Barbie Review: Life in Plastic, it’s … fantastic?

By the time of its digital release "Barbie" With Margo Robbie And Ryan Gosling raised more than $ 1.4 billion around the world and became the main financial hit of 2023. And also the film Greyta Gerwig It was possible to beat the records of the rest of the mastodont studio Warner Bros. like "Dark Knight" And "Harry Potter".

The phenomenon of the success of the tape was tied to several factors at once, where not only the popular brand and the participation of famous actors played its role, but also a loud advertising campaign with topics selected for the plot.

The story of the picture starts in Barbilend, where Barbie lead their “puppet” glamorous life – they arrange parties, visit the beach, communicate with Kenes and reward each other with diplomas for different achievements. The heroines have their colorful houses and various “positions”: Dr. Barbie, President Barbie and the like. Every day in Barbilend looks like a bright holiday, only all these days are repeated one after another, as if in an “ideal” limbo.

Problems begin to arise at the moment when the stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) has thoughts of death “tearing the template” to everyone else. The heroine begins to lose ideal features like the opportunity to Galaxy Spins Casino elegantly descend through the air in the style of Mary Poppins. To find out the causes of the changes, Barbie decides to go to the world of people – and with her, Ken (Ryan Gusling) is linked with her.

The audience was waiting for the prime minister for various reasons-someone liked the idea, someone was a fan of Gosling and Robbie. But a familiar with the work of Greta Gervig, the audience hoped to get a non -trivial look at a simple, seemingly concept. Especially given the participation in the creation of the script of the author of the “marriage history” Noah Baumbach.

The result really turned out to be more interesting than the “advertising campaign” for Barbie dolls, but it was still easier than you could expect. On the one hand, the film affect a number of entertaining ideas like a place in life, heritage of ideas and relationships between women and men. On the other hand, the format of comments on these issues turns out to be approximately the same plastic as the scenery from the barbiland.

Yes, here they really recall Feminism and Patriarchate, which angered part of the audience (including in the West), who did not want to see such topics in the story about Barbie at all. But this discussion occurs in the plot with such exaggerated elements that it is very difficult to perceive them seriously. Especially because the tape mainly consists of comedic details and serves many scenes with sarcasm and irony.

So, when Barbie falls into the real world, having met the leaders of Mattel Corporation there, it is demonstrated almost as hypertrophied as Barbiland. And the serious topics of sexism and the image of Barbie in culture are very quickly replaced by chase, which seemed to get out of cartoons in the neighborhood. The caricature crowd of “costumes” Mattel, led by the hero of Will Ferrell, as well as the “toxic man” of Ken, in fact, only emphasize the absurd tone of what is happening.

The tape as a whole manifests the spirit of animated projects, causing persistent associations with “Lego. Movie". Even individual details of the narrative are similar – the hero from the “ideal society” falls into the analogue of the “real world”, and there it is met by Will Ferrell.

At the same time, the balance between the serious message and the comedy, oddly enough, turns out to be more designed precisely at the plot about Lego-human.

“Barbie” seems to feel more confident in a comedic manner, since many jokes here were successful. We are talking about irony not only over puppet stereotypes and even the history of Mattel itself, but also the entire storyline of Ken.

One of the strong advantages, without a doubt, became central acting, and it is the hero of Ryan Gosling that shines brightly than all. He perfectly plays out both Ken's sincere naivety and his experiences of unrequited love for Barbie. Ken can be called the second main character, whose storyline turned out even more dramatic. No wonder even a separately presented character song (I’m Just Ken) became a hit even before the release of the film.

The soundtrack himself with the participation of many popular artists also played a role in the success of the tape, because with fresh thematic musical releases, he attracted an additional number of spectators from the side. And the fan base of Billy Ailish level performers can hardly be called little.

At the same time, songs have been largely created to emphasize the bright style of the picture. There are both visual ommes to the famous classic (like opening a scene with a parody of the “Cosmic Odyssey”), and the excellent work of production artists on all fronts.

Barbiland large decorations really resemble real doll houses and look very bright. The same can be said about a huge number of diverse costumes, the appearance of which is sometimes beaten by the plot. Even the authors have well worked on the scenes of the transition between the barbound to the real world, which look like a revived painting book.

All these elements – a well -known brand, bright style, unusual choice of the director, popular actors and musicians – have already aroused the audience’s interest in the project. But then the marketer "tore the jackpot", adding an angle C "Barbigamer". The point is that at the same time with Barbie in the cinemas came out "Oppenheimer"Christopher Nolan – and the emphasis on this fact gave rise to not only a lot of jokes, but also really attracted new spectators to the cinema.

Many told in the networks that they arrange a “double session” from this unusual combo, since Barbigamimer took root among the people and became the subject of discussion even outside the circle of film amateurs. A memeue idea has turned into a kind of cultural phenomenon, adding popularity to both novelties. From the point of view of Barbigamimer fees, oddly enough, as a result, Nolan helped more, but this is another story.

Against the background of all this, the direct plot of Barbie seemed to be no longer so important for the final result. Although fierce network disputes about equal rights and relations between Barbie and Kenam could also bring additional promotion. Many wanted to check how all these statements correspond to reality – and bought tickets for the session.

However, the main problem of Barbie was not raised topics, but the lack of tonal balance. The film is trying to be light bright summer comedy (which, by the way, is not suitable for children) and at the same time wants to discuss important life elements. The skew, despite the serious ending, occurs in the first direction, but the film also does not leave “in full separation” with humor. Let's say Mattel jokes are held on a good -natured line, because the company itself also participated in production.

But it is unlikely that such problems will be a minus for everyone, because some of the viewers first of all wanted to see precisely the comedy story with Margot Robbie, and not the drama in the style of “Tonya against all”. The same fees that turned the tape into a real hit also speak in favor of this.

The main question is whether the authors will take into account their mistakes when working on a potential sequel and whether he can show the same financial success. It has not yet been announced, but it is unlikely that the studio will pass by such an opportunity. But whether it is needed by the audience itself – it is incomprehensible. Perhaps for someone there was enough and one story about the world of dolls. As Ken would say, it was kenough