Barbie Movie Review
Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence.
Why did I come to this movie again?
I’ve actually wanted to see this film since I first saw the trailer. It looked ridiculous, and that sounded like fun to me. My interest only piqued when people started freaking out about the fact that they thought it was sexist (to put it in general terms).
5 of 5
Characters
Barbie is…perfect. I mean, that’s the way we’ve always seen Barbie, so it wasn’t a surprise. Neither was the ridiculous nature of Barbieland and the Kens. I’d never thought about the fact that Ken was basically an accessory for Barbie, but it makes perfect sense that in their world he’s there for her. Is it a blatant flip of how women feel they have been treated in the past? Yup.
Stereotypical Barbie was exactly as I imagined. At first, I found her interesting because she couldn’t see that her world was both boring and broken (while at the same time looking perfect) and no one noticed. Then, when she started having thoughts of death and despair, she became even more interesting. The fact that she didn’t actually want to go into the real world was perfect.
Ken. Poor Ken. All he wanted was for Barbie to love him, but she didn’t. It seemed like he didn’t have a choice in the matter, which was kind of sad. His discovering the patriarchy in the real world was hilarious. His need for respect after that was totally believable. The fact that his whole plan was to get Barbie to love him was kind of adorable.
The people from the real world were great, including all of the men who were running Mattel. 😊
5 of 5
Did I care what happened?
Strangely, yes. I was excited to watch Barbie learn that there was more to life than being pretty and perfect, and I was excited to see how Ken dealt with the sudden need for respect.
I honestly wasn’t terribly interested in the woman and her daughter that came from the real world. They weren’t a distraction, and I understand the need for them for the plot plus the actors did a good job, but I felt like they were utilized like a hammer to the face. The woman’s rant about the pressures women face everyday was brilliant, but I also think men face plenty of stuff too.
4 of 5
Plot Holes
Meh. This is basically a fantasy film about a child’s toy, so I expected plot holes. There was some stuff with Weird Barbie that could have been explained better. The sense of time in the film was basically nonexistent, which was jarring.
4 of 5
How many times did I yawn?
I remember wanting to reach for my phone once or twice, which is what I do when I get a little bored watching stuff at home, but it only lasted a minute or two. And no, I didn’t touch my phone in the theater! What kind of heathen do you think I am?
4 of 5
Cool Factor
The cool part of this film was Barbieland. The houses, the clothes, the different Barbies, the moment Margot Robbie steps out of the shoes and her feet don’t go flat…all of it! Growing up I mostly ended up with my sister’s Barbie stuff, so I never had the cool houses or anything like that, but I still loved all the references.
The Ken battle at the end has to be one of the best fight scenes I’ve ever seen! I’m still laughing about it.
5 of 5
The End
I wasn’t totally satisfied with the end of the film, but I did like that it gave us hope that Barbieland could change, which in turn gives us hope that our world/lives can change.
4 of 5
Overall Enjoyment
With all of the controversy about this film, I paid attention to the political undertones of the story, and I came to my very on conclusion on the matter…this film can fan the flames of basically any agenda that you tout.
Down with the patriarchy? It’s in there.
Down with feminism? It’s in there.
Up with feminism? It’s in there.
Our world sucks and it’s men’s fault? It’s in there.
Barbieland sucks and it’s woman’s fault? It’s in there.
Here’s what I got out of it:
A lot of people/groups say they want equality. Which I totally support. What I don’t support is when people who want equality get power and then turn into the thing they claimed to fight against. (Animal Farm anyone?) They get the power and instead of keeping everyone on even ground and enjoying a new fellowship with those that they didn’t before, they decide that they want the people who had so long repressed them to feel the pain that they felt, so they push them down.
This is what happened with the Kens, and what could have happened with the Barbies at the end when they put the Kens back in their place. However, the film gave us a hint that things would slowly change until everything balanced out.
All in all, an almost silly film that really makes you think.
5 of 5
Total: 36
