Reviewer Flickchart Rating: 965/5,119
Clad in all shades of pink, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie invaded my native theater. The Barbenheimer phenomenon introduced again a sequence of annoyances I by no means thought I’d miss. For the primary time in years it was tough to discover a parking spot, the strains to test in had been congested, and I needed to wind my approach by way of a loitering crowd to get by way of the foyer. All indicators of a wholesome film home. To not point out the fanfare and advertising and marketing push for Barbie. All ages had been out in pink, the theater workers had been sporting pink Hawaiian shirts; I hadn’t felt an vitality like this in a decade or extra at my native image present.
There was one rising concern as I sat in my reclining seat and the entire pre-film commercials rolled by: might this movie a few toy that I didn’t play with probably dwell as much as all of this hype? Sure, it does. Barbie is a fantastical pastel spectacle that’s every thing you count on but stuffed with continuous surprises all through its almost 2-hour runtime.
Following Margot Robbie as Stereotypical Barbie, the story falls in keeping with Gerwig’s earlier directorial efforts, Woman Hen (2017) and Little Girls (2019), coping with themes of younger ladies preventing in opposition to societal/familial confines to find themselves on the planet. Her movies are most within the means of shifting previous the limitations of expectations positioned on who try to be, to reach at that place the place you may start to seek out out who it’s you’re. This time Gerwig additionally features a distinguished male character in Ryan Gosling’s Ken who undergoes the same journey, however fraught with extra peril for these round him. On this Barbie Dreamland, ladies management every thing and our Kens are largely with out objective. Their sole concern each day is that if a Barbie will take a look at them.
Sooner or later our heroine begins to expertise one thing all too actual — existential dread. This crack within the facade of Dreamland life ushers in small errors all through her complete existence. The one reply is to go see the Bizarre Barbie (Kate McKinnon), who reveals that her proprietor’s feelings in the actual world are bleeding into her psyche. She should have interaction within the hero’s journey, journey to California, and produce therapeutic to her proprietor. Our main Ken stows away to journey together with her. Whereas comparatively unnoticed of their world, Gosling’s Ken has been treading by way of his personal life disaster, discovering that his unrequited adoration for Barbie’s consideration has grow to be painful.
Aesthetically, Barbie is a fantastic recreation of the plastic world of Mattel toys. It is usually richly full of almost limitless cinematic references. From the overt homage within the opening sequence to extra delicate touches, a cinephile bingo card may very well be crammed out a number of occasions over as Gerwig’s influences fill the display (Kubrick to Demy to The Wizard of Oz to Tati to Gene Kelly and extra). Gerwig, manufacturing designer Sarah Greenwood, and their artwork route group selected sensible results, matte painted backdrops, and what the director described as an “genuine artificiality.” Barbie is a recent translation of the spectacular fantasies of Hollywood’s Studio Period.
Barbie is a colourful explosion bursting with allure from all corners because the all-star supporting forged does a superb job. The movie is a humorous, heartwarming story that promotes a robust model of feminine empowerment and confronts the insecurity on the coronary heart of male fragility.
