The Barbie movie has been the talk of the town for a long time. From Ryan Gosling being adorably adamant about Ken in interviews to Margot Robbie dressing up as different Barbies for promotional events, the movie has seemingly been everywhere. Even Booktok and Bookstagram jumped on the bandwagon and published content themed around the Barbie movie.
This writer decided to go watch the Barbie movie after its incredible marketing and was not disappointed.
It’s important to note I wasn’t going to watch the movie at first. It’s not typically the kind of movie I enjoy, and it seemed a little too over the top; here’s the thing: it was. It was explosions of pink, bespoke dance numbers, and a whole lot of Barbie. And it was absolutely worth it.
Barbie follows the story of stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) as she has a sudden existential crisis and has to adventure to the real world from BarbieLand to find out what’s causing her deterioration. Ken (Ryan Gosling)—though it would be unfair to the other Kens if I didn’t acknowledge Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans, and Ncuti Gatwa, who also played Ken—tags along, and pandemonium ensues. It’s narrated by Helen Mirren.
The movie does a great job of playing with tropes from its genre and turning them on its head, allowing audiences to immerse themselves wholly in the absurd reality of Barbie for 114 minutes. It breaks the fourth wall at times and makes fun of its own clichés, making it self-aware in a way movies often struggle to achieve.
What sets Barbie apart from any other movie is how it plants itself in our modern world while leaning into an impeccable set design that clearly separates it from the everyday.
The movie certainly is a feminist one, and some have commented the filmmakers went a little hard. While I see how it can evoke those feelings in some audiences, I thought the movie stayed true to its feel. The filmmakers leaned into everything rather than choosing to try and make a film that was “cool.” And, because they didn’t try to do too many things, they succeeded in their mission.
Barbie is a fun, cry-at-first-and-then-laugh-out-loud, fantastically preposterous movie. And it’s worth every dollar of watching it in theatres.
Barbie is directed by Greta Gerwig. The Barbie movie cast features Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Sharon Rooney, Dua Lipa, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, America Ferrera, John Cena, Michael Cera, and more, along with the actors mentioned before. It’s distributed by Warner Bros Pictures.
(Oh! And I almost forgot about Alan… Sorry Alan!)
