Barbie Movie Review: The Most Tiring Road to Barbieland Starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling
Cast: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell
Director: Greta Gerwig
Where To Watched: In Cinema
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
There is little doubt that Barbie Movie was one of the most anticipated films of 2023, around which media noise has been generated with few equals in recent times. Instead, there were many more misgivings about what the film could show and be. In the long months of waiting for its arrival in theaters, there was talk of a work that would have dealt a serious blow to the patriarchy, of an emotionally profound film on the mother-daughter relationship or, again, of a meta-cinematographic comedy with continuous digs, gags, and musical skits. Now that Barbie is finally ready to show herself to movie theater audiences, we know she’s all that and more! The new film directed by Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women) and co-written by her with partner Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story) goes in fact to the root of Barbie‘s story, researching its deepest meaning and proceeding with the investigate the influence (positive or negative) that the most famous doll in history has had over time. But let’s go in order.
Greta Gerwing’s Barbie is a triumph. And let’s be clear, it was even before the film came out and anyone who had seen even just a minute of footage: thanks to the marketing, the ingenious casting choices, the high concept that is hidden in the screenplay signed by Gerwing herself together to partner Noah Baumbach. Yet only now that we’ve finally seen it, can we breathe a sigh of relief. Because we finally have the certainty that all the (very high) expectations have not been betrayed and that this film, which had already been defined as the film of the summer of 2023 for some time, is truly worthy of this label and of all the media attention it has attracted and will continue to attract. Also, because, as we will see in this Barbie review, the film with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling is destined to become a great little cult, a sui generis comedy that will entertain spectators of all ages and which will probably be handed down from generation to generation.
Barbie Movie Review: The Story Plot
In the film that Gerwig dedicates to Barbie, the doll’s life is perfect in the colorful and fake Barbieland, an enchanted place where every day is as wonderful as the one before and as much as the one to come because everything there is eternal! However, here is that the thoughts of death that begin to be generated in Barbie represent something very worrying, which seems to make her malfunction compared to the others. Barbie finds herself therefore forced to leave for the real world, where she will have to search for the origin of that malaise and remedy it. An adventure that will however put the enchanting doll in front of a world far from what she expected. Sitting on the cinema seat and not knowing how to predict what we’re going to see: it’s something that happens less and less often today, and, in the specific case of Barbie, it contributes a lot to enjoying a vision without prejudices and full of surprises.
For this reason, just as we didn’t know anything about what we saw when the press preview began, it’s good to spend only a few lines regarding the plot of the film, only telling the initial premise. We are in Barbieland, the world where all the Barbies and all the Kens live their perfect day, always the same, as it should be. A pink-tinged world where Barbie dolls live in their dream homes, go to the beach, exchange Nobel prizes and have parties. A world where the Kens are just supporting actors, men waiting to be looked at by their Barbies, a little jealous of each other, but part of a tested safe and precise routine. The days are spent like this, immovable until one of the Barbies (Margot Robbie) starts having thoughts related to death. From that moment the perfection of her routine fails and, even worse, her body begins to change: the first signs of cellulite appear on her legs, her feet rest on the ground (instead of staying on their toes. The reason seems to be clear: they are all consequences of an emotional bond coming from the little girl, no longer happy, who is playing with her in the real world. Our Barbie will have to convince the little girl to rediscover that lost joy and she will therefore be forced to travel to the real world, which she believes is as perfect as Barbieland. She will discover, however, that reality is very different from what she believed.
Barbie Movie Review and Analysis
How to make a film about Barbie, a doll as loved as she is hated? What can I say about her? What situations make them live? What lessons to teach them? The easiest way could have been to propose a delicious and reassuring comedy, in full style with those that are widely produced every year, with the high risk, however, that it would remain anonymous and be soon forgotten. But you know, Gerwig and Baumbach are not the types who choose the easy way out and rather launch themselves in search of impervious paths from which to bring out a story that is both a source of entertainment and an intelligent reflection on issues dear to them. The director, here in her third feature film, therefore, returns to speak – in a more explicit way – of women, of femininity, of stereotypes and expectations, of injustices linked to gender, and of male abuse. After the emancipated Jo March who doesn’t take her eyes off the printing process of her novel, which is how she wanted it, Barbie arrives to try to get a fairer world for the “weaker sex” and the extent of her actions is louder than ever.
Through her eyes, we witness the first hour of the film strongly focused on putting expectations towards women and the concept of masculinity according to men in the sedan. There is none for anyone, the pungent writing of Gerwig and Baumbach offers a barrage of scenarios and jokes as funny as they are acute, which continually reaffirm the character of the film, which reveals itself as an ambitious, atypical work, capable of changing course just when that undertaken seems to start to become predictable. The second hour instead goes on to elaborate what has been sown up to that moment and even if even for some aspects it may be less solid than the previous one, this second part nonetheless proves to be full of food for thought on the search for one’s value and one’s independence.
We cannot fail to mention the splendid actors in the film. It was feared that, with so many characters and well-known actors, not everyone had their moment of glory. Yet they don’t need some evolutionary arc to distinguish themselves and this is how both the different variations of Barbie as Michael Cera’s Allan or Will Ferrell’s Mattel CEO manage to establish themselves and prove memorable with what the script foresees for them. Naturally, the best is reserved for Margot Robbie, a Barbie that is nothing short of perfect, which confirms once more – if it were needed – her versatility as an interpreter. Ryan Gosling, on the other hand, is extremely generous towards Ken, he puts himself on the line and returns a hilarious interpretation.
Barbie, therefore, has a lot of substance, with social messages addressed in such a way that they can be understood by both younger and older viewers. From this point of view, this is truly a film for everyone. Therefore, once the doubts about the value of the content have been dispelled – which certainly will not make everyone agree, on the contrary – we can then note the important work carried out by the set designers. Barbie, especially in her representation of Barbieland, demonstrates an attention to detail that further enriches the vision, stimulating the viewer and drawing his gaze towards the many wonders reproduced. Barbie, however, is not only an aesthetically well-constructed and madly colored film.
He is continually able to exploit these aspects for narrative purposes, thus not allowing something to appear as an end in itself. If Barbieland and all it contains is so pink and artificial it is because this makes them a significant support for the director’s intentions and her idea of a film about Barbie. A film that reveals itself little by little, that finds the courage to face anything but rosy realities with the right interpretations. One could find many important messages in Barbie, much more than the ones she explicitly expresses, and for each of them there is the concrete possibility – or at least the hope – that the echo obtained thanks to the film will be handed down from generation to generation, just like a Barbie.
Once we get to the end credits of the film, a sentence uttered by a character continues to echo in our heads: “Humans sooner or later leave. Ideas stay forever”. And Barbie has many ideas. From the stupendous scenography of Barbieland, which recalls a purely playful dimension, to how the themes are addressed, the film embodies everything that cinema should be for the general public. Funny, exciting (there is no shortage of real moving moments), capable of involving viewers of all ages, knowing very well how to balance different tones and registers, whether they are high or low. And in all of this, it is also a film that we can only define as perfect auteur cinema, of the mastery in writing and directing that he demonstrates. And, as if that weren’t enough, it is supported by a cast in a state of grace, which also includes America Ferrera (who has a very powerful monologue) and Will Ferrell (as the hilarious CEO of Mattel).
If Margot Robbie perfectly embodies the spirit of a stereotypical Barbie (i.e. the Barbie that embodies the essence of being Barbie) and balances a very difficult role in the best way (for how it must seem, to represent change, to bond with the viewer and making an unnatural doll human), it’s Ryan Gosling as the scene-stealing Ken. He dances, sings (and the musical moment is one of the film’s highlights), is serious even when it’s ridiculous, and vice versa, the perfect comic actor who doesn’t miss a movement, a look, a gesture. Barbie is a brilliant cinema full of ideas, as free as a child’s imagination at play. And it doesn’t matter if the ending betrays the expectations created a little as if the variety and quantity of topics and issues addressed throughout the story were too many to give a precise and perfect closure to everything: the result does not change. Barbie proves to be one of the best films of this cinematic year. Irresistible, intelligent, and, above all, iconic.
Barbie Movie Review: The Last Words
Barbie is an irresistible comedy at times, which works on multiple levels thanks to a brilliant script, impeccable costumes and sets, and two truly excellent performers. If Ryan Gosling often steals the show with particularly amusing situations and his self-irony, Margot Robbie adds depth and depth to an aesthetic perfection that there could have been both characterizing and limiting. You laugh, you reflect, you leave the cinema satisfied. Thank you, Barbie, who would have thought? Well-written, well-acted and well-built, Barbie is a real surprise, capable of proposing a well-defined aesthetic and skilfully associating it with messages of great importance. Greta Gerwig finds the right ideas to make a difficult film full of pitfalls, proposing a work that is deeply political, entertaining, and continually capable of transforming itself.
Barbie Movie : Parents’ Guide
The Barbie movie is rated PG-13 for suggestive references and brief language. There is no violence or sexual content, but there are a few scenes that may be inappropriate for young children. For example, there is a scene where Barbie and Ken kiss, and there is some discussion of gender stereotypes. Overall, the Barbie movie is a good film for kids ages 13 and up. It’s a fun and heartwarming story with a positive message about self-acceptance. However, parents may want to preview the film before deciding if it’s appropriate for younger children.
