Barbie: Movie Review

Cast: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu, Will Ferrell, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrara

Director: Greta Gerwig

Amid the hype of the endless marketing and the generational love for the Barbie doll, as well as the pre-release hints and teases, the 2023 movie had a lot to live up to in the hands of director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie.

In truth, it'll be like no other movie you see in 2023 thanks to a hyper-stylised true-to-its-roots look and an affection for the toy it's born of - but its central story is one that's been told before - especially in the likes of Toy Story and The Lego Movie.

And depressingly, the feminist take of the tale is also one that's very familiar to many - but that's not a bad thing as the mass appeal of this film is the right vehicle to take a message still unheeded by many globally.

Margot Robbie's Barbie lives in Barbie Land, where her carefully choreographed, pink-tinged lifestyle is one of happiness, endless parties and never-ending sunny days. However, one day, when in the middle of a dance party with her fellow Barbies, Barbie finds her world interrupted by thoughts of death.

With her friends deciding she's malfunctioning, Barbie faces a difficult choice ahead...

Deploying a meta thread throughout, and opening with an homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey and Helen Mirren's laconic sardonic narration, this take on Barbie manages to travel a difficult path between both love and cracking open the obvious feminist take the movie would head down as it deepens itself in social commentary and mores over women / their treatment.

It's something which largely succeeds (even if in the final stretch, the movie loses its way and fails some of its earlier plotlines and characters) thanks to a combination of Robbie's deft adoption of various tones, humour and mood swings, Gosling's laughout loud lines as Ken and Gerwig's clever embracing of visual aesthetics and various genres.

With many knowing lines scattered throughout carrying on the film's agenda and empowerment ("I'm a man with no power - does that make me a woman?" one of the most telling), the film reaches a glass-ceiling skewering crescendo with a finale that combines dance routines with a battle - something that is more than crowd-pleasing in differing ways.

There will be plenty of discussion as to whether life in plastic is fantastic, and if the film's somewhat simplified message is as successful as it should be. 

But in truth, given how much this film is skewed toward younger audiences, its clever mix of colourful outings, joyous humour and a serious undertone about a woman's place in the world, Barbie just about succeeds juggling many-a plate, even if those plates have had to be dragged out of the cupboard one more time.

While much of the attention will be placed on Ryan Gosling's comedic performance as Ken (an irony given the feminist edge), it's important both Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig's work and efforts are praised in the same breath - after all, that's what Barbie's set out to achieve - and what it largely manages to do throughout - if you don't spend much time thinking over a somewhat shallow storyline.