I saw this movie expecting a bit of fun with perhaps some moral messages and a few jokes thrown in for the grown-ups. Perhaps pitched slightly older than the pixar films. What I got was a movie that had me laughing in some spots while other spots had me thinking, "what on earth am I watching."

I know Barbie better than you're average middle age guy since I've been buying special edition Barbie dolls for years for my (now adult) daughter who collects them. The movie did a great job of showing some of the classic outfits and play sets that would have been recognised by the fans so the nostalgia fuel was definitely there. Cameos from unexpected stars were also a treat.

There were some legitimately hilarious moments. Such as the quip about N Sync which gave me a smile - given Ryan Gosling and Justin Timberlake's shared history (they both starred in the Mickey Mouse club show - plus the long running rumours about Gosling almost becoming a member of rival band Backstreet Boys). A huge laugh in the cinema came from Narrator Helen Mirren's quip about casting. The casting itself was great, especially Robbie and Gosling who were both superb in their respective roles.

Other than the humourous moments, there were also moments that were uncomfortable or downright depressing. It's not uncommon to have moments like that in comedy movies or kids movies. In this movie though, they out-weighed the lighter moments. The marketing certainly didn't lead me to expect a movie that would leave me feeling depressed afterward. Despite being based on one of the most popular toys of all time, it's definitely not a movie that was made for kids.

There has always been controversy around Barbie's awkward relationship with feminism. The movie attempted to address equality by showing a Barbieland where females dominated and males like Ken were treated unfairly. Then contrasting that with the real world where men dominate and women are treated unfairly. It's a legitimate message and I expected it to build up to a conclusion showing that neither should be the case and everyone should be equal. They attempted that, but pretty much glossed over it before rushing on to the ending which was one of the film's biggest ??? Moments. The speeches about patriarchy were valid but were also dragged out repeatedly over the last half of the film in such a heavy handed manner that many would have tuned out from that message. Meanwhile, any attempt at promoting equality was undermined by every single man I remember in the film being portrayed as adorably failing at being macho, or completely stupid. In most cases both. Of course the barbies were barbies but the real world women were portrayed as being regular, intelligent women. Not cartoonish buffoons like all the men were.

On balance, I can now understand all the comparisons between this movie an Oppenheimer. The difference is that your average viewer would watch Oppenheimer expecting a lot of it to feel oppressive and depressing.