Barbie (2023): What If Barbie Land Was Real?

Another new month, which means it's time for another movie review!

If you didn't know, Barbie was the top grossing movie in 2023! So I knew I had to watch it someday because there must be something special about the movie that made it so popular.

So recently, I managed to catch the movie, which I would say is quite light-hearted. Barbie is something that everyone is familiar with, even though guys like me don't own or play any of them before, we do know it's a popular series of dolls.

I like that the storyline is simple and easy to follow. It's a movie that is very suitable for all ages, young and old, because you just need to enjoy and laugh along. There is definitely no need to spend brain cells analysing the movie at all. Margot Robbie (who plays Barbie) and Ryan Gosling (who plays Ken) are the main characters in this movie, and the dynamics between the both of them evolve throughout the movie and it brings me to my next point...

Wow... The movie has a hidden meaning! While there is nothing wrong just enjoying the storyline from the start to finish, there is a hidden message which the director is trying to send to the viewers. I wasn't expecting this from a movie which is classified as comedy genre, and being a guy, the perspective is definitely very interesting and something worth reflecting. It made me wonder, how much of what the movie depicted was actually true in our real lives. There's no straightforward answer for these sensitive issues, but I think they succeeded in raising awareness on this whole gender issue.

Before I talk about what I thought could be improved about the movie, the latest Oscar nominations got everyone talking once more. Barbie received eight nominations including Best Supporting Actor (Ryan Gosling) and Best Supporting Actress. Even with such a long list of nominations, some people were disappointed that the big miss was Best Director and of course, Best Actress, i.e. Margot Robbie/Barbie herself. Without providing too many spoilers, critics joked that it was just like the plot of the Barbie movie.

Life is ironic sometimes.

Back to the movie, I would have hoped that the movie had a bit more depth. With a runtime of close to 2 hours, I was hoping there was more to the plot but there wasn't. To be honest, for a plot with this level of depth, this movie could be shortened to less than an hour if we edited out the draggy and "lame" scenes (if you get what I mean). Hence it was relatively painful to sit through 2 hours, already knowing what was going to happen, but waiting for the scenes to play out.

All in all, despite it being the highest grossing movie in 2023, this movie was slightly above average for me. It's a movie that is "good to watch" but it's not one that I would "highly recommend". I think there are movies with more entertaining plots. Still, positive points for light-heartedness and the underlying message, and I still enjoyed it overall. As for my rating, that's 3.5 out of 5 stars for me!

Before I end, a final shoutout to soundtrack of the movie - Dua Lipa's Dance The Night is such an earworm!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

For those who have watched Barbie, was it a hit or miss for you?

My Past Movie Reviews