LIKES:

The Setting: -It feels like a Barbie world in real life and captures the energy of the doll in all glory.

-Plenty of accessories, the plastic feeling, and the toy like atmosphere with real life people is totally captured and super fun.

-The real world is fine and does the job of acting as the second world, but it's really Barbie land that excels in the feeling of Mattel bringing it to life.

The Plot's Originality: -Yes, much of it is predictable and familiar, but there is more to it than meets the eye -Barbie's plot is one part comedy, one part discovery, and one part political philosophy that sort of gives you a variety I wasn't expecting.

-It may feel a little out there, but points for trying to be different and more advanced than many other stories have attempted.

The Acting: -McKinnon may have been used too much, but I loved her in this film for the way her weirdness works for weird Barbie. Quirky, fun, a little bold, but that SNL line delivery that really works for delivering lines.

-Rae is fine for when she is on screen. She's got a few dynamics that her monotone delivery works with what you got, but to get top bill/first bill doesn't make sense to me -Ryan Gosling works well int eh roles, and for his direction, a supporting actor role nomination feels good for me. He's clumsy, funny, hardcore silly, and it works for the ridiculous nature and tone of the movie.

-And for Margot Robbie, the woman continues to knock the ball out of the park for how amazing she fits the role. She's sparkly, quirky, but has a range that she just brings. Gerwig brought some new elements out in terms of representation thought maybe not the Oscar performance like some call for.

The Comedy At Times: -The movie does have general jokes that worked very well for me, well timed moments that were perfect for breaking the moment.

-Satire, to a point, was amazing at times at how much fun they had with certain concepts. The design of Barbie dolls that failed, or the fact of fashion drawing eyes, and even certain trends that we love. It was clever, balanced, and had this timing delivery that worked.

-Some of the Ken lines were funny, the fact that I was like classic Patrick from SpongeBob was very fun, especially when sometimes paired with one of the other style of jokes.

-And Helen Mirren's narration was the funniest component for me. Her dry delivery, the classy sass, and the fact the woman just sells the lines was my favorite part in terms of laughs and wished there had been more.

-As such, the comedy did work at times for me.

The Pace: -It's two hours long, but for the most part doesn't feel it and that goes to the fun pacing.

-Barbie starts out fun, exciting, and pops into the adventure with a lot of energy.

-Then that energy sort of stays, but hunkers down a bit, never losing the whimsy, but finding a means to feel entertaining and somewhat engaging.

-That is the superior quality of this movie compared to the other big one, that engaging pace and just having fun.

The Music: -By far, the music is what works the best for me in this movie and tells so much and brings so much energy in the track list.

-The songs from the radio and the past work well, comedic devices that were quite honestly some of the best jokes for me with several of the characters.

-Other songs are fun musical numbers that work, dance numbers full of pop vibe, or later a true stage show musical that had the theatrics and jazz of a stage show.

-As for the new songs that were made for the movie, they were my favorite. Remixes of Barbie girl, an exposition song and reprise, and a few other numbers just have so much character that it really added points for me in terms of just how much fun Barbie can be.

The Message: -There is a very deep message to this movie, and to be honest... I did enjoy this part of Gerwig's writing.

-It's deep, has character development and really drives home a lot of social commentary and trends under the microscope about human qualities. I liked how it was built in, and the dialog to embrace it, and just wished this movie had kept that in line with me.

DISLIKES:

The Fun Vibes Take a Detour: -I just said the pace was good and there was an energy, but... the fun part did take a detour the further you went into the film.

-Gerwig is a very "unique" writer and once she got her hooks into her political writing, there were times where the first part of the film's fun was lost to very agenda heavy writing.

-I t felt a bit forced for me, and I longed for more numbers, a little adventure, and a little less banter/beating the dead horse that the film went.

-Throw in the darker aspects of the agenda, and losing that fun at the beginning was not what I would have liked to see for most of the movie.

Gerwig's Hyper Agenda -I get this is who she is, but I've seen movies where that side of her is toned down and we get a much deeper character drama.

-But Barbie... Barbie pulls no punches and berates you with very in your face, no holds bar, rather excessive and in some cases insulting humor that I got tired of.

-There were times where that line was perfect and the story quality maximized, but most of the movie failed that balance and she did not seem sorry for what I felt was a tad too toxic for my liking.

-If you are a fan of this type of hyper writing, then you are in great shape, but for those like me who are tired of movies becoming agenda venting, this movie is going to lose points for being annoying and simplistic and losing the creative spark.

The Stupidity: -The movie has a smart writer and so seeing so much ridiculous silliness in one movie to contradict the smart writing didn't accomplish much for me.

-Will Ferrell's direction was one of these moments where he was a straight up idiot, saying weird things that were more awkward and uncomfortable than funny for me. His little montage was just really dumb and to the point it stuck out a bit too much.

-Meanwhile, Ken's handling was fine being a moron, but Gerwig's political writing sort of didn't do much for me as rather than improving and becoming elevated like his counterpart, sort of grew toxic level stupid.

-That excessiveness again just doesn't work when I saw those sparkling moments that show where everything comes together, instead of feeling like an adult version of a Disney Channel Original movie.

The Character Usage is odd: -The movie is trying to balance a lot of names and characters and it only works on that half of the time.

-Barbie has too many characters, and some of the people I expected to have more time, were limited than I anticipated and quite honestly a political tool.

-They do their work, but, it's just missing balance and full use and I think it's relying too much on a sequel and people just happy with being comedic props and line spewers than anything else.

The Story Is All Over The Place: -My fellow reviewers are right, it's a weird story and it is all over the place.

-This might give it the unique twist, but Barbie's tale is a jumble of lots of different feels and theatrics that sort of work together, but feel messily put together.

-One level is like I said fun, bright, and feels like a dance party meets on stage musical that works to an extent.

-The second then becomes this dive into the psyche mixed with somehow comedically stupid gimmicks to try and keep entertaining going -Third then goes metaphysical and really deep, and it kind of works, but then goes really odd and sort of trippy, to a way I'm still trying to process.

-Gerwig's writing is always deeper and more complex, but this might have tried to be a bit too ambitious for its own good for me and felt just so scrambled and very much in your face for plot telling.

The VERDICT: Barbie is a venue that I really did have some fun with and was surprised by the unexpected things it had to offer and the clever writing I had hoped would shine in. A geek like me knowing the references, appreciating the pokes to it, and the fun timing of some well-written lines that had me laughing in the theater. I loved the acting, loved the set, and just loved a lot of the vibes of the less agenda writing really worked for me and will appeal to many of the general group. And the music, whew, really loved it and the energy and storytelling it did which was very good for me. But the movie did not appeal to me in that Gerwig seemed to reach too high for being unique and "elevated" leading to moments that just don't appeal to a reviewer like me. The detour of fun for very politically heavy writing was probably my least favorite aspect, losing the killer vibes and balanced fun and humor with a very polarized way of thinking was not my cup of tea. In addition the story elements and character usage felt a bit jumbled, scrambled, shallow, and having too many character moments to really show off Gerwig's better writing. Thus, when balancing this out, my score for this movie is that it's a theater worthy film for a lot of groups and dates. The score is:

Adventure/Comedy/Fantasy: 7.5-8.0 Movie Overall: 6.5-7.0.