Directed by: Greta Gerwig
Cast: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Dua Lipa, Will Ferrell, John Cena, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Ree Perlman, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp
Origin & Production: US, UK / David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Robbie Brenner, Heyday Films, LuckyChap Entertainment, Mattel Films
Duration: 114′
Barbie, who lives in Barbie Country, has been kicked out of the country because she is not a perfect doll. He has nowhere to go, he goes to the human world in search of true happiness.
Although it is impossible to speak exactly of “God”, in Barbie Greta Gerwig (except for the divine voice of the omniscient narrator Helen Mirren), the director is clearly confronted with the myth of the creation of the world.
Barbieland, a parallel universe populated by endless versions of Mattel dolls, is her territory. A huge repertoire of dolls, a storehouse of successful products, mediocre ideas and discontinued samples are the tools of his research. Gerwig plays with the richness and originality of the material in this clever re-imagining of Barbie, cleverly fitting into the confines of the signature film.
Barbie it is animated by jokes—sometimes compelling, always noteworthy—that poked fun at Mattel, pointing out all the bullshit in the doll story and highlighting the contradictions of a stubbornly misogynistic society. With Gerwig you enjoy the details. Her Barbieland is Sarah Greenwood’s design, Jacqueline Durran’s costumes are a feverish pink dream. A riot of magenta and blush to a funky soundtrack by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt and bubblegum anthems by Dua Lipa, Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice. Plastic trees and two-story dream homes line every avenue of this oceanfront location. The streets are filled with non-motorized vehicles, even if people move around, preferably by plane. Think about it: have you ever seen Barbie climbing stairs?
An army of Kens patrol the country’s pristine beaches. Dolls cannot save drowning people: they must make a good impression. However, the Barbies do an important job: Barbie is the President, but also all members of the Supreme Court. Barbie is a doctor and physicist. Barbie has won all the Nobel Prizes and has probably found a cure for cancer. Barbieland is a feminist utopia as an inverted mirror of our patriarchal reality, as emphasized by Mirren’s voice-over comments. Barbie is an extension of political fantasy, an exercise in what if. Barbie went into space, she was able to vote before many (real) women got the right to vote. Even her appearance changed, reflecting the canons of beauty of each historical era.
Gerwig brings his pink world to life with a series of dolls played by a formidable cast: Issa Rae, Emma McKay, Alexandra Shipp and Hari Nef are just some of the faces in the film. But the undisputed protagonist of this smart and funny comedy is Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie), the quintessential blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty straight out of the imagination of Ruth Handler (Barbie creator, ndt). His Ken counterpart is wittily and flippantly played by the very good Ryan Gosling (with Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir and John Cena among the other Kens in the film). The couple is a version of Eve and Adam, where Eve is God’s favorite and Adam is a sinner.”
Lovia Giarkje, Hollywood Reporter Rome