I was largely disappointed with Barbie and only sat through it in the hope that it would finally live up to its hype. When the final credits rolled the only thing that came to mind was "So that was it?".

The Barbie Land set design is sometimes incredible and worth a star alone, but the plot and execution of the movie were a huge let down. After a promising start with a few chuckles, it becomes bogged down with negativity and cynicism trying to pass as humor in the completely messy and manic second and third acts. The obnoxious whiny dialogue really lets it down.

I'm usually a fan of these fantasy meet reality movies based on iconic characters from popular culture and found the more child friendly Peter Rabbit, Paddington and Smurfs movies to be more mature, coherent, very funny and touching for all ages. Expectations were the same for Barbie, but none of those feelings really surfaced. I do understand on reflection that Barbie was aimed mostly at older viewers (which was probably unfair on the many cinema going younger children), however the attempts at emotion it was trying to achieve for that demographic towards the end felt far too forced, syrupy and unconvincing.

Two movies which came to mind while watching Barbie that have some parallels - especially during the LA escapade scenes - were The Brady Bunch movie and Very Brady Sequel from the 1990s. These are more than 25 years older, but are funnier, do a more effective job with the "real world" satire and unlike Barbie are worthy of a rewatch. I think it's time to dig those out again and be entertained.