Barbie, sparkles and snugglin' with my kids

With the excitement of Halloween and various other things that get in the way - namely LIFE - the kids and I just had the opportunity to sit down tonight and snuggle up to watch our newest DVD, Barbie and the Diamond Castle. MomCentral gave me the opportunity to watch and review the movie and let me tell ya, Kady has been in near fits since the day we got it in the mail (you know I've mentioned doing crazy, joyous dances when the UPS man brings me my happy boxes - Kady is as excitable as her momma, obviously).

Barbie and the Diamond Castle is the latest in the ultra-cool, amazing CGI-animated, let a little girl's imagination go wild videos. Now, Abby is 12 and SO above watching a Barbie video, but Kady is the prime age for Barbie-watching. From the minute it started, that baby was glued to the set and when she'd catch me checking email or answering a text on my phone she'd whisper "Momma! You've got to LOOK! At the TV!" Toward the end, when the two heroines find the diamond castle their dresses turn into fancy, sparkly gowns I'm telling you, the child literally gasped.

The story is about two best friends, Liana and Alexa (played by Barbie and Teresa) who don't have much in the way of posessions or money, but their friendship is more than enough to see them through. Because of her kindness to a stranger, Liana comes to own an enchanted mirror which is actually the unfortunate home to a displaced muse, Melody. Of course, there's plenty of adventure as they search for the Diamond Castle and a way to release Melody. Lydia is a perfect villainness, along with her bumbling-but-eager flying serpent, Slyder. And along the way the girls meet up with a set of guy twins ( when they were transformed into their sparkly outfits at the end, Kady looked at me and said, "Hubba hubba!") and a pair of cute puppies that also get sparkly at the end of the movie. Sparkly is always good at this house.

I actually enjoyed watching this one, whereas some of the earlier Barbie movies have been a little hard to watch for me. Kady loves them all, of course, but she seemed to be way more engaged in this one. Sam also watched it with us ("Because I, ya know, want to give you a man's perspective, Mom") and he laughed when it was funny and declared it to be "not as yucky as some of Kady's DVDs" so I think all in all, Barbie and the Diamond Castle gets six thumbs up from the Diva family!

Christmas is coming - if you've got a Barbie fan in your family I think this one is a winner. Check out the official Barbie and the Diamond Castle website.

And don't forget to check out MomCentral!