Barbie is a new fantasy comedy directed, part written and produced by Greta Gerwig, director of Lady Bird and Little Women.

In Barbieland, everything is perfect and everything runs smoothly. Yet Barbie (Margot Robbie) learns that something is not right and everything suddenly seems less than perfect for her. Because of this, she decides to travel to the real world, to find out what's going on.

On this journey she is accompanied by Ken (Ryan Gosling), who secretly tried to go with her. Together they now try to figure out what's going on, but learn that the real world is very different compared to Barbieland.

Greta Gerwig, together with the photography director Rodrigo Prieto, knows how to convey the Barbie world well, making it seem as if you are in a life-sized doll's room as a viewer. They used beautiful film sets for this. Thus, the film works well as long as it is set in the Barbieland. Only that everyone here is Barbie or Ken sometimes makes it a bit difficult to follow the exact differences between all Barbies and Kens.

When the story moves to the real world, it changes the movie a bit. For example, how exactly it is possible to travel between the two worlds is not really clearly explained. Furthermore, the movie loses credibility when Barbie and Ken can do anything in the real world with no real consequences. Due to the lack of explanation and an eye for detail, the film can sometimes come across as a bit strange.

In a comical way, they also try to make fun of both gender roles. For example, Barbieland should represent the opposite of the real world. In Barbieland, Barbies and Kens can do anything, but Barbie is often above Ken. In the real world, men often seem to be above women. For example, they try to divide this role in the opposite way. For male viewers, who do not like these current feminism movements, this can make this film less.

Despite multiple actors and actresses playing different Barbies and Kens, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling manage to portray their roles in more unique ways alongside the other Barbies and Kens cast members. Margot Robbie comes across as a real Barbie, trying to discover what her life destinies really are. Ryan Gosling manages to provide plenty of appropriate comedic moments as Ken, who tries to make Barbie notice him. In the real world, however, he learns that as Ken, he can also do other things without Barbie. Will Ferrell plays the CEO of Mattel, the toy company that makes the barbie doll. His character and the other employees are supposed to be in the real world, but they seem more like they're also in a cartoon world because of the ways they act. This makes the concept of the real world seem a bit unusual. If they brought out the real world a little better, the movie could have been a little better.

The Barbie and Ken concept is better brought to the fore in Toy Story 3, for example, where these dolls and the idea they stand for are also handled a bit playfully.