Reviewed by Judy Smith, a writer.

When I heard about the Barbie movie, my first reaction was to run to my best friends and tell them. I wanted to share a part of my girlhood with them. We all got very excited, but my friends were also a bit skeptical. They told me they were scared it was going to be too serious and therefore lose the Barbie magic. I understood their concern, but I also understood you couldn’t make a two-hour movie about losing glitter.

I decided to go see the movie with my friend, and I was very excited — little-girl excited. I walked into the movie normal, and came out normal. Now, this is not to say that the movie wasn’t beautiful and that I didn’t learn something from it. I did learn. But did I cry? No. Did I learn 45 lessons I could write down on my phone, so everyone could see what a good person I was? Nope.

It may be because I don’t watch movies only to learn. When I walk into the movies I’m there for enjoyment and laughs. That’s what I found so great about Barbie.  It did have some lessons that were valuable to hear, but at the same time, they kept the fun parts and the jokes. That ensured that the movie wasn’t too heavy to watch.

Two plots

The movie starts in Barbie Land, where Barbie (Margot Robbie) is living her life with the other Barbies. The visuals of this dream world at the start of the movie were incredible and truly got me excited for the movie. 

A little ways into the movie, everything goes wrong for Barbie, and she finds out it’s because the girl playing with her is unhappy. Her quest: getting to the human world and talking to the  girl. Yet this turns out to be only half the problem, and it’s her and Ken’s slow realization of the insidious power of patriarchy that gives the second half of the movie its drive. These dual storylines, unfolding concurrently, trick you into thinking the first plot is the only plot and also make the movie feel much shorter than its actual runtime. 

Characters

What I liked about the characters is that they are very much alike in their views of the world. But at the same time their opinions on friends, love, and life are completely different. Stereotypical Barbie thinks of friends as the first thing in life. Love is simply not a priority for her. On the other hand, Ken thinks of love as the first priority, and friends as a second. 

Barbie: The Album

Another defining element of the film was its album. The producers reached out to artists and asked them to make songs for the album. On the album are such artists as Lizzo, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, and even Ken himself (Ryan Gosling). One thing the album did miss was Taylor Swift. If they had given Taylor one or two songs, I am sure the album would’ve taken off, especially during the Eras tour craze.

In conclusion, the Barbie movie was perfection: a total of 5 out of 5.