My husband asked me to compare this to something else to ally, and my first thought was Elf. In these ways it lives up to one of the greatest movies of all time - both are hilarious, have wonderful musical numbers, heartwarming, will make you tear up, complicated parental storylines, unlikely character bonding, and whimsical visual tie-ins/world-building + bonus of both having Will Ferrel to boot.

I loved the soundtrack - the Lizzo song being a fun 4th wallesque/narrator-y way to introduce Barbieland.

The pace was even - I never felt it was moving too quickly or wanting a scene to wrap up.

Some more unexpected show-stealers were Simu Liu and Arianna Greenblatt.

The haters are simply mad this is a film that is self-aware and for a new generation.