Barbie & Her Sisters in A Pony Tale Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Barbie & Her Sisters in A Pony Tale Blu-ray Movie Review

Barbie & Her Sisters in A Shoddy Animated Adventure...

Mattel and Universal continue to churn out direct-to-video Barbie adventures, the latest of which is Barbie & Her Sisters in A Pony Tale, another grating toy commercial hobbled by CG animation from a bygone age, a script as hollow and plastic as the dolls and their dialogue, and a piecemeal story stitched together from the corpses of far better animated films. Of course little girls will sit wide-eyed and oh so patient as the feeble family fantasy unfolds, while big sisters, devoted moms and poor, unassuming dads will long for someone to put A Pony Tale out of its misery. If there's any saving grace it's that the somewhat down-to-Earth movie doesn't try to cram in a life lesson at odds with the toy line it's peddling (e.g. Monster High), making it a fairly harmless 75-minutes of mildly magical equestrian encounters and positive affirmations. Is it worth the cost of admission? That depends entirely on how much putting a smile on your household's biggest Barbie fan is worth to you.

Dead eyes, flat textures, molded hair: Barbie animation at its finest.

Barbie & Her Sisters in A Pony Tale Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Unlike its eye-gouging Mariposa & the Fairy Princess predecessor, A Pony Tale's 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation tends to be a bit more dull and dim. Saturation is decent, with natural hues aplenty, but primaries typically favor restraint, black levels are muted, and contrast is a touch underwhelming. Many of the forest scenes boast some nice, vivid greens and blues, but too many sequences languish, particularly those in and around the stables. Detail disappoints for the most part as well, with less-than-exacting edges and glossy, unimpressive textures. It doesn't help that aliasing, banding and some minor macroblocking worms their way into the image, leading to a Blu-ray that shares too much in common with its DVD counterpart. Granted, this is presumably A Pony Tale as it was conceived and animated. There just isn't much redeeming value to a presentation that's so unremarkable.

Barbie & Her Sisters in A Pony Tale Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track doesn't really improve matters all that much, although it is a step up from the disc's video presentation. Flat and front-heavy, dialogue is clear, competently centered and capably prioritized, despite not having much with which to compete. LFE output is decent but never has a chance to make an impact, the rear speakers are proficient but underutilized, and dynamics are solid and little more. Music is bright and lively, taking fuller advantage of the soundfield than any other element, but it's all terribly generic, making its presence an objective boon and a subjective burden. Again, this is the movie as it was intended; its sound design simply isn't anything to write home about.

Barbie & Her Sisters in A Pony Tale Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus Episodes (HD, 8 minutes): "Malibu is out of glitter!" Two quick-fire episodes of Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse kick off the disc's slim supplemental package, but they're more animated shorts than anything more substantial.
• Music Videos (HD, 6 minutes): Two music videos are included: the first for Pony Tale's theme song, the second for Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse.
• Outtakes (HD, 2 minutes): A contrived animated gag reel. Getting dark... fading fast... can't hold on...
• Trailer Gallery (HD): Watch a series of streamed trailers from Universal.

Barbie & Her Sisters in A Pony Tale Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'd try to talk you down but 1) if you're adding Barbie & Her Sisters in A Pony Tale to your cart, you've probably already made the decision every parent of little girls faces, and 2) doing so would sound a lot like talking someone down off a ledge. (It's not worth it! You have so much to live for! There are other animated films! You'll see!) So do it if you're going to do it. No reason to still be reading, particularly since the ho-hum AV presentation is precisely what it was animated to be and the disc's special features aren't exactly a Barbie release's selling point. Ah well. At least your daughter will be excited. Think of the kids... always think of the kids.