catherine lake

The Barbie movie is spectacular!! The movie pulls at the heartstrings of your 12 year old girl self. That transitional time (when you aren't sure if you are too old to be playing with Barbie) sets the stage for the beginning of the movie. As women mature we see the world with and without glitter and Barbie experiences that with us. A true parallel to how it feels to grow up and realize that there are beautiful and ugly things about our world outside of our imagination. What a wonderful show on feminine and female empowerment. The amount of stars given are not enough! Also, if you see any naysayers or lower ratings, you might notice that they are the demographic who probably played strictly with G.I. Joe as a soldier and not as Barbie's husband. 😉😘

Major disconnect with reality. Forcing culture from an older generation into the youth of 2020. The conversations feel over scripted. One character, meant to be a former highschool nuisance, references Ashley from Gone With the Wind and calls people wimps as an insult. Not believing a single line from the entire movie. It should be noted that you can tell the actors desperately tried to make these lines sound believable but the script was just too disconnected from it's location, and it's generation. Can't forget that the overall view of women isn't great either. Elle is an attention magnet for her beauty alone, and Selena is a "I know you better than you know yourself" soul mate girl. Very flat with unbelievable dialog.

I fell in love with these characters almost immediately. The story is a fantastical escape with a few historical tethers to ground the development of the story. I love that, however, there is an asterisk on each episode title for this very reason. The Great doesn't drudge through a history lesson or rapidly fire action at you without chance for recovery. It's a refreshing, comedic derivation of Catherine the Great. Excellent all around! Warning (as if you haven't already concluded this) : not for your annoying history-buff friends who want everything to follow suit, or anyone who can't stomach bawdiness or violence.