Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Young Rosella is saved by a few kind animals after a shipwreck. Now called Ro, she learns to talk to animals. One day, she saves the life of a prince and returns to civilisation to discover her past.
Barbie as the Island Princess follows a familiar fairy-tale template—shipwrecked girl, talking animals, charming prince—that offers little narrative surprise. The plot hits well-worn beats of the Barbie direct-to-video formula without much subversion or depth. Voice acting is competent but unremarkable for the genre. The CGI animation is serviceable mid-2000s direct-to-video quality, pleasant but not visually distinctive. Novelty is low as it recycles tropes from films like Tarzan and various princess stories with a Barbie coat of paint. The ending resolves tidily and satisfyingly for its target audience, giving it a slight edge over the rest of the film's components.