Barbie. Not the doll, the movie. It has been a year long journey when it comes to Barbie the movie. It started out with everyone joking about the need for a live-action Barbie movie. However, the momentum shifted in the positive direction, after Greta Gerwig’s involvement with the film. After which the casting of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken respectively fueled the hype. The leaked set photos and videos dropped oil in the fire as we saw an out worldly universe and bold costumes that didn’t shy away from anything. We are all aware about the recent events as Barbie and Oppenheimer were releasing on 21st July. I watched both on the same day. So, was it a victory for cinema? Not so much and most of it is Barbie’s fault.
Barbie Movie Review: A Feminism Induced Underbaked Mess!
I fail to understand the glowing reviews for Barbie. After watching the film I remembered all the reviews from the harshest Hollywood critics and wondered how they didn’t see the glaring errors in the movie? I have titled this review appropriately as I strongly believe that Barbie is the worst film of 2023. Before you say anything, it is not because of the movie’s politics. A film is by nature a representation of the creators’ lens of the world, so a neutral movie is a myth. However, it is about how you represent your ideas in the cinematic medium and in my opinion, Barbie has failed to do so.
Barbie Movie Review: Theme Over Narrative!
Barbie has one of the best opening scenes in my opinion. A reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film starts off on a brilliant note as it talks about Barbie’s impact on the world. Unfortunately, the rest of film falls flat and it is because of the film’s constant need to shove its theme down our throat. Barbie was always going to be about feminism and more power to it but I didn’t expect the film to be only about that. Let me get into some theory, Barbie’s theme is feminism. A theme in a film is something that we can call the soul of the narrative.
The chain of events that make the narrative imply a theme to the audience. A theme is to be interpretated. A theme is not a story or a plot by itself. A theme arises from the plot. Unfortunately, Barbie fails to understand this as the entire film is catered towards the theme. We don’t have a plot so the entire runtime of 2 hours feels like a lecture on patriarchy. I strongly believe that no filmmaker, however great he or she maybe is in the position of lecturing the audience on any topic.
If the audience wants a lecture then they can easily tune into something on YouTube but when they’ve come for a film they’re not in for a lecture but rather to experience a narrative. America Ferrera’s rant on patriarchy in the film is done poorly because apparently that is the only thing that takes for the Barbies to be anti-brainwashed. Are they so ingenious to switch sides this fast? Marriage Story’s monologue delivered by Laura Dern is a rant done right within the context of the film and at the perfect plot point.
The film tries to tap into every issue and thus, taps into none effectively. The rant feels like a politician trying to evoke strong emotions in their rally. Essentially, Barbie becomes about nothing because it wanted to be about everything.
Barbie Movie Review: No Worldbuilding And Stale Humor!
I think it was an inspired choice to show Barbie land as a matriarchal society. I loved the first ten minutes as they allowed us to get into the world of the film. However, that is more or less the worldbuilding. No rules were explained. The concept of Lego movies was taken: the way the toys are played, the way their appearances will be. At the start of the film we’re told that a portal has opened to the real world because of Margot Robbie’s Barbie. How? No one knows. Then they can travel out of the cartoon world to the real world randomly.
If there is a portal then why are they travelling in a car? That too on a road that gives direction to the real world. The psychic connection between Barbie and America Ferrera’s character is never explained. Is there no other sadder person playing with their Barbie which is causing more damage in Barbie land? We don’t know how does the real world and Barbie land are connected. We’re never told the concept of the box which Margot Robbie is supposed to enter to go back to Barbie land at the Mattel office.
The Barbie’s creator character appears randomly in the film and we don’t know is it a ghost, a real person or what? Out of nowhere in the end, Barbie can become human. How? Who cares? Things just randomly happen. A toy can become human and there is no explanation provided for it. Usually there is a set-up. This is not Pinocchio. There is no sense of character, forget character arc. We don’t know anything about Margot Robbie’s Barbie or any Barbie for that matter.
Talking about jokes, they went extinct 10 minutes into the film. I only smiled when Ryan Gosling came on screen otherwise I was lying like a dead corpse in the theatre. The humor for the most part doesn’t land and is extremely childish which becomes frustrating by the end of the film.
Barbie Movie Review: Any Positives?
This will be the shortest section as I found only two positives in the film. One, Ryan Gosling. My man is outstanding. He lightens up everyone whenever he is on screen. His comic timing and naive innocence steals the show. I just wish there was a better script to accompany him. Apart from him only the production design was impressive but I’m not losing my mind over it as they had literal Barbie houses to replicate the sets. Mattel did the job for them. It was not as if they did something new. The music and songs were fine, nothing extraordinary.
Verdict
As I have said before, Barbie is the worst film of 2023. I’m a huge admirer of Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach’s previous works but they have failed their legacy through this film. I don’t know what happened to their subtlety. When did their filmmaking became so loud and lazy. If anyone else would’ve made Barbie I wouldn’t be so disappointed but I didn’t expect such a mess from Gerwig, who I believed to be one of the few strong female voices from the west. I also want to point out the hypocrisy of western critics who are praising the film solely for its politics.
Barbie is as bad as The Kashmir Files. Whoever, criticized Vivek Agnihotri’s film should also take a stab at Barbie. I’ll rate Barbie 1 and 1/2 out of 5 stars.
Barbie’s script has been co-written with Greta Gerwig and her partner Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story, Frances Ha, White Noise). Margot Robbie will star in the titular role with Ryan Gosling playing Ken, Barbie’s male counterpart. The rest of the cast includes, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Issa Rae, Ncuti Gatwa, Alexandra Shipp, Ariana Greenblatt, Sharon Rooney, Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackay and Hari Nef.
Barbie is currently playing in theatres near you.
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