Pan and Slam

Barbie

PG-131h 54m

• Director
  • Greta Gerwig
• Writers
  • Greta Gerwig
  • Noah Baumbach
• Stars
  • Margot Robbie
  • Ryan Gosling
  • Issa Rae

By Jason Koenigsberg

A movie about ‘Barbie’ one of the most popular toys ever made for little girls seems inevitable and a wonder that it took this long to be made. The best news about the Barbie movie is that it is easily the finest film based on a toy line since Michael Bay’s Transfomers back in 2007. This movie hits all the right notes whether it is tackling feminism, the patriarchy, male inadequacies, female roles in society, or motherhood. Barbie has a thoughtful clever response to all of the topics in a timely and non-patronizing manner which is hard to find in 2023.

The movie opens up with a pink WB logo and the audience is quickly given an introductory spoof of the ‘dawn of man’ scenes from Kubrick’s 2001 only instead of apes playing with bones it is little girls playing with baby dolls and tea sets. In replace of the giant monolith the girls see a tall striking Margot Robbie as the first Barbie in a retro bathing suit standing tall and smiling. The girls immediately smash their tea sets with the baby dolls and throw them into the air and the audience is thrown into Barbie land. Director Greta Gerwig does a terrific job transporting the audience into a world that these toys would inhabit. There is no water or liquids, everyone walks on their tippy toes, women are diverse and empowered, and men are longing for attention from the women. The set design really envelops every inch of the frame in these scenes and makes Barbie stand out as a cut above the rest, as do the songs and choreography to the original musical numbers. This is where it owes a lot to films like Singing’ in the Rain (1952), Grease (1978), and even Brazil (1985) for how it uses its camera angles and set design and it does an impeccable job that it earns its comparison to those classics. Even the most cynical viewer will be transported by this movie and the world it creates.

That being said the best aspects about Barbie are the performances and the dialogue. The script by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach does not dumb anything down. This will broaden its viewers vocabulary better than any mainstream blockbuster in many years and that deserves to be commended. The script is inventive but even more so it does not condescend to a younger or uneducated audience like it could. The screenplay can only work based on the expertise of the performances. From the opening narration by the great Helen Mirren, an ideal choice for narrator in this picture which continues sporadically throughout the film, to Margot Robbie as the lead stereotypical Barbie to Ryan Gosling as the generic Ken who broadens his mind when he enters the real world and sees how men can actually make decisions and control society, all of the casting choices for the main roles are pitch perfect. Especially worth noting are Will Ferrell as the CEO of the Mattel Corporation, Kate McKinnon as ‘Weird Barbie’, and America Ferrera as a mother working for Mattel trying to bond with her daughter while simultaneously teaching her child and the rest of the naive Barbies in Barbie land how hard it is to be a woman in the real world and what men want and expect of them. All of those names above could be considered for some recognition this awards season.

In the end, audiences young and old, male and female, may all find themselves delighted by how entertained they are by a movie based on a doll for girls. What is most impressive was not just how funny it was or how satirically on point it is as it tackles some heavy duty issues that plague our society but how Barbie never felt patronizing. This could easily have been an eye roll inducing two hours but instead with its dialogue and performances Barbie created a world that was not a burden to spend time in. A sequel may be in the future based on the box office returns but Barbie is a movie that people will likely be returning to again and again for years to come.