‘Barbie’ review: Dir. Greta Gerwig (2023) 

One of the most hotly anticipated – and certainly the pinkest – movies of the summer is finally here, with acclaimed filmmaker Greta Gerwig getting a $100million budget to play with one of the most recognisable brands in the world: Barbie. 

Mattel’s Barbie is bound to have been a fixture in all of our lives in one way or another, be it playing with the dolls yourself or having siblings/cousins with their own impressive collections. It is a brand that has spun off into a number of direct-to-video animated features, video games, books, clothing, you name it – so a transition to the big screen was inevitable. 

It has been some time in the making, with the likes of Diablo Cody and Amy Schumer being attached at different points both in front of and behind the camera. Even with that pairing, there was the sense that the Barbie movie was interested in being something more than just brand expansion. And judging by the final product, that irreverent and audacious spirit is more than evident, in a film that takes bigger swings than most of its Hollywood contemporaries. 

Margot Robbie stars as Stereotypical Barbie, who lives in the sugar-coated plastic environment of Barbie Land alongside numerous other Barbies and Kens. In this seemingly perfect world, the Barbies run everything, and the Kens are just, well Ken. But when Stereotypical Barbie starts to have the beginnings of an existential crisis, she soon discovers such thoughts have caused a rift between Barbie Land and the Real World, one only she can fix by making the journey to reality. Keen to tag along and prove his worth to her, Barbie begrudgingly accepts the assistance of her sort-of boyfriend Beach Ken (Ryan Gosling) in her quest. But they soon discover that the reality of the Real World is unlike anything they expected, rocking their understanding of just how the world works. 

It would have been very easy to play it safe with something like the Barbie movie. Mattel could have gone for a much broader adventure movie with very little in the way of self-awareness or a desire to examine exactly what the Barbie brand has meant to generations of young women across its history. Yet, thankfully and for the better, Gerwig and Robbie are given the room to make something much more worthwhile, thought-provoking and pertinent with their Barbie, a feminist fairy tale with lots on its mind about the modern world and the gender roles within. That, and it’s also exceptionally silly and funny. 

From the off, there is an overwhelming sugar rush from the dazzling production design on display, made to look and feel like blown-up Barbie playsets in all their plasticity. It genuinely feels like a toy world brought to life, with the many dream houses of Barbie Land lovingly brought to life by production designer Sarah Greenwood and Rodrigo Prieto’s exuberant cinematography. That level of enthusiasm and day-glow spirit is embodied by the sprawling cast of Barbies and Kens as well, to the point where you completely buy why Robbie’s Barbie is starting to wish for something a bit different – it’s all just so much to take in. 

As Robbie and Gosling’s Barbie and Ken venture into the real world, the film shows its hand as being an exploration of patriarchy and the kind of roles both men and women are told they have to play by mass media and consumerism, and in particular both the positive and negative effect dolls like Barbie have played in that discussion and perceived roles in society. 

Gerwig’s script – co-written with husband and fellow filmmaker Noah Baumbach – is quick to point out the criticisms and negative impact the stereotypical Barbie may have had upon the world, in a manner that proves to be both thoughtful and very funny. It captures a similar spirit to 2001’s underrated Josie and the Pussycats in its approach to being a piece of pop culture that’s quite happy to point fingers at the very machine that put up the money to both make and sell it as a product extension. A subplot involving the Mattel board – led by Will Ferrell’s CEO – however does occasionally fall flat, often coming across as a slightly too desperate attempt to make it seem like the big corporation behind the movie is in on the joke.

It is also much more surreal and dystopic than one might expect, with the film often close to the zany comedic energy of something like Joe Dante’s Gremlins 2: The New Batch, meanwhile striving to deliver a positive message on gender roles, identity, and self-love in as clear a fashion as possible. It’s often a weird balancing act between surface and depth: nothing is particularly left to the imagination when it comes to what message the film wants to deliver to audiences of all generations, and it veers towards feeling a little too self-satisfied and overly busy. But what it has to say is ultimately all so positive, that it’s hard to knock it for going too hard on the messaging. 

The whole film is operating at a very high level of imagination, creativity and performance with Robbie and Gosling carrying the film effortlessly with their movie star charm, and Gosling in particular mining each gesture for its full comedic potential. It is Robbie’s surprisingly soulful turn however that gives the film the heart it needs to anchor much of colourful chaos that threatens to overwhelm the film at times. That paired with Gerwig’s cine-literate, emotionally intelligent script and keen sense of editing makes Barbie a breezy and enjoyable crowd-pleaser, a summer blockbuster with much more on its mind than simply being another piece of callous brand extension. In the words of Ken:sublime.

Barbie is released in cinemas on 21st July 2023.