Why didn't I love 'Barbie'? I mean it's a brilliantly shot film. It's got a great Ryan Gosling, a very good Margot Robbie. Its heart is in the right place; its message is a good, politically correct, one. Its pacing is fine. Its not too long. So then, what was wrong?

And the answer is (I guess) ... the story. The plot. While it's far from terrible it was also far from great. And - dare I say this? - it was at times confusing. Confusing in that I did not always understand the characters' motives. Why were these dolls thinking what they were thinking, or doing what they were doing? And yes I know we're talking about fantasy here, so we can't be, or shouldn't be, ascribing real human wants and desirers to these ... dolls. But the film's message is directed to humans, as played out through dolls, and so knowing the dolls wants and desires is not completely out of place.

Because 'Barbie Dolls' are manufactured in different kinds of outfits (nurse, pilot, soldier) the film's Barbie-Land heroine, the 'Stereotypical Barbie' (Robbie), believes that real women are equally represented in / by human society. When she learns that is not the case, she travels to the 'real-world' to (a) learn more and (b) help out. What follows is a mish-mash of Barbie-Land male dolls (Gosling) awakening to the benefits of the macho life while its female dolls acquiesce to male demands. That is, until they are awakened by the return of Barbie and some real-world friends. And real-world women's-rights lecturing.

At least I think that was what was going on. I say that because while watching the film it had nothing resembling this clarity. So I guess, consciously or otherwise, I thought about it afterward and came up with that theory.

My way of saying (a) I could very well be wrong and (b) You might come up with an altogether different interpretation.

And I guess that's the answer. Clarity or lack of. That's why I didn't love it.