Barbie (2023) -

*I wrote this review about three times and I'm afraid it's still a bit of a ramble.

I didn't go in to watching this expecting it to amaze me, but to only provide a few basic giggles. I suppose I'd thought that it would be too juvenile and aimed at teens and tweens, but actually it was very good and the more I recalled of it, the more I wanted to see it again.

There was so much nostalgia throughout this film, even for me as a gay man, who as a child learned that he needed to catch his sister in a good mood if he wanted to play Barbie with her and ultimately ended up playing with his 'Star Wars' figures a lot instead.

The little touches and the interesting special editions of the doll that popped up throughout were cleverly used and some of them easy to remember from trips to the toy shop and the times that I used to sneak in to my sisters room to play with her collection whilst she was out.

Add to that a great deal of humour in various styles and it would be hard for even the most masculine, anti-feminist not to find something to laugh at in this film, despite the fact that it took the mick out of men in general.

Yes it did make a point of empowering women of all backgrounds, which it was always going to do, but I felt that it did it without making such a harsh attack on men that the average male would feel threatened by it or take the jokes with anything but a pinch of salt and there is always the hope that some people would learn from it.

Essentially it was just parodying the way that women have been treated over the years and showing that treatment up for the stupid behaviour that it was and sadly still is by exploring how a matriarchy might effect men and the ways that they might react.

The general production of the film came across like a cross between 'Elf' (2003), 'The Lego Movie' (2014), 'Big' (1988) and so many others of that oeuvre.

All of it, but specifically Barbieland was brilliantly designed and constructed, colourful and fun, with a great soundtrack and some real laugh out loud moments, a lot of which were quite adult. And while the majority of those jokes might go over the heads of a younger audience, I could see why it was given a 12 rating. The adventure had an emotional depth that might not grip younger kids.

With regards to the cast, Margot Robbie was great in her role of stereotypical Barbie. I loved the scene where "Ugly Betty" (America Ferrera as Gloria) was applying Margot's make up as it seemed so ironic, but I'm afraid that Barb's leading man Ken really stole the limelight, especially with his song "I'm Just Ken", which has featured very heavily on my iTunes lately.

Ryan Gosling was superb as the plasticised blonde and blue eyed man, although at times I wasn't sure whether his toned abs might not actually be a plastic prosthetic, because they weren't totally natural looking.

However, I think that I've found a new appreciation for Ryan after the disaster that was 'La La Land' (2016), because he was just so good in this role. It was another irony that he stood out so much in a film about Barbie, which repeatedly referred to Ken as just an accessory.

I also loved Rhea Perlman in her casting. The usually brassy little lady seemed perfect in her role and I thought that she could have performed Helen Mirren's Narrator part as well, because, for the amount Helen actually said, it didn't really need another celebrity and Rhea's character would have leant itself to the voiceover easily.

"Weird" Barbie, the doll who was played with too much, performed by Kate McKinnon was fantastic and an absolutely great addition to the story.

I also liked Michael Cera's character Allan, it wasn't anything very new for him, but delivered a different kind of comic relief with his subtlety and non presence.

I did however feel that Will Ferrell had some typical Ferrell moments that were a bit daft and could have been left out, but in the end even he was appropriate in his part of the ditsy Mattel CEO as well.

There really was an amalgamation of comedic stylings, which I felt would make it appealing to almost anyone.

I'm not sure that I caught all of the cameos dotted throughout, but there were some definite surprises and I looked forward to trying to spot them all when I saw it again.

I did notice that there was a lot of British actors among the cast though. At least three of them were from the TV series 'Sex Education' (2019-23).

Not that I'm saying that all those Brits were a bad thing, but it was odd that they were mostly playing Americans. I would assume that a lot of it was filmed in the UK, making it easier to use them.

Ultimately I enjoyed the inclusion of all of the British cast, 3 of whom that I've had the pleasure to work with myself.

I specifically liked Connor Swindells as Aaron Dinkins. After his roles in 'Sex Education' and 'SAS: Rogue Heroes' (2022-) I felt that this was yet another example of his diversity.

And on the topic of diversity, I really appreciated that people from all walks of life were represented in the film, but not made a fuss of or shoved in my face to prove a point that the film and Barbieland was an educated place. I spotted the Wheelchair Barbie amongst the rest, but they didn't include her in the story just to tick a box and I was glad of that, because I'm tired of films trying too hard to be politically correct and compromising the end result to achieve it. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't have been happy to see her play a key role if it had been relevant to the story of course.

On my second viewing of this one I felt that there was also a more subtle message about not taking people for granted and another about the fact that you can't stop things from changing. I think it was those ideas that mellowed out the overall strong female empowerment and equal rights message that rightly seemed to be the primary element of the film, because you couldn't help but feel for Ken, whilst also empathising with Barbie.

I also remembered that I had thought the end montage to be somewhat lacking in power and I think that was due to the clarity and rush of the images that went by. I would have liked it to have been a bit brighter and certainly visually clearer.

As a whole though it was a real pleasure to watch and left me with a smile on my face. I'm pretty sure that I will end up with it on DVD, because it was one of those films that will always make me feel a joy to watch, which I believe the world needs more of.

838.49/1000.