#bitch doesn’t even care that she comes from a rewatching family. a dvd family if you will

[livvyofthelake]

i’m really slaying movie january actually. not even actively being like I Have To Watch A Movie Every Day just like i want to watch a movie every day. and also i’m not watching any shows so that helps but whatever. i’ve watched 25 movies this year. 7 of them have been new, and 8 have been movies i haven’t watched it at least a year so they’re kind of like new… if i can continue this energy maybe i’ll finally get to a goal of watching a new movie every day… or at least most days. sorry for being a chronic rewatcher sorry for knowing what i like sorry for being able to find something new to love in each viewing. some people just don’t understand…

[queen-erika-the-songful]

Okay, here are my initial thoughts on Princess Adventure. These are in no way organized; they’re just as I can remember them. Feel free to send asks if you want

- Barbie defending Chelsea’s creativity and imagination is great to see. It’s one of the best parts of Dreamhouse Adventures so it’s nice to see them continue that in this film

- I like “Try It On” a lot more now. It’s not my favorite, and I think it’s one of the weaker songs in comparison to the rest of the soundtrack, but it’s honestly kind of a bop.

- “It’s like they don’t even want me in this movie!” LOL even Tammy herself knows she’s been done an absolute injustice.

- Holy crap Amelia’s plan is so freaking funny to me. She could’ve just, like...invited Barbie over to her kingdom since she’s the princess and was already a fan of Barbie’s vlogs anyway. But nah, she’s gotta have this whole convoluted “cultural exchange” bullshit I just can’t

- Speaking of Amelia, it’s a little disappointing that we don’t spend nearly as much time with her as we do with Barbie, and, thus, we don’t get to see who the supposed “real” her really is. She says she finally got to explore things about herself, like her fears and dreams, but she never goes into details. Ironically, the audience never gets to see who the true Amelia is, we just have to go off what she said about “who [she] is does matter”. I mean, we certainly get glimpses of it (again, the convoluted plan - she’s obviously ‘act first think later’), but overall it’s not nearly enough, at least to me

- “(Not A) Picture Perfect Girl” might just be my favorite song from this movie. It honestly made me tear up a bit. We’ll see if that changes over my next rewatches

- The running gag with Trey mixing up Barbie and Amelia while Ted and Ned knew was a lot funnier than I expected it to be

- Trey is now trans and you can’t change my mind.

- I really appreciate “Somewhere New” a lot more now since seeing it in the movie. I love that the choreography starts on the plane. It was a cool choice that really felt like a “musical” thing to do. I also like that everyone got to sing at leaset a line or two on their own. 

- WTF happened between Floravia and Johanistan? Did they have a war or something? Why are they being united into just a bigger Floravia? It sounds pretty fishy. I can understand why Johan is so upset based on what little information is given to us, so I wish they had gone into it a bit more.

- Johan asked “Amelia” (Barbie in disguise) if she remembered what they said they would do as rulers when they were kids. That never comes back and it really bothered me. What was the promise? That they’d rule together? That they’d treat each other’s kingdom equally? I actually thought at the coronation that Amelia would give the answer to that question (something like “Johan, remember what we told each other...”) and then do something like absolve the treaty so that she and Johan would rule their own respective kingdoms. l

- IDK, I think I would’ve just liked it more if Johan had been like Amelia’s brother/cousin/whatever that wanted to become King. He’d be a more boring villain that way but it would be less complicated than this.

- WE GOT REPRISES OF 2 SONGS BUT THEY AREN’T ON THE SOUNDTRACK?! I will NOT stand for that. As soon as the movie comes out on DVD I’m ripping those tracks out and adding them to my playlist

- I really thought Ken and Barbie were finally going to get together. I shall now accept my clown shoes and wig. I’m already applying the makeup now.

- The sequence for “Life in Color” disappointed me a bit. It’s one of my favorite songs on the soundtrack, but the placement in the movie felt like it came out of nowhere. I was really hoping for a nice, tender moment between Barbie and Amelia. Even if they were kept separated, it could’ve started with them video-chatting again. Maybe they’d talk about their personal struggles and then Barbie would stop the recording (”We don’t have to film this...”) and they’d just have a moment between themselves to talk.

- On the other hand, “King of the Kingdom” was such a good scene. It was very entertaining and I laughed a lot (which I had to hold back a lot since I was still at work). Also, those boys can move!!

- To make up for all of the interruptions and missed opportunities, Ken Carson deserves at least 3 episodes centered on him and his life and 1 where he finally tells Barbie how he feels

- TAFFY HAD NO REASON TO BE IN THIS MOVIE. I don’t care that Barbie almost always needs an animal sidekick. Snowy (Amelia’s bunny) fills that role. Taffy just gave everyone a freaking heart attack. Also, how the heck did she survive the plane ride? California to Floravia is a 10-hour flight so how did she stay unnoticed for so long?? ROBERTS FAMILY, GET SOME DAMN LEASHES!

- Speaking of that scene, I hate it. It ate up valuable time that could’ve been later spent developing the plot or Amelia’s character. It was only like 2 minutes but in a movie that is already pretty short (1hr11min) every second counts

- Can DA please finally drop the whole “Hey look Renee is claustrophobic” already? It’s repetitive as all hell and honestly it rubs me the wrong way how often it’s played for laughs. It works in the DA Halloween episode since it’s all about everyone facing their fears but everywhere else it feels like a cheap & undeserved laugh (it only happens twice in the movie I think but I wanted to mention it anyway)

- Morningstar being a little bitch to Barbie was hilarious. I don’t really like animal toys anymore but I’d totally buy her. (She’s part of a doll-horse set called Prance & Shimmer Horse. The Barbie doll has Amelia’s princess dress).

- “This is My Moment” really warmed my heart. The last shot with Amelia and Barbie smiling at each other reminded me a lot of Princess & the Popstar actually. I also really like how they brought back stuff from “Try It On” for Barbie’s verse. Musical finale numbers that bring back earlier motifs is something I just cannot get enough of. 

- I liked Alfonso. Like Amelia said, he means well; he just didn’t put as much thought into what Ameila herself wants as he could have. But hey, he was learning just as much as they were

- I LOVED all of the stuff with Barbie trying to make it big and that bitch Rose Ross being all “This is what you have to do to make it sweetie :)” like that’s a great thing to show to kids. You can want to be famous and expand your content like Barbie wanted to, but you have to be smart about it, and you have to stay true to yourself. That plotline also mixed pretty well with Amelia’s life being formulated for the public too. I really did like all of that stuff about how media, social media especially, is constantly fabricated and edited to make things seem easier/better than they might be in real life. 

- THEY FINALLY WENT BACK TO INDIVIDUAL END MORALS THANK GOD. I got really tired of seeing “This is our story, what’s yours?” after every Barbie movie, especially when every movie that used it wasn’t going for that message. Hell, that’s not even a lesson or anything, that’s just a random end quote.

- “Life doesn’t happen on camera. Life is what happens when the cameras are off” THAT IS SO GOOD AND RELEVANT I CAN’T EVEN!!!

[sapientia-nos-liberabit]

                         TO CARRIE ON: PART 1 - LEIA ORGANA                            

Once upon a time there was a girl who loved seeing pictures of space, watching movies and reading fantasy books. Naturally, that child gravitated towards Star Wars when The Phantom Menace came out. Like millions of other kids, the girl liked that movie and then got her mom to rent the original Star Wars trilogy in VHS and spent time with family playing pod racing games… OK, fine, let’s drop the cheesy attempt at suspense. That girl was me.

By the time Revenge of the Sith came out, I’d started university, studying actual space but still a massive fan of fantasy worlds. True to my generation, my main obsessions were Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. I did also enjoy Star Wars tremendously. I had a Darth Vader mask and a lightsaber, I’d whistle John Williams on the street, call Yoda and Darth Maul my husbands, contrast the Galactic Senate to real political affairs… I have fond memories of that time and thus won’t have people slamming the prequels as entirely unenjoyable. And since my recollections of the Original Trilogy had kinda faded, I thought it was about time I rewatched it in order to fully grasp the ultimate downfall of Anakin Skywalker hitting theaters across the galaxy.

To my happy surprise, the movies were digitally restored and looked better on DVD. I admit that watching long Tatooine sequences and special effects from decades past in low VHS quality, no matter how amazing they were for its time, hadn’t impress a kid who’d already seen Jurassic Park, Titanic and Apollo 13. I’d get sleepy watching things that looked dated and Star Wars had a classic feel to it that my jaded 11 y.o. self couldn’t appreciate. Not college me, though! In those remastered images I fell in love with the visuals of lived-in worlds, ships and costumes, the practical effects and even the fake space shots that broke Physics laws. And I absolutely loved the characters and dialogues. I did not remember them so sassy, hilarious and so recognizably human! Those movies were a great combo of classic Hollywood, soap operas, good versus evil, fantasy, science fiction and coming of age stories, all the while without taking themselves too seriously. Next to them, the prequels seemed a bit try-hard, lifeless and devoid of personality.

And, sorry, that Princess Leia people talked about as a sidekick to the swoon worthy Han Solo and the heroic Luke Skywalker? The one in the bikini, always addressed by her Disneyesque title? What a damn cool princess. Boys wish they were as strong and smart. And she really was stunning (though I did not remember the bikini scene was so gross, how had that become a fetish?). Rediscovering Leia, Han, Luke and their relationships got me obsessed about Star Wars in ways that matched my other compulsions. Money was spent, fanfics were read, forums were visited. Getting close to 30 now, I still think Leia Organa is awesome! Lively and brave yet so vulnerable. Hopeful and truthful yet so gloriously sarcastic and cynical. Dependable and caring yet so independent. Resourceful and commanding yet such a team player. Sharp, loyal, perceptive, determined, kind. Like most of us in the real world, she bitches and whines when she’s under a lot of pressure or confused about her crush. Like few of us in the real world, she’s an all-around badass, taking shit from nobody but herself. I loved watching her arc. She grew up, faced external and internal enemies, fought for her freedom and gradually let people back in after all the suffering she went through.

Leia Organa means a lot to Star Wars fans, pop culture, and public perception of heroines. She’s iconic. It’s only natural her name follows Carrie’s around anytime people start talking about her. And Carrie herself, better than anyone, knew and came to terms with that. However, a humongous part of what made Leia Organa so Leia Organa was Carrie Fisher, whilst Carrie Fisher, I came to realize pretty quickly, was a bigger package. I went on to become a huge fan of hers. She was one of those larger than life types, therefore, a larger than Leia type even. Not only because she was a real person but because she was a pretty special one at that. The woman was an earthly kind of force. And even though I effing love Leia and knew this would happen, I can’t help but feel that all the focus on our lovely Princess-General doesn’t even scratch the surface.

I once said I was thankful not only that JK Rowling gave us Harry Potter but also that Harry Potter gave us JK Rowling. I feel the same way about Leia/Star Wars and Carrie. We truly need more Leias in our fictional universes but, hell, not as much as we all need more Carries out here in the real Milky Way adventures.