U K – Google

As a long time Barbie lover, I was really disappointed by this film. It started off pretty good - loved the visuals and lots of funny lines. However, as soon as Barbie entered the 'real world' it all went down hill... the message of the film is basically the world is still one big patriarchy and women still have lots of struggles navigating this. Absolutely true and an important message BUT the delivery was just forced down your throat throughout. Nothing subtle or open to viewer interpretation, not clever at all. I think they could have portrayed this message in a much more nuanced and subtle way - skip going to the real world and explore the alternative reality in Barbieland where women rule. What would this look like? What would be better, would what be worse? How would men/women behave differently with each other and could we go deeper into some of the characters? Whilst making references to the real world, this would have been really interesting, especially given the cast they had. It actually got boring towards the end. Once the point was made (very forcefully and unsubtly, men rule the world ok we get it) it was no longer interesting to know how the story unfolded. Also the end was just a bit cringe. Massively overhyped I'm afraid.

I appreciate that the film was trying to highlight social tensions we are facing in society and I think comedy is usually a good (and important) vessel for diffusing difficult topics. But honestly there were way too many stereotypes that it was at best ridiculous and at worst, offensive. There were some funny moments and it was a good cast, but unfortunately these good points were overpowered by some really cringey moments that were clearly trying to preach some moralistic message but came off as forceful and heavy handed. Another example where woke-ness, for all it’s good intentions, makes things more divisive, uncomfortable and frankly, a bit boring