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Barbie is a 2023 British-American fantasy comedy filmMattel toyline of the same name. It was directed by Greta Gerwig from a script co-written with Noah Baumbach . It is the first live-action film based on the fashion doll after a series of animated films and television series. Margot Robbie plays Barbie , with Ryan Gosling , Will Ferrell , Simu Lu , America Ferrera , Ariana Greenblatt ,Ncuti Gatwa , Emma Mackey , Alexandra Shipp , Michael Cera , Dua Lipa , Issa Rae , Kingsley Ben-Adir , Rhea Perlman , and Kate McKinnon in leading and supporting roles.
Development on the film originally began in 2014 with Sony Pictures . After multiple changes of writers and directors, along with the casting of two different actresses to play the title character, Sony’s option expired and Warner Bros. Pictures acquired the rights. Robbie was cast in 2019 and also serves as a producer for LuckyChap Entertainment along with Mattel Films and Heyday Films . Gerwig was confirmed as director and co-writer with Baumbach in 2021. Filming began in March 2022 at Warner Bros. Studios , Leavesden in England and wrapped on July 21, 2022.
Barbie opened in the United States on July 21, 2023.
| Barbie | |
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| Directed by | Greta Gerwig |
| Written by |
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| Based on | Barbie by Mattel |
| Produced by | |
| Starring |
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| Narrated by | Helen Mirren |
| Cinematography | Rodrigo Prieto |
| Edited by | Nick Houy |
| Music by | |
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Production
companies |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
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Release dates
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Running time
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114 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $145 million[2] |
| Box office | $22.3 million[3] |
Plot
The stereotypical Barbie and a wide range of fellow Barbies reside in Barbieland, a matriarchal society where all women are self-assured, self-sufficient and successful. While her Ken counterparts spend their days participating in recreational activities on the beach, the Barbies hold all the important jobs, such as doctors, lawyers and politicians. The stereotypical Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend, is only happy when he is with Barbie and seeks a closer relationship, but she rejects him in favor of independence and female friendships. During a dance party, the stereotypical Barbie suddenly worries about her own mortality .. The next day, she discovers that she can no longer complete her usual routine and activities, and his hair and skin are no longer free of blemishes. He meets Weird Barbie, a local outcast of hers, who tells him that to cure her mysterious affliction he must travel to the real world and find the boy who used to play with her.
On the way to the real world, Ken stows away in Barbie’s convertible. Arriving at Venice Beach through a portal, the pair pull up multiple mischief in the area, alarming the CEO of Mattel , who orders their capture. Barbie tracks down her owner, a preteen named Sasha, who criticizes Barbie for encouraging unrealistic beauty standards and superficial consumerism. Barbie is distraught and discovers that Gloria, a Mattel employee, is the catalyst for her existential crisis.. Gloria began playing with Barbie toys that belonged to Sasha, this while experiencing her own identity crisis, inadvertently transferring her concerns onto the stereotypical Barbie. Barbie is almost captured by the CEO of Mattel and her minions, but Gloria and Sasha rescue her from her and the three travel to Barbieland together.
Meanwhile, Ken, who had been separated from Barbie during his search and returns to Barbieland earlier, learns about the patriarchal system.American and feels important and accepted for the first time. Upon returning to Barbieland, he easily persuades the other Kens to take over. Barbies are quickly subjugated to submissive roles as servants, housekeepers, and nice girlfriends. Arriving at Barbieland, the stereotypical Barbie tries to convince Ken and the Barbies to put things back the way they were, only to be rebuffed. Barbie becomes depressed, but Sasha inspires her by recognizing the inherent contradictions of American womanhood. With the support of Sasha, Gloria, Weird Barbie, Allan, and other abandoned toy lines, the Barbies break free from the Kens and manipulate them into fighting each other on the beach at Barbieland.
After a truce, the Barbies quickly regain their systemic power, with both the stereotypical Barbie and Ken apologizing to each other and each acknowledging their faults. Ken laments that he has no identity and purpose without Barbie, to which Barbie encourages him to foster an autonomous identity. The stereotypical Barbie, unsure of her own purpose and identity, meets Barbie’s inventor, Ruth Handler . Ruth explains that Barbie’s story does not have a set ending and that her ever-evolving story exceeds that of her roots. Moved by this, the stereotypical Barbie decides to become a human and return to the real world. Some time later, Gloria, her husband, and Sasha take Barbie, who is now known as “Barbara Handler,” to a gynecologist .for your first date.
Cast
- Margot Robbie as Barbie, often referred to as “Stereotypical Barbie”[5][6]
- Different variations of Barbie played by:
- Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie[7][8]
- Issa Rae as President Barbie[9][8]
- Hari Nef as Dr. Barbie[8]
- Alexandra Shipp as Writer Barbie[10][8]
- Emma Mackey as Physicist Barbie[11][8]
- Sharon Rooney as Lawyer Barbie[9]
- Ana Cruz Kayne as Judge Barbie[9][8]
- Dua Lipa as the Mermaid Barbies[12][8]
- Nicola Coughlan as Diplomat Barbie[9][8]
- Ritu Arya as Journalist Barbie[9][8]
- Marisa Abela as Princess Barbie[13]
- Ryan Gosling as Ken[14]
- Different variations of Ken played by:
- Kingsley Ben-Adir as Ken #1[9]
- Simu Liu as Ken #2[15][16][8]
- Scott Evans as Ken #3[9]
- Ncuti Gatwa as Ken #4[15][9]
- Rob Brydon as Sugar Daddy Ken[9]
- John Cena as Kenmaid[17][18]
- America Ferrera as Gloria, a Mattel employee who helps Barbie in the real world[19]
- Michael Cera as Allan[8]
- Ariana Greenblatt as Sasha, Gloria’s daughter[20][21]
- Rhea Perlman as Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie[2]
- Helen Mirren as the narrator[8]
- Will Ferrell as the CEO of Mattel[22]
- Jamie Demetriou as the CFO of Mattel
- Connor Swindells as Aaron Dinkins, a Mattel intern
- Emerald Fennell as Midge[9]
- Ann Roth as The Woman on the Bench[23]
Production
Development
Development of a film based on the Barbie toy line began in April 2014, when Mattel partnered with Sony Pictures to produce the project, which would have Jenny Bicks writing the script and Laurie Macdonald and Walter F. Parkes producing through their Parkes+MacDonald Image Nation banner. Filming was anticipated at the time to begin by the end of the year. 17 In March 2015, Diablo Cody joined the project to rewrite the script and Amy Pascal joined the production team. 18 Sony would do rewrites of the script again later that year, hiring Lindsey Beer, Bert V. Royal, and Hilary Winston to write drafts.19
In December 2016, Amy Schumer entered negotiations to star in the title role, using Winston’s script to be rewritten by Winston and his sister Kim Caramele. 20 In March 2017, due to scheduling conflicts with filming due to start in June 2017, Schumer pulled out of negotiations. 21 In July 2017, Anne Hathaway began to toss around the lead role, with Sony hiring Olivia Milch to rewrite the script and approaching Alethea Jones to direct as a means to interest Hathaway in signing on. 22 Jones was hired to direct in March 2018. 23However, the expiration of Sony’s option on the project in October 2018, and its transfer to Warner Bros., would mean the departures of Hathaway, Jones, Macdonald, Parkes, and Pascal. Margot Robbie would enter early talks for the role, with Patty Jenkins briefly circling the directing job. 24 Robbie’s casting was confirmed in July 2019, with Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach now penning the script. 25 Gerwig officially signed on to direct the film in July 2021. 26 Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter , Robbie said the film’s goal was to subvert expectations:
In October, Ryan Gosling entered final negotiations to join the cast as Ken. 27 Gosling and the rest of the cast were confirmed to star in the first half of 2022. 9 Filming began in March 2022 at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in England and wrapped on July 21, 2022. 28
Music
Alexandre Desplat , who previously collaborated with Gerwig on Little Women (2019), was originally scheduled to compose the music for Barbie in early September 2022. However , in May 2023, Desplat was confirmed to have left the project due to scheduling conflicts, with Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt taking over his duties. 30 The film’s soundtrack , titled Barbie: The Album , will be released on July 21, 2023 and will include songs by Ava Max , Charli XCX , Dominic Fike , Fifty Fifty , Gayle, Haim , Ice Spice , Kali, Karol G , Khalid , Lizzo , Nicki Minaj , PinkPantheress , Tame Impala , The Kid Laroi , cast members Ryan Gosling and Dua Lipa , and more artists to be announced. 31 Lipa’s ” Dance the Night ” was released as the album’s lead single on May 26, 2023. 32 33 It was followed by Karol G’s ” Watati ” on June 2, 2023 and PinkPantheress’ “Angel” on June 9, 2023. 3435
Despite fan expectations that pop band Aqua ‘s 1997 song ” Barbie Girl ” would appear in the film, Ulrich Møller-Jørgensen, manager of Aqua’s lead singer Lene Nystrøm , said it was not used. Variety speculated that this was due to poor relations between Mattel and MCA Records , the song’s American publisher, who became involved in a series of lawsuits over the song from 1997 to 2002. A new version of the song performed by Aqua, Ice Spice, and Nicki Minaj will appear in the film. 37 It was released as the fourth single from the soundtrack on June 23, 2023. 38
Premiere
As of April 2022, the film was scheduled to be released in the United States on July 21, 2023. 39
Marketing
The first image of Barbie was revealed at the Warner Bros. presentation at CinemaCon 2022 on April 26, 2022. The image featured Robbie as Barbie, sitting behind the wheel of her iconic pink 1965 Chevrolet Corvette. Another image, featuring Gosling as Ken , was released on June 15, 2022. Within a year of the film’s release, various internet memes featuring promotional shots of the characters and other images begin to spread on social media platforms such as Twitter and TikTok .
The first teaser trailer for the film debuted during preview screenings of Avatar: The Way of Water in December 2022. It featured a parody of the opening sequence “Dawn of Man” in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey , in which Robbie (dressed in the original 1959 Barbie costume) mimics an alien monolith whose influence on the story of The Dolls is narrated by Helen Mirren . Collider ‘s Christopher McPherson called it an ” absolutely genius marketing ploy “. 42 Russ Milheim of The Directhe described it as “wildly vibrant” and compared it to The Lego Movie (2014) in its sense of self-awareness and acceptance of the outlandish. 43 The trailer, along with a poster, was released to the public on December 16, 2022. 44
On April 4, 2023, twenty-four character posters of various Barbies and Kens featured in the film, each labeled with brief descriptions, were shared on Barbie’s social media accounts . Empire commented, “You might have thought that Multiverse fever would generally be confined to comic book movies and they would never have called it Oscar winners [ Everything Everywhere All at Once ]. But […] it looks like Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie will also flood the screen with variants, this time of plastic Barbie and Ken dolls.” The second teaser trailer for the film was released on the same day. It featured a rendition of the song ” Fun, Fun, Funby The Beach Boys . The Washington Post noted that the “visually striking” and “polysemic” teaser captivated multiple demographics due to its humor, color palette, and Barbie doll’s intergenerational appeal.
Controversies
In Vietnam, the film has suffered a ban to be shown, this due to a scene where you can see a map with the “nine dotted line”, a representation of a territorial conflict between China and Vietnam. 45 The line, which runs through the South China Sea, is controversial due to maritime border disputes between China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines. 46
When news of the Vietnam ban reached the Philippines , Senator Francis Tolentino, vice chair of the Philippine Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN Philippines that Barbie may also be banned in the country because it “denigrates” Philippine sovereignty. 47
Reception
Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 89% of 215 critic reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website’s consensus reads: “Barbie is a visually stunning comedy whose meta-humor is cleverly complemented by subversive storytelling.” 48 Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned a score of 81 out of 100 based on 57 reviews, indicating “universal acclaim”. 49
Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian gave Barbie a rating of 3 out of 5 stars, describing her as “affable but self-conscious” and “perhaps a giant two-hour ad for a product”. He singled out Gosling’s performance as the scene grabber. [50] Critic Peter Debruge of Variety also praised its humor and Gosling’s performance, but concluded that the film is “an intellectual, not an emotional, experience based largely on audience nostalgia .”