Barbie, late to the hype party but here I go, I still had some high expectations and thankfully, it nailed it. I went into this fairly blind, just knowing it had some great production value and is good enough for a bunch of nominations.

Directing, imo, I don't think many directors would dare to attempt to make a movie about barbie, because how are you going to make it work without it feeling nasty and cheap, front heavy and all that. It seems like a massive challenge to get right as it's so much easier to fail at. So far I only know Gerwig from Lady Bird, which was such a small movie and story but strong, this is on a whole other level. It is beautifully directed, the dancing scenes, the intro scene flow so well. The pacing in general is good, 2 hours for a Barbie movie seems long, you expect it to be <90 minutes, but it already gives a slight indication of what kind of movie it's going to be, because it's so much more than just the facade. I recently watched the Super Mario Bros, and at the end it felt just okay, it was as entertaining as fast food is filling. Super pretty, you got all the references, but it says nothing. Barbie is all the former, but none of the latter, because it has a lot to say, and a lot for it's main character to go through. I really liked the main story, setting the underlying-ish meta beside. I thought it was powerful and human, and annoyingly effective with the whole nostalgia/childhood/memories.. aka human condition angle that'll make you cry. It got me choked up a couple times but manages to snap out of it before it becomes a different movie entirely and brings in a joke or a gag.

Story and message, you have to be oblivious to not see what this movie is saying, but it's good enough at doing it that it doesn't feel like an attack at the male audience. It doesn't really do the whole ''men bad'' but more so the female struggles within and the perfections and imperfections of being human. Expectations, judging, anxiety, etc.

Edit/pacing, it's paced well and the edit is great, but it does tend to sag a little in the middle section, mostly a big part of the real world scenes, the car chase especially which felt like an ad. The one CGI shot also REALLY sold it as a ad because they aren't allowed to get a speck of dust, dirt or damage on the car. But it picks up fairly quick and resumes.

Production design,... work of art. It's all pink, but not the ugly pink, and not too much pink, it's so well balanced it's a treat to look at. Phenomenal.

Music, Billy Eilish's what was I made for hits all the right notes and solidifies this movie and all the deeper levels it talks about and evokes. It's perfectly emotional and contemplative. The rest of the score is great, it all fit, nothing felt out of place. Combined with the dance scenes you can't really go wrong either way.

Acting, both leads showed their best, in a Barbie movie of all things, it just shows it's so much more than the initial facade you imagine of this movie being. I honestly haven't seen that many movies with Robbie but I'm a fan. Gosling, he's great too, this character was made for him but it's also a fairly safe play for him. Everyone else perfectly fine.

Great movie, exceeded expectations even with knowing all of the praise it's gotten.