THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
We all know our ideas can lead to some special things. You don’t think so? Look at Barbie.
PLOT
Narrated by Helen Mirren, the 2023 film shows a dystopia where the fictional dolls from Mattel have their own matriarchal society known as Barbieland where each lady has prestigious involvement in their world, Kens enjoy the beach at every given opportunity and the discontinued models are looked at as outcasts. One Beach Ken loves one stereotypical Barbie deeply, but has been rebuffed by her for so long due to not feeling the same in return. During one dance party, that same doll gets struck with the thought of mortality. The following day, she’d have a case of bad breath, flat feet & cellulite which are all disruptions in the doll’s aura of classic experience of being perfect. She goes to a Weird Barbie for help, who’s nicknamed for being disfigured in comparison, revealing she must find the child playing with her to cure her afflictions. Ken tags along and after a montage of exploring past their world, they reach Venice Beach in the real world. She first searches for a teenage girl named Sasha who she thinks she can help, until the child shares brutal honesty that the existence of the doll has only encouraged unrealistic beauty standards. Shortly after disappointed upon the encounter, she is swept by the Mattel CEO who wants to remanufacture her. She escapes however when being led out by an elderly woman named Ruth and gets picked up by Sasha’s mother Gloria, who also works for Mattel. It turns out she was the one who was playing with her own doll because she was having her own existential crisis, thus passing it onto her. They go back to Barbieland together hoping that a revisit of her childhood can undo the doll’s affliction. That doesn’t seem to happen because Ken returns first, having learned patriarchy and has convinced the other Kens to indoctrinate the other Barbies into submissive roles. This causes stereotypical Barbie to feel depressed until Gloria expresses the irritation of the conflicting standards women follow in the real world. That inspires her with the help of Weird Barbie to deprogram the Barbies from indoctrination. This specifically pays off with each time Gloria shares her knowledge. With every Barbie back to normal, they get the Kens to fight each other long enough to restore their previous constitution. But when the Mattel CEO arrives to investigate the subsequent chaos Ken was making, the Barbies agree to treat the Kens better, as well as the outcasts. Stereotypical Barbie makes amends with her Ken as she acknowledges her mistakes and encourages him to find his own identity. Still unsure herself, she meets Ruth again, who is in fact Mattel co founder & original Barbie creator Ruth Handler (Rhea Perlman). The spirit of Handler encourages her to make her own ending since the dolls never had a set ending. This inspires her to become human and live with Gloria’s family. The film ends with her visiting a gynecologist for the first time, as her first step to embrace humanity.
THOUGHTS
Adapting a movie for a specific toy is a big challenge if Paramount’s adaptations of Transformers & GI Joe has proven us anything, so director Greta Gerwig & co-writer Noah Baumbach were able to take that and make something more than special. People were joking that this film would be as great as Oppenheimer and ironically, it ends up being true to the sarcastic hype because it was a joy to watch from start to finish. Seeing it open up with those little girls destroy those baby dolls out of the excitement over the first Barbie doll, as a parody to 2001: A Space Odyssey, was what sold me that this would be remembered for the right reasons. Especially when you follow it up with seeing the actual toys drive around in the opening just like we would as kids. Now as a kid who used to play these toys with my step sister, I honestly felt giddy seeing this fantasy come to life, as well as the many costumes that die-hard fans would pick up on. And the comedy is genuinely funny when seeing the likes of discontinued toys like pregnant Midge (Emerald Fennell), Video Girl Barbie (Mette Towley) and Tanner the Dog. Michael Cera was even a treat as Allan because he’s a guy who knows he doesn’t fit in and doesn’t hold grudges. Because he’s one of a kind, he comes off like a dork and wants to change that. He was close to get that when trying to leave with Gloria & Sasha, but when they changed their mind, he was sadly screwed. On the bright side, he was able to fit in with the Barbies when it came to undoing Ken’s mess. Even Will Ferrell was a delight because although the Mattel CEO is not the ideal boss to have due to being so insensitive. You definitely pick up on that since he doesn’t respect Gloria’s ideas until it sparked dollar signs. On the other hand, you do respect he wanted to set things right until he didn’t have to. Deep down however, the funniest thing about this movie was the Kenergy spread from each Ken actor. Whether it was the likes of Simu Liu, Scott Evans, Ncuti Gatwa & Kingsley Ben Adir going from competitive to instantly loyal with their variants, or John Cena’s Mer-Ken being a bandwagon to the dilemma, the comedic strength went to Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling. He is hilarious to think patriarchy would solve how to escape his dependency, which is why it’s easy to laugh at how fast he’s easily triggered towards not having his way. His song “I’m Just Ken” starts out ridiculous, but ends up making a whole lot of sense as it’s actually about his own frustration in feeling like an accessory, thus wrongfully playing fire with fire the way he does. Once he realizes he doesn’t belong to anyone to be happy, he found his own set of content, hence saying “Ken is me”. While his arc is important to explore, we don’t get there without the journey of the titular lead herself. There are enough Barbies to pick a favorite between Issa Rae, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Sharon Rooney, Ritu Arya, Nicola Coughlan, Ana Cruz Kayne, and even Dua Lipa as the Mer-Barbies. Each variant stood out for being outgoing and being able to live without worry. While it’s nice to pick a favorite between either one, most would prefer Margot Robbie as stereotypical Barbie for good reason. She truly defines this movie for emphasizing the struggle to be a perfect woman. Billie Eilish’s Oscar winning song “What Was I Made For?” is what brought things full circle in the case of questioning any woman’s purpose. In her journey to regain perfection, she’s able to understand self acceptance is perfect enough. She chooses to be human at the end rather than resume to what was her normalcy because she wants to be part of making meaning to everything, which was Ruth’s inspiration to make her in the first place. The fact she and Ken are able to find their new paths in happiness is another great way to say different is good. Of course, they don’t even get to find their resolutions without someone on the other side who was having her own issues. While I was pissed with the fact that Robbie didn’t get nominated alongside Gosling at the Oscars, I was in relief to see America Ferrera still get recognition with her own nomination. If you don’t understand her speech that women deserve better, you’re part of the problem. Before you even get there though, you like Gloria so much because she’s one who is able to take notice of the flaws we all got as humans and Ariana Greenblatt also delivered in making Sasha angsty yet aware enough to understand how her mom feels. They help Barbie together to restore whatever was left of their happiness, which sure as hell brought them closer than they already were. Now that Barbie is part of their lives in a bigger way than they could’ve imagined, you can say their lives have just started all over. I also got to give a shoutout to Kate McKinnon who made Weird Barbie enjoyable for being the first of the dolls to embrace being different, while still being helpful however. If she didn’t bother explaining what stereotypical Barbie had to do, then nobody would get a resolution. I don’t mind when I say this movie was a blast, but there were still a handful of moments I scratched my head about after rewatching. For example, how is Weird Barbie sure it’s a girl playing with a Barbie that’s coming up with the existential crisis? If she knows it’s a girl, she should’ve figured out it was Gloria and not Sasha that came up with it. Hell, stereotypical Barbie is even lucky to take the right route to the Real World and back when the only advice was to not overthink it because there were a lot of steps as the montage showed. I’d even gotta question why she and Ken get finger printed twice during both of their arrests (one for her punching a guy that groped her and another for stealing clothes). It doesn’t make sense if their prints are already in the system the first time. And honestly, does Barbie get teleported back to Barbieland if she’s put back in a box or does Mattel straight up drive her back? Would’ve been funny if they showed someone else go there on accident. Other than that, it can be hard to make on this for what it does for. In conclusion, Barbie is one of 2023’s brightest films for being a comedy that gives all the right feels in saying what’s gotta be said, becoming a worthy Best Picture nominee in the process. Want a movie that moves you for the right reasons? See this now.
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