So. Being someone who used to love playing with Barbies…and who has also watched some of the Barbie animated movies as an adult (I am not ashamed)…I was immediately excited to see this movie, and really happy I got the chance to se it on Friday with my sister and my oldest nibling.
This movie was a lot of fun. I loved the opening scene, showing how Barbie’s appearance changed girls’ lives for the better…at least as far as the Barbies were aware.
It was really interesting to see Barbieland and how it all worked. The narrator commenting on how things worked, such as, ‘You don’t play a doll walking out of her house,’ to explain why Barbie was floating down from her roof worked really well. And I thought it was really interesting to see how other parts of the world worked. For instance, Barbie not actually eating and just ‘pretending’…but at the same time, she was able to drive her car, even though it wasn’t actually a real car, so….
I did feel bad for Ken, at least to begin with, since he was clearly in love with Barbie and she didn’t feel the same way about him. I actually really liked how this movie handled that between stereotypical Barbie and Ken.
I did feel somewhat bad for all of the Kens, since not that far into the movie, it became very clear that none of them had homes of their own. It isn’t very clear where the Kens go at night, or where they wake up…compared to the Barbies, who each wake up in their dreamhouse with the whole day reset…at least, that’s what it seems like, considering all the Barbies woke up in their own individual dream houses after having the girls’ night sleepover.
I really liked being able to see all of the different types of Barbie, along with those like Allan, Midge and Skipper. Allan was probably one of the best parts of this movie, with the comments he came out with and how he was shown to be dealing with everything that had happened.
I really enjoyed Barbie and Ken ending up in the real world and being able to see the different ways both Barbie and Ken saw the real world. I also really liked Barbie’s evolution as a character through the movie; Margot Robbie is a fantastic actress, and I felt she really got the chance to shine in this role.
On the whole, this movie was a lot of fun to watch, but I also felt it dealt with a couple of very serious issues. I was really happy that there was no main focus on romance, and that the movie was instead about Barbie’s journey…and I really liked how the movie ended. Basically, this whole movie was really good; and if you’ve ever enjoyed playing with Barbies, no matter what gender you are, I would highly recommend watching this movie.
Ink of Blood 