I tend to gravitate towards French cinema and the classics; the idea of watching a franchise movie about Barbie seemed mildly repellent at first. Well, I am glad I kept an open mind.

This is a riotously funny, zany meta comedy with touches of Wes Anderson and Bollywood; yet also strangely affecting. The idea of giving a plastic doll an existential crisis may seem gimmicky, yet it works. The cracks showing in the perfect façade of the perfect Barbie world are rendered through metaphors that hit the mark, full of a strange melancholia. I am usually put off by sentimentalisms: here, thankfully, they are kept at a bare minimum, even in the ending.

Overall, I am astonished this film exists at all. I imagine the authors meeting with a slightly distracted Mattel executive, being given a gazillion of dollars with the vaguest of briefs, and running away with it, to make a film that would send any corporate committee into a tailspin -- I imagine a first projection with the producers fainting and having a heart attack -- yet also make them laugh all the way to the bank. However it happened, chapeau. I am glad I went, I'll buy the dvd as well. I can see myself rewatching it to be sure I got all the micro gags and layers of meaning, but also putting it on when I need a little pick me up.