Barbie is Lazy.
The premise is good, the set design of Barbie Land is exceptional (but Lazy, because I suspect, they just exactly replicated mattel’s toys/costumes). The set of Mattel Office was great is the only original element in the film. However, they persistently pad the movie, diminishing its value.
The parody of 2001 was enjoyable, until it extended for too long, similar to the one of Saving Private Ryan. Additionally, employing these 2 well-known scenes felt lazy. If I were to ask ChatGPT about the ten most recognized scenes in cinema, these two would certainly be on the list. Including them gave the impression that the entire movie had been dumbed down, like the over-explanation of the joke.
The Jokes:
I chuckled at the beginning when Barbie upstairs when to the left and then appeared downstair on the left. Subsequently, they explained that she didn’t need to move in Barbie Land.
I also chuckled when I saw the pink white-house, but someone felt the need to point out that it was pink.
I chuckled from the high-heel foot position. Although it later became an unnecessary (cellulit and though of death was enough) and inexplicable plot point (as the human playing don’t have feet problem) .
I chuckled when the Mattel boardroom displayed all male figures, but this was later pointed out, detracting from the humor.
Padding:
The travel scene between the real world and Barbie Land occurred 3 or 4 times. The song “Because I’m Ken” was sung verbatim twice.
In a comedy, parodies can be amusing, but using iconic scenes hold up by well known music and no dialogue feels lazy. Let just use that music, redo the visual, and call it humor. Contrast it with the mattrix parody, where it work beginning to end, because of the illusion of choice joke ADDED to the scene.
The revelation of how the mom plays with Barbie is repeated twice, which is entirely unnecessary. When the mom admits she was the one playing with Barbie, there’s no need to show that scene again.
Ruth. Without knowing anything about Mattel, I knew Ruth was the creator, as soon as she is introduced (power of visual explanation of cinema). Her scene was boring and unnecessary , but I get it as a hommage. The coming back at the end, to explain who she is, with no point was totally lame. I suspect it is the real Ruth. The only explanation, is that she wanted to be in a movie. And relinquished the rights of Barbie, at the condition she could play in it. (I would be happy to be wrong, but then her overall presence make even less sense)
The Message:
Having a character explicitly tell the message of the movie is bad. Anything that requires explicit spelling out in a work of fiction does not belong in a work of fiction.
The scene with Ken doubting the 'patriarchy" of a dude and the dude reply that he 'is better at hidding it" was fun. Because it didn’t explicitly explain how pervasive patriarchy is; it showed it instead.
However, the five-minute scene of the female human defending women seemed somewhat misogynistic. It suggest that women can’t comprehend the unfair world they inhabit until someone explains it to them. It could have being fun, if a white middle aged male did that though.
In contrast, consider Wakanda ( which this film emulates): at no point does someone speak for five minutes to explicitly inform the audience about the mistreatment of black people in the real world. The closest is when the antagonist uses it as a justification for his actions. It works then, because he is the bad guy, and his good message make him more believable. In Barbie, the scene makes the female human seem less believable and patronizes the audience by telling them what to think.
Allan:
I loved Allan. Allan is the redeeming character. He represents what the movie could have been. It’s clear that he doesn’t fit in BarbieLand, and we don’t need an explicit explanation for this. His fight against Kens is awesome, and we don’t need to know his background or motivations. He just doesn’t fit. That resonate with the audience who feel the same. He is the gay character, without pointing it out, or trying to relay a message. Allan is the perfect illustration of the power of cinema.
In contrast, the character of Weird Barbie feels forced in her behavior. (the split to remind us of the backstory, is pretty lame). I get that we need that magical figure. But the backstory is unecessary. Every girl and boy would have understood who she is/come from by the name alone.
I suspect it could have been a good movie, but the need to explain everything, from the jokes to the repeated story elements to the verbatim message conveyed by the mom, significantly diluted the movie’s quality. It came across as lazy and undermined some creative aspects. The “I’m Kenough” T-shirt at the end was a highlight.
What are your thoughts on the movie?
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Surprisingly deep for a movie based on a plastic doll. It had a lot to say, not only about Barbie, but the state of modern American men as well.
Ken doesn’t know where he fits in in the world and ends up filling that void with toxicity. It’s like they held up a mirror to the Incel universe.
So you’re saying this would be a good double feature with Fight Club?
Absolutely.
I suspect it is the real Ruth. The only explanation, is that she wanted to be in a movie
You mean Rhea Perlman?!
The real Ruth died over 20 years ago, fwiw
That Ruth is dead is explicitly stated in the movie.
Loved it. One of the funniest films I’ve seen in years.
Enjoyed it so much that bought the “Kenough” shirt.
I should get it too!
The only minor complaint i have is when they showed an obscure barbie thing and the character in the movie had to say out loud: “that was a real thing.”
Or when the director had to put in her commentary saying that the barbie actor was a bad example because how pretty she is. It felt so unnecessary, if it was so bad, cut it out.What? Those moments were great. They got some of the louder laughs in the theatre.
I knew nothing about the movie when i watched it and even i knew or highly assumed that everything in the movie is a real barbie thing, so i didn’t see the point of one of the main character pointing it out. It just felt off to me. Kinda like: don’t blame us, the movie makers, it was a real thing. And i nean that specifically, not the part where they freeze framed the clothes and accessories and named them.
Like i found the barbie living in the tree house hilarious, but thanks for letting me know that it’s a real thing that you could buy, and thank god that lady knew everything and anything about barbies to tell us.
Maybe it would be funnier if the Mattel guys were barbie nerds who would point out stuff like that. Idk, it didn’t make the movie bad or worse, it just feels dumbed down, for no reason.
I thought the pacing of things was fine and didn’t really feel like too many scenes overstayed their welcome. The 2001 opener I thought was pretty great. A few things did stick out a bit for me, though.
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The fantastical version of reality. A spelled-out theme of the movie is how hard it is being a woman, which Mom-lady really lays out for the Barbies. It makes some sense because the Barbies clearly don’t know what real is like. The trouble is they say it instead of showing it. We don’t see Mom-lady having any particular problems specific to her being a woman in the movie’s world. The audience is supposed to nod along approvingly because she’s saying things that many real women feel, but she’s also from some surreal version of Earth where people in gaudy cowboy outfits can wander into a school and talk to the kids and steal library books and they don’t get tackled by security. We really needed some scenes with some biting misogyny to give that speech some impact.
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Pitting the Kens against each other seemed convoluted. Ultimately the solution to the crisis is… voter suppression? Really?
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The old film montage near the end seemed really gratuitous.
all very good point. I didnt get why mom human was so forgetable, but you are right, she has no trouble in the real world, beside with her daughter.
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Most women who wear heels all the time do have feet problems.
I liked that the movie made some more subtle observations besides the main themes that were very in your face. When Ken was commenting about how much attention he got and that there was not no hint of violence, and Barbie responded that she did.
It was also nice that she didn’t have makeup at the end but she’s perhaps not a great example of an average person (which was pointed out for humor).
But do we see the mom with High Heel? I dont recall, but it would indeed enrich the joke instead of just pointing at it
You are right the suble violence against women theme was well done in that scene. And it work. Too bad they went a less subtle road later on
Lots of GM advertising, it was borderline distracting.
Ryan’s performance was worth the price of admission alone. I reccomend the film on that.
From a story POV, as seen by me, I saw Barbieland as a deliberate mirror to the real world, but the gender roles are flipped, everything then stems from that perspective. I never owned a Barbie so my perspective is biased to seeing the world as a metaphor, maybe it just is that way.
For starters, I think Ken is the protagonist of this film, as he is the one that goes through the journey of character growth. Where Barbie and the Barbie’s are pushing to go back to the status quo, ken and the kens are pushing to go forward (misguided as they may be). I joked when I got home that Barbie is the antagonist of her own movie. If you see Ken as the protagonist, his character growth is facing gender equality in himself and the world he finds himself in, Barbie is the narrative enemy to that. The otherway doesn’t exist however, Babrie’s existential character growth of who she is in the world is never hindered by anyone narratively except herself.
For social commentary, just as the world’s are a mirror I saw the social causes too as a mirror. The message is not good. Ken is shallow and wants change for petty reasons, both criticisms leveled at feminism. The solution the film presents to gender inequality is, “don’t push change might happen over time”, the ken’s might even get a judge one day. There is a joke that the right always critises social messages for going too far, and the left will always say it doesn’t go far enough… So I don’t say Barbie celebrates conservatives for being a limiting factor on social change, but the film does celebrate conservatives for limiting social change… This relies on me seeing Ken’s cause as the alagory to feminism, being that I saw the world as a mirror, it was natural to me.
I didn’t see the point in the CEO’s except to present corporate executives in a more sympathetic light. Allen was wasted potential, he seemed meta aware that could have been fun to explore, he was funny though.
I should say, I was willing to meet Barbie wherever it wanted to go. If it wanted to be a fun romp of “the Barbiemobile is broken, hijinks ensue in fixing it” I would have turned my brain off and went for the ride. If the film wanted to purely examine Barbie’s place in the world, but with jokes, I would have met it there and viewed it through that lens instead. The film instead has the real world social commentary of “patriarchy bad” but with jokes, so viewed it through that lens. Jokes where ok, the message was meh, Ryan was phenomenal, go see it
Totally agree on Ryan Gosling’s performance although I saw both Ken and Barbie as the protagonists when I watched it. Where they both acted as mirrors of each other until the end when they meet in the middle.
Almost like a Man (B+K) vs Self (B+K) conflict as opposed to a Man (B) vs Man (K) style conflict.
It was fun though a bit too preachy towards the end. I’d consider myself a feminist but it was getting a bit annoying at parts and a bit dated relative to contemporary views of gender studies.
The performances and production was top. Loved the Mattel representation, Will Ferrel was stealing every scene. Overall I enjoyed it though it’s quite forgettable.
Yeah Will Ferrel was good. Almost no complain about the Mattel side
After they went to “the real world”, it became clear the movie was about 2 fantasy worlds. That helped frame my analysis for the rest of the movie
Best barbie is barbie girl by aqua. Everything else is forgettable
Didnt they use a very similar music at the beginning? I swear, at one moment, I was reminded of Aqua
It’s at the end’s credits. A version made by Nicky Minaj.
One of the songs (maybe the one over the end credits?) interpolated/sampled the main melody from Barbie Girl, it might’ve been used elsewhere in the movie too
