Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig, stars the dazzling Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and America Ferrera. The movie of the year has debuted and already has caused quite an uproar for all. With its enchanting dance breaks, soundtrack, and star studded cast, Barbie has quickly become a cult classic.
Barbie follows the story of Barbie living her very monotonous life that she seems to enjoy. She wakes up every morning, floats down to her car, and greets the other Barbies. Barbie goes about her day to day with Ken, when all of a sudden she begins to have thoughts about death. This is very startling as Barbie starts to experience things very out of the ordinary such as not being able to fly and flat feet. This tragedy calls for Barbie to visit the expert on such weirdness, Weird Barbie. Weird Barbie advises Barbie to go to the real world in order to fix her issues and reconnect with her human. This way Barbie would confront the problem head on. As per usual, Ken follows Barbie on her journey to the real world through space, the mountains, and the ocean. Barbie and Ken land in Los Angeles where Barbie sets out to find her human Sasha and Ken makes his way to the patriarchy. Sasha isn’t too keen on Barbie at first but then her mother convinces her to help Barbie run away from the awful corporate men at Mattel. Ken runs around L.A picking up on the role of men in society and wishes to bring it back to Barbieland. Sasha, her mother, Alan, and Barbie all attempt to save Barbieland from the terror of all the Kens and reconnect with their inner girls.
Barbie has been most popular in the recent months for its creative set design and cinematography. The movie’s cinematographer is Rodrigo Prieto, a renowned Mexican cinematographer, lended his skills to this project. Prieto created the set to replicate a toy backdrop that would make sense for a place that Barbie dolls live in. The amount of pink and other vibrant colors around Barbieland perfect encapsulates what it means to be a Barbie. The homes in the movie are modeled after dollhouses that have open floor plans that are filled with toy-like furniture. The homes featured in the movie are so significant that Architectural Digest did a piece reviewing them. In terms of lighting and coloring, Barbie is strictly positive warm tone lighting. The primary light is meant to replicate the sun and perfectly mirrors the genuine warmth that comes from Barbieland.
Barbie isn’t solely about a simple doll. The movie dives deeper into the meaning of girlhood and society as a whole. Barbie is an ode to every little girl that was inspired by her greatness and many achievements. Little girls across the world have seen Barbie time and time again in many professions. This allows for little girls to truly see that they could be or do whatever they want. Barbie also explores the idea of a society ruled by one gender, women versus men. Barbieland was ruled by the Kens chaotically and it was not satisfactory for the Kens when it was run by Barbies. Gerwig conveys the message that in order for life to function in a harmonious way, there needs to be a mixture of ideas and balance. Barbie does a great job of showing us that Barbie is more than just a plastic doll, but a social icon that has been inspiring generations of girls for decades.
Barbie is a stunning film that makes all viewers crack a good laugh and cry all at the same time. The soundtrack includes original songs by Dua Lipa, Tame Impala, and Lizzo (just to name a few). This is a movie jam packed with special appearances from Dua Lip herself, Michael Cera, and Rhea Perlman. Most of the cast participate in a number of dance breaks with visually appealing costumes and songs. Barbie has done extremely well in the box office racking up a whopping $1.407 billion dollars. Its score on Rotten Tomatoes is an 88% with a 7.2 on IMDb. This is a perfect film to watch with the entire family and can speak to anyone on all levels. It’s a charming film that is by far one of my favorite films of the year.
