Barbie

Barbie is a British-American film in the comedy-romance-drama genre released in 2023, directed by Greta Gerwig and written by Noah Baumbach. Based on Mattel’s famous Barbie brand, this is the first film about a live-action Barbie doll after more than 40 computer-animated films and television series have been made. Barbie movies stars Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, telling the story of the two doll characters’ journey of self-discovery in both Barbieland and the human world through the perspective of existential crisis. Besides, the film also features a supporting cast including America Ferrera, Michael Cera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman and Will Ferrell.

I was honestly doubting this movie at first, but surprisingly I find myself really liking it quite a lot.
Set in the colorful Barbie Land, stereotypical Barbie lives a perfect life every single day. One day, she shows signs of being…a human. She decides to go to the Real World to find the cure in order to make herself perfect again.
Barbie is a fun movie that has surprisingly plenty of heartwarming moments and good messages to offer. The set designs are eye-catching and on point as well. Both Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling nailed their parts, but it is Gosling who mostly shines.
Something I’m pretty sure of is this movie getting nominated for the Oscars, most likely for Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and probably Best Song for Billie Eilish. That song is beautiful and it’s stuck in my head right now.

Barbie Plot Summary

Movie Barbie (starring Margot Robbie) and her other doll friends live in Barbieland, a matriarchal society with different versions of Barbies and Kens. There are also discontinued doll models, which in the human world are outcasts due to their unusual characteristics. While Kens spend their days playing on the beach as their profession, Barbies hold prestigious jobs in science, politics, media, and more. Ken Beach (Ken for short, played by Ryan Gosling) only feels happy when he is with Barbie and desires a closer relationship, but she rejects him because she has other fun and priorities. love female friends more.

One evening at a dance party, Barbie suddenly becomes conscious of death. The next morning, Barbie woke up with bad breath, cellulite, and flat feet, which disrupted her usual routine. She finds Weird Barbie, a deformed doll. Weird Barbie tells Barbie that she must find the child who is playing with her in the human world to cure her afflictions. Ken sneaks into the convertible to join Barbie on the journey and she reluctantly agrees.

Once at Venice Beach, Barbie punches a man for groping her, leading to her and Ken’s brief arrest. Wary of their presence, Mattel’s CEO ordered their arrest. Barbie stalks a teenage girl named Sasha, whom Barbie believes possesses her, and who later criticizes her for promoting unrealistic beauty standards. In a distraught state, Barbie finds Gloria, an employee at Mattel and Sasha’s mother, who unintentionally caused her existential crisis after Gloria began playing with Sasha’s old Barbie toys in an affair. similar situation. The Mattel Company lures Barbie into a toy box for reproduction, but she escapes with the help of Gloria and Sasha, and the three then head to Barbieland with Mattel executives in pursuit.

Meanwhile, Ken is gaining awareness of the patriarchy and feels respected for the first time. Returning to pre-Barbie Barbieland, he convinces the other Kens to gain control of the land, and the Barbies are indoctrinated with submissive ideologies, such as being docile girlfriends, housewives, and maids. Barbie arrives and can’t convince everyone to go back to the way they were. She became depressed, but Gloria spoke about society’s conflicting expectations of women, restoring Barbie’s confidence.

With the support of Sasha, Weird Barbie, Allan, and the discontinued doll models, Gloria’s speech saves the other Barbies from ideological poisoning. They then manipulate the Kens into attacking each other, distracting them from the male-supremacist sanctity that appears in Barbieland’s constitution, and the Barbies regain power. Now having experienced systemic oppression themselves, the Barbies are determined to right the wrongs of their past society, insisting on better treatment of Kens and all doll models who were once outcasts. cancel.

Barbie and Ken apologize to each other, admitting their mistakes. Ken laments that he has no purpose without Barbie, so she encourages him to find an autonomous identity. Barbie, still uncertain about her own identity, meets the spirit of Mattel co-founder and creator of the Barbie doll, Ruth Handler, who explains that Barbie’s story has no ending. Her fixed connection and ever-evolving history transcended her own starting points.

Barbie decides to become human and will return to the real world, she is bid farewell by the Barbies, Kens and Mattel executives. Some time later, Gloria, her husband, and Sasha took Barbie, now named “Barbara Handler”, to see her first gynecologist.

Barbie Cast