“Barbie and Stacie to the Rescue” is the seventh film in Nextflix’s “Barbie” franchise. That’s right – seventh. And this is a continuity that is far from over. This is also a Barbie universe set far, both ideologically and in continuity, from that of the recent Warner Bros. film. Instead Netflix offers a Barbie that is a bit more grounded (well as grounded as you can be when there are still magical unicorns) in the real world with a real family in a story that values and recognizes actual continuity. The series started with Netflix’s 2018’s “Dreamhouse Adventures” and has already spawned two spin-off series in addition to those seven films with another on the way this fall. But this is not Mattel’s first swing at a Barbie animated franchise. In fact, Mattel worked with Universal Studios for over a decade, creating both multiple animated films and even developing the first iterations of the eventual live-action film, before turning the animated Barbie story over to Netflix.
The Universal Years
For over two decades, Mattel has licensed Barbie out as an animated character with varying timelines, canons, histories and degrees of commercial and critical success.Universal controlled the property for many of these years – and if you go into an Target or Wal-Mart, you can still readily find collections of this voluminous if disjointed series. Universal’s take on the property was to showcase the “real” Barbie “acting” in a series of unrelated films. Each is inevitably about the retelling of a classic tale like Thumbelina or The Princess and The Pauper that stars Barbie. But Barbie only appears in the credits and in her somewhat recognizable visage (think Margot’s stereotypical Barbie). Sound weird? It is. This would be the equivalent of a Harrison Ford fashion doll franchise being put in an Indiana Jones movie to promote the doll. Did that make sense? Here’s another way to put it: in the Universal series, Barbie, as a character, had as much to do with the story as Margot Robbie’s actual life did with the story of the recent “Barbie” movie.
This series did give us some memorable entries though: “Barbie: A Mermaid’s Tale”, “Barbie and The Diamond Castle”, and my personal favorite, “Barbie: Princess Charm School”, which will always be elite:
And to be fair, Universal took a few swings at a more canon Barbie complete with an actual life and relationships in films like “Barbie’s Perfect Christmas” – though they never went too deep at developing this world.
Barbie’s Netflix Franchise
Anyway, in 2018, Netflix took over the animated Barbie franchise after Universal’s long-standing relationship with Mattel/Barbie lapsed. Netflix effectively rebooted the franchise, using the very popular and well-regarded “Barbie’s Life In The Dreamhouse” (essentially a web series that now is available on Netflix and is somewhat retconned into the timeline) as a rough template. “Life In The Dreamhouse” is arguably the greatest contemporary version of Barbie – and definitely the funniest. But this is a more mature Barbie, fully an adult, living by herself, occasionally dealing with her sisters – though never ignoring them. Netflix took this more story/canon based approach and aged Barbie down to her late teens/early 20s – think Barbie: The College Years, then added in a large family, and kept her in a Dreamhouse, though this time it would be her parents who owned it – with Barbie and her sisters merely living there in “Barbie’s Dreamhouse Adventures”.
Ken lives across the street and when the series begins, they are just friends. Though as the series has continued, they have inched closer together, with Ken recently making real overtures to Barbie in the series “Barbie: A Touch of Magic”. In this continuity. Barbie would have other friends like Theresa, Daisy and eventually the much loved “Brooklyn” Barbie Roberts.
The Netflix approach would actually hew closer to the way Barbie was portrayed prior to the Universal years, harkening back to the Mattel-licensed books of the early 1960s and the Marvel comics (that’s right – Barbie had a Marvel comic when I was growing up!) of the 1990s. I like this approach. In both of the Mattel book series and Marvel comics continuities, Barbie is a person with a career, a life, a boyfriend, and sisters in the REAL WORLD. I like it much more than Universal’s approach or even Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie’s lauded version of Barbie (but what a clever idea it was to present Barbie as an anthropomorphic spiritual avatar of a doll living with other Barbies but really serving the purpose of a talisman for human foibles and ultimately growth – nonetheless, I want Barbie stories).
But If Barbie Can Be Anyone – Why Does She Need Continuity?
Yes, I want Barbie lore and thankfully Netflix seems to as well. I know that the long unofficial slogan for the doll line is that, “Barbie can be anyone.” I get it Mattel. And I’m ALL for that. But I also think that in terms of a show, let’s pick a character and make the most of her journey. Moreover, sometimes the more specific a character is portrayed, the more universal they actually become. And I see Barbie as a character that is far more on par with Batman than just a generic blank slate fashion doll. She has lore, family, a hometown, best friends. We all know Barbie’s style and persona too – even Greta Gerwig knew Barbie, hence the casting of Margot Robbie, the design of the movie, the shape of the clothes, etc… – that’s why she is such an important IP. Yes Barbie can be anyone, but she is NOT everyone.
And while I still have some quibbles with this Netflix version, specifically seeing Barbie in her early 20s and still living with her parents (I like the more mature “Life In The Dreamhouse” version), it is good enough – and close enough. Like I said, Barbie can be anybody – and here she is younger. Netflix has also wisely embraced supporting Barbie characters like sisters Skipper, Stacie, Chelsea and of course friend and potential boyfriend (OMG did you even watch “Touch of Magic” yet) – Ken! In my head, I’ve grown to nickname this timeline, “The Barbie Bunch” because of its superficial similarity to Gen X stalwart TV series “The Brady Bunch”.
This Netflix version of Barbie sees her background hewing close to her previously mentioned Mattel book canon including a home in Willows, Wisconsin with a family that has since moved to Malibu who now shares a “Dreamhouse”, ostensibly a smart house created by Barbie’s computer programmer mother. This Barbie, however, begins the series close to college age and has gradually gone through school throughout the series and now is presumably close to graduating or out of school in the early 20s age range. As mentioned, she lived with her three sisters: Skipper (14), Stacie (12), and Chelsea (6). Skipper is now a charming geek with Barbie’s eyes and with (presumably) dyed black and purple hair and with inclinations to sports or even any sort of physical activity that were previously present in many iterations prior to this timeline have been jettisoned in favor of a love of all things tech, babysitting, and DJing. Even her dog is named DJ. Stacie is a sporty rebel with Barbie’s hair who loves all things extreme – skateboarding, go karts, climbing, you get the idea. And Chelsea is an artist with an attitude with Barbie’s persistence and craftiness.
While Barbie does age in this series as she progresses through college, oddly her sisters do not. In fact a joke from sister Chelsea in “Barbie and Stacie To The Rescue” leads me to believe that her three sisters do not age… at all.
Which brings up to “Barbie and Stacie To The Rescue”. The film was released on Netflix this month and is the first film in “The Barbie Bunch” series to focus on Barbie’s middle sister, 12 year old Stacie. Previously Chelsea and Skipper both received films that focused on them, so a Stacie-centric film was expected (if you watched “Skipper’s Babysitting Adventure” there was a post-credit scene) and welcome, especially as a way to expand Stacie’s story and character (much needed) in this timeline.
Previous Netflix films in the “Dreamhouse Adventures” timeline include:
- Barbie: Princess Adventures
- Barbie and Chelsea: The Lost Birthday(Chelsea-centric)
- Barbie: Big City, Big Dreams (introduced Brooklyn Barbie Roberts)
- Barbie: Mermaid Power
- Barbie: Epic Road Trip
- Barbie: Skipper’s Babysitting Adventure (Skipper-centric)
These films are all in addition to the previously mentioned “Dreamhouse Adventures” tv series (the genesis of this universe and timeline), the “Go Team Roberts” tv series (essentially a sequel series to “Dreamhouse Adventures” retitled to avoid rights/residuals issues by Netflix), the “It Takes Two” tv series (a series that focuses on “Malibu” Barbie Roberts and “Brooklyn” Barbie Roberts, an eponymously named character that becomes Barbie’s best friend in “Big City, Big Dreams” and that was a big hit with friends), and “Barbie: A Touch of Magic” – last year’s new Barbie TV series that brought a sense of fantasy back to the Barbie world that saw Barbie and her sisters protecting a magical horse from a misguided fairy that was hanging around Malibu and working in a selfie store (yes I said selfie store – it’s actually a really funny set-up, watch the show and see for yourself). “A Touch of Magic” has a second season set to premiere this summer and there is also a sequel series to “It Takes Two” that is set to premiere later this fall: “Barbie: Passport to Adventure” which will be the first Barbie series to be exclusively produced by AND broadcast by Netflix. The previous had been produced by other entities and then broadcast on Netflix. This will hopefully mean an upgraded visual and sonic experience – as was recently seen in the Netflix-produced “Hot Wheels: Let’s Race!” which sported Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos sound for the first time in a Netflix-produced Mattel-owned series.
My Review of “Barbie And Stacie” To The Rescue
So, “Barbie and Stacie To The Rescue” (BASTTR) was a decent entry in the Netflix “Barbie Bunch ” (yeah that’s what I call it) series. Let me get my biggest criticism out of the way. Now this Netflix franchise is a lot of things, unfortunately one of them is that it is way too short (Netflix please give us 80 minute Barbie movies and not 62 minute movies, the kids can deal with it). There is so much going on in the plot including a hot air balloon competition and a go-kart race, and we see neither play out in the running time of the film. Both are seemingly climactic events of the film and both set up leisurely throughout the film’s expedited running time. Even so, BASTTR is far from the worst Barbie Bunch movie, but it isn’t the best either.
Much like Stacie herself, it is right in the middle of the “Sisters Trilogy” (yeah I call it that too), between “Skipper’s Babysitting Adventure” and “Chelsea and The Lost Island.” Some other Barbie fans seem to hate Skipper (I don’t) and even if you are a fan that does not like her, she is a fully-formed character (their hatred is a testament to that) and her film felt like its own work – with real objectives and character development. Chelsea’s film had some interesting ideas (a Barbie film based on a cruise ship! Yes please!) but came too early on in the Netflix series to offer much beyond the audience questioning whether or not the entire plot was real or a dream when a six year old got stuck on an island with talking animals (though Barbie as a talking giraffe was a pretty original idea – and that alone makes me think “Lost Island” might be better than I originally gave it credit for being).
But like I said, BASTTR is not without positive qualities. It’s story is a fun one. We follow Stacie, the adventurous and sporty middle sister – finally getting her due as she is invited to race a hot air balloon with Barbie. But when she finds out she is still too young to go up in the Balloon, older sister Skipper gets the call instead – and Stacie is exiled back to the kiddie table. But she finds a friend in fellow 12 year old Ligaya who happens to race go-karts but is too young to enter the go-kart race happening next to the adjacent fair (also the starting point for the balloon race). Together they bond, sing a few songs, and find their confidence in time to rescue Barbie and Skipper when they get stranded in the hot air balloon due to Skipper’s poor piloting. It also has some nice moments for Stacie in her journey: Stacie goes to see a baloonist making balloon animals at the fair but realizes the activity is “kind of young” when she sees toddlers in line. I love that kids age themselves out of stuff like this and then as adults age themselves in for comfort (see adult Barbie fans, Disney adults, aka me etc…). This also brings up another interesting topic: would Stacie like Barbie dolls? She’s right at the age where I think she disowns all of her Barbie dolls. Skipper is long past it. Chelsea probably would like playing with Barbie’s but mostly for the fashion.
For me, the animation, and specifically the color palette and choices in BASTTR were the best of the series so far – with a heavy emphasis on pinks, light blues, and greens. It also excels in the character design sphere with some fun and inspired outfits (even though Stacie and Skipper are literally wearing the same outfit on multiple days – like WHAT?!?) and Stacie gets a go kart that will make a cool toy (hey I’ve already bought it ok). In the writing department, BASTTR has moments, specifically Chelsea gets THE best line of dialogue in any Netflix Barbie Bunch entry (even though she only has three lines in the whole movie). I also didn’t hate the songs here like I’ve heard from other Barbie fans. Yes there is a song when Stacie and Ligaya peel potatoes. But the potatoes song was a helluva an autotune – and ended with one of the funniest visuals in the Barbie Bunch series. I defy you to look at those peeled potatoes and not laugh – intentional or otherwise. For these reasons, BASTTR is at 3.5 out of 5 stars. But Netflix, this is Barbie – you can do better – and you have. Like I said, “Skipper’s Babysitting Adventure” from last year was a fuller, more realized movie and journey and “A Touch of Magic” was funnier and more entertaining. So even though BASTTR might not have been the greatest entry, I think the Netflix series is in good hands. I will watch BASTTR again though, probably, and I remain excited about “A Touch of Magic ” season 2 and even “Barbie: Passport to Adventure ” coming this fall. A Barbie with continuity is one that I really am excited to return to again and again.
No Scoops Club 