Okay, I remember Barbie from my younger years - the dolls, the dream houses, the accessories of clothes and cars, and so on. But this new Barbie franchise really amazing.

"Barbie in the Nutcracker" tells the Christmas tale of the Nutcracker, with the ballet dances and all; not to mention, it also has a good story that is slightly different from the original ballet (the whole "Sugar Plum Princess" thing, mainly - I think the writers added this in to get the attention of little girls, and a new Barbie doll especially for the film too), but not too different.

The animation isn't bad - it's quite beautiful - as is the actual ballet dancing itself. The light classical ballet music is a perfect touch, making the whole film a majestic piece. Even if you're not a fan of Barbie, this is a wonderful version of the Nutcracker that's worth a watch.

3.5 stars.

Over the years I have seen many different movie renditions of the Nutcracker story and those tales tend to fall into two categories--either ballet people doing the ballet with lots of dancing and little plot or movie people doing a plot-driven movie and completely ignoring the fact that the material originally came from a ballet.

"Barbie in the Nutcracker" somehow manages to pull off both.

Where many animated movies might throw in musical numbers as the eye-catching parts of the story, here we have wonderfully charming ballet sequences... and by that I mean computer generated characters performing realistic ballet--making excellent use of motion capture technology on real ballerinas (the New York ballet company, I believe). There are segments of the film that feel almost like Fantasia, where you are being pulled into the movie through pure classical music and almost lyrical visuals on the screen.

The story itself is also surprisingly good and takes the time to bring warmth and life to its characters--particularly Clara (Barbie) and the Nutcracker. Tim Curry also does a very nice job of creating a witty evil Mouse King--I particularly liked the scenes where he's throwing his weight around and interacting with his sidekick, Pimm. Barbie fans and non-fans alike will probably notice the appearance of numerous characters from the Barbie universe (Kelly, Tommy, et al.) but the toy aspect of the film never intrudes upon the story.

A holiday classic for all the little girls--and not so little girls--in the family.