This film opens as Kara (Barbie) is piloting some sort of aircraft, but this adventure is short lived and serves as an introduction to the characters, particularly the royal family who is overly protective of their daughter. Turns out their servant, the only one we see, isn’t happy with his place in life. Does he have a reason? Sure, but this intellectual genus isn’t particularly effective. And his hench-frog is played up solely for comic relief.
An accident in the lab is played up for comic effect. If this guy had any sort of competency he would not have stood there watching thinggs topple over. And I’m pretty sure a frog would not have been the source of that much destruction. The “magic” potion affects a caterpillar which turns into a butterfly which in turn “kisses” Kara who is imbued with super powers.
The comic relief is distracting and detracts from what could have been a a decent super-powered story about empowerment. Instead is just sort of devolves into a juvenile (not meant as a compliment) mash-up of the princess and super hero genres. And the animation lacks detail.
Unless you are a hardcore Barbie fan I recommend skipping this one. The story and characters are poor at best. There’s a volcano named Mount Dormant – that’s the level of intelligence and care behind this production. It is actually sort of insulting.