Despite huge setbacks from the rise of streaming during COVID, movie theaters still have plenty of life in them, as displayed by the handful of billion dollar films that have emerged since 2020. The latest of these is Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.”
The film stars Margot Robbie as “stereotypical” Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, specifically the one whose job is “beach” (there are multiple Barbies and Kens in this movie, who represent different iterations of the toy line). They live in the fictional Barbieland, an alternate reality where they live lives loosely connected to the real world. When something amiss with Barbie’s owner causes her perfect world to be less so, she has to travel to her realm to fix it — and Ken tags along.
This movie is pretty similar to “The Lego Movie” in regards to the fact that, while it has an engaging story and is borderline satirical in the ways it pokes fun of itself and its concept, it still exists primarily to sell toys, which is fine. Plenty of films like this exist and are still excellent, like “The Transformers: The Movie,” but you can’t come in with an unreasonable expectation that these films will be more than what they are. No matter what goes on in this film, this film is still endorsed and greenlit by Mattel, the company that owns “Barbie,” and with that comes its inherent agenda and purpose to enrich it.
Barbie and Ken enjoy a classic fish-out-of-water story in the real world, where Ken learns about the patriarchy (he thinks it’s about horses) and Barbie gets a culture shock as to how male-dominated her owner’s realm is. Her search leads her to a middle-aged mother named Gloria (America Ferrera) and her daughter, Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), who serve as Barbie’s companions when she returns to Barbieland to chase after Ken, who is determined to change it into a patriarchy. Also on her heels is the CEO of Mattel (Will Ferrell) and his corporate goons, who want to put everything back the way it was.
“Barbie” as a film does have a ceiling — don’t expect any criticisms of Mattel or the toy line that have any substance — but it is remarkably self-aware and does tackle complex themes and ideas on the legacy of the toy line, the idea it is supposed to represent (that little girls can and do anything), as well as an elementary but effective dive into patriarchy and matriarchy and how it feels to be a part of a suppressed group in either society.
Gosling steals the show as Ken, making use of his range in a role that sees him be first as the primary supporting character and comic relief, then as the antagonist. Robbie is also brilliant in this, but the film doesn’t give her much to do outside of reacting to events in the film as Stereotypical Barbie. The film even makes a gag as to how she has to be forced into fixing the inciting incident in the film — she’s a remarkably passive protagonist.
“Barbie” has a wealth of cameos and side characters, some that are great and others than barely register. Among the most important is Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), a Barbie whose owner played with her too hard and sets Stereotypical Barbie on her journey to the real world; Tourist Ken (Simu Liu), Gosling’s Ken’s main rival among the Kens; and Alan (Michael Cera), Ken’s friend who has no multiples (there’s only one Alan), who serves as a neutral party in the Barbie and Ken conflict.
“Barbie” is about as good as it can be, though I admit there is way too many cameos and side characters, who only clutter the film. It’s a cultural phenomenon for a reason and is something anyone can get it, with its comedy elements being remarkably strong.
“Barbiemania” is real and is something you should experience if you can.
“Barbie” gets a 9/10
InReview 
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