“Barbie” (2023) – I’m a Barbie girl in the Barbie world. Life in plastic. It’s fantastic.” – Aqua, “Barbie Girl” (1997)
“Ain’t that America? Home of the free, yeah. Little pink houses for you and me.” – John Mellencamp, “Pink Houses” (1983)
Ruth Marianna Handler created the original Barbie doll in 1959, and she, the President of Mattel, Inc. from 1945 to 1974, launched a billion-dollar-a-year toy juggernaut. The 11.5-inch blonde-hair trendsetter/fashionista/all-American woman resonated with an unfathomable number of girls (and some boys) for 64 years. Mattel launched multicultural varieties of Barbie, and this wonder-doll has sported innumerable careers and hobbies too. She is an astronaut, a Canadian Mountie, and a paleontologist, to name just a few, and her impossible measurements have been repackaged into different shapes and sizes.
Barbie drives a convertible, splashes on a jet ski, and lives in a Dreamhouse.
Not every sentient child since 1959 has played with Barbie dolls, but the vast majority of kids and adults know the iconic brand.
Include director/co-writer Greta Gerwig in this all-inclusive company, but growing up, her mother didn’t entirely support Mattel’s leading lady.
“My mom was a little wary of Barbie for all the reasons that you would be. Obviously, the things (that parents) limit, it just made Barbie more compelling and exciting to me, because it had this air of intrigue,” Gerwig says in a July 20, 2023 interview on “Good Morning America”, and adds, “Most of my Barbie dolls came into my house from girls in the neighborhood, hand-me-downs, so they’ve been pre-loved with haircuts, and they never had shoes.”
Well, in Gerwig’s fantastical feature film, “Barbie”, she includes dozens of pairs of shoes, the famous motorized vehicle, the Dreamhouse, and the kitchen sink in a comical societal study and trippy trip where Barbieland and modern-day Los Angeles collide (and you thought they were the same place) through a sudden rift, as walking-talking toys and human beings cross into the others’ universes and cause unexpected changes.
Front and center, Margot Robbie plays Barbie as an obvious choice of inspired casting. As we meet this blonde, blue-eyed star, she – designated as Stereotypical Barbie – wakes up in Barbieland on a typical morning, where every day is “the best day ever!”
Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach pen our heroine’s happenings as she strolls through her neighborhood and beyond to stop by and visit the myriad of other Barbies (Issa Rae, Alexandra Sharp, Emma Mackey) who have true purposes in the aforementioned professions. All the ladies smile in this utopia of riches and opportunities, but this isn’t Themyscira, an island of amazons. Men live here too, and they are plenty of Kens. Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, John Cena, and more fill the roles of intentional second-class citizens, guys who constantly loiter and only hope that their Barbie colleagues will notice them.
The film dives into cartoonish extremes of disparities, but it effectively serves as a point that contrasts the gender inequalities on our planet since men and women could stand upright and walk, and this becomes abundantly clear when Barbie and Ken (Gosling) travel to L.A.
Barbie’s U.S.A. counterparts are Mattel employee Gloria (America Ferrera) and her preteen daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), as the three attempt to comprehend and solve this rip in the space-time fabric. Ferrera is a welcome presence as Barbie’s lifeline to the real world, and Gloria’s insight brings sensibilities to both locales.
Speaking of locations, production designer Sarah Greenwood (“Anna Karenina” (2012), “Darkest Hour” (2017), “Cyrano” (2021)) deserves an Oscar nomination for fashioning a fascinating pink, plastic world. Not only do the script and performances offer belly laughs and chuckles, but the bizarre, fanciful setting itself, which includes a pink White House and a flawless 50’s style suburban neighborhood (that resembles the Palm Springs on-location backdrop of “Don’t Worry Darling” (2022)), draws wonder and smiles throughout the 114-minute runtime.
Ironically, Robbie isn’t asked to stretch her comedic and thespian muscles. Instead, Gerwig and Baumbach seemingly request Robbie to direct traffic through the synthetic and charming high jinks. Still, she fits into the Barbie and traffic cop role well. Meanwhile, the writers generously pour oceans of hilarious moments for Ryan Gosling, who plays Ken, a character whose initial job is simply…”Beach.” The scene-stealing Gosling – with natural gifts for comedy – is an absolute riot, as Ken discovers his own journey, one that includes a Mojo Dojo Casa House.
The film is chock-full of surreal discourse and visual surprises, including Kate McKinnon’s appearance as a Land-of-Misfit-Toys type of Barbie. Cheers to McKinnon and the film’s makeup department, who create a wild Benita Bizarre (Martha Raye) look from “The Bugaloos” (1970 – 1972).
Indeed, Gerwig undertakes a tremendous responsibility leading a big-screen Barbie adaptation, where this quintessential marque has danced in the public eye and households for decades. She had to consider the experiences of generations and the brand’s evolution and package it all into a nearly two-hour stand-alone film, one that’s funny, entertaining, and with a meaningful message. It’s a daunting order that’s infinitely taller than 11.5 inches, and the third act suffers a bit as the ending feels rushed. Granted, a 150-minute story feels out of line, but the movie doesn’t quite stick the landing.
Still, with its gilded goofiness and commitment to the source material, Mattel’s Barbie Empire, “Barbie” offers an enjoyable and sometimes ingenious cinematic playdate.
⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Directed by: Greta Gerwig
Written by: Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach
Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Emma Mackey, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, John Cena, Michael Cera, and Will Ferrell
Runtime: 114 minutes
Rated: PG-13
Image credits: Warner Bros. Pictures
