Barbie in A Christmas Carol
| Barbie in a Christmas Carol | |
|---|---|
| File:BarbieChristmasCarol.jpg DVD cover. | |
| Directed by | William Lau |
| Written by | Elise Allen |
| Produced by | Anita Lee |
| Starring | Kelly Sheridan Morwenna Banks Kathleen Barr |
| Edited by | Ryan Brassington |
| Distributed by | Kidtoon Films (theatrical) Universal Studios Home Entertainment (DVD) |
Release date | November 4, 2008 |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $4,453,567 (U.S) DVD sales [1] |
Barbie in a Christmas Carol is a 2008 computer animated direct-to-video film and part of the CGI Barbie film series. It is was released on DVD on November 4, 2008. It was a limited theatrical release by Kidtoon Films on November 1, 2008. This is the first Barbie film that Barbie narrated to her sister Kelly since Barbie of Swan Lake.
Overview
On Christmas Eve, Kelly is reluctant to go to a Christmas Eve ball, so Barbie tells her the story of Eden Starling, a glamorous singing diva in Victorian England and the owner of a theatre house. However, Eden is self-centred and loves only herself. She is frequently accompanied by her snooty cat, Chuzzlewit. She does not believe in Christmas and orders all her employees to work on Christmas Day.
Eden's employees, Freddy, Ann, Nan, Maurice, and costume designer Catherine are disappointed to hear the news. Catherine Beadnell, as Eden's best friend since childhood, tries to persuade Eden otherwise, but is met with no success. That night, Eden receives a visit from the spirit of her late Aunt Marie, who reveals she intends to send three spirits to see Eden. The three spirits will convince Eden to change her life, each by showing Eden her past, her present, and her future.
In Eden's past, Aunt Marie was very strict. She insisted that Eden practices singing and playing piano without giving her a chance to take a rest on Christmas. Secretly, Eden went to her old, dearest friend Catherine's house to celebrate Christmas. There they sang together. But Aunt Marie came and forbade Eden to celebrate Christmas after that.
Meanwhile, the spirit of Christmas present shows Eden that Catherine is a truly generous person as she gives the orphans clothes. Eden is touched by this view but still doesn't give in.
Finally the spirit of Christmas future brings Eden to the coldest choice of life. Eden has lost her fame and becomes so poor, even Chuzzlewit's only dinner, a rat, runs away! Eden later meets Catherine who has become a rich designer, but also with an arrogant attitude, just like the previous Eden.
Eden awakens from her dreams a changed person. She decides to let her employees have a holiday and is good to them too. Through her good deeds, Eden ultimately learns to keep the spirit of Christmas every day of the year.
Through these journeys, Eden is able to change her life and learns to help and love others.
Kelly changes her mind about Christmas after listening to Barbie's stories. She decides to go to the donation party just as Nikki comes into Barbie's bedroom.
Adaptation
The story book version was written by Mary Man-Kong and published by Golden Books (a division of Random House). Its story is based on the book A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and so is the name of the film.
Voice cast
- Barbie - Kelly Sheridan
- Eden Starling - Morwenna Banks
- Eden Starling (singing) - Melissa Lyons
- Eden Starling (young) - Prudence Edwards
- Eden Starling (singing - young) - Leanne Araya
- Catherine - Kandyse McLure
- Catherine (singing) - Shauntia Fleming
- Aunt Marie - Pam Hyatt
- Freddy - Luke Smith (actor)
- Spirit Of Christmas Past/Seamstress/Baby - Tabitha St. Germain
- Spirit Of Christmas Past (singing) - Leanne Araya
- Spirit Of Christmas Present/Mrs Dorrit/Chuzzlewitt - Kathleen Barr
- Spirit Of Christmas Present (Singing) - Lisa Roth
- Spirit Of Christmas Future - Gwynyth Walsh
- Spirit Of Christmas Future (Singing) - Kelly Bixby
- Kelly/Tammy - Amelia Henderson
- Tammy (Singing) - Michael Ann Angone
- Maurice/Orphanage Head - Fabrice Grower
- Maurice (Singing) - Tim Fett
- Ann/Nan - Shannon Chan-Kent
- Ann/Nan (Singing) - Leanne Araya
- Freddy (Singing) - Anthony Fett
- Mrs. Beadnell - Melissa Llyod
- Jacob - Morgan Roff
- Hypnotist/Boz - Terry Klassen
- Singing Voices - Go Children's Leanne Araya
DVD Sales
The film was released on November 4, 2008 and grossed $4,453,567 in the US DVD market.[2]
Trivia
Although it was promoted as the first Barbie Christmas film, the first was actually Barbie in the Nutcracker in 2001. This was also among the few Barbie films where the titular character, Eden Starling, is not voiced by Kelly Sheridan, the other being Barbie Mariposa. Barbie and Eden can also be counted as two separate characters, as Barbie has blue eyes and Eden has green eyes.
References
External links
- Barbie in a Christmas Carol
- Barbie in a Christmas Carol at IMDb
- Barbie in a Christmas Carol at AllMovie
- Random House page
- Golden Book page
