Summary
Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, comes to the real world and learns about the manosphere.
I was excited for this film for months before it came out and I have to say it delivered in every way I could ever have wanted it to. This is probably my film of the summer if not film of the year.
I think this film did everything right it was funny but also soulful, it was very timely and relevant but also not overly preachy, though plenty will disagree with that, it had the idea of Barbie be silly but also mean something in terms of the world of the film. In terms of tonal balance this film was sublime.
I thought the trip to the real world was inspired, and I thought seeing Barbie have to deal with becoming in a sense defective and seeking out a journey of self-exploration was a very relatable concept for a lot of people. I liked the sheer horror that Barbie had when she came to the real world and saw how women are treated and had her naivety shattered, the manosphere stuff with Ken, played by Ryan Gosling, was perhaps the film at its most grating but even then it saved it with good jokes and commentary. I do believe that the Andew Tate esque manosphere stuff will age the film horribly in years to come, but I can excuse it as it worked really well to give the film a villain that felt earned rather than doing oh the evil toy company is now going to invade Barbie land and enslave them or some contrived thing like that.
Overall, I genuinely think this was a treat of cinema this year.
5/5
Pros.
It is funny
It is timely
It is surprisingly deep
Robbie is fantastic
It is well paced
Cons.
None
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Another Millennial Reviewer 