It's a satiric fantasy comedy based on the Barbie doll created in 1959. The film is set in a fantasy "Barbieland" and Southern California in the modern age.

There are multiple Barbies and multiple Kens. Margot Robbie, Kate McKinnon, and Issa Rae are the most important Barbies. The most recognizable Kens are Ryan Gosling and Simu Liu. The plot, such as it is, initially features Stereotypical Barbie (Robbie) in a matriarchal Barbieland where Kens struggle for relevance and autonomy. However, Barbie begins to channel aspects of the "real world" of her original owner, and Weird Barbie (McKinnon) sends her to Southern California to engage her human connection. There she meets Gloria (America Ferrera) and her daughter, Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt). Barbie also encounters CEO (Will Ferrell) and Ruth (Rhea Perlman), the inventor of the Barbie doll.

The film follows the adventures of Barbie (Robbie) and Ken (Gosling) in California and their response to the patriarchy they find in the real world. This patriarchy has implications for life in Barbieland when they return. Everything happily resolves in the end.

I was frankly disappointed. There were genuinely amusing spots, but not the laugh-out-loud sequences mentioned by some reviewers. Robbie and Gosling are good with a thin script. "Barbie" is cotton candy feminism in support of a brand.