Barbie | Film Review

 

I can't remember the last time I was so excited to see a film. And with the way people on social media have been talking about it, my expectations were really high.

Barbie (Margot Robbie) is having the time of her life living in Barbie Land, and Ken (Ryan Gosling) is also there, vying for Barbie's affection. But when Barbie has to travel to the real world to fix some problems, she and Ken discover the truth about a world they've never really known.

I hate saying this, and it feels like I'm one of the only people who feel this way, but I was really disappointed with this movie. I just didn't like it as much as I thought I would.

For a start, I felt like too much was shown in clips and trailers before the film was released. Watching the film almost felt like deja vu, especially in the first 30 minutes. I had already heard most of the jokes and knew exactly where the story was going up to a point.

I loved the inclusion of the mother/daughter relationship and the way the dolls fit into this, but the relationship didn't get as much time as I wanted it to.

The world, specifically Barbie Land, was created really well visually. But with that, I would have liked more time to be spent in the real world too, and not just the Mattel offices. In fact, if I could have cut out Mattel altogether I probably would have. It would have been cool for Barbie and Ken to see some more differences between the two worlds, and for more of the Barbies and Kens to see this first hand too. 

The discussions and inclusion of the patriarchy and the way it affected Barbie Land was interesting, but didn't feel particularly ground-breaking. 

My biggest disappointment in the film was Ken's storyline. Without giving anything away, I get why it went that way, but it felt weird to me that he would automatically become something else after spending so much time being the opposite of that thing. It went from 0 to 100 way too quickly!

I liked some of the ideas throughout the film, but nothing felt particularly impactful overall. I saw the film a few days ago and haven't thought about it since.

Overall, unfortunately this one wasn't really for me. I loved the soundtrack, the performances were good, but the film itself just wasn't what I wanted it to be.

4/10