Review 694: Barbie

 

Barbie is a pleasure to look at and a delight to watch. I came to mock and stayed to smile.

Based on the Barbie fashion dolls by Mattel, Barbie (Margot Robbie), the most popular of all the Barbies in Barbieland is living the perfect life when she starts having an existential crisis. She must travel to the real world to discover herself and her true purpose. Along for the ride is her is her would-be boyfriend, Ken (Ryan Gosling) because his whole existence depends on her acknowledging him. Along the way, they discover harsh truths, learn life lessons and make new friends on a road to enlightenment.

Of course, the idea of a film based on a bunch of fashion dolls is not particularly inspiring, at least to me. But writer/director Greta Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach have crafted a surprisingly thoughtful and nuanced story centred on themes of Feminism (obviously), Philosophy, Existentialism and Masculinity.

Opening with a Kubrick inspired prologue that introduces   the film introduces Barbie Land, an MGM musical soundstage

In Barbieland, Barbies are everything ranging from novelists to Nobel Prize winners to Presidents. 

Barbie can also be interpreted as a satire on Capitalism:

Existentialism: The whole catalyst of this film is because Stereotypical Barbie has an existential crisis dealing with anxiety and thoughts of death. It ruminates on the idea of what makes us human. Who knew a Barbie movie could be so thoughtful? Throughout the film both Barbie and Ken go on opposite but equal journeys of self-discovery.   

Feminism: What’s amazing about this film is that behind the colourful production values and bright colours, its clear that Great Gerwig has made it with a lot of smart feminist thinking. 

Production wise, Barbie is a visual feast, packed with so much attention to detail. The production design and costumes are clever and colourful, such as Barbie taking a shower with no water,  the matte paintings are just exquisite evoking a style reminiscent of the old MGM musicals from the 30's. Barbieland itself is presented as an ideallic alternate fantasy world much like Narnia  the score by Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt is 

Barbie features a simply extraordinary cast, let me try and cite a list for those who know their actors; Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America "Ugly Betty" Ferrera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Dua Lipa (yes, really), Kate McKinnon, Hari Nef, Simu "Shang-Chi" Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans, Rob Brydon, Helen Mirran, Emerald Fennell, Michael Cera, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell even John Cena. Rather awesome.

Robbie and Gosling are marvelous in their roles.  Robbie expertly captures the naivety  making her character reminiscent of the classic golden age disney princesses. Because she's lived an incredibly sheltered life, she's completely unprepared for the real world despite her conception that Barbie has improved the world for the better and is quite nieve as a result. Though it may be unintentionally so, she's not very nice to Ken and generally takes him for granted. Much like Amy Adams' Giselle in Enchanted, she's a princess like character transported into the real world and discovers that actually contray to her belief, Barbie hasn't solved all the problems 

Gosling's Ken is a pretty fun deconstruction of the trophy girlfriend archetype; because he has no role in life aside from being Barbie's boyfriend, he feels that is all that matters to him. As a result, he comes off as a bit pushy despite Barbie being comfortable with their relationship as it is. Deep down, Ken is aware of this and is secretly depressed about how hollow his existence really is. Coming from a world where the Kens are essentially second class citizens and is expected to just be arm candy for the Barbies. Then he goes along with Barbie on a trip to real world and is thrust into a society where all his attempts to join the male hierarchy that purportedly dominates the world. Without spoiling too much, he must return to Barbie Land to institute it; what he institues there is so shallow that it collapses almost as quickly as it starts.

America Ferrera and Ariana Greenblatt are  playing mom Gloria and teenage daughter Sasha. Gloria and Sasha have something of a strained relationship due to Sasha being at a rebellious age where she pulls away from her mom. She has an incredibly exaggerated view of feminism and Barbie. Barbie brings Gloria and Sasha closer together 

Even the CEO of Mattel (Will Ferrell) is given a surprising amount of nuance. One of the films innovations is to provide us with a corporate CEO character who, while a bit of a douche and out to make money, just wants to keep girls who play with the Barbie doll happy.

4.5/5.