Barbie and the Three Musketeers

What’s the Story?

Barbie plays Corinne (voiced by Kelly Sheridan), a girl from the French countryside who has always dreamed of being a Musketeer like her father. Now that she is seventeen, she has enough skills to go to Paris and follow her passion. She takes her horse, her cat, and a letter of introduction to the big city. But she soon discovers that girls are not allowed to be Musketeers, which makes her even more determined to follow her dream. She happens to become employed by the royal family as a maid, and meets three other girls who also want to be Musketeers. They are trained by the house maid, who is secretly also a Musketeer, and soon the four girls find themselves defending the Prince's life in earnest.

Is It Any Good?

Though it feels more like Cinderella, this movie looks like an attempt by the creators to jump on the Pirates of the Caribbean ship. Barbie does all kinds of acrobatic moves, which flaunt her girlishness, but putting a sword in her dainty little hands seems to be a stretch. When she boasts, "I'm gonna be a Musketeer," she sounds a little too much like a cheerleader. Moreover, the high-toned language of Tim Curry, who plays the bad guy, Philippe, strikes a jangly contrast to Barbie and her friends who say things like, "Musketeers rock!" and "Let's do this!"

On the other hand, trying to fashion strong female characters is not a bad thing -- like Helene (Kathleen Barr), the chamber maid-slash ninja master who teaches the girls how to fight. But she ultimately is never elevated beyond her maid status. And though Barbie and her crew become Musketeers in the end, their hair is perfectly coiffed as they ride into the sunset with their matching outfits and their kitten. A pretty good try, but this Musketeer misses the mark.