BARBIE (2023) ** ½

In Barbieland, everything is Barbie… especially if you’re Barbie (Margot Robbie).  Sadly, Barbie isn’t feeling so Barbie.  Her perfectly heeled feet have become flat, she begins experiencing thoughts of death, and even worse… Morning breath!  She then ventures into the “real world” to find out what’s happening, and naturally, Ken (Ryan Gosling) tags along to ruin everything. 

I wasn’t exactly expecting Barbie to be a movie about existential crisis and gender politics, but then again, right from the opening 2001 homage, it’s apparent director Greta Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach are thinking… ahem… outside the box.  It’s all kinda cute and kinda clever, although many of points the filmmakers make are directly on the nose (then again, it is a kids movie after all) or feel like they have been regurgitated from any number of YouTube videos on the “problematic” doll. 

It's also kind of weird there’s all this outcry about Gerwig and Robbie not being nominated for Oscars.  I mean, we are talking about a movie based on a toy.  It ain’t Shakespeare.  (I did find it odd that America Ferrera was nominated.)  Robbie is cute and sweet and all, but if anything, she deserved a nom for The Wolf of Wall Street and not this.  That said, the movie definitely deserves all the costume and production design awards as all the Barbieland scenes look and feel like a Dream House come to life. 

Gosling is amusing as Ken who goes into a manly mid-life crisis once he learns about “patriarchy”.  While it’s an amusing performance, it’s not exactly laugh out loud funny.  As the CEO of Mattel who has a conniption when he learns Barbie has entered the real world, Will Ferrell is just… you know… Will Ferrell.

Overall, I liked Barbie more than I expected.  That said, it goes on too long, especially during the “Battle of the Kens” sequence, and Barbie’s meeting with her “Creator”.  Then again, I’m a forty-five-year-old dude, so what do I know?  As movies based on toys go, it’s certainly better than your average Transformers sequel. 

All in all, Barbie is pretty Barbie… Mostly.