Review: Barbie Dreamscape

(Note: This is not a novelization of the 2023 Barbie movie.)

Barbie lives in a perfect village in Heartland. Yes, it’s pink. Birds braid her blonde hair every morning. She goes to the perfect school and sees her perfect friends. She always gets high scores on her school tests. Then she does the same thing again the next day. Her life is perfect. Except …

Barbie doesn’t remember her mother, because she died while Barbie was so young. She was killed while defending the village from terrible creatures. A statue of her stands in the school, decked out in full armor. (Maybe the cover gives you a clue as to whether Barbie will end up wearing it.)

Robin, the Headmistress of their school, took Barbie in and raised her like a daughter. Otherwise, Barbie would be like the other orphans. Other orphans?

And her school has a mean girl. Barbie has no idea what she did to offend her, but she always has it in for her. Barbie’s assessment is: “She sucks.”

So we have these subtle clues that Barbie’s village is not perfect. But she is looking forward to Boxing Day, their equivalent of high school graduation. Each student will find out his or her Fate, that is, a lifelong vocation. This is determined by the Fates, whom the villagers never see. They believe the Fates are never wrong. Barbie is glad she doesn’t have to make her own choices. “The Fates are going to tell me.”

On Boxing Day, she touches her mother’s statue and says, “I love you, Mom.” Then her best friend tells her what just happened to her. She walked into a third floor room, and glitter rained down on her. The walls announced her Fate. And most importantly, there were accessories! She then went to a window where the village applauded.

As Valedictorian, Barbie goes last. Excited, she walks into her room. No glitter. She backs up and tries again. Still nothing. No Fate displayed on the walls. No accessories. She goes to the window. The village gasps at her lack of accessories.

This has never happened before. Barbie now has to make choices. When she sees a map of Dreamland, a necklace her mother gave her draws her towards it. Is that where the Fates are?

And so begins a fantasy odyssey.

I’m not afraid of buying a pink book

But I don’t want to be seen reading it

I’m surprised to learn that Barbie Dreamscape is the first Barbie novel. The author, Alex Aster, had to be very successful to be chosen to write it. (She is the author of The Lightlark Saga, among others.) This is a coming of age story, but Barbie has to go on a quest to accomplish it. This is obviously not on a level with Homer’s Odyssey, but more intense than Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

Barbie is meant to be a Young Adult novel, but middle schoolers could easily read it. I think the climactic events would be disturbing to middle schoolers—not in the sense of being too intense, but that age group would have a harder time handling betrayal by a loved one. Also, coming of age stories are meant for Young Adults—Barbie goes from being a naïve teenager to an adult through her trying odyssey.

The motto on the back of the book is: Dream Big. Fail Hard. Get Back Up Again. This is especially true when Barbie falls into Rock Bottom, a dark place that ends up being miles deep. A person there tells her, “Rock Bottom is a pretty solid place to start a new life.” So, is the story really about a physical Rock Bottom? You’ll have to read it and see.

Movie Review: Sense and Sensibility

After the death of their father, the three Dashwood sisters and their mother lose control of their Norland Park estate to the mother’s half-brother and his hostile wife Fanny. The oldest, Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones), is of marriageable age. The middle sister, Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles) would be considered young to get married nowadays, but is also considered marriageable.

Fanny’s brother, Edward Ferrars (pronounced “Farris”) (George MacKay), visits and spends much of his time with Elinor. They grow so close, they are considered to have formed an attachment, meaning he is expected to propose. But Fanny makes it clear that she does not want a woman with no wealth to ensnare her brother. Insulted, Mrs. Dashwood (Caitríona Balfe) moves her family to a small Devonshire cottage owned by a distant relative.

They are visited by Colonel Brandon (Herbert Nordrum), a friend of their relatives. He quickly takes interest in Marianne, though he is considerably older. Marianne represents sensibility, saying out loud that she expects passion from a man, passion to match her own. She finds Colonel Brandon to be lacking in passion, and is dismissive of him. However, he continues to show interest.

Meanwhile, Elinor is devastated when Edward writes to say that though he had hoped to visit soon, he will not be able to until the next year. Elinor has the sense to not say her feelings about Edward out loud.

Marianne sprains her ankle and is rescued by John Willoughby (Frank Dillane), a man closer to her age than Colonel Brandon. She finds Willoughby to be a man who shares her passions. Though Elinor advises caution, Marianne falls madly in love. She and Willoughby form a strong attachment to each other.

What will happen to these two sisters?

This 2026 version of Sense and Sensibility is a cozy adaptation. The start of the film feels rushed, but after that it only takes fair concentration to follow the complex web of characters and situations. They also do a good job of showing how saggy women’s dresses were before the invention of synthetics. I doubt modern women could dance or sprint in those. Also, we feel the claustrophobic nature of the Devonshire cottage.

They also cast women who do like they could be family members. I am glad they cast Mrs. Dashwood as a comparatively young woman. After all, the daughters are quite young.

Daisy Edgar-Jones does a fine job as Elinor, who lives a mostly restrained life, though we can see her turmoil when she is not being observed. When she does show bursts of emotion, they are consistent with the character portrayal she has crafted. And her dark eyes serve her well when she is despondent.

Esmé Creed-Miles serves well as the somewhat bratty, always brash Marianne. Her feelings are constantly on display, and her emotional highs and emotional crashes are believable. She is definitely the character without sense. Her large, expressive eyes are always interesting.

As for the men, George MacKay is fine as the not-too-handsome but gentle Edward Ferrars. I know Herbert Nordrum as Colonel Brandon is not supposed to be aggressive, but he seems to be too passive. Meanwhile, Frank Dillane as Willoughby is unimpressive at the start, and I have to suppose he was meant to be.

The film oddly focuses on physical backgrounds. There is a lot of scenery shown off, and a plethora of animals—including wild creatures and pets. Did we really need a closeup of a spider? Some of this time should have been spent on either developing more of the plot, or allowing the actors the time to further develop certain scenes.

There is also a good amount of time spent on the opulence of certain interiors. It would be much better to show the characters in motion past these features, instead of showing them as almost still life.

But the movie holds together well. We have a few scenes of couples sitting next to each other in awkward silence, one of which is quite funny. And it certainly had dance moves I had never seen before in any Jane Austen movie.

I have never seen the 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility. I consider the 2008 mini-series to be superior, which is a little unfair, since it was 3 hours long. But if you like this 2026 movie, you should look up the mini-series.

Anthony Stewart Head and Nicholas Brendon

I was shocked to learn that two Buffy the Vampire Slayer alumni, Nicholas Brendon and Anthony Stewart Head, passed away this year.

Flickr user Raven

Nicholas Brendon played Xander, one of the core group around Buffy. He was an ever-faithful friend (though he tried to undermine Buffy’s relationship with Angel), and he even fought the occasional vampire, though he had no inherited slayer abilities. Overall, he was often the fool who provided comic relief.

I also knew Nicholas Brendon from Coherence, a little-known but incredibly smart science fiction film.

Anthony Stewart Head played Giles in Buffy. Also a core character, he played Buffy’s watcher, meaning the person who trained her. Completely British, he was often the straight man for the other characters' American humor, but he also worked in some wry lines himself, based on his being British and also the only adult in the core group.

Giles was my favorite character, as the overworked and often underappreciated scholar. He also became a father figure to Buffy. Many fans wanted him to marry Buffy’s mother, but that never came to pass.

I also knew Anthony Stewart Head from the 2007 version of Persuasion. He played Sir Walter Elliot, father of the main character Anne Elliot, and he is hilarious in a stuffy, vainglorious sort of way.

I was saddened to hear about both their deaths.

P.S. I also caught a couple glimpses of Anthony Stewart Head in VR.5, a failed virtual reality show from 1995. I’m not saying it’s any good, but it was interesting to see him.