Barbie

Hey everyone and welcome, today we will be talking about the film Barbie, Fun Fact Ruth handler was the founder of Barbie and president of Mattel and she had to resign after issues with the securities and exchange commission proving that line in the movie was true about her getting in trouble with the IRS and she sadly passed in 2002. This film came out in 2023 and stars Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera and was directed by Greta Gerwig. So without further ado let’s get right into it.

Barbie follows stereotypical barbie who starts having weird things happen to her and must figure out why they are happening. This leads her out of barbie land and into the real world where she meets Gloria and her daughter Sasha who try and help barbie find her self and stopping the patriarchy from trying to take over in barbieland .

Barbie is a comedy that also deals with self discovery. It has similar vibes to Lady Bird, Booksmart, or Enchanted

Barbie has an ensemble cast and im sure there are lots of familiar faces. Margot Robbie was in I, Tonya, Issa Rae was in Insecure, Kate McKinnon was on SNL, Alexandra Shipp was in Love, Simon, Emma Mackey was in Sex Education, Hari Nef was in Assassination Nation, Sharon Rooney was in My Mad Fat Diary, Ana Cruz Kayne was in Little Women, Ritu Arya was in The Umbrella Academy, Ryan Gosling was in La La Land, Simu Liu was in Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Kingsley Ben-Adir was in One Night in Miami…, Ncuti Gatwa was in Sex Education, Scott Evans was in Grace and Frankie, Michael Cera was in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, America Ferrera was in Ugly Betty, Ariana Greenblatt was in Avengers: Endgame, Rhea Perlman was in Matilda, and Greta Gerwig also directed Ladybird.

The barbie movie seemed like an interesting concept and let’s be honest I was going to watch it anyway but with all the marketing that went into this movie it really had my attention. Not only were there discussions online about barbenheimer, which surrounds barbie and Oppenheimer releasing the same day, the barbie marketing dipped their toes in nearly every niche from architectural digest, cold stone, another Mattel brand uno, and Burger King to name a few. I felt like this is one of the best and uniquely marketed movies I’ve ever seen and really had me wanting to see the movie even more.

Greta is 3/3 with directing and with this film she further solidified how great of a director she is. Barbie is an iconic toy and while it’s loved by many greta also decided to throw in some mentions of how barbie fed into the unrealistic beauty standards for women and is a product of consumerism. I feel like she showed barbieland as this society that’s unfortunately unrealistic and the shock Barbie feels when she finds out what the real world has to offer or not to offer for women. She made a beautiful film that celebrates uniqueness and encourages people especially women to practice self love and accept themself which was lovely to see through the lens of an iconic doll.

Margot Robbie is freaking amazing as Stereotypical barbie. Margot did such a great job with the emotional beats in this movie showing how this barbie was trying to figure out where she belongs. I loved seeing the world through her eyes and how she was learning that in barbie land the barbies are the ones who rule and do all the important jobs and in the real world she finds out that isn’t true. She questions if she belongs and I love how she comes to learn that everyone even barbies have their thing that makes them special whether you see it or not.

Ryan gosling was really funny as the main ken in this movie. he nailed the comedy bits in this movie and played this bimbo role really well. It was interesting to see him becoming the villain by bringing patriarchy to barbie land and try to make it a land for kens even if he thought it only had to do with horses. As barbie is trying to figure out herself I was happy that in the end she tells ken that he needs to find himself and that he is not an extension of barbie. Ryan was perfect for this role and brought so much life to the character.

America Ferreras, Gloria is the heart of this movie. She is the owner of the stereotypical barbie who is having these weird thoughts that are applying to barbie in barbie land. Through her we see the struggles that women face in the real world face and how much harder they work just make it in society. She ends up helping the barbies in a big way and I loved that she could play such a big part for barbie land considering barbie played a big part in her life.

Will ferrel was hilarious in every scene he was in as the CEO of Mattel. It’s crazy that they allowed them to portray the CEO who wasn’t the most likable  but they made it funny.

Alan seemed like the most relatable character to me. He was just there vibing out and I loved him just being there and not really being in any drama but just observing and living his life. Michael cera was fantastic in the role and it caught me off guard to learn later in the movie that he is actually really good at fighting as well.

All the other barbies and kens were great to see on screen. They all brought something different with their versions even if they weren’t on screen for long.

The soundtrack to this movie was amazing. There were some songs I heard before the movie came out and I was wondering how they would add them and then I watched the movie and it made sense. The duo lipa song is played during a dance scene and that was one of my favorite scenes in the movie and the music played a big part. The one song I knew they needed was barbie girl by Aqua and I was happy they not only added that song but also made a new song barbie world that is amazing by Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj and samples barbie girl. One song I thought would’ve fit into the movie as well was the man by Taylor swift but I think they still did a great job with what they had.

The credits were cool to look back on some of the iconic barbies and even show the inspiration for many in the film. It was cool not only to see them come to life in the movie but to see what were the real life inspirations for those character.

My favorite part of this film was the monologue that Gloria said that basically talks about the patriarchy in the real world and the misogyny that women have to deal with every single day. Everything she said is spot on and if you think it’s not you clearly aren’t paying attention to what women deal with on a day to day basis or you do pay attention but choose to ignore it. I love how her and this speech was used to help the barbies remember who they were and remember that they aren’t just some arm candy for some ken but a barbie who has accomplished  so much and isn’t just beauty but also brains.

The barbie movie is a funny but heartfelt movie showing barbie finding her purpose while also tackling the patriarchy. The cast, The Music, the direction was all great and I definitely think that the barbie movie is one of the highlights of 2023.