Review: New Barbie Movie Is a Colorful and Empowering Self-Love Kaleidoscope
Barbie the movie, starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, hits theaters July 21, and it is one of the most breathtaking movies I have seen in quite some time. Power-packed with candy-coated sets and costumes and a poignant screenplay, Greta Gerwig takes us all on a journey of self-love and empowerment. No one is left outside of the microscope as this colorful and vibrant cast of characters has a lesson to learn on accepting and finding out who they really are, as well as talking about the sometimes difficult parts of everyone’s not-so-perfect lives.
Oscar-nominated writer and director Greta Gerwig (Little Women, Lady Bird) brings her filmmaking A-game to the new movie based on the beloved and sometimes controversial Barbie, manufactured originally in the ’50s and developed by its inventor Ruth Handler. The Barbie doll has represented many things to many people all over the world, with the doll being a pivot from the traditional baby dolls that were the toy of choice to further enhance the expectations of housewife, mother, and provider to little girls around the world as they grew up. Barbie was sometimes, dare we say, “hated” by some, with her tiny figure pointing to enormous bouts of insecurity amongst a generation that did not look like her. Fast forward to now, and there is a potpourri of Barbies to choose from spanning race, size, hair type, and demo, including those with disabilities. Gerwig’s direction and writing, along with co-writer Noah Baumbach, explores those tropes from the very beginning of this satisfying and well-written screenplay and turns our worlds inside out, examining both real-world issues and leaving Barbie with the task of saving Barbie word from itself.
Barbie begins with a bit of a history lesson through colorful production sets with a very feminist swag of young girls breaking and throwing their ceramic baby dolls on first sight of the cinched waist and busty blonde locked icon. Aprons were thrown, and bottles were chucked to get their hands on the doll that, to some, meant success, empowerment, a dropkick to domesticated life that showed girls they could be anything. Was this the original purpose of Barbie? Not so much when you examine its origin and history.
Gerwig’s Barbie throws us elevated heels first, into the whimsical world of Barbie and her friends living their best lives in dream homes with closets full of vibrant clothes (some of them being our favorite nostalgic outfits from the past) as well as Barbie living her idyllic life in Barbie world, drinking imaginary drinks and toasting her freshly popped toast and automatic perfectly shaped butter tab falling endearingly into place each day. To no one’s surprise, we are introduced to Ken, who is Barbie’s boyfriend in spirit, but she isn’t quite sure what it all even means, so he is tossed aside for one slumber party after the other with her dream team of Barbie’s embodied by Issa Rae, who’s President of Barbie world btw, Alexandra Shipp, Kate McKinnon (we will come back to her character), Rita Arya, Dua Lipa and more. The other Kens are in the dog house as well, as they are invited to the parties either.
Things start to go awry when Barbie begins to notice she’s lost the lift in her heels when her shoes are removed and is having thoughts of, dare we say, “death.” Barbie isn’t supposed to feel anything except joy and especially not any of these dark thoughts while also having flat feet. So she’s on a mission after seeing Mckinnon’s “Weird Barbie” as she’s called to find out what is causing Barbie to be anything less than perfect.
It’s no secret that Barbie has to take a trip to the “real world” and discover the root of her glitches, which gives us a delightful mother-daughter story that has more influence on Barbie’s world than she realizes. Portrayed by America Ferriera and Ariana Greenblatt, viewers will get a solid familial story that everyone can relate to. As Margot Robbie has stated, “Barbie is for everyone.” This includes the “Kens” of the world as Gerwig explores what it means to be a “Ken” in the real world as well as the malfunctioning Barbie world. There’s something for everyone, and the comedic timing will have you entertained right down to the end.
Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are incredible to watch in Barbie as they play the idea of dolls perfectly with such flair and humor that it goes off without a hitch. Gerwig’s direction has them immersing you into what you’d expect in a Barbie world without it feeling odd or contrived. It actually is a very satisfying, nostalgic, and an emotionally moving experience based on the numerous real-life themes that Gerwig and Baumbach decided to focus on with this film; self-love, patriarchy, gender roles, and that you are enough just as you are, and it’s ok if you still are on that journey. Gerwig blends a perfect blend of the old with the new, and the supporting cast compliments the very empowering message.
With choreography by Jennifer White, the cast of Barbie comes alive in not only the musical and dance numbers but also it’s fascinating to watch how the actors move across the screen in these colorful sets. The production is award-worthy, as in a world with CGI used for pretty much everything, there’s something so fun about feeling and viewing the real-life sets amongst the actors, which mimics real-life playtime if anyone has had Barbies in their life. The music by Mark Ronson is just simply a list of bangers, with Nicki Minaj featuring Ice Spice for “Barbie World” and Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” on the album as well as Sam Smith making an appearance for “Man I Am.”
Barbie is one for the books and is not one to miss. See it in theaters on July 21.
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