Barbie: Princess Charm School

Part The Princess Diaries, part Harry Potter, part Willy Wonka, and all pure dreck, Barbie: Princess Charm School finds the titular plasticine figure “starring” as Blair, a good-hearted commoner who wins a lottery to attend the eponymous institution (the school's mantra is that "there's a princess in every girl"), where she will learn such essential skills as ballroom dancing and tea partying (not the political kind), as well as earn the chance to become a Lady Royal. She runs afoul of a mean girl whose even meaner mother schemes to have Blair expelled so her daughter can take the crown. There is little magic in the animation or the dreadful songs, and while Blair is a good role model (the typecast Barbie has yet to play a villain in these direct-to-video features), this is a pretty much charmless entry in the long-running series. Not recommended. Aud: P. (D. Liebenson)