Barbie (2023) Movie Review- Gerwig’s Newest Triumph

You ever have that one that you fully expected to be good because of all the talent involved with it yet it still manages to surprise you in the best of ways? In regards to Barbie, I think any film fan was anxious to see how this particular film turned out with Greta Gerwig at the helm, the director behind the marvelous Lady Bird and Little Women along with co-directing the not very well known but still very good Nights and Weekends. You also can’t overlook the big names attached to the cast such as Margot Robbie as Barbie herself, Ryan Gosling as Ken, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Simi Lu, Will Ferrell, and even John Cena (for one scene anyway). With a lesser known or proven director, there’s a chance that expectations would not have been as high. However, with the right people working on this project, it seemed like it can achieve another level of creativity and quality storytelling with a movie centering around a successful toy brand that is on par with The L.E.G.O. Movie. Suffice to say, Barbie is as much of a no-brainer winner as many expected to be.

It’s as every bit of clever, funny, and creative as you would expected but it is still able to subvert your expectations in a very intriguing way with a thought-provoking narrative, relevant themes surrounding feminism, patriarchy, gender roles, and identity, and some completely bold turns it takes with the story. The world-building is as strong as it could possibly with a movie surrounding a toy brand that everyone is aware off, each cast member are clearly having the time of their lives, the soundtrack is one you are likely gonna have stuck in your head as soon as you leave the theater, and it feels so refreshing to see a new summer blockbuster that seems to have to same love and passion it does from both in front and behind the camera. It doesn’t all work 100% and there will certainly be plenty of folks that will take issue with the way it handles it’s themes and messages but for the most part, Greta Gerwig is able to make lightning strike a third time in a row and has made herself a new name to look out for.

Plot Synopsis: Barbie (Margot Robbie) is enjoying the perfect life of a woman with her other variations (Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Sharon Rooney, Ana Cuz Kayne, Dua Lipa, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, and Marisa Abela) in Barbieland, a matriarchal society where women are self-confident, self-sufficient, and successful. Ken (Ryan Gosling) is also enjoying his life with his counterparts (Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Scott Evans, Ncuti Gatwa, Rob Brydon, and John Cena) as they spend their days engaging with each other on the beach while the Barbies hold all the important job positions such as doctors, lawyers, and politicians. Ken constantly keeps trying to win over Barbie’s hearts but she keeps turning him down in favor of independence and spending time with their female colleagues. During a dance party one night, Barbie suddenly starts questioning her own mortality and brings up death. The next day, she discovers that she can no longer do her own usual daily routines and no longer has flawless hair or skin. It’s then that Barbie, who is constantly referred to as Stereotypical Barbie, meets with Weird Barbie, a local outcast, who informs her that the only way to cure her mysterious affliction is to travel to the real world and find the child who play with her.

Stereotypical Barbie along with Stereotypical Ken go on an adventure together to find Barbie’s kid. However, as the two enter the real world, they end up exposing themselves to CEO of Mattel (Will Ferrell, the toy company who creates the Barbie dolls, who order their capture. Circumstances get more complicated when Ken learns of the American patriarchal system, where he feels important and accepted for the first time. Returning to Barbieland on his own, he persuades the other Kens to take over and turn what was a previously a matriarchal ran society into a patriarchal ran one.

Barbie must team up with her former owner and Mattel employee named Gloria (America Ferrera) and her bitter daughter named Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) to find her true identity and save Barbieland before it’s too late.

When looking at the film on the surface, it’s easy to see why Barbie seems to work as well as it does. The costumes, set designs, world building, and pure aesthetics that are on display feel like they are ripped straight out the fantasies of any young girl that has ever played a Barbie doll in her life as well as any typical Barbie commercial. However, it’s the top notch script from Greta Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach, who also happens to be Gerwig’s husband as well, that’s able to make Barbie an almost certain instant classic. It’s able to deliver in ways that you want but also in ways that you didn’t think you want.

The film takes very clever and subversive takes on each kind of genre tropes it attempts to tackles. From coming-of-age to fish out of water to finding your place in the world to gender roles to modern feminism to old school patriarchy, there’s not a single stone that Greta Gerwig leaves unturned and is not afraid to deliver her commentary on each and every one of these topics. It’s able to use the IP of Barbie, a property that has always been known for being by in large for delivering the perfect power fantasy for any young girl, and uses it to craft a story that greatly examines the classic gender roles, comparing and contrasting the real world with the “perfect” world, and how life is basically meaningless when you are someone who is flawless.

The film is able to successfully uses it’s IP to say something about the impact that Barbie has had on pop culture, the pros and cons of that impact, and what that impact can mean for everyone going forward. Even if it doesn’t quite examine it in a family-friendly manner the way The L.E.G.O. Movie did, it is able to prove once again how making a movie involving a brand should NOT affect the quality of the motion picture. So much so, that at times, the film acts as a response to the way films of this kind are made. Almost as if Gerwig is stretching the point that there are ways to be more inventive and complex with your work instead of just sticking to the typical stereotypical tropes.

Barbie is able to operate on so many different levels to make it one of most multilayered blockbusters in recent memory. Even if you are someone that doesn’t care for or isn’t comfortable with the themes and messages the movie is openly trying to convey, there is plenty of amusement to be found with the picture with the amount of meta humor, references, and quips the film constantly throws at you. It can be dark humor at times (This is a PG-13 movie btw!) but it’s very clear that Gerwig is inviting the audience to laugh along with her and have fun along the way.

Margot Robbie is about as pitch perfect as Barbie as you would expected and nails the role about as well as she nailed Harley Quinn. Her iteration of Barbie is as multilayered as she is three-dimensional and that’s in large because of how well she is able to deliver every single beat of her character where it counts the most. She handles the comedy greatly and easily sells the emotional and dramatic moments with ease. If this doesn’t prove that she’s more than capable of holding her own feature film and isn’t getting work in Hollywood based strictly on her looks, then I don’t know what will.

The rest of the cast is able to shine very well and it seem like they are enjoying themselves immensely. Ryan Gosling is brilliant as Ken, stealing nearly every scene he’s in. As much as he is funny and can be the butt of many of the jokes, he still does does have humanity and dimension to him that comes full circle towards the end. America Ferrera holds well on her own as being Barbie’s former owner and the adult who still has the heart of the child. Michael Cera and Simi Lu gets some laughs as their own versions of Kin. Kate McKinnon is as enjoyable to watch as she always is. Not to mention, Helen Mirren makes for one perfect narrator! It’s a big credit to Greta Gerwig as a director that she is able to find new ways to make a very familiar and well-known cast stand out well in their own ways.

Production wise, it’s very clear a lot of love, heart, and passion has been put into everything. It’s a very colorful and beautiful film to look at with sets, costumes, backgrounds, and visuals that look right at home of what I imagine most would want a Barbie film to look like. The soundtrack by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt is very well done with song choices that are incredibly inspired and will likely will have folks want to buy the soundtrack whenever they can. Greta Gerwig’s vision is perfectly realized throughout the entire picture and proves through every minute of frame that she was the perfect choice to direct this movie.

There are a few things that hold Barbie back from being a complete masterwork overall. As entertaining as Will Ferrell is when he’s on the screen as the CEO, the film doesn’t really know what to do with his character after the first meeting with Barbie and even completely disappears for at least a good half an hour. Not every joke lands as it should, some relationships between certain characters could have used more development, and has moments with it’s commentary while meaningful and well intended, feels like it would have better off showing instead of telling. Then again, this is suppose to be a mainstream movie and sometimes a little spoon feeding is needed for them.

Barbie is another triumph from Greta Gerwig, who is quickly turning herself into not just perhaps the best female director working today but one of the big names to keep an eye on for the foreseeable future. It’s very entertaining, immensely funny, cleverly subversive, and not afraid to be feminist in the slightest. Margot Robbie is perfect as Barbie and Ryan Gosling steals every scene he is in as Ken.

Between the releases of this and Oppenheimer, it’s proof that Hollywood should considered more events such has Barbieheimer going forward. Perhaps then movies will start to actually feel like events made for the big screen and proves that theaters still have a place for cinema. Although, with the recent announcement of Saw X and Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie releasing the same weekend later this year, this weekend might actually be the start of something special. If that’s the case, then maybe their is hope for films going forward!

At least, until the strike finally ends!

Other Comments:

• This might be the most pink screening I’ve ever been too! Barbie might just also be the movie that made pink cool for everybody!

• I’m not kidding when I said this movie is clearly PG-13! The words penis and vagina are used at one point!

• No spoilers but I do love the way that one person is used in this movie. About as perfect of a reveal as the one near the end of The L.E.G.O. Movie.

• Who would’ve imagined that a Barbie movie would likely be a bigger summer hit than Transformers, The Flash and Indiana Jones combined? The power of women I guess!