Barbie

⭐ 7.0/10

(Originally written by Tim)

I'll start by saying that I liked this move more than I thought I would. It's a movie about a toy for girls, so clearly I am not the target audience, but I found I liked the premise, the fact that it didn't shy away from some of the problematic aspects of Barbie, and not to be a guy that likes the guy characters but Ken was pretty funny. Him seeing that montage of American masculinity and getting all amped up was great, and later when they are trying to take control, I just thought the stereotypical bro stuff was funny.

I also respect the originality. This movie is weird, with lots of practical sets. The whole opening, where you kind of see how Barbie world works and it mimics how people would have played with the dolls, that is clever and I like it.

Now the negatives. Lots of it wasn't funny. Lots of it was very corny and eye-rolly. Again, as a guy who never played with Barbie I won't comment on the overall theme, but I lost the thread a bit in the final hour. So Ken's resolution is that he is enough as he is, but Barbie's is that she needs to become a real woman and feel all the emotions? And all the stuff with the creator? No idea what they were trying to say, felt like the had 100 ideas and tried to cram them all in.

My main gripe is that this is a preachy movie that is 100% a corporate money-making move. The advertising for Barbie itself is all there, and then including the all-male corporate guys is the weirdest decision I can imagine for this. Going into this movie knowing how successful it has been and that Mattel is making a movie for every product they have now makes the movie feel a bit more icky and distracts from the messages they are trying to convey. The boardroom is the bad guy but I can feel the real boardroom licking their lips being like "the people want more Mattel!" when really what people want are unique stories with good actors from respected writers and directors. A movie targeted for women that isn't a generic rom-com is also great.

I need to reserve a paragraph for the obscene Chevy product placement. That car the mom drives is so beautiful and unique and every time they are in it it is shot like a commercial. I found it so distracting and so inline with my prejudice against this corporate propaganda, it just made me so angry.

Another part that took me out is the narrator. She is there at the beginning, and the end, which is fine. But she juts in randomly to make a meta joke about how beautiful Margot Robbie is, and it completely undermined the point that moment was going to make. Such a weird choice, and another example of the movie trying to do too many things.

I didn't love this movie, but I expected to hate it, so being entertained and having things to laugh at made this passable for me. I really love the zany attempt here, and it feels impossible to rate because I am not at all the target audience.