Stephanie Cudnik

I wanted to—and expected to—love this movie. The hype was real! I bought a bunch of pink outfits, and I was totally captivated by the marketing. Seriously, if there’s an Oscars-type ceremony specifically for marketers, they NEED to win. With that being said, I think my expectations were super high. My husband follows IGN reviews, and he was surprised when he told me it was rated a 9/10. Everyone seemed to be giving this movie super high ratings, so I was stoked to go see it last week. But I was honestly disappointed. Not because of the ultra-feminist plot. I feel like whenever anyone says they didn’t love it, people automatically think it’s for political reasons or “they just don’t get it”, which is a lazy assumption. The plot was just all over the place, as several others have said. It seemed almost rushed in some instances, like when Barbie and Ken go to the real world. Michael Cera’s character just seemed like he was there because they wanted to cast Michael Cera. There was an odd moment where the camera panned to him for a beat too long, and he was literally just standing there with no expression on his face, doing nothing. It was awkward and felt like a moment that should have been cut, while maybe some deleted scenes should have made it in the movie. The editing just felt amateur and sloppy. There were still some touching moments, a couple good lines, some LOL moments, and the set design was incredible. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. And it’s honestly bizarre to me, how many people are calling this a masterpiece or the best film they’ve ever seen. Side note: everyone giving it low ratings because they say it’s not appropriate for kids or their kids didn’t get it, IT IS RATED PG-13!!!! Not G. Not PG. And it was not marketed for kids!