Barbie
Live-action feature film based on the popular line of Barbie dolls.
- Released: 2023-07-21
- Runtime: 120 minutes
- Genre: Comedy
- Stars: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Will Ferrell, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Hari Nef, Scott Evans, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Emerald Fennell, Connor Swindells, Ncuti Gatwa, Rhea Perlman, Sharon Rooney, Ana Kayne, Simu Liu, Issa Rae, Hari Nef, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Demetriou, Luke Mullen, Marisa Abela
- Director: Greta Gerwig
Comments
- andrewpelechaty - 16 June 2024
Magical, Funny, and Meta
While a long-awaited movie about arguably the most famous toy line could be seen as a cynical cash-in, the "Barbie" movie works: with its delightful silliness, meta humour, and commentary on gender issues.
The Barbies and Kens exist in the utopian Barbie Land but are ALSO aware that they're toys to be played with, and their moods are influenced by their human owners.
Everything in Barbie Land is stereotypically pink, while the male-dominated Real World - which initially inspires Gosling's Ken to make Barbie Land more male-centric - is very macho.
The meta humour extends to Mattel's role (and clever ads for new Barbie products), with Will Ferrell and America Ferrara playing the CEO and Gloria respectively. After inheriting a Barbie from her distant teenage daughter, Gloria's dark and unsatisfied mindset influences Stereotypical Barbie's (Margot Robbie) crisis that threatens to destroy her perfect world.
While Robbie is excellent as Stereotypical Barbie, Ryan Gosling is incredibly game as Ken - willing to embrace the character's silliness.
And the movie steers away from the cliched 'everything resets to zero' happy ending, instead showing genuine growth in some characters. - 851222 - 26 May 2024
Uneven but fun enough to mildly recommend it
Greetings from Lithuania.
I guess i made i right choice when i chose to watch "Oppenheimer" instead of "Barbie" (2023) during the time when these two movies have dominated the worldwide box office. After watching it now at home i can say that I'm a bit disappointed for it because two previous movies made by Greta Gerwig "Lady Bird" and "Little Women" were amazing. Given the high rating from critics, i found this movie not to be as good. Sure its fun and collorfull and features great cast, but humor is uneven, jokes are a miss and hit and i didn't like any of soundtracks honestly. "Barbie" tries to be a bit multilayered and because of bittersweet ending i liked it a bit more.
Overall, "Barbie" is a highly uneven movie. Its fun and colorful and different enough to recommend it for one evening, and i guess they did their best with this material.
