“The Stupid Parent” as a plot device

For the second night in a row I’m gritting my teeth through my least favorite Barbie movie – Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Most of the Barbie movies are at least bearable. I like that they have made the female characters mostly self sufficient. No “rescued by the prince” device; the princess is usually quite capable of rescuing herself, thank you very much.

I had to sit through this one several times (probably because only about 10% of my attention is on it – max!) before I realized why this one bothered me so much.

It’s not the slightly whimpy hero, although he is way beyond “weak”. Not even the evil villainess, who does make me want to slap her. It’s the father. The king of is an absolute idiot.

Not only does he invite the wench into his castle, not only does he attempt to “fix” the “flaws” in his daughters, but at the end he turns his kingdom over to the very person who has been poisoning him for the last hour. A very long, very painful hour at that.

I think it’s time for some Whedon therapy. Joss knows better than to make anyone sit through such an inane plot device. Isn’t anyone doing Whedon-quality movies for the 8 and under set these days?