Barbie – Movie Review

In my childhood years, I had a friend who possessed one of the most impressive collections of action men figures. For those who were not familiar with the action figure franchise, these were marketed as the more masculine version of the Barbie dolls who focussed on soldier/sailor/adventurer style positions. Every weekend this childhood friend and I would often spend countless hours in their garden inventing unique ways for the action figures to end up in the small pond. Almost twelve years ago we decided that our action man-based hi-jinx would make for an entertaining short movie. This involved with planning the ‘stunts’, giving all of the figures storylines/voices and editing the film itself with heavy support from my friend’s father. This limited suave into movie making gave me some insight into how dolls can inspire creativity. Luckily for almost everyone in the entire world, the creative team behind the 2023 Barbie movie are much more creative than my friends and I were when we were eleven years old. Generally speaking, the Barbie movie was nothing like even adults I would have expected from a doll-infused movie!

The first thing that is important to clarify before walking into the cinema is that the newest addition to the Barbie cinematic universe is absolutely not intended for a young, child-centric audience. While children would love the vibrant visuals of the Barbie world, the obscurity of transport methods throughout the movie and the surreal architecture of the buildings there is one singular (yet heavily blurred) use of strong language, the complexity of the themes the movie explores would easily go over the heads of a young audience. If you have been staying up to date with the public reaction to this latest movie you will know that controversial figures such as Piers Morgan and Ben Shapiro have been loudly protesting the movie due to their heavy focus on feminism and the supposed putting down of men. While Barbie is travelling between the real world to restore the magic of Barbie land, Ken (played wonderfully by Ryan Gosling) becomes aware of the ‘power’ of the patriarchy in the real world so decides to initiate this structure leading to the Ken’s overtaking Barbie world. The controversial social media personalities have argued that if the roles were reversed then there would be immense public outrage, which essentially is the point of this movie! There are countless movies where the female characters are side characters that are under the instruction of the male characters. The way this movie has been created in such a way that is extremely surreal and an almost parody of classic cinema and so that the messages of feminism and togetherness are not forceful but the more receptive will pick up on the extreme reflection of real life present in the movie.

The whole story follows stereotypical Barbie (played by the incredible Margot Robbie who begins to notice that some of the more magical elements of Barbie’s world have begun to malfunction which causes her to discover that has changed with the space-time continuum. Throughout the movie we see Barbie coming to terms with the contrasts between the real world/Barbie world, having to deal with the Ken takeover (in the most hilariously relatable yet absurd way) and refunding her mojo in the later parts of the movie. Margot is able to flawlessly to balance the ridiculousness of being a doll brought to life with the really important messages underlying the entire movie. In her adventure, the stereotypical babies ventures into real world to discover that a lonely mother (played by superstore actress America Ferrera) who has rekindled her love for Barbie as her daughter begins to drift away from her. While designing a new set of realistic Barbie dolls, the mother begins to infuse real-world issues into Barbie World which causes the magical elements to slowly disappear. Through her adventure into the Real world, stereotypical Barbie realises that the real world is incredibly tough! The other really powerful message revolves around the controversy surrounding the Barbie dolls in actual real life. Many people are split between the idea that Barbie dolls are inspirational due to the range of their career choices while also being oppressing (which is actually highlighted in the movie!) There is a moment in the movie where America’s character talks about how Babrbie can show that all the potential young women have yet at the same time just because you aren’t one of the highly eccentric career choices then that does not mean you have failed as a woman!

One of my greatest boasts, that I share on an almost daily basis, is that I actually appeared on season two of Sex Education as an extra but also was lucky enough to actually attend/review the premier of this season (which you can read about at https://rhysreviews.com/2020/01/16/sex-education-season-two-advance-screening/) and is is clear that the casting team working on this Barbie movie are also big fans of the British teen drama as this movie is saturated with stars from the Netflix series. In the movie we see the upcoming doctor Ncuti Gatwa take on the role of a Ken which is particularly interesting when you consider the fact that Ncuti’s role in sex education is a highly flamboyant, queer person where in this movie he plays a macho character who is coupled up with his Sex education co-star Emma Mackey. Additionally, Ncuti’s love interest in Sex education Connor Swindells (who plays Adam Groff in the show) takes on the role of a bumbling assistant who first discovers the invasion of the real world by Stereotypical Barbie. We also see cameo appearances by John Cena, Rob Brydon and Sharon Rooney which helps to create even more excitement for the movie!

Overall, Barbie is a highly intelligent film that manages to break down highly complex ideas in a way that is clear/easy to understand. The movie is clearly intended for a more mature audience which is not what I expected when walking into the cinema but I left feeling extremely impressed. I would rate this movie 5 out of 5 stars! If you want to check out the Barbie movie and all the other wonderful productions coming to Cineworld then don’t forget you can sign up for the unlimited scheme that allows you unlimited screenings for the long price of just £11 a month. You can use my code RAF-41UF-82LQ-14EX-70BM which gifts both of us an entirely free month of unlimited cinema!