Movie Review: Barbie

Greta Gerwig has, yet again, delivered a meaningful film that will be remembered and talked about for years.

Barbie starts in Barbieland, a pink world filled with plastic and dancing. When Barbie (Margot Robbie) has an existential crisis, she travels to the real wield to find the little girl playing with the doll attached to her soul. Ken (Ryan Gosling) follows her for he is obsessed with being with her. That was all Ken was intended for, after all. To be Barbie’s male companion.

Both Ken and Barbie find the real world to be wildly different than they expected. Barbie didn’t destroy the patriarchy. In fact, the patriarchy monetized her beyond all expectations. Ken finds this liberating whilst Barbie is devastated.

I won’t go headlong into spoiler territory, but I will say that Barbie finds her little girl who turns out to be an adult woman (America Ferrera) who has a whole lot to say about the patriarchy, and she changes everything.

America Ferrera brings intensity in her monologues and is the catalyst for turning Barbieland from little girls’ musings to a meaningful place for Barbies and Kens alike. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are absolutely perfect. And Kate McKinnon is brilliant as Weird Barbie. All around, the casting is on point.

This film is subversive in all the right ways. A talking point, not just on feminism, but on how the patriarchy hurts everyone. The bits of humor scattered throughout add levity to the subject matter. Gerwig had a lot to say here and she says it brilliantly.

I give this four out of four Barbies. See this film. It’s impact on our culture will be far reaching beyond the pink plastic and spandex.