Barbie (2023): A Film Review

WARNING: contains spoilers for Barbie (2023)

I might just start making film reviews as "honest thoughts posts" actually. I feel they're easier to write. And that is exactly what this film review is - my honest thoughts on the recent Barbie (2023) film that just landed in cinemas. And honestly, this film is brilliant. It's funny, it hits all the right notes of a female-led film without being misandrist or ultra-radical feminist, and it's got some great star power. I've been a fan of Greta Gerwig's work since her adaptation of Little Women (2019), starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Laura Dern and Timothee Chalamet.

Anyway, going off topic here. The opening of the film begins with a brief history of little girls and their dolls, and then shows a large-scale Barbie (played by Margot Robbie (famous for her DCEU version of villainess Harley Quinn, aka. Harleen Quinzel). Then it cuts to a more fantastical setting, showing us Barbieland, where all the Barbies (including several discontinued dolls such as Midge, the only pregnant and married Barbie doll in Mattel's history) live in relative harmony as a matriarchal society. We're introduced to stores run by Barbies, the Supreme Court of Barbieland run by Barbies, a Barbie as president - like, there's so many Barbies, it's hard to keep track! Along the way, we meet the Kens of Barbieland, specifically Ryan Gosling's main Ken. Ken only wants Barbie to notice him as more than a friend and is in permanent rivalry with Simu Liu's Ken (Shang-Chi's in this movie!!). There's a particularly hilarious scene when Ryan's Ken tries to surf on the (fake) waves on Barbie Beach and is about to get into a fight with Simu's Ken, or as they call it, they're about to "beach off".

Don't feel sorry for Ken now. You're going to hate him later.

After a massive dance party at the Barbie Dreamhouse, during which there's a minor blunder with Margot's Barbie saying, "Does anyone ever think of dying?" And the whole party stops for a moment before she quickly covers it over with, "Dying to dance!" and the room explodes into singing and dancing again. For the next few minutes, Barbie is left with a sense of existential dread, and in desperation, she goes to see Weird Barbie, who lives on the outskirts of Barbieland, labelled an outcast to society after the girl that played with her coloured her face with markers and cut her hair in typical toddler fashion. It's here that we learn that the girl who played with our main Barbie did something to her that rewired her inner thoughts to those of - well, unnatural stuff. Stuff that a Barbie shouldn't be thinking about. Along with her formerly angled feet going flat and getting cellulite on her legs. And so begins our main Barbie's journey to the real world, which up until now, she's never been to because it's kind of unheard of for Barbies to actually make the journey to the real world. In other words, they can't.

Just as she's leaving Barbieland, Ryan's Ken is a rather gleeful stowaway in her vehicle who wants to go with her to see the real world. The two arrive in the real world, and go roller-skating in bright, colourful outfits that pay homage to 90's Barbie. After being ogled at by grown men, Barbie insists that they stop off at a shop to get some clothes - and they steal cowboy and cowgirl suits that also pay homage to 93's "Western Stampin' " dolls. After a series of wild happenings, their presence alerts the CEO of Mattel (played hilariously by Will Ferrell, as always). Distraught, Barbie finally locates her owner, the teenage Sasha (played by Ariana Greenblatt) who is no longer interested in Barbie dolls. When Barbie attempts to convince her that she is the real Barbie, Sasha hits back with cruel remarks about unrealistic body standards perpetuated by Barbies, going so far as to call her a fascist. Barbie, who is devastated by this, weeps on a bench - and Ken has seemingly run off. This culminates in a very touching scene between an old woman and Barbie in which Barbie tells the elderly woman that she's very beautiful. Fun fact: Greta Gerwig was originally asked to remove that scene from the film, but she kept it in because it "epitomized the heart of the movie" (in Greta's words).

During this sweet sequence, Ken has retreated to the library, and finds multiple books about horses and other masculine things, fully taking on the idea of patriarchy as a system and makes his way back to Barbieland without so much as a regard for Barbie's present state. Barbie is later apprehended by Mattel, and she meets the CEO, who attempts to put her back into a toy box for remanufacturing, but she declines and escapes. As she escapes the building, a van pulls up with a rather disgruntled Sasha and her mother, Gloria (played by America Ferrera, remember Astrid from HTTYD??). She successfully evades the Mattel employees with Gloria and Sasha's help, making her way back to Barbieland with them in tow. It's later revealed that Gloria started playing with Sasha's old Barbie dolls when the now-teenager grew tired of them and transferred her worries and concerns about mortality and bodily issues over to the doll.

When the three arrive in Barbieland once more, they find that the whole of Barbieland has been taken over. The once self-sufficient and independent Barbies have been turned into servants and submissive girlfriends, with the Kens taking up the Supreme Court, the presidency and all the important positions of power within Barbieland. Ryan's Ken rules over it all, having brought back his message of the patriarchy to the formerly matriarchal society. Barbie, Sasha and Gloria rally the now-smothered Barbies, including President Barbie, to retake Barbieland from the Kens and reclaim the Barbie Dreamhouse, which has now been renamed the "mojo dojo casa house" by Ken.

Seriously, look up the memes, they're hilarious.

The Barbies fail to retake it, as the Kens are becoming fully entrenched in their sense of patriarchy, and Barbie is devastated after exchanging heated words with Ken. Just when she thinks all hope is lost, Gloria finds her and imparts some incredible words of wisdom that has now become a defining cornerstone piece of the film.

"It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don't think you're good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we're always doing it wrong.

You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can't ask for money because that's crass. You have to be a boss, but you can't be mean. You have to lead, but you can't squash other people's ideas. You're supposed to love being a mother, but don't talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman but also always be looking out for other people. You have to answer for men's bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you're accused of complaining. You're supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you're supposed to be a part of the sisterhood.

But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful. You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It's too hard! It's too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.

I'm just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don't even know."

- Gloria (played by America Ferrera)

With that final piece of encouragement, Barbie finally rallies the girls, and they initiate a covert plan to dismantle Ken's patriarchy and retake Barbieland. I won't spoil what happens with the ending, but if you've seen enough Barbie memes, our Ken learns an important lesson: I am Kenough. Barbie herself learns a lesson as well: perfect is overrated. She doesn't have to stay in one particular mould for the rest of her life. The rest of the film wraps with a sweet moment featuring a cameo from the original creator of Barbie, Ruth Handler, and our main Barbie, accompanied by a montage of little girls playing, working - doing everything. And this was the moment that moved me to tears, as I'm sure many did when they watched this film.

Final notes:

This movie was a delight to watch and it's a film that will sink in long after you're finished watching the film itself. And with the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon still very prevalent, perhaps consider a double feature of both Barbie and Oppenheimer? I hope that all those who see this film enjoy it just as much as I did. It's funny, it's heartwarming and it's got a great message by women and for women without belittling men. I think all men could definitely appreciate that they are indeed "Kenough" and that they don't have to seek our feminine validation. And I think all women could use the lesson that normalcy is overrated. We're all weird, whacky and cool in our own way, and uniqueness is something to be championed and loved. As Gloria puts it ever so eloquently, the game of life is rigged, and we have to accept that as is.