Barbie & Her Sisters in A Pony Tale



Barbie & Her Sisters in A Pony Tale is a computer-animated movie that was released in 2013. It was animated by Arc Productions and was the third Barbie movie to be released that year, following Barbie in The Pink Shoes and Barbie: Mariposa & the Fairy Princess.

The film follows Barbie, Skipper, Stacie, and Chelsea as they visit Marlene's equestrian academy in Switzerland, and Barbie finds a legendary horse that was believed to be just a fable.

Official Summary
"Barbie and her sisters set off on a Swiss adventure to the majestic Alps, where they're excited to spend the summer at a fun filled riding academy! Barbie can't wait to find a new horse to bring back to Malibu. Stacie is super excited to prove she's an amazing equestrian. All Chelsea wants to do is ride the big horses, and Skipper's more interested in writing about the great outdoors than experiencing it. The sisters' vacation gets off to a rocky start, but when Barbie discovers a mysterious wild horse in the woods, their visit becomes truly magical."

Full Story
Barbie, Skipper, Stacie, and Chelsea drive to Aunt Marlene's Alpine Academy in the Alps, Swiss for a month long horseback riding vacation. They are greeted by their cousins, Max and Marie, who present the sisters with a room. Barbie feels that her winning the Pacific Steeplechase, an event in the Inter-Academy Equestrian Tournament, will depend on her finding the right horse for her. She meets Etienne Cheynet, the riding master, and then gets to choose her own horse from the thoroughbreds in the stable. Barbie is joined by Marlene and reveals that she is not sure which horse to pick.

The next day, Barbie goes riding with everyone and sees a horse, but it disappears. She sees the same horse in the academy logo and notices its unusual markings. Barbie finds Etienne singing to a horse to calm it. Etienne explains that the horses Barbie has seen are from a fable about an ancient herd called the Majestique, and that there is no proof they are real. Philippe Cheynet, the riding master of École Montagne and Etienne's brother, interrupts them and says that the Majestiques don't exist. However, he knows that the Majestiques are real and lies because his brother is present.

Barbie goes riding by herself and some wolves scare away her horse, Finian. She is saved from the wolves by the Majestique horse she had seen the day before, and it runs away. The following day, Barbie and Finian went riding again and found the Majestique horse with its leg stuck under a rock. To relax the horse, Barbie sings the song she heard Etienne singing and manages to move the rock. She uses her scarf as a bandage to tie around the horse's bleeding leg and she names her Majesty. Philippe later finds some of Majesty's mane and sees Barbie nearby, so he follows her.

Barbie goes out alone and is able to ride Majesty, which Philippe witnesses. Majesty shows Barbie a herd of breed in the Valley of the Majestiques. Meanwhile, Marlene tells Skipper that she may have to sell the academy to Bridgette Cheynet, the mother of Etienne and Philippe and the owner of École Montagne, if they don't win the tournament. Skipper finds Barbie with the Majestiques and encourages her big sister to run for Alpine in the tournament instead of Etienne, but Barbie is reluctant to run in the steeplechase on Majesty in case Philippe finds the Majestiques and hurts them.

On the opening day of the tournament, Alpine Academy and École Montagne are tied for first place. That night, there is a dance which everyone attends. While everyone is distracted, Philippe sneaks out and releases the Alpine Academy’s horses in order to sabotage them. Chelsea sneaks out to ride a big horse and attracts attention by screaming when she is overwhelmed. The horse she is on hurts Etienne’s arm so he can't compete. Barbie searches for the horses with Skipper and Jonas, a boy from École Montagne. She realises that Majesty found the academy’s horses and led them away.

Barbie leads everyone to the Majestiques and they find the other horses. She tells Skipper and Jonas to keep them a secret and they start going back to the academy with the horses. On the way back, they encounter Philippe. Philippe excludes Jonas from École Montagne for helping Barbie to find the horses. Philippe tells Barbie that he knows the Majestiques are on Alpine land, and that the land and the horses will belong to École Montagne after the tournament. The only way to save the academy and the Majestiques would be to win the tournament, so Barbie competes instead of Etienne.

Barbie enters the tournament just in time and rides for Alpine on Majesty. Philippe makes the saddle come off of Majesty, so Barbie and Majesty race without it and manage to win. The overall Tournament Cup goes to Alpine Academy. Bridgette congratulates Barbie and Barbie gets a photo of herself and her family with Majesty and the trophy. She thanks Marlene for letting her stay at the academy, and Marlene reveals that they have many people interested in the academy now. Barbie wants to take Majesty home with her, but sets her free to be with her herd because she loves her. Aunt Marlene tells Barbie that if she comes back Majesty will return.

Release
The film was initially released on October 22nd, 2013 on DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack and digital formats. The bonus features were movie outtakes, a music video for the movie's theme song "You're The One" performed by Heavynn Gates, the music video for "Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse Theme Song" performed by Allie Feder, and the Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse episodes "Gone Glitter Gone - Part 1 and "Gone Glitter Gone - Part 2".

There is also a Trailer Gallery on the DVD and Blu-ray releases with trailers for Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse, the Barbie Premium Experience only on Royal Caribbean International, Barbie: Mariposa & the Fairy Princess, Barbie in The Pink Shoes, Barbie: The Princess & The Popstar, Barbie: The Pearl Princess, Barbie in A Mermaid Tale, Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2, Barbie: Princess Charm School, Barbie: A Fairy Secret, Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale and the Barbie Movie Collection, which advertises all of the Barbie movies up to Barbie and The Three Musketeers.

Barbie & Her Sisters in A Pony Tale did not get its own section on Barbie.com, but when it was released, the Barbie.com homepage advertised it and a Coloring Storybook was made available to print, but the link to it expired when the homepage changed. In the Videos section of Barbie.com as well as the official Barbie YouTube channel, the Bloopers, Music Video and Trailer were made available to watch. The teaser trailer was never added to Barbie.com or the YouTube channel, and was first seen on the Barbie: Mariposa & the Fairy Princess DVD and Blu-ray releases.

A launch event in the US took place in New York City on from 2-5pm on October 22nd called "Pony Up" and girls of all ages were invited to receive a Barbie-inspired ponytail. There were five options from Barbie's Look Book that were illustrated by designer Robert Best. Stylists from John Barrett Salon used a pop-up salon to create the looks. TimeToPlayMag.com covered the event in a YouTube video.

In the UK, Barbie and The Pony Club collaborated to have a Barbie Pony Tale Experience Day on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th October. It was a free, interactive day for children aged 3-11 years old to learn about horses and horse-riding. No prior horse-riding experience was necessary to attend. Each class took photos and videos of their activities and were judged by The Pony Club. The winner got to meet Charlotte Dujardin, who won two gold medals for her horse-riding in the London 2012 Summer Olympics.

Trivia

 * This is the third movie which appeared all of Barbie's sisters, the first is the short film Barbie: A Camping We Will Go and the second is Barbie A Perfect Christmas
 * This is the only full-length movie which animated by Arc Productions.
 * The Majestique breed was inspired by a real breed of horses which Hannibal used to cross the Swiss Alps.
 * The movie is similiar with Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale, because the conflict was same, the places almost bankrupt and planned to sell with other side. Interestingly, both movies have the same protagonists and the owner of the places is protagonist's aunts.
 * "Pony Tale" is a pun on the word "ponytail", or a pun of fairytale (fairytale is for fairies, then pony tale is for horses).
 * This is the only movie to use the Roberts' last name.
 * The music heard during the dance is Mozart's "A Little Night Music".
 * Marie says "konichiwa" to Monsiur Etienne in the dance party, that means hello in Japanese.

Goofs

 * When Barbie and her sisters are giving Marie a makeover, none of the clothing or shoes they use end up in her final outfit for the dance.
 * Jonas appeared to wear his riding suit after Chelsea fell off a big horse, even though he was wearing his tuxedo during the formal dance party.
 * The direction of Skipper's face is wrong when she asked "Why on earth?" to Chelsea, and yet her mouth didn't move in the first 2 seconds.
 * During the race, Barbie's sisters wear their casual outfits but when the race is finally over, the sisters' clothes changed into their riding outfits.
 * Stacie's eyes color changed to blue during the dance party, instead she has green eyes.
 * Stacie was appeared between the peoples when they're trying to stopped the big horse which Chelsea ride, but when Marlene bring Chelsea to the inside, she was disappeared.
 * Chelsea's drawing has sun in left side, cloud in the middle, and the mountains, as seen in the beginning of the movie. But, when Chelsea give her drawing to Marlene, the drawing was different, the sun and cloud was draw in the right side, and there's no mountains.
 * Skipper bring her tablet when she come to Marlene and ask what's happen, but when she sit to the white sofa until she leaves Marlene, her tablet was disappear.

Also Know As

 * Polish - Barbie i siostry w krainie kucyków
 * French - Barbie et ses Soeurs au Club Hippique
 * German - Barbie und ihre Schwestern im Pferdeglück
 * Italian - Barbie e il Cavallo Leggendario
 * Russian - Барби и ее сестры в сказке о пони
 * Thai - ตุ๊กตาบาร์บี้และน้องสาวของเธอในเรื่องม้า
 * Chinese - 芭比和她的姐妹在小马故事
 * Spanish - Barbie y sus Hermanas en una aventura de caballos
 * Portugal - Barbie e Suas Irmãs em um Conto de Pônei
 * Persian - باربی و خواهرانش در افسانه اسب سواری
 * Arabic - ''باربي وأخواتها في حكاية المهر
 * Turkish -  Barbie ve Kız Kardeşlerinin At Binicilik Okulu
 * Czech - Barbie a Poníková akademie
 * Dutch - Barbie en Haar Zusjes in een Pony Avontuur