BARBIE: A Surprisingly Mature Toy Story

Part of the allure of Mattel’s Barbie brand has been that she’s a doll that can do anything. Her resume has extended from fashion model to doctor to astronaut. Regarding her career goals, Barbie seems to have everything going on. Maybe too much.

With this in mind, Greta Gerwig‘s Barbie movie appears just as devoted to shooting for the fences. Rather than reduce the toy to a singular perception, the film tries to become more all-encompassing, beyond its pink pastels and absurd embracement of child-like imaginations. All of that colorful and musical allure is still there, but it’s only the frosting of a breezy yet biting tale of challenging societal conventions and expectations of gender and power.

A Barbie World

More time is spent in the film divulging the cultural aspects than the mechanics of the imaginative Barbieland. The central Barbie (Margot Robbie), aka Stereotypical Barbie, exists in a world of other Barbie iterations. She drinks milk that isn’t there, drives in cars with no engines, and exits her house by a slide. She’s used to a world where everything is cute, chipper, and orderly. In other words, it’s the perfect imaginative land, free of all the problems in reality continuously brought up as non-existent. When someone from the human world questions what type of fantasy this is by providing examples, the quick and general answer is a simple “Yes.”

But not all is well in the land of many outfits, parties, and plastic. A lingering notion of death crosses Barbie’s mind, an unshakable feeling of not being whole. At the same time, her longing boyfriend Ken (Ryan Gosling) also has an unmet desire to feel just as special as Barbie in this world. He’s not content being off to the sidelines, existing only to be noticed by his crush while at his beach job (not lifeguard, but a beach…guy).

After getting an absurd and scribbled explanation from the messy and quirky Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), Barbie’s adventure is one of finding a connection. While trying to avoid the greedy grip of Mattel’s bumbling CEO (Will Ferrell), she must also help a mother and daughter reconnect while learning the harsh truths about how Barbie is perceived and how the world treats women.

Bold and Beautiful

This movie doesn’t feel like director Greta Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach came in and played the yes-man game for a safe adaptation. It’s a Gerwig picture with her knowing stabs at drama and a Baumbach script for probing into the depths of existentialism. There is no shyness with the material or subtly with its themes that general audiences will misconstrue.

The film’s second act gets incredibly blunt as Barbie discovers the decay of feminism, and Ken embraces the spread of patriarchy. Waves of pain and joy wash over them as they struggle to process a world where sexual harassment and unjust systems exist. There’s still fun to be had by satirizing these tough aspects, and even the reality outside Barbie’s world occasionally spills into the comical. But life isn’t always a party with highly choreographed dance numbers, despite how dreamy these sequences appear.

The savaging of gender stereotypes proceeds extremely as Barbie and Ken fight for their individuality. Barbie deals with the anxiety of being a woman, while Ken discovers the power of toxic masculinity. There are so many satirical jabs at this battle of the genders, many of which are hilariously pointed. One shot that had me laughing hard compares stereotypical masculinity as being weirdly obsessed with Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

A Pastel Paradise

Even when Barbieland is sent into disarray amid a power struggle, it remains a vibrant and intoxicating dream to get lost within. Everything from the ridiculously simple healthcare system to a lavish dance-off (looking like it spilled right out of Singin’ in the Rain) is a wondrously giddy sight. It makes even the downer moments of Barbie’s journey feel like a treat for remaining doused in glitter so firm that even the tears can’t wash it away.

Of course, there’s a knowing nature that is more than just a wink and nudges for the merchandising being evoked. It’s a film so self-aware that the additions of Helen Mirren as the narrator and Lizzo for the soundtrack provide extra commentary. Mirren’s butting-in note to the filmmakers for a casting choice is brilliant. That being said, the film relies too much on the joke that Barbie sneaks a peak at a thesaurus and somehow cracks philosophical quandaries in a burst of out-of-character brilliance. It’s a funny gag the first few times but treads dangerously close to transforming her into a soapbox that she thankfully hands the mic over to a better voice in the film for delivering a powerful rant on patriarchy.

A Surreal Trip

For the most nit-picking of audience members, Barbie will most likely be frustrated with its refusal to slow down all that much amid its Wonderland-style progression. The fast pace zooms through so much that it seems like Ken can magically transport across all of Los Angeles. That being said, the slower moments are a breath of fresh air for focusing on what matters. The tranquil scene where Barbie takes a quiet moment to absorb the real world is sweet, complete with her acknowledging the beauty of an elderly woman in a manner without a hint of accidental cynicism.

There’s a lot that happens in this film where you kinda have to go with the flow. It feels as though Gerwig and Bambauch were called to perform emergency surgery on a Masters of the Universe-style movie treatment for the Mattel toy. That surgery involves gutting much of the extra exposition that would bog down the film. And, let’s be real, do you REALLY care about the logic of how Barbieland is tethered to the real world?

The loose nature allows the film to try out some scenes that do and do not work. Barbie’s escape from the Mattel office sounds like a fun chase on paper but plays out a bit awkwardly in the edit. Thankfully, there’s a detour in the chaos to an aside that feels like a scene from The Matrix. It’s weirdly placed but also deeply meaningful to the adventure.

Building a Better Barbie

The most fascinating aspect of the film is that it’s incredibly astute of the audience and expectations. Nearly everybody who grew up with the doll had made the obvious joke about how the figures lacked genitals when their clothes were removed. That joke is present here, but those obvious features don’t become THE joke (although it does make for one hell of a punchline by the final act).

The underlying message behind most of the picture is one about growing up. It’s something that’s not so simple as merely putting your toys in a box that gets shoved into the basement. It’s about coming to terms with your anxiety and mortality. That’s some heavy material for a film centered around a children’s toy, but if Barbie can be anything, why not her movie as well?

Conclusion: Barbie

Barbie is the ultimate summer movie for having as much wit and wisdom as it does charm, silliness, and an abundance of pink. While other films of this nature tread lightly in the paddling pool of topics like gender roles, here’s a picture that takes a cannonball into the deep end. It’s a refreshing dose of biting commentary with the guts to go the gusto, even if the dialogue gets as blunt as the color palette.

Toys are only as interesting as the play we put into them. Gerwig’s imagination certainly hasn’t diminished in a film where she balances the charm of a toy-centric universe with the importance of emotional growth. She doesn’t just want the audience to feel like kids again but feel whole, making this a film that many generations can appreciate (although certain ones will probably appreciate the joke about Midge all the more).

Barbie will be released in theaters on July 21st.

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