General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Barbie: It Takes Two

Barbie: It Takes Two is a 2022 CGI-animated children's television series produced by Mattel Television and Mainframe Studios for Netflix. It continues the story of the 2021 animated movie musical Barbie: Big City, Big Dreams, following Barbie "Malibu" Roberts and Barbie "Brooklyn" Roberts as they chase their dreams of musical stardom while leaning on each other, their families, and their friends.¹

Key fact	Detail
Format	CGI-animated musical comedy series for Netflix, rated TV-G, episodes of roughly 21 to 23 minutes²^•³
Premiere	April 8, 2022 in the United States, debuting with 13 episodes; additional episodes followed later in the year⁴
Run	26 episodes in two seasons of 13; season 2 was released on October 1, 2022, and the series is listed as ended⁵^•⁶
Premise	The two Barbies attend a year of performing arts high school in New York City, record a music demo, and take odd jobs to fund their dreams⁶
Lead voices	America Young as Barbie "Malibu" Roberts and Tatiana Varria as Barbie "Brooklyn" Roberts⁷
Key crew	Series director Scott Pleydell-Pearce; executive producers Christopher Keenan and Adam Bonnett; songs by Matthew Tishler and Andrew Underberg⁸
Reception	6.4/10 on IMDb from about 215 user ratings²

Spoilers

Premise and setting

The series picks up where Barbie: Big City, Big Dreams leaves off. Best friends Malibu and Brooklyn Roberts are accepted to the Handler School of Performing Arts for a year of high school in New York City. Instead of living in a dorm, Malibu rooms with Brooklyn at Brooklyn's house. Together they face obstacles in pursuit of their pop-star dreams, from disapproving parents to homesickness to auditions gone wrong, and learn to rely on the strength of their friendship.⁹

The girls set out to record a professional music demo and take odd jobs to fund it, including walking dogs and delivering pastries for a café, while exploring New York City and traveling back to Malibu, California, to visit family and friends.⁶ A recurring plot thread involves Otto Phoenix, a TV and music media mogul whose endorsement could advance their careers; the season 2 finale, "Race to the Finish," centers on delivering their music demo to him before the girls head to California for the summer.⁸^•⁶

Cast and characters

America Young voices Barbie "Malibu" Roberts and Tatiana Varria voices Barbie "Brooklyn" Roberts, both appearing in all 26 episodes.⁷^•² The supporting cast includes Nicolas Roye as Rafa, a fashion-forward Latino character who mixes Spanish words into his speech; Ritesh Rajan as Ken; Gabe Kunda as Kel Roberts; Mela Lee as Simone Roberts; Kirsten Day as Skipper Roberts; Cassandra Lee Morris as Stacie Roberts; Greg Chun as George Roberts; and Lisa Fuson as Margaret Roberts.⁷ Dean Morrison, a character from Big City, Big Dreams, appears twice in the series in silent cameos.²

Production

The show was produced on a services basis by Mainframe Studios, a division of Wow! Unlimited Media, for its longtime client Mattel; Mainframe's 2022 Barbie output for Mattel also included Barbie: Epic Road Trip, Barbie: Mermaid Power, Barbie: Skipper and the Big Babysitting Adventure, and Barbie Vlogger seasons 7 and 8.¹⁰ Mattel Television billed the series internationally as a brand-new 26 x 22-minute format.¹¹

Creative team. Frederic Soulie and Christopher Keenan served as executive producers, with Adam Bonnett also credited as an executive producer; Marsha Griffin was creative producer, Diane A. Crea was senior producer, Scott Pleydell-Pearce was series director, and Kendall Michele Haney was story editor. Songs were written by Matthew Tishler and Andrew Underberg, whose credits on the series include the theme song "It Takes Two" along with "After Us," "Can't Stop Us," "Step By Step," "Find My Way Home," "More," and "Feelings."⁸^•¹² Mattel's Christopher Keenan, senior vice president of Global Content and executive producer, described the series as following the girls' adventures in friendship, sisterhood, and family while they discover their potential.⁴

AWN reported that the series marked Barbie's first full-length television series since Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures, and that it featured new music and choreography.⁸

Release and reception

The series debuted on Netflix in the United States on April 8, 2022, with 13 episodes, after an exclusive trailer release in late March.⁴ Rotten Tomatoes lists a release date of March 5, 2022 for the series, while IMDb and Common Sense Media list April 8, 2022 as the premiere date.¹³^•²^•⁹ Season 2 arrived on October 1, 2022.⁵ The series remains available on Netflix and for digital purchase on services such as Amazon Video, Apple TV, and Fandango.³

On IMDb the series holds a 6.4/10 rating from about 215 users; individual episode ratings range from 6.1 to 9.3, with the two-part season 1 finale "The Great Outdoors" among the highest-rated episodes at 9.3.²^•¹⁴ Common Sense Media rated the show appropriate for ages 5 and up, praising its positive messages about perseverance and hard work and its diverse representation, including Brooklyn as a young Black female lead who shares the iconic name Barbie Roberts and Brooklyn's mother being a Black airline pilot; the review also noted that the leads sometimes resort to deception to get what they want.⁹

Merchandise

Mattel released a line of It Takes Two dolls and playsets, including Malibu, Brooklyn, Stacie, Skipper, Chelsea, and Daisy dolls, with product codes such as HDF73 for the Malibu doll and HDF74 for the Brooklyn doll.¹⁵ The Brooklyn Roberts fashion doll reproduces her onscreen outfit, a pink shirt with an NYC graphic and a silver metallic skirt, and is marketed for ages 3 and up.¹⁶ An "It Takes Two" camping playset, which packages the doll with a sleeping bag, a small dog, and a pink backpack, was the subject of a February 2022 Mattel review campaign in Germany that delivered 20 online reviews from 24 samples, with a 4.9 average rating and a 100 percent recommendation rate among participating parents.¹⁷

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Animated television series (individual series) › Children's animated adventure and fantasy series › Comedy and slice-of-life series › Premiered 2020 to 2024

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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