Barbie (2023) : Movie Review -

Barbie Review: Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie is a breezy, funny, pinky, and girly Ride Into Barbieland. These four soft adjectives are enough to describe the Barbie movie. Greta Gerwig takes us into Barbie land with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling to deliver a possible fantasy that we all dreamed of as children or as adults. Being a boy, I couldn't have a Barbie doll in my childhood, but I did have a close look at her with my female cousins playing with her, doing make-up, dress-up, and all the girly stuff. And I don't think any boy is unaware of Barbie and Ken, even if he hasn't played with them in childhood. It's a fascination for us and a dream come true for girls. I am not at all hesitant to admit that if I were a girl, I would have enjoyed this movie more than I actually did as a boy. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it, and that's more than enough for today's social media gender ego system.

Barbie begins with the inception of Barbie and how she appeared on earth (if we call it that in this fantasy movie). This very scene is a lot of fun when you see Margot Robbie appearing in black and white checks in one piece and little girls breaking their dolls into pieces. Soon, we are transported into Barbie Land, where all Barbies are living happily. All the women are self-confident, working in top positions, successful, and enjoying life to the fullest, while all Kens are jobless and do nothing but try to mingle with barbies. Our stereotypical Barbie (Robbie) suddenly begins to dysfunction and sense the morality of human life. She has to travel to the human world to find out who the child is who is calling her to be there. Obviously, Ken (Gosling) forces his company on her. However, things go wrong for Barbie in the real world, where she realises she is not loved anymore, whereas Ken finds a motto of patriarchy. Ken returns and takes over Barbieland by persuading other Kens and brainwashing the rest of the babies there. Here, distraught Barbie finds Gloria (America Ferrera), a Mattel employee, who is the catalyst of her existential crisis. Gloria began playing with her daughter Sasha's (Ariana Greenblatt) Barbie toys while experiencing her own identity crisis, inadvertently transferring her concerns to Stereotypical Barbie. Gloria restores Barbie, and then they take off on a mission to bring back all Barbies.

It's been a while since we have seen a good-budget comedy movie, so Barbie certainly ends the dry spell. I mean, this one is a fun ride from start to end. It may be a little childish-oh, that's a bad word-let's say child-friendly, but it's damn funny. The humour is girlish, yes, but I liked it too. From Zack Snyder, The Godfather, cautionary note on Margot's casting to slapstick one-liners, Barbie is such a colourful comedy. It does not look like an intelligent film; rather, it stages itself as a crazy comedy. That's one of the points I'd say went wrong in the climax. These characters aren't supposed to be smart, but they intend to be when it comes to ending the show. Why? Pixar's Toy Story had the simple but subtle philosophy that a toy should be a toy for a lifetime. It may have many owners, but its job is to stick to them and be loyal, because that's why we humans love them. Barbie challenges this universally accepted theory and goes against the tide. Now, whether it's good or bad, I leave that choice to you since my personal opinion isn't very affirmative about this theory.

Barbie was meant to be a career-defining role for Margot Robbie, and she made sure that you'd remember her forever as Barbie. I kept looking for a single frame where she would not look pretty, and I couldn't find it for 110 minutes. I melted, man. Ryan Gosling's Ken is the funniest character in the whole movie. That cute flirting, those reluctant expressions, jealousy, arrogance, and at last self-discovery-this man has lived the character. Kate McKinnon's weird Barbie appears for a short time but serves enough. Other babies, including Issa Rae, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackay, Dua Lipa, Sharon Rooney, Ana Cruz Kayne, Ritu Arya, and Nicola Coughlan, are all gorgeous. On the other hand, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans, Simu Liu, Rob Brydon, Ncuti Gatwa, and John Cena as Kens add fine support. Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, and Will Ferrell pass the time well, while Rhea Perlman's cameo is blasting. The biggest cheer in the Barbie movie came for America Ferrera's monologue, which describes the struggle and victory of feminism. Ariana Greenblatt steals the show in the first, and the rest of the cast has done well.

Made on a budget of $145 million, Barbie is a lavish big screen entertainer, as the production design makes sure you feel the fantasy right. Those fakish items could have been excluded, but having them there is kind of fun in itself. Who's to blame? Rodrigo Prieto's camera does the talking with close-ups and long shots of Barbie and Ken. Barbie does not have any loo breaks, courtesy of Nick Houy's superb editing, and the music is lovable. Some people often say that a female director and female lead's pair is something else, and I have to accept that Barbie could have been a lot less underwhelming without Greta Gerwig. This woman has made a world that is so adorable and so rummy. A few flaws are there in the script and the characters, but since we are not discussing an artistic masterpiece of cinema, let's Chuck that discussion. Let's enjoy this pinky and girly entertainer, which is sure to take female audiences by storm and leave a good enough impact on men too. Not to forget, who's writing it.

RATING - 6/10*