The Lego Friends Movie – New Girl In Town is now available on DVD in Australia and I was able to pick one up at my local Coles Supermarket. There were only a few in stock but it is widely available at online retailers (Fishpond.com.au).

Keenly aware of the ruckus caused by the new Friends minifigures and sets earlier this year I was curious to know what the movie would be like.

As a mother with two children (boy and girl) who both like Lego including the Friends sets, would I feel comfortable showing this to my kids or would I cringe at the film’s attempt to make it “suitable for girls”?

The verdict?

I was mostly impressed though there were a few scenes that, as expected, made me flinch.

Lego Friends New Girl In Town

Looking around on YouTube, it seems like the movie has already been released in Europe as a TV/online series of short videos, but there are no English language versions.

The accents in the DVD version I have are American so I expect a US release can’t be too far away.

It is interesting that Disney now have Lego Friends videos up on their website under the title of Friends Of Heartlake City, and it seems to be the same content (though being outside the US I can’t see it), so Lego might be releasing this movie though another format.

New Girl In Town runs for 21 minutes and essentially tells the story of how the Friends (Olivia, Mia, Stephanie, Andrea and Emma) meet each other and form a friendship in the most unlikely of circumstances.

Here is the Official Synopsis:

Lego Friends New Girl In Town

Olivia is new in town, and she can’t wait to make new friends. So she volunteers to help out at the pet adoption booth at the Heartlake City World Petacular.

But when one of the puppies escapes, it destroys all the hard work that Andrea, Emma, Mia, and Stephanie have put into the Petacular! So much for making friends . . . in just a few minutes, Olivia’s made four brand-new enemies.

There’s only one way to repair the damage – teamwork! Can Olivia, Andrea, Emma, Mia, and Stephanie work together to put things right in time for the Petacular?

Lego Friends Movie Review

The film is kind of cute – colorful and fun, nothing overtly offensive.

Given the film centers around five girls I was relieved to see how well they dealt with interpersonal relationships between friends, particularly girls.

When the girls meet, there is a genuine effort to get along and not create drama, which as a mother of a young girl I appreciated – Knowing how “drama” can be incendiary when girls get together, I try to avoid media where it is played up for sensation.

There was no overt flouncing which I appreciated and, overall, co-operation was emphasised.

The girls’ personalities are unique, spirited and quite talented in their respective interests.

“Talent” seems to be a common theme with young girls’ media these days and Friends taps into that. 

In one segment the girls get together to fix (like…with a hammer!) a stadium that falls down. Can you point out another “girls” TV series where girls fix stuff other than their hair?

And then, there’s this…

Downsides are the requisite presence of a “bitchy” girl who competes with Mia in a horse riding event (though she comes good in the end) and Olivia’s continued interest in a boy (though she flirts with him by fixing his model plane).

This “flirting” storyline irked me as it was unnecessary and I would have much preferred the girls stand on their own without having to be interested in boys yet.

Media aimed at young girls emphasises an interest in boys too often, too young.
Please Lego, just let them be girls!

Also…Andrea’s singing voice sounds like she is 30 years old!?

Presentation

The packaging was highly appealing and DVD extras include three games that are already available online or in app form but are handy to have . The games are passable…just (I’m being nice here).

Personally I am waiting for the Lego Friends Inventor’s Workshop Game or the Lego Friends Small Business Management Game.

But until then, the included games are:

• Lego Friends Beauty Salon Game
• Lego Friends Dress-Up Game
• Lego Friends Cafe Game

There was also a small sheet of stickers included that had previously been distributed with the Lego Club Magazine. We enjoyed having another set as the first disappeared into various locations around the house very quickly.

Overall I can recommend the New Girl In Town movie as long as you don’t expect it to break new ground for girls/women.

But in all honesty it’s probably better than 90% of other media aimed at girls these days and will help young Lego Friends fans form stories around their Lego sets.

Lego Friends New Girl In Town Video