With Barbie now on the cusp of being released, it’s safe to say that fans are living in high-key anticipation, waiting to see Margot Robbie as the iconic Mattel doll and Ryan Gosling as her Ken.
What might be more surprising though is that it’s adults who are going wild for it more so than children, as the film seems to hop onboard a very welcome train to nostalgia.
While Barbie might often be associated more with younger kids who play with dolls – and all the stigma attached to that – it seems that Greta Gerwig’s film is sculpted to appeal to a wider audience.
This would especially appear to include women who remember playing with Barbie and women who are now old enough to appreciate a fierce feminist take on the world in the writer-director’s boldly risky but delightful film.
It may be that Oppenheimer was considered the movie for older fans this summer, but early reviews of Barbie are now making the case for it too being a more sophisticated cinemagoing experience.
‘There is no doubt that Barbie is an intensely feminist fable, as well it should be, that will (quite deliciously) rile up the Andrew Tate-serving sections of society that still haven’t worked out what that word actually means,’ commented Metro.co.uk in its review of Barbie, which was awarded four and a half stars out of five.
It also praises the brilliance of the film pre-empting the more negative baggage of Barbie, adding: ‘The creative team has already thought of – and then promptly makes – every joke or criticism that you could possibly come up with about her.’
Slant Magazine’s review branded Barbie ‘a journey of self-actualisation and a testament to female solidarity’.
‘The film sharply understands that the patriarchy represses not just women, but everyone and everything, right down to the environment, and that dismantling it is a liberation for all. And it argues this point through biting satire and the journey that the Barbie and Ken dolls take toward self-awareness.’
Meanwhile, The New York Times called Barbie ‘politically sharp’ and wondered: ‘Can a doll with an ingratiating smile, impossible curves and boobs ready for liftoff be a feminist icon? That’s a question that swirls through Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, a live-action, you-go-girl fantasia about the world’s most famous doll.’
‘Barbie is a hyper-femme roller-coaster ride full of twists and turns as emotional as they are entertaining. A picture of the rocky transition from girlhood to womanhood. It’s a powerful celebration of femininity, recognizes its contradictions, its joys, its frustrations,’ shared one fan on Twitter.
Another admitted: ‘Didn’t expect myself AT ALL to cry over the Barbie movie?! But this is all I ever imagined it to be and all I ever asked for. It’s like my childhood is coming back and its teaching me growing up like how it used to.’
So far, these reactions are very much leaning into Barbie being a film more slanted towards – and suitable for – adults, like the millennial women whose bedrooms were littered with Barbies that possibly remain, tucked away in a box in the attic still.
We’ve also already seen a few of the cheeky jokes in preview clips, including Gosling’s Ken asking to come over to Barbie’s house to do ‘girlfriend-boyfriend stuff’ with her, before revealing he doesn’t actually know what that entails.
Barbie has been given a 12A rating in the UK, meaning it is officially suitable for children aged 12 and over, but children under the age of 12 may still watch it in the cinema if accompanied by an adult.
Robbie herself has said that Barbie has been ‘literally crafted to be for everyone’ when it came to the debate over whether or not the upcoming blockbuster is suitable for kids.
‘[Director] Greta [Gerwig] said from the beginning, this is a big pie and everyone is invited – so in that way it really is for everyone. And the comedy plays on so many different, the whole movie plays on so many different levels.’
‘I mean, so much of it is so silly, and absurd and ridiculous. And I think little kids in particular, and people who care about design, things like that, are just going to be blown away by Barbie Land,’ she told Extra.
However, the 33-year-old star also confessed she ‘didn’t expect to talk about the meaning of life so much when doing a Barbie movie’ when it came to the more sophisticated, grown-up scenes.
Oscar-nominee Robbie also admitted of the film that ‘there’s comedy in there that I think are going to go over the kids heads and adults are going to laugh a lot’.
Barbie is out in UK cinemas on Friday, July 21 2023.
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MORE : Margot Robbie somehow upsets American fans by speaking with her real Australian accent on Barbie press tour
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