consists of beautiful colors and both the characters and the backgrounds are fairly nicely developed. You don’t have to look for unpredictable elements in the story, but this is a great pastime for the target group. As long as they stay at this level, that Barbie series can continue for a few more years.