Movie Review: Barbie

July 28, 2023

My husband and I went to go see Barbie the other day, and I will say, I was pretty impressed.

When I first heard about a Barbie movie coming out I was not all that interested, but as I am sure many of you have heard, it was much more than just a movie about a doll.

Margot Robbie is honestly the perfect Barbie. Not only does she look like the stereotypical Barbie, but she also has such a great way of tapping into her darkness for a role. ( Just look at her role in the DC franchise as Harley Quinn. )

There was humor, excitement, adventure and most of all, feeling. It was a deep statement on what it is to be human, not just female, but human. Barbie is rocked from her perfect world and landed in the real world thinking that it would be just like the Barbie world – female focused. In Barbieland, Barbie was president, an astronaut, a teacher, a lawyer, a dog walker, a construction worker, a lifeguard – she was everything. In the real world, men dominated most of those fields, and that was entirely confusing.

Throughout the course of the film, Barbie sees the way that Barbies were perceived – blond bimbos that set an unrealistic expectation on the way that woman should look. I love that they touched on this, because this was a little bit of why I was not wanting to go see this film. She morphed into an image of impossible expectations, when that was not her purpose at all. It also explained that Barbie was meant to show girls that they could be so much more than just a mother, just a housewife, just a secretary – they could be anything they wanted. They could dream beyond just the life that was expected of them. They could grow up to have their own car, their own house, their own business, their own life. This was monumental at the time Barbies came out, because at that time, women weren’t even allowed to have their own money.

I loved that America Ferrara was one of the leads, and was able to have a monologue about the impossible nature of being a woman. Not only did this monologue make me well up and feel seen, it was also so important that she be the person to say it. In the early 2000s, take a look at the roles she was placed in, she was always the funny, chubby, friend. While she is funny, she is not chubby. She never has been. Her body type may not have been the ideal Hollywood style in the early 2000s, but I cannot imagine that did not give her a bit of a complex, or make her feel like she was stuck in such a role. She was strong and emotional. She was a mother and a motivator. She was thoughtful and spontaneous. Greta did such a good job of making her such a dynamic hero of the film.

But this was not just for women. Ken, Ryan Gosling, has moments where he feels like he cannot express his emotions because that isn’t what Kens do. He has to explore his emotions and learn about the way he is feeling.

Overall, I am having a hard time formulating thoughts about this film, I may still be processing, but I would suggest it.