Directed by:
Greta GerwigCinematography:
Rodrigo PrietoCast:
Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Will Ferrell, Simu Liu, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken. (Warner Bros. UK)
Videos (4)
Reviews (13)
The exploration of the real world by people coming from Barbie Land is stimulating and original and hints at the promise of a clever, fresh and original satire reflecting the pseudo-problems of contemporary (western) society. But the potential inherent in that is cut dead by the subsequent “gender conflict” and its childish resolution to which the film resorts. And that’s a shame. Even the balance of entertainment for children and adults doesn’t work here, since the movie is not for kids at all. But let’s be glad that audiences are returning in large numbers to cinemas now that the pandemic is over. Barbie deserves thanks for that. And special praise goes to the originator of the brilliant “Barbenheimer” marketing concept, though the hardworking crew around Tom Cruise didn’t deserve to have M:I-7 overshadowed.
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My daughter recently told me she was absolutely pink with joy that I took her to the playground. That phrase kept coming back to me as I watched this film, because it is essentially about the loss of joy, but pretends to be about something else. It's not grim philosophy, but a terribly simple and basic petty battle of the sexes. The sequence of sketches and funny scenes works well, including the great cast. The finale, however, is all about the fact that from a certain point onwards, the pink joy disappears and I'll have to watch it live, unable to do anything about it.
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It's remarkable that even though Barbie is such a phenomenon, it wasn't until 2023 that a live-action film version arrived in cinemas, after dozens of animated films. But maybe there was a reason for that: does the iconic doll have the potential to pull off a feature film? Greta Gerwig created a colourful world full of different characters, which at times evokes the work of Wes Anderson, and cast some pretty big names in the main and supporting roles. I saw the trailers and wondered if they had prepared a surprise for the audience, and (unfortunately) they didn't. Barbie's message is clear and very bluntly delivered, and by the end of the film, I found the literalness annoying – it was as if they had given up on the audience reading between the lines and just threw everything, including footnotes and explanatory notes, onto their plates. From an audiovisual point of view, this is a film that stands out all the more in the cinema, and the scene with Barbie's "mother", Ruth Handler, was truly magical. But the film is tripped by its over-underestimation of the viewer's perception - at times I felt as if I was watching a visual supplement to a textbook on feminism, patriarchy, prejudice and stereotypes.
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The Barbie movie stands out with a unique touch, thanks to its clever screenplay that humorously critiques contemporary society. It mocks and criticizes, trying to be oh-so-clever, but ultimately, it doesn’t reveal anything groundbreaking. Without Ken, it wouldn't be nearly as entertaining. Margot Robbie as Barbie is fine, but Ryan Gosling steals the show. He completely lets loose and makes the film. You probably need to have a real fondness for Barbie to truly appreciate this film. It's a bit too colorful and kitschy for my taste, though I do appreciate the director's creativity and boldness. Not everyone in Hollywood has the guts to pull off something this zany.
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Heaps of creative ideas and social commentary that after half an hour feels like out of a machine-gun, and the rest of the running time is just recycled. Moreover, Barbie is too shrill and dramatically inconsistent. After an hour, I wished it would end. The acting is unsurprisingly good, at times funnily accurate in reflecting the problems of contemporary society, but I don't quite get the commercial success and worldwide hype around Barbie.
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