Barbie Movie Review

The first thing that will jump out at you is the Warner Brothers logo. It’s a beautiful Barbie signature pink. And their mocking of “2001: A Space Odyssey” worked soundly. You’re ready for this adventure to begin the second you see it. ​

This comes from someone who thought the story of a Barbie Doll would be foolish and dull… like Ken, but from the moment I saw that logo, I was ready to go. I was pretty surprised at how amusing and how witty it was. They impressed me greatly. Not hard to do when you get the fabulous Helen Mirren to narrate for you.

The story was directed by the brilliant Greta Gerwig (Little Women, Lady Bird) and written by Greta Gerwig and her special man, Noah Baumbach. It’s splendid that they can work in sync so well, both writing “Frances Ha” together, earning a 93% on the TOMATOMETER. You can see that Barbie is safe in the hands of these talented professionals.

With Barbie, they make Margot Robbie the “Stereotypical” Barbie. Perfect in every way and entirely surrounded by delightful shades of pink. I must mention “Weird Barbie,” played by Kate McKinnon, who has been destroyed by her owner. Though they call her weird, everyone goes to her for information regarding troubles in their Barbie lives. Here is an excellent place to mention that they speak of discontinued dolls early in the movie. Be sure to stick around through some of the credits to see those actual dolls.

The tagline that was used was “She’s everything. He’s just Ken.” I suppose that’s why after some time, I got a bit tired of everything related to Ken. His storyline is overused and becomes tiresome. Ken being there was more understandable when the Barbies dealt with their Kens in a friendly way or a relationship type situation. But on their own, except for our main guy, played by Ryan Gosling, it got old fast.

Sure, Ken’s a simple guy. He doesn’t have much going around in his melon, so doing what Barbie wants him to do makes sense. The “Kens” get along and await orders from their gals. Ken isn’t happy with this anymore, and Barbie is having thoughts of death. Her feet are flat and she has bad breath. Everything is falling apart! Curiously, the feature becomes an eye-opener. Sort of a message of feminism. What a shock, but a good one!

Barbie gets into a situation where she must go to the real world and find the child playing with her to restore order in Barbieland. She’s surprised to find that Ken is in her dreamy convertible without her permission. She isn’t happy about it, but she takes him to the real world when he won’t exit the auto.

Mattel headquarters discovers that two of their dolls have escaped and need to find them while Ken is busy finding out that the real world is flipped. The world he sees here is what he wants for Barbieland, where the men are in charge. When he makes this decision, Ken dolls start flying off store shelves nationwide.

The movie has a strong political theme, which only adults will pick up on, telling the audience that Ken wants to destroy their democracy and turn their world into a plutocracy. Ken’s everywhere are singing “PUSH” by Matchbox 20. When you see the scene, it’ll make sense.

Gerwig and Baumbach convey a strong point through the dolls that the indigenous people were kicked off their land and given smallpox. Ken wants to kick Barbie out of her Dreamhouse and move in with the Kens. The Barbies get together and decide to fight for their world.

Barbie is well written, and you’ll enjoy yourself, no matter what your age happens to be, but it does seem geared more to those of us who once had dolls, not who plays with them now. The writers will have you rolling in the isles at times, and they’ll also have you wish they had wrapped it all up a little sooner. It’s a bit too long.

The Billie Eilish song “What Was I Made For?” closes out the film. It’s exceptionally gorgeous, so be sure to listen.