Barbie Fairytopia: Magic of the Rainbow

The third entry in this produced-for-DVD computer-animated franchise finds Barbie in Pottersville (as in Harry Potter, not It's a Wonderful Life). Barbie “stars” as Elina, a fairy summoned to the Crystal Palace to join other apprentices in training to learn the Flight of Spring, “an annual ritual to release a magical rainbow giving Fairytopia a year of vitality.” Although she initially doubts her worthiness, Elina—like Harry—is a natural (who is—also like Harry—befriended by some of the other fairy apprentices, but resented and scorned by others). Meanwhile, Voldemort—I mean, the villain Laverna—tricks the unwitting Elina into removing a frog curse, freeing Laverna to once again plot Fairytopia's downfall, after which Elina must rally all the fairies to work together to stop her. To its credit, the Fairytopia series plays to its target audience without any of the gratuitous pop culture references or age inappropriate slang that plagues so much of children's programming. True, the characters still have that unnerving porcelain Children-of-the-Damned look about them, and just a little bit of Elina's puffball sidekick Bibble goes a long way—but the colorful environments and flittering fairies provide proper enchantment, and the messages are positive (the errant fairies learn the meaning of responsibility and cooperation, while Elina learns to believe in herself). DVD extras include games and printable coloring pages. If you own the first two titles in the series, you'll want to pick this one up as well; if not, this is still a strong optional purchase. Aud: P. (D. Liebenson)