Out of the Dream House and Into Reality

Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in
"Barbie"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

When it comes to making movies that are based on toys, there’s always the risk that the film will just come off as a cheap way to market those products to moviegoers.  Warner Bros. has proved to have the magic touch when it comes to these types of things.  They had lots of luck with “The Lego Movie” and “The Lego Batman Movie,” giving us two films that managed to not be soulless toy commercials, but rather creative and beautifully animated adventures that offered a whole lot of fun.  Even “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” despite being a box-office disappointment, was still a critical success.  

The WB studio has now taken another enormously successful toy brand and made it into a flashy, splashy comedy with director Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.”  Boasting enjoyable performances, a heartwarming story, and rich production design, this is a movie that’s guaranteed to offer a good time.

Barbie (Margot Robbie) lives an ideal life in Barbieland with all of the other Barbies and Kens.  When she begins to have thoughts that she never had, an existential crisis has her and Ken (Ryan Gosling) travel to the real world to figure out their further purpose in life.

Robbie absolutely flies with a role that was tailor-made for her.  When we’re introduced to her, Robbie gives her character an endless sense of radiance as she goes about her daily life, waving to and greeting her friends with a nothing-can-go-wrong attitude.  While Robbie maintains her character’s humorous side throughout the film, some of her most memorable work in the film comes in her scenes where she begins to have experiences where she feels human for the first time.  There’s a beautifully bittersweet moment as Barbie sits in a park and watches those around her, seeing people display different emotions and making her feel them for the first time.  There are other moments like this towards the end of the film, so I won’t say much to give anything way, but I’ll say it’s material that Robbie presents in an understatedly emotional way that paints her portrayal of Barbie as more than just a globally recognized doll, but a character who’s something approaching desperately human.

Gosling gives a hilarious performance as the arrogant, dimwitted, eager-to-impress Ken.  It’s a role that continues to show Gosling’s every bit as superb at comedy as he is in drama.  With pretty much his only other two comedic performances having been from “Crazy, Stupid, Love” and “The Nice Guys,” his work here will hopefully give him more laugh-out-loud work.  One of Gosling’s finest moments in the film, and possibly his career thus far, is his performance of the film’s original song “I’m Just Ken,” where Ken grapples with his own existential crisis.  Although Robbie’s fantastic in her role, Gosling’s the main source of laughs in the film, relishing every scene in which he appears and delivering bursts of witty energy that we rarely see from him, but will hopefully see more of after what he accomplishes with this performance. 

In the film’s huge supporting cast, the standouts include Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie, the reclusive figure of Barbieland who gets Barbie started on her journey, and Michael Cera as Ken’s friend, Allan.  However, the real standout comes from Rhea Perlman as the spirit of Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie.  Although she only has a couple of scenes in the film, there’s a great sense of warmth that comes from her screen time with Robbie, helping Barbie gain an understanding of the real world and figure out what she wants out life.

The screenplay by Gerwig and husband Noah Baumbach tends to go between cleverness and heavy-handedness with the handling of its message about the roles of men and women in Barbieland versus the real world.  However, when it comes to the material about Barbie trying to determine the newfound complexity of her life, that’s where a lot of the emotion takes center stage.  Because of this, the sequence in the park and the couple of scenes between Barbie and Ruth Handler are some of the best portions of the film.  It’s these moments in particular where you really see how Gerwig and Baumbach didn’t choose to just rely on audiences’ nostalgia for Barbie, but instead wanted to honor the time that people have enjoyed with these dolls and give those characters something meaningful to say.  Both Barbie and Ken deal with their existential dilemmas in their own way, with Barbie’s going a more emotional route, and Ken’s going the more comedic route, but the way in which the writers have both journeys coalesce in the end really pays off.   

As screenwriters, it’s more than clear that the duo did their research when it comes to all of the different kinds of Barbies and Kens that they include.  With the many versions of Barbie and Ken, as well as lesser-known characters in the Barbie universe, there are plenty of fun interactions between the individuals of that world as they engage in an abundance of witty dialogue that opens the audiences to how these characters mingle during their squeaky-clean day-to-day lives.

Just as how Gerwig and Baumbach make sure to do right by the well-known characters that they present, Gerwig puts in just as much effort when it comes to exhibiting her vision of Barbieland.  Working with set designer Sarah Greenwood and set decorator Katie Spencer, they give the sets a plastic look that calls to mind the textures of typical Barbie accessories and dream houses.  The use of these sets immerses the viewer into entertaining scenarios of which they could’ve only thought while playing with their toys when they were younger, but can now see that imagination projected on screen.  And, the costumes from Jacqueline Durran, who worked with Gerwig on her previous film, “Little Women,” makes sure that no two Barbies or Kens are dressed the same.  The colors pop as the characters make their way across the screen, and you try to scan the frames as much as you can to catch all of the details of the clothing.

From an indie production like “Lady Bird” to a lavish production like “Little Women” to a big-budget production like “Barbie,” Gerwig displays a filmmaking ambition where she wishes to challenge herself with each movie.  Whatever she does next, the possibilities are as sunny as a day in Barbieland.

Grade: A-