Abilaksha Ariyaratnam

Ultimately a pretty close-to-accurate metaphor of what it means to be a woman. Barbie land being representative of the freedoms of a girl’s childhood, soon bombarded by a patriarchal, one-sided viewpoint, that is society. Sisterhood, is what we’ve all wanted to see and Greta has made such a glorious film showcasing that. We’ve previously seen movies that portrayed women as those who competed against each other, unable to be happy of themselves or each other. And, Gloria’s speech is ultimately what we’ve all longed to hear. All in all, this film really captured the complexities of being woman; we’re not one-dimensional, but are compassionate, empathetic, driven, successful and everything in between.

While the film had incredible set design and costuming, all quite the 50's vibe, the movie had poor narrative sequencing. The reasons for what happened throughout all seemed to be smooshed near the end, while viewers are made to second guess what (and why) this is happening. What starts off as a purely physical romantic relationship from the olden-day is then twisted into some juxtaposing utopia-dystopian universe that we later only realise the man has chosen to place himself and his wife in. There's no acknowledgement of whether, in the real world, the wife even consented to being brought into this universe. We don't even see how or why Frank and Shelley are the so-called "rulers" here. The ending didn't really provide anything - what will happen now since Frank's dead? And the storyline suggests being stuck in the perpetual wheel - no escape, repetitive and nothing to take away from it. Overall some great acting but storytelling, sequencing and viewer comprehension could have been better. 3/5.