Barbie Review: A Fun and Funny Movie For All Ages
Ken Jones, OnScreen Blog Chief Film Critic
Millions and millions of little girls have grown up playing with Barbie dolls. Given that seemingly every other toy brand has developed a movie within the last decade, it was only a matter of time before Mattel developed a Barbie movie. Normally, this would not be a movie on my radar, but Mattel put their IP in the hands of Greta Gerwig as the director and co-writer, so here I was in 2023, looking forward to Barbie with anticipation.
It did not disappoint.
The film is set in Barbieland, where Barbies run everything, and each day is perfect and carefree until “Stereotypical” Barbie (Margot Robbie) has an existential crisis and begins to malfunction. This existential crisis leads her to leave Barbieland for the real world, to seek out the human playing with her, giving her these thoughts and causing her to malfunction. Ken (Ryan Gosling) comes along for the ride (with his rollerblades), and they encounter a new reality in the real world, dominated by “The Patriarchy”.
Perhaps the best place to start assessing this movie is with Barbieland, a world that almost perfectly approximates the idea of the imaginary Barbie world in the minds of the kids who play with her. Barbies live in dreamhouses that are life-size replicas of the kinds of Barbie houses for the toy. Robbie’s Barbie goes through a daily routine that includes showering with water that isn’t seen and eating breakfast with liquids that aren’t there, and food that isn’t consumed.
All of the women in Barbieland are named Barbie, and all the men are named Ken. This results in several scenes where there are multiple exchanges of “Hi Barbie!” and “Hi Ken!” between characters. The Kens have some jealousy between one another, particularly when it comes to the attention of any Barbie. In fact, they do not seem to have an existence or purpose outside of Barbie.
In addition to nailing the layout of Barbieland, the film also nails how kids play with toys. This is embodied by “Weird Barbie” (Kate McKinnon), a name that other Barbies call her behind her back and to her face. She is the Barbie that Barbie goes to when she starts to malfunction and provides her with the answer to solving her dilemma. McKinnon’s Barbie, who used to be the most beautiful Barbie in all the land, was played with roughly by a child and ended up with bad hair, makeup, and a messed-up personality. Kids are not always careful with their toys.
Helen Mirren narrates the film, and there’s an opening song for the movie, “Pink” performed by Lizzo, that also narrates Barbie’s day. Funnily, after Barbie wonders out loud, “Do you ever think about death?” during a dance party that leads to an actual record scratch, the song's reprise mirrors everything being off for Barbie.
Barbie’s existential crisis is about more than just injecting some grown-up themes into a film aimed at kids. As a product, Barbie has a complicated history. Even the inventor of the doll, Ruth Handler, portrayed in the film by Rhea Pearlman, has a complicated personal history. Some women see Barbie the doll as inspirational, and others as perpetuating and reinforcing an impossible standard of beauty that ingrains unhealthy body images in girls at an early age.
Barbie, the film, embraces the mess, so to speak; it’s not just IP propaganda. It gives voice to both points of view regarding Barbie, embodied in the generational perspectives of a mom and daughter that Barbie meets in the real world, Gloria (America Ferrera) and Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt).
Robbie performs outstandingly as Barbie, one of the few actresses in the world who could pull off playing a stereotypical Barbie. She beams throughout the film, almost always flashing a smile. It’s in the smaller moments when she shines, seemingly experiencing new emotions for the first time and having a solitary tear stream down her face. There’s a beautiful scene where she is sitting at a bus stop with an older woman, and she has an emotional scene with Pearlman’s Ruth at the end of the film.
The other big theme of the film is dealing with being a woman in a world dominated by men. This is the best way to talk about Ken and Gosling’s performance. Barbie goes on a journey of self-discovery throughout the movie, and Ken goes through his journey too, though the less said about his overall arc, the better, for spoiler reasons.
Gosling plays Ken perfectly as something of an airhead. Gosling is a riot throughout, but some of his best stuff happens while he is in the real world and is discovering how much of an advantage it is just to be a man in this world compared to Barbieland.
Having a discourse about feminism and “The Patriarchy” in a Barbie movie might sound heavy-handed to some, but it is done with affection and laughter. It is a movie that is also poking fun at itself while poking fun at others. This movie is very funny and entertaining, providing some of the most laughs I’ve had at the movies recently. There are plenty of inside easter egg jokes for Barbie aficionados, but the jokes that got the biggest laugh out of me were ones about Zack Snyder and Matchbox Twenty.
To go into any further specifics about the film would be to give too much away. Greta Gerwig has impressed so far with her debut film Lady Bird and her follow-up adaptation of Little Women. This is a step up, being given the reins to a big studio production and a significantly bigger budget to go along with it.
She produces another fantastic film that comes across with the sheen of a studio film but one that has her imprint on it. That her long-time collaborator and real-life partner Noah Baumbach co-wrote the script is icing on the cake too.
The cast is also loaded. Too many Barbies and Kens to list.
“Barbenheimer” was all the rage leading into the release of Barbie and Oppenheimer this weekend, and while Barbie by the lighter fare of the two, it is just as stunning a film. It boasts vibrant visuals (more pink than you can possibly imagine), a self-aware and funny script, some social commentary, and a terrific cast.
Gerwig, her co-writer Baumbach, Robbie, Gosling, and everyone involved in making this movie has brought Barbie to general audiences in a way that is more than just fan service.
Barbie is for everyone, not just girls.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars