Barbie & Chelsea: The Lost Birthday

A 7-year-old girl appears to leave the cruise ship alone, take a zip line across the ocean, and embark on a treasure hunt on a jungle island with some animals she picks up as companions. A Tiki statue is angry and repeatedly threatens Chelsea and the gang, at one point closing them into a cave. The girls encounter giant spiders, quicksand, poisonous flowers, hungry parrots, a seemingly angry tiger, and snarling crocodiles on the island. A volcano spews lava. Lots of characters fall down or are knocked over. A parrot says he was forced to walk the plank into a lava pit.

Parents need to know that this one-hour animated tale is for very young viewers, but Barbie and her sisters, especially the littlest, do face some mild peril in Barbie & Chelsea: The Lost Birthday. It might not be clear to the youngest viewers whether 7-year-old Chelsea's adventure -- leaving a cruise ship alone to seek a magic gem on a jungle island -- is meant to be real or imagined, considering all of the film and characters are imaginary. Chelsea makes some animal friends on her treasure hunt and learns valuable lessons about courage, strength, and quick thinking as she solves riddles and gets around sticky situations. She also encounters a giraffe held hostage in a giant spider's web, a roaring tiger, and snarling crocodiles. None of these stuffed animal-looking characters are drawn in a very menacing way except for a large Tiki statue, who has an angry face, a booming voice, and threatens Chelsea and her friends with hot lava spewing from a volcano. Tiki also shuts them into a dark cave. Barbie and her other two sisters go looking for Chelsea and encounter their own setbacks with poisonous flowers, hungry parrots, and quicksand. Parent viewers may wonder why Barbie's parents don't seem especially panicked when Chelsea goes missing on a large cruise ship, or why they don't seem to know where the girls are at most times. Barbie offers a specific representation of the female body, but here she and her sisters are teens, tweens, or kids, not women. The older two sisters seem to have their smart phones in their hands at all times. The film carries positive lessons about family, siblings, and giving little kids credit and some autonomy to demonstrate their own abilities. It adds another entry into the body of Barbie films and shows, thus serving as marketing for Barbie products: dolls and pets from this film are already on sale.

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