 Did you grow up with Barbie as a kid and wanna take your own daughter to this film? Well, maybe you should first ask her if she's interested in Barbie as a character or taking down the patriarchy and exposing male privilege in the real world workplace and how climbing the rungs of the corporate and political ladder can almost be an impossible task for a woman even in 2023. If that sounds like something your eight-year-old daughter would be interested in, run out and see Barbie. Otherwise, you can just wait for it to come home on streaming or avoid it altogether. Sassy intro out of the way. I do wanna point something out. I didn't hate this movie, but I also didn't really like it. It's kind of an awkward place to be. For everything that works here, there's an equal amount of things that don't. This movie was written and directed by Greta Gerwig. If you know anything about this director, you should have known going in, this wasn't gonna be a paint by numbers picture. There was gonna be a little bit more bubbling under the surface, but it's kind of not at the same time because every sort of piece of social commentary present is right on top. It is in your face. Let's talk about the positives and there's a good amount of them. The cast is fantastic. I love Margot Robbie in this movie. She's perfect as Barbie. All the crybaby guys out there saying she's too old and not that pretty are insane. And they're absolutely just looking for attention because they don't really have anything interesting or profound to say themselves. They just say obnoxious things for views. It's easy clicks, kind of like throwing on a tank top as a middle-aged man making a dumb face and hoping people come to the video. Subscribe for self-awareness. And that's another thing about Barbie. This movie's very self-aware. The character's self-aware. Basic bitch Barbie is starting to think about death and things that she normally wouldn't. Typically it's all beach days and slumber parties. But her owner in the real world, played by America Ferreira, starting to slip up in her own life. Work's getting tough. Her daughter's not respecting her. This is causing weird things to happen to Barbie in her world. So she has to venture off into the real one and figure out what the hell's going on. But she won't be doing this trek alone. Along for the ride, Ken, played by Baby Goose himself, Ryan Gosling. Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling are absolutely perfect for these roles. First off, gorgeous actors. At this point I could watch Margot Robbie butter toast for two hours and be perfectly content. And Gosling as Ken is freaking hilarious. Lot of good one-liners. Some great music thrown into this thing. And there are several dance sequences that are brilliantly executed by everyone involved. Simulu, no slouch either here is one of the other Ken's. Really all the Barbies and Ken's are well cast and we have different ones of all walks of life spanning back to some of the rejected ones from the 90s and 80s. Really funny cameos in this as well. I have zero complaints with the music, the cast or the visuals. It all comes down to story. It all comes down to the momentum the film has. The pacing, that ugly word that I've been throwing out a lot more lately because movies are too long. Almost every movie across the board needs to be cut down a little bit. I miss the hour and a half. I miss the 90 minute. Get into it. We don't need to waste time having these long diatribes, these monologues that go on for an eternity and bring the whole picture to a screeching halt. And unfortunately, Barbie has four or five of them. And the film ends on the worst snow possible. The last 15 to 20 minutes of this picture are a chore to get through. The movie's wrapped up yet it keeps spinning its wheels because Greta Gerwig has so much to say. And this is where the movie I think really misses the mark. If you're looking for a film that covers all age groups, has a creative, clever time, kind of flips the whole toy thing on its head, watch the Lego movie. It's incredibly accessible. It has jokes for the adults. It has plenty of jokes for the kids. And there is some meaning behind the film. The story actually has some heart behind it. Barbie has plenty of that too, but the execution is so smashed over your head. And I agree with pretty much everything in the flick, but that doesn't mean I wanna hear it because it's boring, it's tedious. I saw YouTube short or a TikTok this morning of a guy that's like in his 70s. It says Christian dad talks about Barbie propaganda and he goes off about how there's a Barbie in a wheelchair and there's a trans Barbie character. I saw the wheelchair one, I did not see the trans one, but I feel like for certain individuals they're going into Barbie waiting to hate on it. They have no good intentions in mind. For dudes like this, watching any movie now is like playing a game of fucking wears Waldo except for Waldo is a trans person. Where is she? Where is he? Ah, this movie sucks. Propaganda! I have an 11 year old and a 14 year old boy and a girl neither have any interest in seeing this film. Daughter kind of played with Barbies as a kid, but this isn't really speaking to her. I do think 14 and older is the demo. And maybe skew even older, college and up might be more interested in this take on Barbie because like I said, it's incredibly hit over your head with all the different messages and it's not just out to have a fun time. It's not just there to be accessible for all ages. It's really harping on women's rights and the strengths of women. And while these are very important messages that I happen to agree with, the way they're presented in the movie is boring for children. That's what I'm getting at. Almost every single movie has a message except for maybe the emoji movie. It's how it's presented though that really needs to be worked on with modern films. And please, I'm begging you, trim the runtime down. There is a great movie in here with some awesome jokes, beautiful set pieces, wonderful choreography, but it loses momentum every time we have to have a 10 minute aside. And I brought up Lego Movie for several reasons. One, it's a much better movie, but two, Will Ferrell's in both and he's basically playing the same character, but he's way better in Lego Movie. The whole Mattel corporate angle here could have been removed entirely and you wouldn't lose anything. Or at least pair it way down because most of that stuff kinda sucked. Unfortunately, you do hear some I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie world, it's tough. It's just tough every time I hear it. And unfortunately, this movie was a little tough to get through, thanks to the sluggish pacing. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Please like the video if you had some fun. Subscribe for the tank top. I could use the subscribers, I could use the support on the channel. I'm a one man operation, just trying to have some fun here. And if you played your cards right, I'll see you next time. Bye, Barbie. They saved that a lot.