Amber Petrovich

It’s quite clever and funny (but it was a missed opportunity to not have a ‘hair tangled beyond repair’ Barbie) and the visual gags are a gas but they could have easily shaved off 30-45 minutes and no one would’ve minded. It really started dragging in the latter half, when they were working overtime to deliver heartfelt messages about womanhood (that ultimately felt glib), and a saving grace for Ken. Also, they hit you over the head so hard with the patriarchy message that they seem to have forgotten that, um, we know, we’ve been living in it. I left feeling depressed about what it means to be a woman in 2023. Can it just not involve Barbie, Mattel and constant promotion? Mattel has an overinflated view of itself and its impact on the world. On that latter note, clearly, studio and Mattel corporate execs weighed in on script development. The corporate depiction of Mattel was bland and frequently not funny, with missed opportunities to make poignant statements about the disturbing merge of branded content, corporate sponsorship, extreme marketing and entertainment.