movie reviews for parents barbie

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

• For Parents
• For Educators
• Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

• Get the app
• Movie Reviews
• Best Movie Lists
• Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

• Best TV Lists
• Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
• Common Sense Selections for TV
• Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

• Book Reviews
• Best Book Lists
• Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

• Game Reviews
• Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

• Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

• Podcast Reviews
• Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

• App Reviews
• Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

• YouTube Channel Reviews
• YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

• Preschoolers (2-4)
• Little Kids (5-7)
• Big Kids (8-9)
• Pre-Teens (10-12)
• Teens (13+)
• Screen Time
• Social Media
• Online Safety
• Identity and Community

Explaining the News to Our Kids

• Family Tech Planners
• Digital Skills
• All Articles
• Latino Culture
• Black Voices
• Asian Stories
• Native Narratives
• LGBTQ+ Pride
• Best of Diverse Representation List

Celebrating Black History Month

Movies and TV Shows with Arab Leads

Celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th Anniversary

Common sense media reviewers.

Clever, colorful comedy with sophisticated themes, script.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Promotes idea that feminism is inclusive of all wo

Barbie is curious, empathetic, brave, and kind, an

The main Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosl

A big fight among a lot of characters involves use

Ken asks Barbie to spend the night. When she asks

One bleeped "motherf--," plus a few uses of words

Barbie and Mattel brands are in nearly every scene

The Kens have a lot of "brewskis" (beers), as well

Parents need to know that writer-director Greta Gerwig's all-star take on Barbie has a sophisticated message about feminism and the patriarchy (and, consequently, a screenplay that will likely go over younger kids' heads). The movie follows "Stereotypical Barbie" (Margot Robbie) and her handsome but insecure …

Positive Messages

Promotes idea that feminism is inclusive of all women -- and that being a woman is complicated and sometimes messy. Barbieland is welcoming, if naive about the ways the real world works. Encourages women to support one another, to be free of the many standards thrust upon them by society. Emphasizes importance of finding out who you are separately from your relationships with other people.

Positive Role Models

Barbie is curious, empathetic, brave, and kind, and she doesn't give up on her goals. She realizes that she doesn't have to be "perfect" to have value. Ken is insecure and shallow but develops meaningfully over the course of the story. The Barbies have power (until they fall under the sway of the patriarchy), and they eventually learn how to coexist with the Kens. Gloria is an observant, loving mother, and her daughter, Sasha, is smart and bold.

Diverse Representations

The main Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) are White and conventionally attractive -- to the point where traits like flat feet and cellulite are, albeit satirically, treated as disgusting. The rest of the Barbies and Kens in Barbieland are diverse and inclusive in many ways. There are Barbies and/or Kens who are of color, have a disability (one Barbie uses a wheelchair), and represent a range of body types, backgrounds, and professions. One Barbie is played by Hari Nef, who's trans, but her identity isn't referenced in the movie. Gloria is played by Honduran American actor America Ferrera, and her daughter, Sasha, is played by Ariana Greenblatt, who's Latina. The movie was directed and co-written by female filmmaker Greta Gerwig.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

A big fight among a lot of characters involves use of silly weapons and physical grappling; another fight includes a chokehold. Barbie runs away from the Mattel executives who want to "box" her; they chase her in a scene with a lot of slapstick. There's a high-speed pursuit, but no one is injured. The Barbie cars spin out and flip over, but no one gets hurt. Ken has a fall and is taken to an ambulance/clinic for treatment. Barbie admits to having persistent thoughts about death.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Ken asks Barbie to spend the night. When she asks why, he says because they're boyfriend and girlfriend, but he doesn't know what that really entails. Barbie makes a comment about her and Ken not having genitals. A character wonders what kind of "nude blob" a Ken is "packing." Suggestive pickup lines and double entendres. After the Kens take over, several Barbies are shown flirting with and serving the Kens, often scantily clad. The primary Ken is frequently shirtless; some of the other Kens are too. Ken tries to kiss Barbie a couple of times, but she tells him no or dodges it.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

One bleeped "motherf--," plus a few uses of words including "damn," "hell," "crap," "bimbo," "tramp," "stupid," "penis," "vagina," "crazy," "nut job," "jeez," "oh my God," "for Christ's sake," "freaking," "frigging," "shut up," "up the wazoo," the suggestive euphemism "beach you off," and catcalls and double entendres.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Barbie and Mattel brands are in nearly every scene of the movie, including references to real Barbie dolls and accessories. Other featured brands include Duolingo, Hydro Flask, Hummer, Suburban, Chevy, Birkenstock, and Chanel. Clips from movies like The Godfather and Pride & Prejudice are seen.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

The Kens have a lot of "brewskis" (beers), as well as red cups, and a party scene shows the primary Ken holding what looks like a wine glass. He also mentions being "day drunk" at one point.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that writer-director Greta Gerwig 's all-star take on Barbie has a sophisticated message about feminism and the patriarchy (and, consequently, a screenplay that will likely go over younger kids' heads). The movie follows "Stereotypical Barbie" ( Margot Robbie ) and her handsome but insecure (boy)friend, Ken ( Ryan Gosling ), as they venture into the human world and discover the shocking-to-them truth that Barbie dolls didn't actually solve the problems of sexism and patriarchal control. While there's no sex in the movie (the Barbies and Kens are frank about not having genitals), Kens are shown shirtless, Barbies get catcalled, and there are suggestive references to the dolls' bodies -- including Ken's "nude bulge" -- and how a male-dominated society expects women to be ornamental and helpful. There's a bleeped use of "motherf--" (plus "crap," "shut up," "oh my God," etc.), a couple of big brawls with silly weapons, slapstick chases, beer drinking, and near-constant mentions of Barbie-maker Mattel. Characters demonstrate empathy and perseverance, and Barbieland is populated by a diverse group of Barbies and Kens from a range of body sizes, abilities, genders, and racial and ethnic backgrounds. The supporting cast includes Simu Liu , Issa Rae , America Ferrera , Will Ferrell , Emma Mackey , and Michael Cera . To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (182)
• Kids say (199)

Based on 182 parent reviews

Ruined by Political Messaging and Cheap Potshots

It’s pg-13 and i think that’s about right. but you know your child., what's the story.

BARBIE opens with a Helen Mirren -narrated 2001: A Space Odyssey homage that explains how the advent of the Barbie doll changed girls' playtime forever, allowing them to imagine unlimited futures and roles beyond motherhood. Then viewers are taken to a parallel universe called Barbieland, where myriad Barbies live in harmony with a bunch of Kens and their pals Midge and Skipper. Since Barbies rule this idealistic, inclusive land -- serving as everything from president ( Issa Rae ) and Supreme Court justices to Nobel laureates, surgeons, etc. -- they believe that the real world is similarly woman- and girl-friendly. None is more sure of that than "Stereotypical Barbie" ( Margot Robbie ), who's always perfect from head to toe, hosting nightly parties and sleepovers and occasionally paying attention to Ken ( Ryan Gosling ), who does little more than stand around at the beach with the other Kens and yearn after her. But when Barbie starts to have thoughts about death, she loses her permanent foot arch and sprouts a spot of cellulite, forcing her to visit the wise but isolated "Weird Barbie" ( Kate McKinnon ). Weird Barbie explains that Stereotypical Barbie will continue to deteriorate if she doesn't cross over into the human world, find the girl who's playing with her, and cheer her up. So Barbie and stowaway Ken set off on a quest to Los Angeles. As Barbie tries to find her human, she realizes that the human world isn't at all what she expected. Meanwhile, Ken is in awe of how much more powerful men are in the real world than they are in Barbieland.

Is It Any Good?

Greta Gerwig 's delightful comedy adventure is bolstered by Robbie and Gosling's impeccable performances, a top-notch ensemble cast, and a witty screenplay. The two stars are perfectly cast in the iconic lead roles, humanizing the doll characters and nailing both the emotional beats and the comedic aspects of Barbie's and Ken's development. The sprawling supporting cast is also well selected, with memorable performances from Rae as the Barbie president, America Ferrera as truth-telling human mom Gloria, Simu Liu as Gosling's rival Ken, and Will Ferrell as the smarmy CEO of Mattel. Three young actors from Sex Education -- Emma Mackey , Ncuti Gatwa , and Connor Swindells -- make notable appearances in supporting roles, and Academy Award-winning filmmaker/screenwriter Emerald Fennell turns up as Barbie's discontinued pregnant friend, Midge. Overall, Barbieland is a pleasingly inclusive place, where the Barbies and Kens can be more than thin, White, and blond as they sing and dance in their carefully curated outfits.

This movie isn't like the many animated Barbie movies , and its sophisticated themes may land better with teens and adults than tweens and kids. But the contrast between the movie's serious societal commentary and the trippy, nostalgic comedy manages not to feel off-putting or off-balance. Ken's explanations about the benefits of the patriarchy (horses, hats, all the top jobs!) are laugh-out-loud funny, while Gloria's passionate speech about the ways women must and mustn't act in human society rings soberingly true. For all of the jokes, there's a ton of heart in the screenplay, with Robbie and Gosling both getting many scene-stealing, moving monologues. Their memorable portrayals carry the movie, but the behind-the-scenes technicians deserve awards, too, including production designer Sarah Greenwood for the film's pink-infused Barbie-core set pieces, music supervisor George Drakoulias for the Mark Ronson-produced soundtrack, Oscar-winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran for the hundreds of authentic Barbie and Ken costumes, and director of photography Rodrigo Prieto for the fizzy cinematography. An ideal mother-daughter pick and a collaborative achievement worthy of the hype, this Barbie is a keeper.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Barbie 's message: that society has sexist, contradictory, unattainable expectations for women. Do you agree? What are your thoughts about what it means to be a girl and a woman?

Discuss the way that patriarchy and feminism are explored or explained in the movie. Does Barbieland treat Kens the way women are treated in the human world? Why is Ken so delighted to return to Barbieland?

Although the movie is about a children's doll, it's not really aimed at young kids, with its mature themes and humor. Do you think a movie inspired by and about toys needs to be appropriate for little kids?

Talk about the relationship between human mom Gloria and her middle school-age daughter, Sasha. What changes about their connection once they meet Barbie?

Did you notice positive diverse representation in the movie? Why is that important?

Movie Details

• In theaters : July 21, 2023
• On DVD or streaming : October 17, 2023
• Cast : Margot Robbie , Ryan Gosling , America Ferrera , Will Ferrell
• Director : Greta Gerwig
• Inclusion Information : Female directors, Female actors, Latino actors, Female writers
• Studio : Warner Bros.
• Genre : Comedy
• Topics : Princesses, Fairies, Mermaids, and More , Friendship , Great Girl Role Models
• Character Strengths : Empathy , Perseverance
• Run time : 114 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : suggestive references and brief language
• Awards : Academy Award , Common Sense Selection , Golden Globe
• Last updated : March 11, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Our editors recommend.

Turning Red

Toy Story 2

The Brady Bunch Movie

Legally Blonde

Barbie Princess Adventure

Little Women (2019)

Goofy Comedy Movies to Watch with Tweens and Teens

Best classic comedy films, related topics.

• Perseverance
• Princesses, Fairies, Mermaids, and More
• Great Girl Role Models

Want suggestions based on your streaming services? Get personalized recommendations

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Find Family Movies, Movie Ratings and Movie Reviews

Barbie (2023) Parent Guide

Creating a witty, campy, original film about plastic dolls is a genuine achievement..

Theaters: When Barbie's perfect life is rocked by unexplained phenomena, she and Ken go on a trip to the real world to save Barbie Land.

Release date July 21, 2023

Run Time: 114 minutes

Get Content Details

The guide to our grades, parent movie review by kirsten hawkes.

Barbie (Margot Robbie) is living her dream life in her bright pink dream house. She enjoys non-stop validation and entertainment in a world where her fellow Barbies can achieve anything – winning Nobel prizes, flying into space, or being President. Secure in the conviction that the success of Barbies inspires girls in the far-off “real” world, she’s able to party enthusiastically with Ken (Ryan Gosling) and her friends, at least, until she has sudden, irrepressible thoughts of death.

That’s not all. The next morning, Barbie wakes up with (horror of horrors) flat feet and is unable to drift down the levels of her stairless house. After she lands with a thud on the sidewalk, our protagonist visits Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) to uncover the cause of these disturbing phenomena. She learns that her answers can only be found in the real world, so she hops into her convertible to save Barbie Land. Unable to exist outside Barbie’s gaze, Ken insists on coming along, but their experiences in Los Angeles have dire consequences for their pink, plastic reality…

When Barbie arrives in LA, she discovers that not only do women not enjoy the female successes found in Barbie Land; some of them resent Barbie and her fellow dolls for fostering unreasonable expectations. Barbie is horrified to encounter both misogyny and patriarchy – but these attitudes give Ken a sense of visibility and respect. This cognitive divergence drives the rest of the plot and leads to an existential crisis for both characters and their entire community.

Jaded critic that I am, it’s not often that I get excited about a film, but I want to give two big thumbs-up to Greta Gerwig for co-writing and directing a movie that kept me guessing for its entire runtime. I honestly did not know how this movie was going to end, and that’s such a refreshing change. The script is also laugh-out-loud funny – Depression Barbie binge-watching Pride & Prejudice was a particularly rich moment for me, but theatergoers at my showing burst into laughter at frequent intervals.

There’s no doubt this film has been written for adult audiences (particularly women) but it can also be enjoyed by teens. Negative content is limited to minor innuendo, infrequent profanity, and some farcical violence. This is more than balanced by the movie’s positive themes. Barbie doesn’t just dissect the harms of structural misogyny; it drives home a strong message of female empowerment. When disillusioned Barbie moans that she’s “not smart enough to be interesting”, real world mom Gloria (America Ferrera) delivers an impassioned plea for female self-acceptance in a culture of unattainable, often contradictory expectations.

More impressively, this isn’t just a film about female disempowerment or rage. The script has the courage to look at the Kens and the consequences of ongoing marginalization, even when it results from cluelessness instead of malicious intent. As Barbie and Ken look beyond social constructs and examine their own interests and priorities, the movie becomes a tale of self-acceptance and maturation. Barbie is more than an advertorial for a child’s plaything: it’s a parable about individual agency. And stories don’t get much deeper than that.

About author

Kirsten hawkes, watch the trailer for barbie (2023).

Barbie (2023) Rating & Content Info

Why is Barbie (2023) rated PG-13? Barbie (2023) is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for suggestive references and brief language.

Violence: There are chase scenes involving reckless driving. There are scenes of physical fighting involving hitting, kicking, and shoving. Male characters have a “war” in which sports equipment is used in place of weapons. A man is put in a headlock with the handle of a shovel. A woman punches a man for slapping her backside. A man hits himself hard enough to fall over. Sexual Content: There is a coded reference to masturbation. Doll characters reference the “blobs” inside the male dolls’ jeans. There is some mild sexual innuendo. A main character refers to a “penis” and “vagina” and says that they don’t have any genitals. A man slaps a woman’s backside. A doll “grows” breasts when her arm is turned in circles. Song lyrics bemoan a character’s permanent state of virginity. Profanity:   A sexual expletive is bleeped out. There are a half dozen terms of deity and minor profanities. Alcohol / Drug Use: None noted.

Page last updated July 20, 2023

Barbie (2023) Parents' Guide

What effect does Barbie and Ken’s relationship have on the rest of the film? What does their relationship say about power differentials? How does that influence the way Ken reacts to his experience in the real world? How do you think Barbie can remain unaware of Ken’s feelings? What does their relationship say about real-life relationships?

What do you think of Barbie’s choice at the end of the movie? Would you make the same decision? Why or why not?

Related home video titles:

If you’re looking for a teen-friendly story of female empowerment, you can try Moxie . This Netflix production tells the story of a teen who launches an anonymous zine to protest the sexualized misogyny prevalent in her high school.

In Misbehaviour , a group of British feminists plan a protest against the 1970 Miss World beauty pageant to highlight the misogyny of their culture.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s long climb to the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States is depicted in On the Basis of Sex .

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors.

Now streaming on:

"Barbie," director and co-writer Greta Gerwig ’s summer splash, is a dazzling achievement, both technically and in tone. It’s a visual feast that succeeds as both a gleeful escape and a battle cry. So crammed with impeccable attention to detail is "Barbie” that you couldn’t possibly catch it all in a single sitting; you’d have to devote an entire viewing just to the accessories, for example. The costume design (led by two-time Oscar winner Jacqueline Durran ) and production design (led by six-time Oscar nominee Sarah Greenwood ) are constantly clever and colorful, befitting the ever-evolving icon, and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (a three-time Oscar nominee) gives everything a glossy gleam. It’s not just that Gerwig & Co. have recreated a bunch of Barbies from throughout her decades-long history, outfitted them with a variety of clothing and hairstyles, and placed them in pristine dream houses. It’s that they’ve brought these figures to life with infectious energy and a knowing wink.

“Barbie” can be hysterically funny, with giant laugh-out-loud moments generously scattered throughout. They come from the insularity of an idyllic, pink-hued realm and the physical comedy of fish-out-of-water moments and choice pop culture references as the outside world increasingly encroaches. But because the marketing campaign has been so clever and so ubiquitous, you may discover that you’ve already seen a fair amount of the movie’s inspired moments, such as the “ 2001: A Space Odyssey ” homage and Ken’s self-pitying ‘80s power ballad. Such is the anticipation industrial complex.

And so you probably already know the basic plot: Barbie ( Margot Robbie ), the most popular of all the Barbies in Barbieland, begins experiencing an existential crisis. She must travel to the human world in order to understand herself and discover her true purpose. Her kinda-sorta boyfriend, Ken ( Ryan Gosling ), comes along for the ride because his own existence depends on Barbie acknowledging him. Both discover harsh truths—and make new friends –along the road to enlightenment. This bleeding of stark reality into an obsessively engineered fantasy calls to mind the revelations of “ The Truman Show ” and “The LEGO Movie,” but through a wry prism that’s specifically Gerwig’s.

This is a movie that acknowledges Barbie’s unrealistic physical proportions—and the kinds of very real body issues they can cause in young girls—while also celebrating her role as a feminist icon. After all, there was an astronaut Barbie doll (1965) before there was an actual woman in NASA’s astronaut corps (1978), an achievement “Barbie” commemorates by showing two suited-up women high-fiving each other among the stars, with Robbie’s Earth-bound Barbie saluting them with a sunny, “Yay, space!” This is also a movie in which Mattel (the doll’s manufacturer) and Warner Bros. (the film’s distributor) at least create the appearance that they’re in on the surprisingly pointed jokes at their expense. Mattel headquarters features a spacious, top-floor conference room populated solely by men with a heart-shaped, “ Dr. Strangelove ”-inspired lamp hovering over the table, yet Will Ferrell ’s CEO insists his company’s “gender-neutral bathrooms up the wazoo” are evidence of diversity. It's a neat trick.

As the film's star, Margot Robbie finds just the right balance between satire and sincerity. She’s  the  perfect casting choice; it’s impossible to imagine anyone else in the role. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed stunner completely looks the part, of course, but she also radiates the kind of unflagging, exaggerated optimism required for this heightened, candy-coated world. Later, as Barbie’s understanding expands, Robbie masterfully handles the more complicated dialogue by Gerwig and her co-writer and frequent collaborator, filmmaker Noah Baumbach . From a blinding smile to a single tear and every emotion in between, Robbie finds the ideal energy and tone throughout. Her performance is a joy to behold.

And yet, Ryan Gosling is a consistent scene-stealer as he revels in Ken’s himbo frailty. He goes from Barbie’s needy beau to a swaggering, macho doofus as he throws himself headlong into how he thinks a real man should behave. (Viewers familiar with Los Angeles geography will particularly get a kick out of the places that provide his inspiration.) Gosling sells his square-jawed character’s earnestness and gets to tap into his “All New Mickey Mouse Club” musical theater roots simultaneously. He’s a total hoot.

Within the film’s enormous ensemble—where the women are all Barbies and the men are all Kens, with a couple of exceptions—there are several standouts. They include a gonzo Kate McKinnon as the so-called “Weird Barbie” who places Robbie’s character on her path; Issa Rae as the no-nonsense President Barbie; Alexandra Shipp as a kind and capable Doctor Barbie; Simu Liu as the trash-talking Ken who torments Gosling’s Ken; and America Ferrera in a crucial role as a Mattel employee. And we can’t forget Michael Cera as the one Allan, bumbling awkwardly in a sea of hunky Kens—although everyone else forgets Allan.

But while “Barbie” is wildly ambitious in an exciting way, it’s also frustratingly uneven at times. After coming on strong with wave after wave of zippy hilarity, the film drags in the middle as it presents its more serious themes. It’s impossible not to admire how Gerwig is taking a big swing with heady notions during the mindless blockbuster season, but she offers so many that the movie sometimes stops in its propulsive tracks to explain itself to us—and then explain those points again and again. The breezy, satirical edge she established off the top was actually a more effective method of conveying her ideas about the perils of toxic masculinity and entitlement and the power of female confidence and collaboration.

One character delivers a lengthy, third-act speech about the conundrum of being a woman and the contradictory standards to which society holds us. The middle-aged mom in me was nodding throughout in agreement, feeling seen and understood, as if this person knew me and was speaking directly to me. But the longtime film critic in me found this moment a preachy momentum killer—too heavy-handed, too on-the-nose, despite its many insights.  

Still, if such a crowd-pleasing extravaganza can also offer some fodder for thoughtful conversations afterward, it’s accomplished several goals simultaneously. It’s like sneaking spinach into your kid’s brownies—or, in this case, blondies.

Available in theaters on July 21st. 

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

Now playing

The Monk and the Gun

Marya e. gates.

Land of Bad

Simon abrams.

Kaiya Shunyata

The New Look

Nandini balial.

Dune: Part Two

Brian tallerico.

Molli and Max in the Future

Film credits.

Barbie (2023)

Rated PG-13 for suggestive references and brief language.

114 minutes

Margot Robbie as Barbie

Ryan Gosling as Ken

America Ferrera as Gloria

Will Ferrell as Mattel CEO

Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie

Ariana Greenblatt as Sasha

Issa Rae as President Barbie

Rhea Perlman as Ruth Handler

Hari Nef as Doctor Barbie

Emma Mackey as Physicist Barbie

Alexandra Shipp as Writer Barbie

Michael Cera as Allan

Helen Mirren as Narrator

Simu Liu as Ken

Dua Lipa as Mermaid Barbie

John Cena as Kenmaid

Kingsley Ben-Adir as Ken

Scott Evans as Ken

Jamie Demetriou as Mattel Executive

• Greta Gerwig
• Noah Baumbach

Cinematographer

• Rodrigo Prieto
• Alexandre Desplat
• Mark Ronson

Latest blog posts

True To Yourself: James Gray on James Gray's New York

SXSW 2024: Songs from the Hole, The Black Sea, Adrianne & The Castle

SXSW 2024: Sing Sing, Bob Trevino Likes It, Hood Witch

Netflix Dutifully Unpacks Memorable Cases in Overdone Homicide: New York

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Newsletters

‘Barbie’ Has a PG-13 Rating—Is It Appropriate for Younger Kids?

Why I have no problem taking my 8-year-old daughter to see the movie—plus all the information you need to decide if it's right for your family.

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

The long-awaited Barbie movie is here. My social media feeds are filled with the vintage Barbie looks Margot Robbie has been nailing on the red carpet, love letters to Barbie from all generations, hilarious memes, and, most of all, raging debates among parents asking, ”Is ‘Barbie’ appropriate for kids?”

I know, it sounds a little counterintuitive considering that every little girl in America was patiently awaiting opening day. But if you haven't heard, the Motion Picture Association actually gave Barbie, Ken, and the gang a PG-13 rating!

It never once crossed my mind that perhaps Barbie might be inappropriate for my 8-year-old daughter. First of all, the movie is being marketed to girls well under 13. There’s an entire line of Barbie dolls and accessories in the toy aisle, not to mention Barbiecore clothes and accessories in the children’s section (PS: we own most of it).

It was never going to fly if I told my daughter she could have a “Margot Robbie” Barbie and a “Ryan Gosling” Ken doll but had to wait five years to see the movie. I’d love to think my daughter will want a Barbie-themed bat mitzvah but it’s rather unlikely.  

Second of all, I really and truly don’t think my daughter and her friends will pay a bit of attention to the movie’s dialogue. They only care about watching their beloved dolls come alive as they soak in larger-than-life Dream Houses, Barbie’s over-the-top wardrobe, and a movie set that is SO pink , it caused a global shortage of pink paint .

It's not giving anything away because it's in the trailer, but one scene features a moment where Ken suggests sleeping over at Barbie’s house. Barbie innocently replies, “To do what?” My daughter laughed when she saw the trailer but never asked for more details. But if she did ask, I would’ve delicately explained those dynamics.

It’s inevitable that Barbie may bring up questions about romantic relationships, feminism , and even death (there’s a scene where Barbie brings a dance party to a screeching halt by asking, “Do you ever think about dying”?). I’m not worried. In fact, I’m happy to use the movie as a jumping-off point to answer questions, broach sensitive subjects and start a healthy dialogue.

I took my daughter to see Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret —another PG-13 movie sans the distraction of a glossy set and wardrobe. Based on the famed and beloved Judy Blume novel, the movie touched on puberty, religion, family issues , and more.

A few days after seeing Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret in theaters, my daughter asked—while we were in a long line at Target—what it was like when I got my first period . Maybe it wasn’t quite the setting I was hoping to have such a chat with her, but we had a really beautiful and honest conversation that I believe my daughter was able to grasp because of the foundation laid out by the movie. So if anything beyond “Which Barbie is your favorite” is asked after we see the movie—I’m prepared!

With that said, taking a younger child to see Barbie is a personal decision. The movie received its PG-13 rating because of “suggestive references” and “brief language.”  Some parents may not be ready or comfortable to discuss the more advanced plot lines while others may simply just know if their child is or is not ready to be introduced to mature topics.

It’s worth noting in the film, Barbieland features a diverse group of Barbies and Kens with a range of body sizes, disabilities , and racial and ethnic backgrounds . But, if you’re still unsure—here’s what you need to know so you can make an informed decision before buying tickets to Barbie for your family. 

Sexual Innuendos

Barbie and Ken have been “couple goals” for decades. Raise your hand if you’ve been “witness” to hundreds of weddings for the celebrated couple in your playroom! But much of the innocence of their relationship likely has to do with one important detail—both Barbie and Ken are missing their private parts. It’s a fact that is acknowledged in the Barbie movie though they make reference to their missing genitalia in a humorous way. It’s not explicit or vulgar and there’s nothing that resembles nudity. At one point the words "vagina" and "penis" are used.

There is also that reference mentioned earlier when Ken asks Barbie to stay the night, but he doesn't know what that really means. Ken does try to kiss Barbie more than once. There are also some pick-up lines, cat-calling, and other double entendres that you may get that your kids may not. Oh, and the Kens do have plenty of scenes when they are shirtless.

Mature Language and Themes

It should be noted that Barbie is directed by Greta Gerwig whose body of work includes directing movies with strong leading ladies and coming-of-age themes such as Ladybird and Little Women . So Gerwig’s take on Barbie focuses on gender roles and equality, what it means to be a woman, finding happiness, and fulfillment, and even touches on death as Barbie has a bit of an existential crisis.

Yes, there is some “strong” language used but the one word that would really require some “earmuffs” is actually bleeped out. There is no other profanity. There is some beer-drinking in some scenes as well.

While these topics are broached with sensitivity, care, and humor, they are definitely geared toward the older audiences (hello Gen X) watching for the nostalgia of it all.

Mild Violence

And by mild violence, we mean barely any that is a real cause for concern. There’s a battle among the Kens that is “cartoony” at best— most kids have likely seen worse in Disney movies. Their weapons include inflatable pool toys and they get the most aggressive in a dance-off. There is also a car chase scene, but again, nothing that's a real cause for concern.

If you're still unsure or do take your younger child but want to be prepared with conversation starters after seeing Barbie , Common Sense Media has some great ideas to get you started. The organization is known for its reviews and ratings of TV shows and movies based on children's age and appropriateness. In the review of Barbie , the group includes talking points that you can bring up with your child.

Related Articles

"One of the 50 Coolest Websites...they simply tell it like it is" - TIME

Barbie | 2023 | PG-13 | – 3.3.4

Barbie SEX/NUDITY 3

Barbie violence/gore 3, barbie language 4, barbie substance use, barbie discussion topics, barbie message.

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated , Special , Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.

REVIEWS See ratings & reviews at Critics.com

WEB LINKS Official Site    IMDb

OFFICIAL TRAILER

FILTER by RATINGS Did you know you can now filter searches by any combination of ratings? Just go to our search page or use the search bar, with or without a keyword, from the top navigation menu. Move sliders from 0-10 in any combination, check and uncheck MPAA ratings and use keywords to further filter results -- please let us know what you think.

THE ASSIGNED NUMBERS Unlike the MPAA we do not assign one inscrutable rating based on age but 3 objective ratings for SEX/NUDITY , VIOLENCE/GORE & LANGUAGE on a scale of 0 to 10, from lowest to highest depending on quantity & context | more |

FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

• Follow Follow

how to support us

PLEASE DONATE

We are a totally independent website with no connections to political, religious or other groups & we neither solicit nor choose advertisers. You can help us keep our independence with a donation.

NO MORE ADS!

Become a member of our premium site for just $1/month & access advance reviews, without any ads, not a single one, ever. And you will be helping support our website & our efforts.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we accept compliments too. While we read all emails & try to reply we don't always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address.

Become a member of our premium site for just $2/month & access advance reviews, without any ads, not a single one, ever. And you will be helping support our website & our efforts.

We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we will accept compliments too. While we read all emails & try to reply we do not always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Know when new reviews are published We will never sell or share your email address with anybody and you can unsubscribe at any time

You're all set! Please check your email for confirmation.

Pin it on pinterest.

• New Reviews
• ★ JOIN TODAY! ★

Is the New "Barbie" Movie Appropriate For Kids? Here's What Parents Should Know

Updated on 9/13/2023 at 1:25 PM

Barbie, the beloved childhood icon, has been given a live-action makeover in a new movie that's unlike the Barbie stories of the past. Instead, the doll we grew up with comes to life in a brand-new cinematic adventure directed by Greta Gerwig , starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken.

Barbie (the doll) is fit for all ages. But is the new "Barbie" movie appropriate for kids? Here's what you should know about the "Barbie" movie plot and how the movie, which is now in theaters and newly streaming on Prime Video , is faring among parents and experts. This way, you can make an informed decision before you take the kids to the theater or let them watch from home.

How Long Is the New "Barbie" Movie?

"Barbie" runs for one hour and 54 minutes, according to IMDb , or 114 minutes. That alone is a sign that this movie isn't geared toward little ones. Kids' movies tend to be shorter, no more than 100 minutes, to accommodate their shorter attention spans.

What Is the "Barbie" Movie Rated?

The "Barbie" movie is rated PG-13, which means (literally): "Parental Guidance: some material may be inappropriate for children under 13." It's meant to be a strong caution for parents to consider when deciding whether to let their kids see a movie. For "Barbie" specifically, the movie has been rated PG-13 due to "suggestive references" and "brief language."

Is the "Barbie" Movie Appropriate For Kids?

One of the biggest differences between the new movie and earlier Barbie movies like "Barbie and the Secret Door," "The Princess & the Popstar," and "A Fashion Fairytale" is that Gerwig's "Barbie" is not animated. These are real people.

And unlike live-action remakes of kids' films like "The Little Mermaid," which retain the animated original's themes and sense of fantasy, "Barbie" depicts characters in real-world situations, dealing with real-world problems — the characters grapple with dating, aging, beauty standards, and harassment. The plot is centered on Barbie's existential crisis, which is a pretty heavy topic in and of itself.

All this to say, the plot is more adult than Barbie movies of the past. It includes playful humor that might appeal to all audiences, but this movie is geared toward a more grown-up audience.

From the trailer alone, we see Barbie getting her butt slapped on the beach, punching a man in the face, and appearing to get arrested with Ken.

IMDb reports that the movie contains several sexual innuendos and references to the characters' (lack of) genitals. "One scene shows Ken asking Barbie if he can stay over as they're 'girlfriend and boyfriend.' When Barbie asks 'to do what?' Ken pauses before saying 'I'm actually not sure,'" Danny Brogan, executive editor at Common Sense Media, told Yahoo! Life .

It's a line that may go over kids' heads — but that also means that, at the end of the day, the movie may not be particularly funny or interesting to them.

There's also some violence (but nothing overly frightening; no blood, gore, or any weapons are used) and some mild risqué language, including one bleeped-out use of the mf-word. The movie also has some more grown-up jokes (like a joke that centers on the word "beach" and jokes about beauty standards and the patriarchy). However, like the joke about being boyfriend/girlfriend, these jokes are very likely to go over the head of someone who is younger without leaving any holes in the plotline.

"I think Gerwig has included all this mature content knowing that a large portion of the audience will be millennials and members of Generation Z — people who grew up with Barbie during the '80s, '90s, and '00s — looking for that nostalgia but also to be entertained," Brogan told Yahoo! Life.

Personally, I went to see the movie with my 16-year-old, and I felt it was perfectly appropriate for her in terms of the message of the movie and the jokes. She was old enough to understand the storyline's humor, nostalgia, and positive messages. I wouldn't hesitate to allow my 14-year-old to watch the movie, either. However, I would have pause in allowing my 9-year-old to watch the movie, but only because I don't think they would find it interesting, and the jokes would go above their head.

With that info in mind, the PG-13 rating seems accurate — this isn't a movie for tweens and younger, not necessarily because of the content, but because much of it might be over their heads and not as entertaining.

How Do You Know If Your Kid Is Ready to See the "Barbie" Movie?

Dr. Amanda Gummer , child psychologist, parenting expert, and founder of The Good Play Guide, tells POPSUGAR that parents should consider what other movies their kids have seen and look at the marketing material of the "Barbie" movie to get a feel for if it's appropriate for their kid. "A good place to start is to consider how your child has reacted to other similarly rated films," Dr. Gummer says. "Past experiences are great to consider their readiness for PG-13 content."

She continues, "Have a look at the pre-marketing materials and trailers and think about the different themes, language, potential violence levels, and sexual content [that] might appear. Think about what your child likes to do or watch and what they are already exposed to, as some children can be more sensitive to certain topics than others."

Dr. Gummer also suggests watching the movie together with your kid, so you can talk about what you saw after the film. "If you decide your child is ready to watch, then why not watch it together and allocate some time after to grab a milkshake and chat about what you've seen?" she suggests. "This allows you to provide context, answer questions, and have fun talking things through."

The movie does cover some big topics like feminism, beauty standards, body image, harassment, and patriarchy, which might be heavy for some younger teens, or they can be a good jumping-off point for important conversations. "Why not start a conversation about beauty standards and talk about how different standards can influence a person's self-esteem and body image and how harassment is unacceptable and can hurt others?" Dr. Gummer suggests. "The 'Barbie' movie and its inclusive and positive positioning is a wonderful springboard to have discussions around a supportive environment. The film covers topics such as friendship, openness, and inclusivity, so it's a great springboard to start conversations with your children and promote healthy values."

Dr. Gummer says she's "excited" about the movie hitting the big screens because it allows parents to talk to preteens and teens about important topics. "For me, it represents a positive move that can serve as a great role model for older children, as it provides essential values and encourages conversation around different themes," she says. "Through the diverse range of personalities and characters in the movie, there is a great opportunity to discuss inclusivity, acceptance, and the value of individuality — all really important topics today and helpful as children understand and appreciate the differences in others."

Ultimately, you know your kid best. If you have checked out the plotline and read some reviews and are still not sure if now is the right time for your kid to see "Barbie," stick to one of the animated stories instead. The live-action movie will always be there in a few months or years when the timing is right.

"Barbie" opened in theaters nationwide on July 21.

• Parenting Tips
• Little Kids
• The Fun Part

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar
• Skip to footer

BARBIE Parents Guide + Movie Review

Written by Kami Leave a Comment

Sharing is caring!

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is a worldwide revolution. Tackling feminism, the patriarchy, and a cotton candy color palette, Barbie is a true sensation. Although this movie is making headlines everywhere, is Barbie kid-friendly? I’m breaking down all of the thematic elements, including its PG-13 rating, in this  Barbie Parents Guide and Movie Review. Here’s what parents need to know to help YOU decide if it’s age appropriate for your kids. As always, no spoilers!

Since the first trailer was shown, the Barbie movie has taken the world by storm. The geniuses behind the marketing team deserve all the applause for the success of this movie. Their marketing campaign exuded pure brilliance.

What makes the Barbie movie so enticing, is the fact that Barbie has been around for decades, therefore, appealing to multiple generations. And while your first thought might be that this is a kids movie, this couldn’t be further than the truth. Surprisingly, Barbie’s target demographic is NOT children.

So, who is the Barbie movie for? Well, that’s easy. Barbie is for everyone.

Every day is the same day in Barbie Land — and it’s perfection. However, it is evident that each day in Barbie Land is reminiscent of Groundhog Day. It’s literally the same, perfect day, every single day. There are multiple Barbie’s in Barbie Land. Because Barbie can be anything, there is President Barbie, Physicist Barbie, Doctor Barbie, Mermaid Barbie, etc. Our story focuses on Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie).

Unwilling, Barbie begins to change. Her feet are suddenly flat, and she’s developing cellulite! She even has thoughts of (gasp) dying! Soon she finds herself in the middle of a full-blown existential crisis. With the advice of Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), Barbie sets off on an adventure to the real world (Los Angeles), in search of who has been playing with her, and thus putting these thoughts into her head.

Ken (Ryan Gosling) sneaks along on the adventure, because Ken’s whole purpose in life is Barbie.

Now, I know that sounds like an unbearably cheesy storyline, but trust me when I say there is much more substance to the Barbie movie than meets the eye.

The Cinematography and Soundtrack

If you grew up playing Barbies, you’re in for a real treat. The setting of Barbie Land is perfection. It’s the most perfect pink color palette, filled with multiple Barbie Dreamhouses, and other bits of nostalgia. Fans will have fun noticing various Easter eggs and taking a trip down memory lane. Although the Barbie movie is a live-action film, animation is cleverly woven into the storyline.

The soundtrack for the Barbie movie is top notch. Not only are the tunes spectacular, the film features fun dance sequences with impressive choreography. Ryan Gosling’s, Ken, has his own number, and it’s a whole vibe.

Is Barbie Kid-Friendly? Here’s Your Parents Guide:

While your first thought might be that Barbie is obviously a kids movie, that is definitely not the case. In fact, it appeared evident in the trailers that Barbie might be made for older generations. Not only is the Barbie movie live-action, it also has a PG-13 rating.

Why is Barbie rated PG-13?

The Barbie movie has an MPA rating of PG-13 for suggestive references and brief language. Barbie has a runtime of 1 hour 54 minutes. Here’s what parents need to know before seeing the new Barbie movie with your kids.

Violence : There is one fight scene between the Kens.

Language : The language in Barbie is fairly mild. Lookout words include: damn, Hell, Bimbo, bitch, and a bleeped out Mother F*****.

Mature Content : There are multiple sexual innuendos in the Barbie movie. Ken makes a comment that he doesn’t have a penis and Barbie doesn’t have a vagina. He then says that they don’t have any genitals at all. Other content includes one Ken twisting another Ken’s nipples, a random person in the real world smacking Barbie’s butt, and cat-calling. Barbie and Kens are shown drinking alcohol and a character gets arrested. There is also mention of being day drunk. Barbie is suffering from an existential crisis and some of her actions appear related to depression.

What is the Age Recommendation for the Barbie Movie?

As I previously stated, the Barbie movie is NOT intended for your little ones. Simply put, they wouldn’t understand it, and therefore, wouldn’t enjoy it. There’s too much of a story. Barbie would be best suited for ages (mature) 10 and up — but even that age group will have some questions. There are some great conversation starters in the Barbie movie that you can have with your children.

Is there and End-Credits Scene in the Barbie Movie?

End credit scenes are all the rage thanks to the MCU. We are trained to keep our butts seated throughout the lengthly post credit rolls. With that being said, Barbie does NOT have any end credit scene. Feel free to get up and stretch.

Overall Thoughts

Barbie is the most inclusive movie I’ve seen in a long time. It perfectly showcases the evolution of Barbie with a strong message of self-acceptance loud and clear. America Ferrera’s character, Gloria, has the most powerful speech in the movie. Women have such a pressure on themselves to be extraordinary in all of the things, but society continuously deems them not good enough. It’s exhausting. The audience in my theater literally applauded at her conclusion because it’s the hard truth.

The cast of Barbie puts on a stellar performance, while Ryan Gosling steals the show with every scene he’s in. But, it’s the heart of the Barbie movie that wins it for me. Bravo, Greta Gerwig, for a job well done.

Barbie Synopsis

To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken.

Looking for more reviews like this Barbie Parents Guide and movie review? Don’t miss these posts  HERE .

Want the perfect outfit to see the Barbie movie? Check out these ideas HERE !

Reader Interactions

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

• Search Search Please fill out this field.
• Sweepstakes
• Movie Reviews

Barbie review: Welcome to Greta Gerwig's fiercely funny, feminist Dreamhouse

The Barbie movie could’ve been another forgettable, IP-driven cash grab. Instead, the director of Little Women and Lady Bird has crafted a neon pink delight.

Devan Coggan (rhymes with seven slogan) is a staff writer at Entertainment Weekly. Most of her personality is just John Mulaney quotes and Lord of the Rings references.

When Warner Bros. announced plans to launch a Barbie movie, the entire premise sounded a bit like a game of Hollywood Mad Libs gone wrong: Quick, name a beloved indie director ( Greta Gerwig !), an unadapted piece of intellectual property (Barbie dolls!), and an adjective (neon pink!). Every new piece of information that trickled out on the (lengthy) press tour seemed stranger than the last. Gerwig ( Lady Bird , Little Women ) cited 2001: A Space Odyssey and Gene Kelly musicals as her biggest inspirations. Elaborate dance numbers were teased. Ryan Gosling gave a lot of quotes about something called " Kenergy ." What actually was this movie, and could it possibly live up to all that hot pink buzz?

The verdict? Never doubt Gerwig. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker has crafted a fierce, funny, and deeply feminist adventure that dares you to laugh and cry, even if you're made of plastic. It's certainly the only summer blockbuster to pair insightful criticisms of the wage gap with goofy gags about Kens threatening to "beach" each other off.

The film (in theaters this Friday) whisks viewers away to Barbie Land, a candy-colored toy box wonderland of endless sunshine. It's there that our titular heroine ( Margot Robbie ) spends her days, each just as magical and neon as the one before. There are always other Barbies to party with — including Doctor Barbie ( Hari Nef ), President Barbie ( Issa Rae ), and Mermaid Barbie ( Dua Lipa ) — as well as an endless supply of devoted Kens, led by Gosling's frequently shirtless boy-toy. It's a plastic paradise for Robbie's Stereotypical Barbie, the type of doll that immediately comes to mind when you think of Barbie.

But something's gone wrong. Her Malibu Dreamhouse malfunctions; her mind is clouded by un-Barbie-like thoughts of death; and her perfectly arched feet now fall flat on the floor. So, our heroine sets out to seek some answers from Barbie Land's pseudo mystic, Weird Barbie ( Kate McKinnon ), who says a rift has opened up between their world and the real world, and she must brave the long trek to Los Angeles to find the human playing with her doll to remedy the situation. You bet her ever-loyal Ken (Gosling) is coming along for the ride.

Once Barbie and Ken begin roller-blading around L.A., however, they both realize that they've essentially entered a mirror dimension. Where are the female presidents, the CEOs, the astronauts? Barbie was supposed to empower young girls to dream big, but she hasn't had the feminist effect she anticipated — and in fact, she might have made things worse. Gerwig tackles the doll's complicated legacy head on, exploring how Barbie's reputation here isn't one of leadership or creativity but of corporatized objectification. Barbie herself is horrified, facing crude comments and misogyny for the first time in her (plastic) life. But to Ken, this newfound idea of patriarchy is intoxicating, and he quickly enters a spiral of masculinity, luxuriating in trucks, cowboy hats, and the addictive thrill of power.

Gosling has already scored praise for his earnest himbo performance, and in truth, he steals the show. For an actor who's spent much of his career brooding moodily (see: Blade Runner 2049 , Drive , First Man ), here, he finally gets to tap into his inner Mouseketeer , dramatically draping himself at Barbie's feet or breaking into a shirtless power ballad called "I'm Just Ken." His Ken has very little going on inside his brain, but his heart is brimming with emotion: love and admiration for Barbie, a longing for masculine validation, and a wide-eyed curiosity about the world around him.

Robbie still remains the real star of Barbie . Physically, the blonde Australian actress already looks like she stepped out of a Mattel box (something the film itself plays on during one particular gag), but she gives an impressively transformative performance, moving her arms and joints like they're actually made of plastic. Robbie has brought a manic physicality to previous films including Babylon and Birds of Prey , but she now embraces physical comedy to the max. (At one point, she face-plants on the floor, limbs askew like a toy dropped by a toddler.) As Barbie begins to discover more about the real world, Robbie's performance gradually shifts to become more human. One of the most moving moments comes about halfway through the film, as Barbie perches quietly on a park bench, silently observing the humans around her.

If the film has a flaw, it's that Barbie and Ken are so delightful that their real-world counterparts feel dull by comparison. America Ferrera and Ariana Greenblatt play a frazzled mother and her sardonic teen daughter, who've drifted apart over time. Ferrera fills her days at her boring Mattel office job by doodling alternative Barbies, ones that are plagued by cellulite or haunted by thoughts of death. Her feminist daughter is dismissive of everything Barbie represents, dressing down Robbie with a pointed sneer. Ferrera admirably delivers one of the film's biggest emotional speeches, but surprisingly, the human characters never feel quite as lived-in as their plastic doll companions.

Still, Barbie works hard to entertain both 11-year-old girls and the parents who'll bring them to the theater. Gerwig co-wrote the script with her partner and longtime collaborator Noah Baumbach , and the entire screenplay is packed with winking one-liners, the kind that reward a rewatch. The fear is that Hollywood will learn the wrong message from Barbie, rushing to green-light films about every toy gathering dust on a kid's playroom floor. (What's next, The Funko Pop Movie? Furby: Fully Loaded? We already have a Bobbleheads movie , so maybe we're already there.) But it's Gerwig's care and attention to detail that gives Barbie an actual point of view , elevating it beyond every other cynical, IP-driven cash grab. Turns out that life in plastic really can be fantastic. Grade: A-

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly 's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Related content:

• Everything you'd want to know about Barbieheimer, the summer's hottest trend
• Ryan Gosling's best Kenisms from the Barbie press tour, from #NotMyKen to calls for Kenergy research funding
• See Margot Robbie's Barbie pink carpet style and every doll-inspired look

Is the 'Barbie' movie appropriate for kids? Here's what parents should know

Chances are, someone in your family is likely to have seen a peppy TV spot, one of the fun-filled trailers or even an online “Barbenheimer” poster and been all, “Come on, 'Barbie ,' let's go party.”

Directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie , “Barbie” (in theaters and available to buy/rent on Apple TV , Vudu , Amazon and Google Play ) is one of the year's most celebrated films . And being a meta comedy about the most famous doll of the past 60-plus years, it’s the type of movie that appeals to children of various ages. 

But is it for your youngsters? Here’s what moms and dads need to know about “Barbie” and if they can watch with their kids:

What is ‘Barbie’ about, anyway?

Barbie Land is a pink-bedecked paradise of plastic where all the Barbies hang out and have fun while the Kens are just sort of there as window dressing. However, when Stereotypical Barbie (Robbie) begins to recognize strange occurrences – like thoughts of death and signs of cellulite – she and her quasi-boyfriend Ken (Ryan Gosling) go on a trip to the Real World to set things right. The situation leads to misadventures for both dolls, a mom (America Ferrera) and her daughter are swept up in Barbie’s existential crisis, and even Barbie Land itself is thrown into disarray.

So, is ‘Barbie’ a kids movie?

No, it is not – unless your child is REALLY into the study of gender norms and/or knows what the term “Proustian” means. (That might even disqualify some adults, honestly.) “Barbie” starts off enjoyably spirited but when Robbie’s Barbie drops the line, “Do you guys ever think about dying?” at a Dreamhouse dance party, it kicks off a bunch of heady themes that the movie gamely dives into, like the meaning of life and the role of the patriarchy.

Tweens and teens might appreciate the social commentary (which Gerwig has made straightforward and easily digestible), and kids around 9 or 10 will enjoy the goofball humor while the intellectual discussion goes over their heads. Those younger than that, however, most likely will find a lot of the talking parts boring and could get antsy waiting for Barbie to do something fun again.

'Barbie': Margot Robbie never thought she'd have 'empathy for a doll'

Does 'Barbie' have sexual themes or inappropriate language?

It’s a PG-13 movie that plays it relatively safe in that regard. Ken wants to stay over at Barbie’s house one night, and when she asks what they’d do, he responds that he doesn’t know. (She rebuffs him for a “girls’ night” sleepover anyway.) The Kens threaten to “beach each other off” and Barbie actually points out a double entendre when it happens. Anything sexual is played off as a joke, like when Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) wonders about the “nude blob” in Ken’s pants and Barbie proclaims to a construction worker that "I do not have a vagina!"

As far as other potential concerns, the Kens get really into drinking beer at one point and there is one F-bomb that a Barbie drops on a Ken, but it’s bleeped and a Mattel logo appears over her mouth when she says it. (There’s also saucy language in Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s “Barbie World,” which plays over the credits.)

'Barbie' review: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling dazzle in hilariously heady toy story

Does ‘Barbie’ have excessive violence?

The physical altercations are all fairly cartoonish. Barbie has her butt smacked and ends up punching the guy, which leads to her being arrested. (Consent is important, kids!) And there’s a civil war among the Kens that breaks out, leading to an action scene where they swing plastic tennis rackets each other, shoot arrows with suction-cup tips, and bump chests with a macho swagger.

Is ‘Barbie’ a positive experience overall?

It is! In addition to being hilarious and kind of a blast, “Barbie” is an endearing and thought-provoking comedy with a bunch of good messaging as it pertains to feminism, identity, toxic masculinity, self-confidence and loving yourself. Moms and daughters will find things to bond over, as it juggles nostalgia and contemporary issues, dads and sons can reflect on if they’re being a total Ken or not, and if your kids are mature enough, “Barbie” has plenty to chew on in a candy-colored confection.

BARBIE Parents Guide Movie Review & Age Rating

By: Author mandipie4u

Posted on Last updated: July 25, 2023

Categories Entertainment , Films

Barbie is brilliantly fun, silly, and so meta, delivering positive messages that will resonate with audiences long after they exit the theater. Check out the details in my parents guide movie review.

The Barbie movie releases in theaters across the United States this Friday, July 21, 2023. The film is written by Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, who also directed it. It contains an all-star cast including Margot Robbie (Barbie), Ryan Gosling (Ken), Simu Liu (Ken), Kate McKinnon (Weird Barbie), America Ferrera (Gloria), Ariana Greenblatt (Sasha), Ncuti Gatwa (Ken), Will Ferrell (Mattel CEO), Issa Rae (President Barbie), Michael Cera (Alan), Emma Mackey (Physicist Barbie), Emerald Fennell (Midge), Alexandra Shipp (Barbie), Kingsley Ben-Adir (Ken), Connor Swindells (Aaron Dinkins), Jamie Demetriou (Mattel Executive), Rhea Perlman, John Cena, and Dua Lipa, with the film being narrated by Helen Mirren. It is hilarious, silly, and self-aware, with a terrific soundtrack that includes Barbie World by Nicki Minaj. Check out the details in my parents guide movie review.

If you enjoyed this Barbie parents guide movie review, check out these other articles: Haunted Mansion 2023 parents guide movie review , Oppenheimer parents guide movie review , Survival of the Thickest parents guide review , The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 parents guide review , Joy Ride parents guide movie review .

Barbie Movie Quotes

Barbie parents guide.

In Barbie : Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.

Barbie Age Rating Parents Guide

Let’s take a look at what concerned parents  need to know about the age rating of the movie before letting their younger children watch  Barbie .

Language :  Barbie doesn’t contain strong language, but there is some moderate bad language to look out for with young children with infrequent use of cursing, including crap, hell, vagina, penis, and a bleeped-out use of the word “mother f*ck*r.”

Mature Content : The film contains no sex scenes to speak of, but there are more mature content with brief sexual harassment sequences that include inappropriate comments, cat-calling, and in one scene, a male slaps a woman’s bottom, and she returns it with a slap to the face. There is also adult themes with moderate innuendo with the Kens discussing a “beach off” and Ken’s “nude blob” genitals. The film does not have any drug abuse or drug use content, but there are scenes that show characters drinking alcohol. There are also comic fight scenes that include Barbie toys used as weapons.

Age Rating of the Movie Barbie : Warner Bros. Pictures  Barbie movie rating has a PG-13 rating by the Motion Picture Association of America (Motion Picture Association of America movie ratings) for suggestive references and brief language, and the parental guidelines advisory recommends it for mature audiences, an older audience, young adults, teens, and young audiences aged 13 year olds and older. The suggestion of parental guidance or a legal guardian (adult guardian) is highly suggested for younger kids (young viewers) under 13 years of age in this PG-13-rated movie for adult material. The minimum age recommendation is 13 years old; it is not suitable for younger viewers or small children.

Overall Thoughts

The new Barbie movie, directed by Greta Gerwig, is a surprisingly funny and subversive take on the iconic doll. The movie is full of clever humor and sharp social commentary. Gerwig and her co-writer Noah Baumbach skewer the expectations of gender roles and perfection that are often placed on women, challenging traditional gender roles and promoting the idea that anyone, regardless of gender, can be anything they want to be. But they also find plenty of moments of genuine heart and warmth that capture the spirit of today’s society while still maintaining the charm and magic that Barbie has always represented.

Margot Robbie’s Stereotypical Barbie is a perfect doll who lives in a perfect world. But when she is banished to the real world, she learns that things are not always as they seem. Robbie is perfectly cast as Barbie, bringing both humor and vulnerability to the role and portraying the beloved Barbie doll with grace and elegance. Her performance adds depth to Barbie’s character, showcasing her intelligence and determination. Ryan Gosling stars as Ken, bringing his signature charisma and wit to the role. He perfectly captures Ken’s handsome and confident personality, making him a memorable addition to the Barbie movie franchise.

The music and visuals in Barbie are nothing short of spectacular. From the moment the movie starts, viewers are transported to a candy-colored palette “perfect” place that feels like a child’s dream. The combination of vibrant colors, sparkling costumes, and breathtaking scenery creates a seemingly utopian, magical fantasy land that is visually captivating. Production designer Sarah Greenwood has truly outdone herself with the set designs and costumes. Each scene is a feast for the eyes, with intricate details that bring the Barbie world to life. From the luxurious Barbie Dreamhouse to the dazzling ballroom, every frame is filled with beauty and elegance.

The music in the movie is equally impressive. The catchy tunes and upbeat melodies perfectly complement the on-screen action, making it impossible not to tap your feet and hum along. The soundtrack features a mix of original songs and popular hits, with notable contributions from artists like Nicki Minaj. Whether it’s a mesmerizing dance number or a heartfelt ballad, the music adds an extra layer of emotion and excitement to the story.

Overall, Barbie is a delightful surprise. It is a funny, heartwarming, and subversive take on the iconic doll. Gerwig and her team have created a movie that is sure to entertain audiences of all ages while also promoting inclusivity, empowerment, and creativity, making it an excellent choice for young viewers. By challenging traditional gender roles and celebrating the human world, this latest Barbie movie showcases the brand’s commitment to fostering positive values and encouraging young girls to dream big.

‘Barbie’ Review: Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling Compete for Control of High-Concept Living Doll Comedy

Greta Gerwig loads plenty of food for thought in a hot pink pop fantasia, poking fun at patriarchy and corporate parent Mattel in her treatment of the iconic “girls can do anything” doll.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

• ‘The Idea of You’ Review: Only Anne Hathaway Could Look This Confident Dating One of Her Daughter’s Pop Idols 3 days ago
• ‘The Greatest Hits’ Review: Music Makes the Heart Go Round in Clunky Remix of Better Rom-Coms 4 days ago
• ‘Civil War’ Review: Alex Garland Tears America Apart, Counting on Divided Audiences to Prevent His Worst-Case Horror Show 5 days ago

Check out the brain on Barbie ! Sure, she’s just a doll, but that doesn’t mean she has to be an airhead. Therein lies “Lady Bird” director Greta Gerwig ’s inspired, 21st-century solution to bringing one of America’s most iconic playthings to life on the big screen. Combine that with the casting of Margot Robbie in the title role, and “Barbie” is already starting out on the right, perfectly arched foot. So what if this high-concept comedy falls a bit flat in the final stretch?

That’s an admirable achievement, given understandably protective corporate parent Mattel — though let’s be honest, in the year 2023, it would be a shock (and box office suicide) if “Barbie” arrived without some kind of female-empowerment message baked in. This one checks all the right boxes, while making Ryan Gosling ’s dumb-dumb Ken the butt of most of its gender-equity jokes. Boasting fresh tracks from Billie Eilish and Lizzo, the result is a very funny kids’ movie with a freshman liberal arts student’s vocabulary that tosses around terms like “patriarchy” and “appropriation” — pretty much everything but “problematic,” which the movie implies without actually calling Barbie’s legacy.

Barbie Land, as it’s called, is an inherently hilarious alternate reality modeled on the dream that Mattel has been selling American girls since the doll was introduced in 1959. It looks a lot like the one they’ve seen in countless commercials, where flamingo-bright Barbie Dreamhouses inspire envy as a diverse collection of perky, positive-minded dolls smile and wave at one another (represented here by such avatars as Alexandra Shipp and Dua Lipa, Issa Rae and Ritu Aryu, Hari Nef and Sharon Rooney). It’s a wild pop-art space, all but exploding with supersaturated color, where the doll heads appear lower contrast and backlit, obliging us to squint to make out the actors’ faces.

You half-expect to see a giant hand reach in from the sky to interact with these lifelike toys, but that’s not how it works. Instead, Gerwig enlists Helen Mirren as narrator to lay out the rules, pausing now and then to spotlight specific costumes, interject vintage TV spots or cast shade on discontinued products — such as Growing Up Skipper, with her inflatable bust; pregnant Midge; or questionable-taste offerings like Sugar Daddy and Tanner, a flocked dog that poops plastic pellets.

Although Robbie’s blond-haired, fair-skinned Stereotypical Barbie seems to possess some abstract notion of herself as a toy, there’s a major disconnect between inventor Ruth Handler’s best intentions and the state of things in the Real World (where the movie spends roughly half its time): “Thanks to Barbie, all problems of feminism and equal rights have been solved,” Mirren sarcastically summarizes. One evening, in the middle of a dance party, Stereotypical Barbie blurts out, “You guys ever think about dying?” The next morning, she’s horrified to find her feet have flattened and a patch of cellulite has appeared. What could be threatening her near-perfect physique?

The answer lies in the Real World, where Barbie and Ken (Gosling’s Ken, not the ones played by Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, John Cena and others) steer her pink Corvette, emerging at Venice Beach wearing matching fluorescent Hot Skatin’ ensembles. Yes, “Barbie” is one of those movies, like “The Smurfs” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” where imaginary characters cross over to modern-day America — just infinitely more clever. Instead of using the premise as a setup for slapstick, Gerwig shows Barbie defending herself when some random guy slaps her butt, getting a knuckle sandwich in return.

At the same time Barbie is experiencing her rude awakening, Ken’s busy filling his empty head with all the possibilities that “patriarchy” entails. In Barbie Land, Ken’s job is a deliberately ill-defined afterthought (basically, just “beach”), whereas in the Real World, dudes rule — an idea he takes back to Barbie Land with pointedly absurd results, brainwashing all the women into behaving like obedient housewives. The film’s draggier second half gets both silly and unabashedly strident, as Stereotypical Barbie seeks help from Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), a damaged-goods doll with singed hair and messed-up makeup who serves as this girly-girl world’s Morpheus-like sage.

It’s upsetting (in a useful way) to see Barbie confronted with the overnight impact of rampant patriarchy, a concept that has rarely looked more off-putting than the frat-boy fantasy caricatured here. Think of it as the misogynist alternative marketed by old-school beer commercials, the polar opposite of Mattel’s mid-’80s “We girls can do anything. Right, Barbie?” campaign. While the Barbies plot to take back the government, Gerwig gives all the Ken dolls an over-the-top musical number, “I’m Just Ken,” which is so amusingly self-involved it risks subverting the very point the movie’s trying to make. If “Barbie” is all about centering and celebrating women, why let Ken steal the show?

Gosling is a good sport to play the slightly predatory, sartorially helpless pretty boy, as the spray-tanned ex-Mouseketeer parodies his popular “hey girl” persona, flexing both his muscles and a range of facial expressions all but lacking from his recent work. If Robbie’s Barbie sets an impossibly high bar for young women, then Gosling’s Ken reps an equally formidable male model, with his chiseled abs and cheekbones.

That factor hasn’t escaped Gerwig, who sets out to disrupt such unattainable aesthetic standards, calling out ways the doll’s idealized design can harm self-esteem and encourage eating disorders. She crams most of that critique into a single motormouthed monologue, which drew cheers at the premiere and which, on closer inspection, contains not a single controversial idea. In the end, the trouble with “Barbie” isn’t that it goes too far, but that it stops short, building to a conceptual scene between Barbie and her Creator (Rhea Perlman) that inadvertently underscores one of the movie’s few failings: It’s an intellectual experience, not an emotional one, grounded largely in audience nostalgia.

It’s kind of perfect that “Barbie” is opening opposite Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” since Gerwig’s girl-power blockbuster offers a neon-pink form of inception all its own, planting positive examples of female potential for future generations. Meanwhile, by showing a sense of humor about the brand’s past stumbles, it gives us permission to challenge what Barbie represents — not at all what you’d expect from a feature-length toy commercial.

Reviewed at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, July 9, 2023. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 114 MIN.

• Production: A Warner Bros. Pictures release and presentation of a Heyday Films, LuckyChap Entertainment, NB/GG Pictures, Mattel production. Producers: David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Robbie Brenner. Executive producers: Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach, Ynon Kreiz, Richard Dickson, Michael Sharp, Josey McNamara, Courtenay Valenti, Toby Emmerich, Cate Adams.
• Crew: Director: Great Gerwig. Screenplay: Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach, based on Barbie by Mattel. Camera: Greig Fraser. Editor: Rodrigo Prieto. Music: Nick Houy.
• With: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Dua Lipa, Helen Mirren

More From Our Brands

Olivia rodrigo will spill more ‘guts’ on new deluxe edition, an aspiring race car driver lists her peaceful beverly hills retreat for $30 million, carlyle group out as t-wolves purchase deadline nears, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, new amsterdam sequel series about max’s daughter in the works at nbc, verify it's you, please log in.

Notice: All forms on this website are temporarily down for maintenance. You will not be able to complete a form to request information or a resource. We apologize for any inconvenience and will reactivate the forms as soon as possible.

• DVD & Streaming
• Action/Adventure , Comedy , Satire , Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Caution

In Theaters

• July 21, 2023
• Margot Robbie as Stereotypical Barbie; Ryan Gosling as Stereotypical Ken; America Ferrera as Gloria; Ariana Greenblatt as Sasha; Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie; Issa Rae as President Barbie; Emma Mackey as Physicist Barbie; Hari Nef as Doctor Barbie; Nicola Coughlan as Diplomat Barbie; Dua Lipa as Mermaid Barbie; Alexandra Shipp as Author Barbie; Ritu Arya as Pulitzer Barbie; Sharon Rooney as Lawyer Barbie; Ana Cruz Kayne as Supreme Court Justice Barbie; Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, John Cena, Scott Evans, and Ncuti Gatwa as Ken; Michael Cera as Allan; Emerald Fennell as Midge; Will Ferrell as Mattel CEO; Connor Swindells as Mattel employee; Jamie Demetriou as Mattel executive; Rhea Perlman as Ruth Handler; Helen Mirren as the Narrator

Home Release Date

• September 12, 2023
• Greta Gerwig

Distributor

• Warner Bros.

Movie Review

She’s just a Barbie girl living in a Barbie world—Barbieland to be exact. But life in plastic isn’t so fantastic right now.

Usually, every day is a great day for Stereotypical Barbie. She wakes up with perfectly coifed hair and fresh breath. Her shower water is the perfect temperature. Her heart-shaped toast pops perfectly onto her plate. And everything about her life makes her happy and fulfilled.

Until suddenly, for reasons unknown to Barbie, she starts thinking about death . And when she asks the other Barbies if they ever think about it, things literally screech to a halt.

Embarrassed, Barbie plays it off. The party resumes. But Barbie goes to bed that night ill at ease.

And the next day is decidedly not a great day. Barbie’s jolted awake by loud music, her breath smells foul, her shower is the wrong temperature, and her toast is burnt. Worst of all, Barbie’s feet, perfectly, permanently arched for high heels, go flat .

You’re malfunctioning , her friends tell her. You have to go see Weird Barbie.

So she does. But what Barbie learns doesn’t comfort her. Weird Barbie tells her that there’s a connection between Barbieland and the real world where humans live. What humans do with their Barbie dolls in the real world affects what happens to their counterparts in Barbieland.

For instance, if someone playing with a stereotypical Barbie doll in the real world feels sad and lonely, then Stereotypical Barbie might transform into Existential Dread Barbie or Depressed Barbie.

But Stereotypical Barbie doesn’t want to become Depressed Barbie. She wants things to go back to feeling normal .

To do that, she’ll have to travel to the real world and cheer up the girl playing with her. But, of course, Barbie has no idea that the real world isn’t what she imagined it to be.

You see, in Barbieland, female Barbies have positions of authority and prestige, like being the president or members of the Supreme Court. Or maybe a pilot or doctor. In Barbieland, women run everything, while the Kens, well, they don’t really do much.

But when Barbie and Ken (her boyfriend) get to the real world, it’s like nothing they’ve ever experienced before.

Good luck in reality, Barbie.

Positive Elements

You almost can’t talk about the Barbie film without addressing the original doll created by Ruth Handler in 1959. Barbie was designed after Ruth realized the only dolls on the market were baby dolls (intended for little girls to imagine themselves as future caregivers). And Ruth wanted her own daughter (whom the iconic toy is named for) to know she could be anything she wanted to be.

Now, as we know, the invention of Barbie didn’t suddenly make it possible for women to achieve all their goals. And there’s also some controversy surrounding Ruth Handler (more on both those topics in Negative Elements). But Barbie did spearhead a movement that allowed little girls to dream of whatever sort of future they wished.

So, for the past 64 years, Barbie has acted as the everywoman, representing women from multiple different career paths, ethnicities and even body types. (Though that last one only came about after years of parents complaining that the stereotypically thin Barbie was ruining their children’s self-esteem .)

And this film reflects that history. The cast is quite diverse and inclusive. And while there are some caveats in that (see Sexual Content), for the most part, it’s a good thing.

The film’s most poignant message isn’t delivered by a Barbie, though, but by Gloria, a mom from the real world. Gloria’s relationship with her teenage daughter, Sasha, is fractured due to Sasha’s feelings of hopelessness about the world (many of which Sasha blames Barbie and the company responsible for her, Mattel, for) and Gloria’s perceived contribution to it (since she works for Mattel).

But Gloria isn’t blind to Sasha’s concerns. She speaks into how women, including her daughter, often feel extreme social pressures. And women often have to navigate double standards in their relationships with both men and other women. Gloria tenderly voices how some of these expectations are admittedly self-imposed (often because of poor self-image). And she acknowledges that even someone who perfectly embodies all of society’s ideals—Barbie herself—can feel this way.

Then, she challenges that status quo.

At this point, we should note that the film employs extreme and satirical stereotypes to make some of the following points. But it does so because Barbie herself is an extreme stereotype.

Gloria realizes she’s part of the problem—it’s why she and Sasha have drifted apart. But she refuses to let the “sexualized capitalism” and “rampant consumerism” (Sasha’s words) enhanced by Barbie’s existence to continue to rule her life.

Gloria helps the Barbies learn that who they are isn’t determined by some CEO on the top floor of an office building in Los Angeles. Rather, each individual Barbie has the ability to choose who she wants to be and what she wants to do.

This new knowledge not only frees the Barbies from the societal constraints they thought they had to live by, but it helps them to recognize and reconcile with members of their community they had inadvertently ousted, such as the overlooked Ken dolls and discontinued Barbie dolls.

Speaking of Ken, he has an important moment of self-realization as well about his identity and what will ultimately fulfill him, leading him to become a much kinder and more gracious man.

In the end, Barbieland, much like the real world it reflects, doesn’t necessarily get everything perfect. But its residents’ desire to keep trying—to make the world a better place for everyone —is a pretty nice message.

Elsewhere, characters apologize when they realize they’re in the wrong. When things go poorly for Barbie (to the benefit of Mattel’s pocketbook), Mattel’s CEO tries in earnest to fix the problem since Barbie represents the dreams of little girls everywhere. Characters are encouraged to honestly express their emotions. They also learn that it’s OK to make mistakes and show vulnerability.

Spiritual Elements

There’s a reference to The Shining when two women begin experiencing each other’s emotions.

[ Spoiler Warning ] Barbie eventually meets the ghost of an old woman living, apparently, in Mattel’s headquarters. It’s none other than Ruth Handler, and she takes Barbie on something of a spiritual journey as Barbie ponders whether or not she wants to become completely human or remain a doll. Ruth is referenced as the “creator,” and, indeed, she has something like the wisdom one might expect of a creator deity.

Sexual Content

When Barbie first arrives in Los Angeles, multiple men stare and catcall her. Barbie, who’s never been objectified in her life, states how self-conscious this makes her feel. She opposes this behavior by announcing, “I don’t have a vagina.” Then she looks at Ken and adds, “And he doesn’t have a penis.” Ken is embarrassed by this statement and counters it with the lie that he does , in fact, have male bits.

Elsewhere, Weird Barbie (played with oddball aplomb by Saturday Night Live alumni Kate McKinnon) makes it clear that the lack of certain anatomy doesn’t deter her.

As the film progresses, Barbie and her friends are repeatedly objectified. We’re shown a montage of men putting their arms around women to “help” them with simple tasks. Many unhealthy stereotypes are portrayed to demonstrate other unwanted attention from men. And Barbies even trick some Kens through flirting, ultimately pitting the Kens against each other for the Barbies’ affections.

Barbies occasionally wear swimsuits and other outfits that bare some skin (including cleavage). Many Kens like to walk around sans shirt, and the camera makes sure we notice in Stereotypical Ken’s case. There’s a poster of some Miss Universe contestants in bikinis. We see one Barbie from the shoulders up as she showers and later wrapped in a towel. One of Barbie’s outfits has stars on her backside.

As mentioned above, Ken pines for a romantic relationship with Barbie. However, she only sees Ken in a platonic way. Therefore, whenever Ken tries to kiss Barbie, she rejects him. When Ken asks to spend the night at her house, she denies his request. And Ken admits that he doesn’t know what they would do if he slept over, only that it’s expected of couples.

We learn that some Barbie dolls were discontinued because of ill-advised concepts, such as a Ken doll called “Sugar Daddy” (because he has a pet dog named Sugar), a “Growing Up Skipper” doll whose breasts grow and “Earring Magic Ken,” which many consumers nicknamed “Gay Ken.”

Another doll, Pregnant Barbie Midge, had a short shelf life because, we’re told, the marketplace just thought the concept was too weird. (We see pictures in the credits of the original packaging that show a preborn baby in the credits.) Barbie historians will know that Midge’s husband was Allan, who also shows up here (though isn’t connected to Midge in the film) as an ally to Barbie, and basically the only male character who doesn’t look or act like a Ken.

Sexual orientation, per se, isn’t directly addressed in Barbieland itself. However, some Barbies and Kens are portrayed by members of the LGBT community, and this occasionally comes through in their portrayals. Some male characters here could be seen as being quite effeminate, too.

Parents should note that Hari Nef, a trans performer, plays one of the female Barbies. We see a same-sex couple flirting in the real world. During a dance sequence, several Kens embrace, and two kiss Stereotypical Ken on his cheeks. One of Mattel’s lowly office workers asks the question, “I’m a man with no power. Does that make me a woman?” Another double entendre repeated multiple times between Kens involves the phrase, “I’m gonna beach you off.” One Ken eventually says, “I’m gonna beach both of you off.”

So while there’s little here that’s explicit, some will identify LGBT subtexts in winks in certain moments throughout the film.

Someone describes Mattel’s office building as “phallic.” The CEO boasts about their “gender neutral” bathrooms. A man calls a woman “Jezebel” (a reference from the Bible used as an insult to imply a woman is licentious) after which many people question if they’re allowed to use that term anymore.

Violent Content

As Barbie is being objectified in the real world, she notes that there’s an undertone of violence (which Ken, pointedly, is impervious to since he’s a guy). Moments later, a man whacks Barbie on her rear, and she spins around to punch him in the face (which she’s arrested for).

Gloria also talks about this, pointing out how ridiculous it is that women are expected to tell men when they’re acting inappropriately, but not in a way that causes a scene or else they might become a target.

Dozens of Kens go to “war” against each other in a battle of the egos (which is the only thing that gets hurt in this fight). Using plastic lacrosse sticks and tennis rackets, they shamelessly whack each other into submission. One Ken is put into a headlock. Another receives a purple nurple. But the only real injury is a human’s arm, which winds up in a sling after he’s caught in the crossfire.

Stereotypical Ken gets jealous when he believes Barbie is texting another Ken. He snatches her phone from her to prove it.

Despite not appearing particularly strong or masculine, Allan gets into a fight with several Ken dolls, brutally beating them up. (But again, no lasting injuries, just bruised egos.)

Other slapstick pratfalls turn up, too.

One scene depicts several little girls smashing their baby dolls to bits after the creation of Barbie, an homage to a similar scene with monkeys and bones from 2001 . A girl plays roughly with her Barbie doll, chopping off its hair, coloring its face with permanent marker and then kicking the doll in the crotch after bending its legs into the splits. (As a result, this Barbie’s counterpart in Barbieland sports a choppy haircut, strange facial markings and is perpetually stuck doing the splits.)

A Barbie car “crashes” a couple of times. But the vehicle is undamaged and the passengers unharmed.

Several of Mattel’s top executives chase Barbie through their corporate office, leaping at her (and missing) in an attempt to stop her from escaping their custody.

Crude or Profane Language

The f-word is bleeped out in one scene. We hear a single use each of “h—” and “d–n.” God’s name is misused seven times and Christ’s name is abused once. In the credits, we hear rapper Nicki Minaj’s song “It’s Barbie B–ch,” with that titular line being repeated several times.

Drug and Alcohol Content

After traveling to the real world, Ken starts drinking “Brewski Beers” and demanding that Barbie and her friends to serve the drink to him and the other Kens. It appears that many executives have alcoholic beverages during a meeting. Someone drinks from a wine glass at a party.

Other Negative Elements

As I mentioned before, many of the good points addressed in Barbie come through the use of extreme stereotypes. But those stereotypes also create problems we have to address, too. Here’s what I mean:

Barbies believe that Barbieland is a perfect reflection of the real world, i.e. that women run everything . So when Barbie arrives on the scene, she assumes a woman is in charge. And she’s shocked to learn that none of Mattel’s top executives are female. (And Mattel’s current CEO blusters about two women who ran the company in the past.)

Additionally, the lack of female leadership makes an already vulnerable Barbie (made self-conscious by the overt objectification she experiences from men) feel even more helpless. And she’s heartbroken that women in the real world aren’t inspired by her and even seem to hate her.

In contrast, Ken loves the real world. He believes that men rule everything (after visiting an office building seemingly run by men) and strives to learn everything he can about patriarchy. He takes his knowledge of patriarchy back to Barbieland and begins using it to flip the gender dynamic there.

He and the other Kens “brainwash” the Barbies into believing they should serve men. They become incredibly condescending to the Barbies, demanding things like drinks and foot massages. And they change everything to “expand and elevate the presence of men” since Ken believes that’s what the real world does.

The film uses these exaggerated and obvious expressions of male chauvinism and sexism to show what many women experience, an element of the story that will likely resonate with many women. But unfortunately, that resonance often comes at the expense of men. Their portrayal here—even if it’s arguably intended for satirical effect—is often demeaning and belittling. We see men depicted as vain, selfish, self-centered, abusive and generally narcissistic, with precious few examples to the contrary. And even as men are called out for their bad behavior, similar behavior among the female Barbies is, at times, celebrated as women turning the tables.

Ken is, himself, the biggest example of a man who’s depicted as insecure and needy one moment, but ruthlessly willing to use women once he undergoes his own patriarchal transformation.

Before visiting the real world, it’s stated that Ken only has a good day if Barbie looks at him. He spends all of his time trying to impress her and win her affection. After his journey, he becomes your worst idea of toxic masculinity. And when the power is taken back by the Barbies, he’s reduced to a sobbing, pouting mess. (Though admittedly, he eventually confesses—whilst crying—that he never wanted to be in power to begin with. He just wanted Barbie to respect him and went about it in the worst way possible.)

We’re told, in a sense, that in order to stop “patriarchy,” women need to rise up and take over everything . In fact, Stereotypical Barbie is even encouraged to hurt Ken (emotionally) because of how he rudely treated her. Which is exactly what the Barbies do. And the Kens docilely submit to the Barbies.

Actions are taken to make amends and create a more equal society in Barbieland. However, the film still makes a point about men vs. women. Because when the Kens request to serve in Barbieland’s higher government, they’re pointedly denied since “Kens will have more power in Barbieland when women have more power in the real world.”

Families should also be aware of the unrealistic beauty standards upheld by this film. Yes, Barbie and Ken (the dolls) have become much more diverse over the years. And the film makes a lot of good points about how these are terrible standards (and while their focus is female-driven, you can’t look at Ryan Gosling as Ken and not see the unrealistic standards there, as well). But it doesn’t change the fact that the vast majority of actors and actresses cast in this film are still really pretty people. (A point not lost on the filmmakers since the narrator herself pokes fun at it.)

Gloria also speaks into the beauty conversation, commenting on how women are told to be “thin but not too thin,” but they can’t say they want to be thin but “healthy,” but they still need to actually be thin, according to society. Again, this is touted as a bad thing, but then one of the main reasons that Barbie visits the real world to “fix” herself is that she’s developed cellulite .

Barbie also tries to poke fun at depression and anxiety, and not in the kindest way. In addition to Barbie beginning to experience these emotions both for herself and through the human playing with her in the real world, we see an ad for Depression Barbie. The doll is depicted looking tired with no makeup and tangled hair.

A plastic Barbie dog (based on a real toy) “poops” plastic turds. Many Barbies gag and dry heave when they learn Stereotypical Barbie’s feet have gone flat. Barbie yaks after “drinking” expired milk. Ken uses a barf bag.

Sasha (Gloria’s daughter) calls Barbie a “bimbo” and a “fascist.”  (She’s also pretty rude to her mom on several occasions.) A few people lie. Some characters make bets. There are some racial comments. We learn Ruth Handler (Barbie’s creator) was arrested for tax evasion. Barbie and Ken are arrested after stealing clothes from a store (though they didn’t know they had to pay).

Ever since Barbie was first announced, I couldn’t help but think “Welp, I wonder how Hollywood is going to ruin my childhood this time?”

But the film defied my expectations, even as it had some problems I hadn’t expected.

Let’s hit on the things I thought would be the worst offenders first. I expected there to be a ton of unnecessary profanity and gross sexual content. There’s actually not a lot of gratuitous content here.  Language is pretty limited (a single f-word is bleeped out though, and Nicki Minaj’s end credits song is repeatedly profane). And sexual content, while present, is mostly constrained to a handful of verbal suggestions and double entendres.

But let’s talk about why that is.

Barbie (the doll) has been a topic of sexual objectification almost since her inception. Women want to look like her. Men want to be with her. She’s the ideal of society’s beauty standards. And yet, she’s always been impervious to these ideas because, well, she’s a doll .

By bringing Barbie to life, she begins to embody what it actually means to be a woman. She voices how uncomfortable objectification makes her. She shuts down attempts to flirt with her. She discusses the impossible standards expected of women by society. And she begins to feel a sense of dread because even though she’s done nothing to warrant this treatment (and everything to prove she’s somehow “worthy”), she and the women around her are still subject to it.

But therein lies a serious problem with the film. At its core, I truly believe Barbie wants to teach girls to stand up for what’s right, to hold true to their beliefs and especially to support other women. And these are great aspirations. Unfortunately, the way the message is delivered shines Ken (and all men) in a really bad light.

Because Barbie uses extreme stereotypes to make a point, it fails to show how the average man behaves toward women. And it even sorta blames guys for all the negative emotions women have ever felt about themselves or other women.

The Kens of Barbieland are simpish and weak. Then they take power and become obnoxious and crass. So if Barbieland is supposed to be a reflection of the real world, then there’s no space for a man who respects women but also respects himself. And there’s also very little suggestion that men can use their strength and masculinity in selfless ways—ways that might protect and defend someone who’s genuinely vulnerable.

For families who are interested in this film, I believe these are navigable issues. That said, I would highly recommend that if your teenage daughter wants to see Barbie , go with her. Because if nothing else, the film can serve as a catalyst for conversation about societal expectations, feeling unworthy and yeah, the perception that our world is inherently male dominated.

Sending your teens off to see Barbie alone is definitely risking some indoctrination into the narrative that being a good man is synonymous with being submissive or weak . Or the idea that good men themselves are as rare as a unicorn. This narrative also suggests that women have to rise up and seize control if they want to be respected.

Those narratives aren’t true, of course. But without a little hand-holding, it might be hard for teens to remember that their value and worth isn’t based on their appearance, whether or not they have the respect of their peers or even on their accomplishments. (All things characters falsely believe at difference points throughout the film.)

Rather, the Bible tells us that we are valuable because we were made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26), because He loved us before He even created the universe (Ephesians 1:4), and because Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross for us that we might be redeemed through Him (Ephesians 1:5-7).

That might feel like a bit of spiritual draw for a movie that has absolutely nothing to do with faith. But for me, whenever I experience the anxieties that Barbie, Gloria and Sasha all face in the film, it brings me a lot of comfort to know that God made me for a purpose and that I am fulfilled through Him.

Emily Tsiao

Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.

Latest Reviews

Arthur the King

Problemista

Love Lies Bleeding

Weekly Reviews Straight to your Inbox!

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the ... Read all Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans. Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.

• Greta Gerwig
• Noah Baumbach
• Margot Robbie
• Ryan Gosling
• 1.7K User reviews
• 444 Critic reviews
• 80 Metascore
• 188 wins & 423 nominations total

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia Barbie is 23% larger than everything in Barbieland to mimic the awkward, disproportionate scale that real Barbies and Barbie activity sets are produced in. This is why Barbie sometimes appears too large for things like her car or why ceilings seem to be too low in the Dreamhouses.
• Goofs Gloria drives a Chevrolet Blazer SS EV, yet during the car chase scene her electric vehicle makes conventional gas engine acceleration noises.

Ken : To be honest, when I found out the patriarchy wasn't just about horses, I lost interest.

• Crazy credits All the actors playing Barbies and Kens are not indicative of which Barbie and Ken they portray, and are simply listed as playing "Barbie" and "Ken", with the exception. (Just for clarification's sake, Margot Robbie plays "Stereotypical Barbie", Kate McKinnon plays "Weird Barbie", Issa Rae plays "President Barbie", Hari Nef plays "Dr. Barbie", Alexandra Shipp plays "Writer Barbie", Emma Mackey plays "Physicist Barbie", Sharon Rooney plays "Lawyer Barbie", Ana Cruz Kayne plays "Judge Barbie", Dua Lipa plays all the "Mermaid Barbies", Nicola Coughlan plays "Diplomat Barbie", and Ritu Arya plays "Journalist Barbie".)
• Alternate versions The IMAX version, released on September 22, 2023, has an extended runtime of two hours.
• Connections Edited from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
• Soundtracks Requiem (1963/65): 2. Kyrie Written by György Ligeti Performed by Bavarian Radio Orchestra (as Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks), Francis Travis Courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon GmbH Under licence from Universal Music Operations Ltd

User reviews 1.7K

• Jul 19, 2023

Incredible Looks From the 'Barbie' Press Tour

• How long is Barbie? Powered by Alexa
• July 21, 2023 (United States)
• United States
• United Kingdom
• Official Instagram
• Official Site
• Venice Beach, Venice, Los Angeles, California, USA
• Warner Bros.
• Heyday Films
• LuckyChap Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $100,000,000 (estimated)
• $636,238,421
• $162,022,044
• Jul 23, 2023
• $1,445,638,421

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 54 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• IMAX 6-Track
• 12-Track Digital Sound
• D-Cinema 96kHz 7.1
• Dolby Atmos

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

Why Is Barbie Rated PG-13? A Parent's Guide To Margot Robbie's New Movie

The weekend of July 20, everyone went to party with "Barbie." But can the whole family join in the fun? That depends on how much explaining parents or guardians are willing to do for the wee ones. According to Rotten Tomatoes , "Barbie" is rated PG-13 for "Suggestive References [and] Brief Language." Language-wise, it definitely takes advantage of Hollywood's notorious one-F-bomb-per-PG-13 rating clause, though those watching the movie do not hear it in full. Instead, there's a bleeped-out "motherf***er." But aside from that, there otherwise there isn't too much to worry about in that department aside from some "damns," "hells," and varied anatomical references. 

There is, however, some sexual innuendo laced throughout the film. This ranges from Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) being confused about the concepts of one-night stands to  Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon)  making a joke about what Ken's packing in his shorts to the sight of a shouting match between two Kens about "beaching" each other. Those are definitely things adults, and not kids, would notice in "Barbie"  – and they might be things that parents or guardians don't think are appropriate for their younger loved ones. 

There are also other, deeper storyline elements at work that children might not understand unless they have a guardian at hand to explain it to them.

Barbie is a very existential experience

"Barbie" has become notorious for being a more-than-meets-the-eye project. The main meat of the movie follows Barbie's journey from Barbieland to the real world in a bid for a return to her plastic-fantastic life. Before she leaves, she experiences "flat foot" — a dreaded condition where Barbie's feet go flat and they lose their eternal arch. Cellulite and existential dread duly arrive, and she heads to the real world for a full factory reset. The rest of the film is about the divide between the matriarchal world of Barbieland and the real world — and how they come to affect one another through Barbie's escape. The doll herself comes to grapple with her identity and humanity — and her desire for the latter.

That's pretty heavy subject matter for any film, one that kids might not initially grasp the first time they watch it. Additionally, "Barbie" portrays these issues in a way that many members of the audience might be painfully familiar with. This may or may not be too intense for younger children to sit through, and parents might have to gauge their children's maturity to see if "Barbie" is right for them.

Whether the film's a better fit for a date night, a family night, or a night out with friends, one thing's clear — with "Barbie" raking in a whole lot of cash at the box office, it looks like plenty of families will be spending their time in the movies cooling down this summer with everyone's favorite doll.

Raising Anti-Racist Kids

Barbie Left Us Right Where We Started

I’m dreaming about the day when Hollywood can use its radical creativity to imagine completely breaking apart harmful systems.

As a young Trinidadian girl whose parents didn’t have Barbie money, I would pine over my friends’ dolls, dreaming of the day when I could own one of my own. For a young Black girl with big curly hair, the ideals of Barbie were always slightly unattainable — not only because I couldn’t afford her but also because I didn’t know many people who were that tall, that white, that blond. Still, Barbie was a significant figure for my friends so she had a hold on my imagination and even as an adult, I’m not immune to her complicated narrative. When the Barbie movie started covering every imaginable surface of pop culture in bright pink (a rather complimentary shade, I might add), I knew my kids (ages 8 and almost 4) were too young to see it, but I jumped at the chance to take my 13-year-old niece.

As a Black, antiracist feminist, I had high hopes for the movie, based not only on the reviews but on the right-wing pundits who decried the film’s “wokeness.” When racist, sexist, transphobic people tell me not to see something, you’d best believe I’ll be rushing to get my ticket. Add to that the fact that the movie royally pissed off Ginger Gaetz , wife of Republican congressman Matt Gaetz, and I was convinced this was the movie for me. When I sat in the theater, though, I was filled with complicated thoughts that left me wanting more.

They say the best movies are those that generate ongoing dialogue and I applaud Greta Gerwig’s creation for doing just that. I, for one, want everyone to see it so we can unpack it together. So I’m sharing my thoughts in hopes that it ignites yours to further this necessary and multi-layered discussion of feminism.

The following contains spoilers for Barbie .

The Barbies get community organizing.

I’ve had a hand in organizing many a march, and I can tell you that the type of shared leadership and community organizing that the Barbies did to gain back power made my little heart sing. I was like, “Yes! Reach the people one by one and then help them see their role in the movement! Give them back the power! Power to the people!”

Barbie can do hard things.

I loved that, in giving up her life in Barbie World, Barbie (played with effortless flair by Margot Robbie) did something scary and courageous that hadn’t ever been done (with success) before. Her life in Barbie World was a bit predictable, and she loved it because she held so much privilege. The Real World was full of unknowns for her (and for everyone else), but she still delved in with bravery. Yes to Barbie blazing her own path even when it’s not clear to her.

I wished that the Barbies could reimagine a whole new system.

Despite the movie’s potential, it fails to imagine outside the box of patriarchy.

Even though we live in a culture where feminism is still co-opted, misinterpreted, and debated on the right, the movie wasn’t nearly as “woke” as it had the potential to be. The film had the potential to be a graduate-level class in the impacts of grassroots organizing to create lasting change, but as much as they tried to tackle these big questions, the storyline didn’t land that lesson sufficiently. I wished that the Barbies could reimagine a whole new system — one without the tools that were used to oppress them and outside the grips of the limitations that have been put on them by these very systems. For example, I delight in imagining what the storyline could have achieved without the impact of capitalism, without the option of change in the Real World only when it is in service to the mighty dollar.

It’s a movie that I both deeply love for what it represents for so many young and old feminists; for so many of us that need to see Black and trans and Latina representation on the big screen — and that I wish had gone even further, in envisioning a radical, bold, new existence for all of us.

If we only get supporting roles is it really representation, though?

My daughter watched Frozen for the first time six months ago. Harmless movie for a 3-year-old, right? Actually not quite, because she’s still asking for long blond hair and getting upset that her beautiful curls don’t sit straight like Elsa’s. The point of Frozen for my daughter is lost somewhere in the midst of the impact of white dominance. We live in a society where whiteness is assumed to be the norm and where it permeates so much media that surrounds our kids. Even if my daughter isn’t going to see the Barbie movie, she’s still seeing the movie posters, the ads, and so much more of the marketing that has dominated our consciousness and that continues to send the message to young Black and Brown girls that white, thin, blond people are the stars that deserve to be centered.

While I was super excited to see characters in Barbie with a variety of skin tones, hair textures, and ethnicities, the two major leads of the movie, Barbie and Ken (a platinum Ryan Gosling who exhibited an impressive range in his representation of the ills of patriarchy), were still white, blond, thin people. Yes, America Ferrera’s character, Gloria, ultimately suggested a new Barbie who would challenge these perfectionist norms, and yes, the movie acknowledged the irony of these castings — but they still chose leads that don’t reflect my children’s identity and so many other people’s.

Ultimately, the movie acknowledged the absurdity and the problem with a room full of white men running a company centered on “feminism” and geared toward little girls — and still did nothing about it.

I so wish that a Barbie movie could star an actor who isn’t what society frames as the ideal norm — even if this film does call attention to Barbie’s “stereotypical” type. Yes, that would be a totally different storyline. Yes, the plot of the movie included an analysis of those perfectionist ideals. But can we make our case and teach lessons without centering white, thin, blond normativity in the process? I think we surely can.

We have to talk about that “joke.”

The completely racist and inappropriate joke at the expense of Indigenous people that Gloria cracked was just gross. When realizing that the dolls in Barbie-land have been completely — and weirdly easily — brainwashed by the Kens’ patriarchal visions, she says , “Oh, my God! This is like in the 1500s with the Indigenous people and smallpox. They had no defenses against it!” To make light of the pain and suffering of people who are still dealing with this country’s apathy toward the impact of colonization was wrong. To the writers who still use Indigenous people as interjections to add supposed “wit,” just stop.

What does it mean that Gloria’s power only broke through in Barbie Land?

As the movie wound on, I was anxiously waiting for the end. I was sure that Gloria’s monologue — the one that snapped the dolls out of their stupor, the one that I want to play on repeat, the one that will go down in history as one of the best feminist speeches in a movie, the one where Gloria proved that she was one of the few adult humans who actually fully understood and embodied a vision for Barbie that was grounded in true liberation for all, men and women alike — I was sure that monologue would lead us to her taking over “Mattel” in the Real World. Instead, the company stayed under the control of a white dude who showed his ultimate allegiance to capitalism and not liberation. What a missed opportunity to show what feminist leadership could look like in the Real World. What a roaring feminist manifesto it would have been for Gloria to go from working for the CEO to being the CEO, replicating the feminist power of the dolls. Her trajectory fell flat, especially in contrast to the fearless leadership in Barbie World. Perhaps Gerwig is attempting to make the commentary that such a shift isn’t likely in real life, but I argue that giving space to our dreams is the first step in starting to envision and then give birth to them.

Ultimately, the movie acknowledged the absurdity and the problem with a room full of white men running a company centered on “feminism” and geared toward little girls — and still did nothing about it. Capable, strong women of color continuing to need permission from white men for our brilliant ideas to be accepted and brought to fruition (only if the dollar signs line up, of course) is a trait of a system that is bound to fail us over and over again.

What the Barbie movie has done for so many feminists across the world can’t be understated… and I’m dreaming about the day when Hollywood can use its radical creativity to imagine completely breaking apart harmful systems. I dream of the day when a feminist movie truly captures the type of bold change that we want to envision for this world (for us and our kids), one where undeserved power is ceded and where intersectional feminism is a core part of liberation for all, not just a bright pink paint job on oppression. I’m dreaming of centering people who belong to communities pushed to the margins in huge summer cultural phenomenons that I believe would be met with smashing box office success.

So, yes, when my kids are old enough, I will show them the Barbie movie, and we will be pausing often to unpack and discuss the ways in which it could have been more grounded in the world we want to build together — instead of merely playing with the pieces of the world we’ve inherited.

Raising Anti-Racist Kids is a column written by Tabitha St. Bernard-Jacobs focused on education and actionable steps for parents who are committed to raising anti-racist children and cultivating homes rooted in liberation for Black people. To reach Tabitha, email [email protected] or follow her on Instagram .

This article was originally published on Aug. 1, 2023

• Entertainment
• <i>Barbie</i> Is Very Pretty But Not Very Deep

Barbie Is Very Pretty But Not Very Deep

T he fallacy of Barbie the doll is that she’s supposed to be both the woman you want to be and your friend, a molded chunk of plastic—in a brocade evening dress, or a doctor’s outfit, or even Jane Goodall’s hyper-practical safari suit—which is also supposed to inspire affection. But when you’re a child, your future self is not a friend—she’s too amorphous for that, and a little too scary. And you may have affection, or any number of conflicted feelings, for your Barbie, but the truth is that she’s always living in the moment, her moment, while you’re trying to dream your own future into being. Her zig-zagging signals aren’t a problem—they’re the whole point. She’s always a little ahead of you, which is why some love her, others hate her, and many, many fall somewhere in the vast and complex in-between.

With Barbie the movie —starring Margot Robbie, also a producer on the film—director Greta Gerwig strives to mine the complexity of Barbie the doll, while also keeping everything clever and fun, with a hot-pink exclamation point added where necessary. There are inside jokes, riffs on Gene Kelly-style choreography, and many, many one-line zingers or extended soliloquies about modern womanhood—observations about all that’s expected of us, how exhausting it all is, how impossible it is to ever measure up. Gerwig has done a great deal of advance press about the movie, assuring us that even though it’s about a plastic toy, it’s still stuffed with lots of ideas and thought and real feelings. (She and Noah Baumbach co-wrote the script.) For months now there has been loads of online chatter about how “subversive” the movie is—how it loves Barbie but also mocks her slightly, and how it makes fun of Mattel executives even though their real-life counterparts are both bankrolling the whole enterprise and hoping to make a huge profit off it. The narrative is that Gerwig has somehow pulled off a coup, by taking Mattel’s money but using it to create real art , or at least just very smart entertainment.

Read More: Our Cover Story on Barbie

It’s true that Barbie does many of the things we’ve been promised: there is much mocking and loving of Barbie, and plenty of skewering of the suits. But none of those things make it subversive. Instead, it’s a movie that’s enormously pleased with itself, one that has cut a big slice of perfectly molded plastic cake and eaten it—or pretend-eaten it—too. The things that are good about Barbie — Robbie’s buoyant, charming performance and Ryan Gosling’s go-for-broke turn as perennial boyfriend Ken, as well as the gorgeous, inventive production design—end up being steamrollered by all the things this movie is trying so hard to be. Its playfulness is the arch kind. Barbie never lets us forget how clever it’s being, every exhausting minute.

That’s a shame, because the first half-hour or so is dazzling and often genuinely funny, a vision that’s something close to (though not nearly as weird as) the committed act of imagination Robert Altman pulled off with his marvelous Popeye. First, there’s a prologue, narrated by Helen Mirren and riffing on Stanley Kubrick’s 2001, explaining the impact of early Barbie on little girls in 1959; she was an exotic and aspirational replacement for their boring old baby dolls, whose job was to train them for motherhood—Gerwig shows these little girls on a rocky beach, dashing their baby dolls to bits after they’ve seen the curvy miracle that is Barbie. Then Gerwig, production designer Sarah Greenwood, and costume designer Jacqueline Durran launch us right into Barbieland, with Robbie’s approachably glam Barbie walking us through . This is an idyllic community where all the Dream Houses are open, not only because its denizens have no shame and nothing to hide, but because homes without walls mean they can greet one another each day with the sunrise. “Hello, Barbie!” they call out cheerfully. Everyone in Barbieland—except the ill-fated pregnant Midge , based on one of Mattel’s many discontinued experiments in toy marketing—is named Barbie, and everyone has a meaningful job. There are astronaut Barbies and airline pilot Barbies, as well as an all-Barbie Supreme Court. Garbage-collector Barbies, in matching pink jumpsuits, bustle cheerfully along this hamlet’s perpetually pristine curbs. This array of Barbies is played by a selection of actors including Hari Nef, Dua Lipa, Alexandra Shipp, and Emma Mackey. The president is also Barbie—she’s played by Issa Rae. (In one of the early section’s great sight gags, she brushes her long, silky tresses with an overscale oval brush.)

Barbieland is a world where all the Barbies love and support one another , like a playtime version of the old-fashioned women’s college, where the students thrive because there are no men to derail their self-esteem. Robbie’s Barbie—she is known, as a way of differentiating herself from the others, as Stereotypical Barbie, because she is white and has the perfectly sculpted proportions and sunny smile of the Barbie many of us grew up with—is the center of it all. She awakens each morning and throws off her sparkly pink coverlet, her hair a swirl of perfectly curled Saran. She chooses an outfit (with meticulously coordinated accessories) from her enviable wardrobe. Her breakfast is a molded waffle that pops from the toaster unbidden; when she “drinks” from a cup of milk, it’s only pretend-drinking, because where is that liquid going to go? This becomes a recurring gag in the movie, wearing itself out slowly, but it’s delightful at first, particularly because Robbie is so game for all of it. Her eyes sparkle in that vaguely crazed Barbie-like way; her smile has a painted-on quality, but there’s warmth there, too. She steps into this role as lightly as if it were a chevron-striped one piece tailored precisely to her talents.

Barbie also has a boyfriend, one Ken of many Kens. The Kens are played by actors including Kingsley Ben-Adir and Simu Liu. But Gosling’s Ken is the best of them, stalwart, in a somewhat neutered way, with his shaggy blond hair, spray-tan bare chest, and vaguely pink lips. The Kens have no real job, other than one known as “Beach,” which involves, as you might guess, going to the beach. The Kens are generally not wanted at the Barbies’ ubiquitous dance parties—the Barbies generally prefer the company of themselves. And that’s why the Kens’ existence revolves around the Barbies . As Mirren the narrator tells us, Barbie always has a great day. “But Ken has a great day only if Barbie looks at him.” And the moment Robbie does, Gosling’s face becomes the visual equivalent of a dream Christmas morning, alight with joy and wonder.

Sign up for Worth Your Time for weekly recommendations on what to read, watch, and listen to.

You couldn’t, of course, have a whole movie set in this highly artificial world. You need to have a plot, and some tension. And it’s when Gerwig airlifts us out of Barbieland and plunks us down in the real world that the movie’s problems begin. Barbie awakens one morning realizing that suddenly, nothing is right. Her hair is messy on the pillow; her waffle is shriveled and burnt. She has begun to have unbidden thoughts about death. Worst of all, her perfectly arched feet have gone flat. (The other Barbies retch in horror at the sight.) For advice, she visits the local wise woman, also known as Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), the Barbie who’s been “played with too hard,” as evidenced by the telltale scribbles on her face. Weird Barbie tells Robbie’s confused and forlorn Barbie that her Barbieland troubles are connected to something that’s going on out there in the Real World, a point of stress that turns out to involve a Barbie-loving mom, Gloria (America Ferrera), and her preteen daughter, Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), who are growing apart. Barbie makes the journey to the Real World, reluctantly allowing Ken to accompany her. There, he’s wowed to learn that men make all the money and basically rule the land. While Barbie becomes more and more involved in the complexity of human problems , Ken educates himself on the wonders of the patriarchy and brings his newfound ideas back to empower the Kens, who threaten to take over the former utopia known as Barbieland.

By this point, Barbie has begun to do a lot more telling and a lot less showing; its themes are presented like flat-lays of Barbie outfits , delivered in lines of dialogue that are supposed to be profound but come off as lifeless. There are still some funny gags—a line about the Kens trying to win over the Barbies by playing their guitars “at” them made me snort. But the good jokes are drowned out by the many self-aware ones, like the way the Mattel executives, all men (the head boob is Will Ferrell), sit around a conference table and strategize ways to make more money off selling their idea of “female agency.”

The question we’re supposed to ask, as our jaws hang open, is “How did the Mattel pooh-bahs let these jokes through?” But those real-life execs, counting their doubloons in advance, know that showing what good sports they are will help rather than hinder them. They’re on team Barbie, after all! And they already have a long list of toy-and-movie tie-ins on the drawing board.

Meanwhile, we’re left with Barbie the movie, a mosaic of many shiny bits of cleverness with not that much to say. In the pre-release interviews they’ve given, Gerwig and Robbie have insisted their movie is smart about Barbie and what she means to women, even as Mattel executives have said they don’t see the film as being particularly feminist. And all parties have insisted that Barbie is for everyone.

Barbie probably is a feminist movie, but only in the most scattershot way. The plot hinges on Barbie leaving her fake world behind and, like Pinocchio and the Velveteen Rabbit before her, becoming “real.” Somehow this is an improvement on her old existence, but how can we be sure? The movie’s capstone is a montage of vintagey-looking home movies (Gerwig culled this footage from Barbie ’s cast and crew), a blur of joyful childhood moments and parents showing warmth and love. Is this the soon-to-be-real Barbie’s future, or are these the doll-Barbie’s memories? It’s impossible to tell. By this point, we’re supposed to be suitably immersed in the bath of warm, girls-can-do-anything fuzzies the movie is offering us. Those bold, bored little girls we saw at the very beginning of the film, dashing their baby dolls against the rocks, are nowhere in sight. In this Barbieland, their unruly desires are now just an inconvenience.

More Must-Reads From TIME

• Why We're Spending So Much Money Now
• The Fight to Free Evan Gershkovich
• Meet the 2024 Women of the Year
• John Kerry's Next Move
• The Quiet Work Trees Do for the Planet
• Breaker Sunny Choi Is Heading to Paris
• Column: The Internet Made Romantic Betrayal Even More Devastating
• Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time

Contact us at [email protected]

You May Also Like

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Give a Gift Subscription
• Sweepstakes
• Entertainment

'Barbie' PEOPLE Review: Margot Robbie Is a Doll for the Ages but Ryan Gosling Steals the Movie

'Barbie' opens in theaters Friday

Tom Gliatto reviews the latest TV and movie releases for PEOPLE Magazine. He also writes many of the magazine's celebrity tributes. 

Warner Bros.

One of the most anticipated movies of the past year, director Greta Gerwig’s subversive comedy fantasy Barbie —starring Margot Robbie as the Mattel doll—is finally here, and it triggers a truly radical thought: Ken has stolen the film.

That may not have been what Gerwig, Mattel or Warner Bros. had in mind with this bright-pink extravaganza, but Ryan Gosling is flawlessly funny as the plastic male who exists only as a sort of chaste, chisel-chested consort to Barbie.

In Barbie’s heady but over-intellectualized script (by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach), Ken tags along when Barbie journeys to real-world Los Angeles. Dressed in a cowboy uniform that suggests either Toy Story's Woody or Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy, he learns that men still seem to hold most of the power, and returns to Barbie Land with visions of establishing a new patrimonial order.

Now favoring a faux fur coat that makes him look like a surfer pimp, he moves into Barbie's Dreamhouse and reduces the whole Barbie line to subservient, man-obliging nitwits who don’t mind pretending to enjoy a mansplained screening of The Godfather.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Ken is a sexist, a fascist and still pretty dumb, but he’s also fully realized psychologically. He’s the closest a toy will ever come to Raging Bull . Gosling hits the precise middle note between flesh and plastic. But, of course, the movie is really about Ken’s other, better half, played by Robbie with a radiant sweetness that might have worked better with a bit more satiric bite ( Amy Schumer was to have starred in a much earlier incarnation).

Barbie is a very clever attempt — perhaps an exceedingly clever attempt — to breathe new meaning and significance into the doll. But this isn’t often distinguishable from an attempt to subvert the conceptual and marketing genius  that have made Barbie, with her melted-lozenge figure and fashion-accessorized careers and lifestyles, the most recognizable doll in civilization and a controversial feminine fantasy figure. 

Warner Bros. 

These contradictory impulses, to reinterpret Barbie with a degree of teasing reverence or simply to pull her apart, tussle throughout the movie from the first scene, a joke inspired by 2001 :  An enormous Barbie, as tall and vertical as that film’s black monolith, appears before a society of girls playing with baby dolls.

This Barbie (we’re told by Helen Mirren, who narrates from time to time) will lead girls to a new level of imaginative play — from now on they’ll engage with a doll who can represent the women they will grow up to be. And yet this Barbie, who looks as if she could have upheld the roof of the Parthenon, is somehow also monstrous and alien, a Mattel goddess banishing the competition. If Gerwig depends on pop-culture memory to connect Barbie and the 2001 monolith, it's only fair to say that you might also be reminded of the killer doll in Squid Game . (And doesn't 2001 end with the image of a glowing astral fetus — the ultimate baby doll? But never mind.) It’s complicated.

At any rate, the narrative now introduces us to Barbie Land, a sort of Swiftian utopia — reference point: Jonathan Swift, not Taylor — where cute Barbies of all types are in charge, while a corresponding league of Kens (including Simu Liu) play on the beach and hope that someday they’ll feel empowered and validated by being acknowledged by a Barbie of their own. (The film all but forces you to talk in this sort of jargon.)

Everything is well, until Robbie’s Barbie begins having fleeting intimations of mortality, little oatmilk clouds in her coffee. Soon after that her feet flatten out and she develops a small but alarming patch of cellulite.  These irrepressible death thoughts (as the film describes them) don’t make too much sense — does Paddington Bear worry about nonexistence? But this is the narrative Barbie must follow — she’s Gerwig’s plaything — and it’s why she travels into the real world.

She has a quest: To discover the girl whose sense of sadness, disenchantment and frustration may have caused her to play with Barbie in a hostile or degrading manner. (A hand just shot up in the back. Yes, you have a question? “I do, but it’s really more of an observation: Why shouldn’t a girl be allowed to play with a Barbie in a hostile or degrading manner? If a kid wants to feed a toy to the dog, or throw it out the window and into the birdbath, is that really a problem? Is Mattel trying to rewire our brains with Barbie care instructions?”)

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

The mingling of fantasy and reality in Los Angeles has some of the fun of  Woody Allen’s Purple Rose of Cairo: Mattel’s male-dominated executive board (headed by Will Ferrell) panics at the prospect of what a human-sized, free-will Barbie will do to the company’s bottom line. He and his staff of suits try to capture her, put her back in her packaging — an enormous cardboard box — and return her to Barbie Land. (For the rest of your life you may not be able to see a Barbie in a store aisle without imagining her trapped in a bright little casket, airless beneath a lid of cellophane.) 

The L.A. expedition also provides the movie’s most touching and emotional moments, as Barbie encounters humanity and, unlike Ken, warms to a world that offers a richer, more ambiguous form of happiness.

When she tells an old woman at a bus stop, “You’re beautiful,” the woman looks startled, then answers: “I know I am.” Gerwig handles these exchanges gracefully and simply, as if she had gone back to Louisa May Alcott and come up with Little Plastic Women . If only there had been more scenes like that. Robbie smiling through tears is an extraordinary thing to experience.

Meanwhile, the movie gears up for a strange, elaborate finale that has something to do with Ken’s determination to suspend the Barbie Land Constitution. It’s House of Cards Barbie! She outfoxes him, as you’d expect. But no summer movie should ultimately hinge on its heroine grasping the idea of “cognitive dissonance.” Again, it’s complicated. 

At times you may wish the script had been handed to Paul Rudnick, with his sharp, neat sense of camp, absurdity and hypocrisy. Just google Addams Family Values, which he wrote, and “Malibu Barbie.” You’ll find an insane little disquisition, performed by Joan Cusack, that’s possibly as telling as all of Barbie.

Barbie opens in theaters Friday.

10 Best Barbie Movies, Ranked

I s there anything more iconic than Barbie? From revolutionizing the toy market all the way back in the late 1950s to the massively popular 2023 feature film directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling , Barbie is a household name who has now become synonymous with everything hot pink and hyper-feminine. Of course, Barbie is not without her fair share of criticism, with her anatomically incorrect and extreme hourglass figure as well as her strict adherence to traditional and Euro-centric beauty standards for women, not aging well throughout the years.

All of this aside, no one can deny Barbie's bright and everlasting star power, and it's clear that she isn't going anywhere soon. A big part of her success, especially during the early 2000s, was her multiple CGI-animated films that depicted classic fairytales, ballet, and literature that have since become cult classics for the now grown-up millennial and Gen-Z audiences. As there are so many films featuring Barbie (29+ and counting!), it's crucial to single out the very best from the most popular Barbie movies out there. With the success of Gerwig's Barbie , fans looking for more may want to binge-watch the very best movies from audiences' childhoods that introduced the beloved character.

'Barbie and the Three Musketeers' (2009)

Director: william lau.

Premiering on Nickelodeon on November of 2009, Barbie and the Three Musketeers is the 16th entry in the film series and features the character as Corinne d'Artagnan. Corinne is a young adventurer who wants nothing more than to become a musketeer, and she gets the chance to do so alongside her friends Aramina, Renée, and Viveca, who join her efforts at foiling an evil plot.

With an empowering message delivered effectively by its female-led cast, the vibrant Barbie movie is one to remember. While there’s not much novelty in its plot ( inspired by the 1844 novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas ), it somewhat makes up for it by emphasizing the characters’ positive traits and why they deserve to be called role models for younger audiences. Rent on Apple TV

'Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia' (2006)

Directors: william lau, walter p. martishius.

In the less successful but still entertaining follow-up to Fairytopia , Elina (Barbie) seeks support from a hesitant mermaid called Nori, and the duo set off to rescue a merman held captive by the villainous Laverna. Elina must soon use her newfound powers to save both the merman (Nalu) and the entire ocean from Laverne’s evil plans.

Mermaidia cashed in on the hype surrounding everything about mermaids back in the 2000s. While it fades into the background when compared to that saturated subgenra, it does stand out among the Barbie movies for its underwater setting that allowed for more creative – if not somewhat dated – visuals. Rent on Apple TV

'Barbie as the Island Princess' (2007)

Director: greg richardson.

Barbie as the Island Princess features the character as Rosella (or Ro), a young girl who is stranded on an island after a shipwreck. There, she grows up among the animals and is treated like family, until Prince Antonio finds her and introduces her to the rest of the world. Together, they hunt for clues about Ro’s past in the Kingdom of Apollonia.

The movie’s highlight is its musical numbers , which are some of the best in the entire franchise. Its score, composed by Arnie Roth with songs written by Megan Cavallari , perfectly complements its tropical and then royal setting. Does it make up for its uninspired plot that relies on overused tropes? Only a rewatch will help fans decide for themselves. Rent on Apple TV

'Barbie & the Diamond Castle' (2008)

Director: gino nichele.

One of Barbie’s best odes to the power of friendship , Barbie & the Diamond Castle follows Liana and Alexa (the in-universe roles of the dolls, Barbie and Teresa), who one day receive an enchanted mirror. This signals the start of their challenging journey to the diamond castle, which will test their dedication and love for each other.

Alongside their cute puppies, Liana and Alexa’s adventure in the 2008 film makes the 13th entry in the franchise a special one. Their bond certainly reflects numerous friendships among young viewers, who learn a thing or two about the true value of those connections over material wealth. Rent on Apple TV

'Barbie: Fairytopia' (2005)

Director: walter p. martishius.

The 5th Barbie movie and the first to have an original storyline, Barbie: Fairytopia is one of the more popular films in the franchise (that even spawned two sequels). It revolves around the experiences of a wingless flower fairy, Elina who boldly goes against the evil fairy Laverna and saves Fairytopia from her evil plans.

Featuring lovable characters like Bibble and Dandelion, it’s easy to see why Fairytopia is beloved by fans and critics alike. While its sequels didn’t manage to top the original, viewers can at least rely on a magical viewing experience if they decide to revisit the original 2005 film. Rent on Apple TV

'Barbie in the Nutcracker' (2001)

Director: owen hurley.

As the first-ever Barbie film in the franchise , fans owe a lot to this 2001 classic that kickstarted the Barbie renaissance in the new millennium and allowed audiences to witness the doll in all her CGI glory. The film is obviously an adaption of the classic Tchaikovsky ballet, The Nutcracker , and is a fabulous and nostalgic Christmas flick that is perfect to watch alongside some hot chocolate for some holiday fun.

That being said, being the first film does mean that the animation is really just not the best and very dated, and it's sometimes a bit too much of a large distraction. Barbie's facial expressions are pretty glazed and flat and her eyes never quite look right, but it's still pretty charming and full of all the magic and sparkles that can satiate any Barbie fan. Rent on Apple TV

'Barbie of Swan Lake' (2003)

Another film based on a famous Tchaikovsky ballet , Barbie of Swan Lake is a dazzling and magical film that is guaranteed to make you want to relive your childhood dream of becoming a ballerina all over again. Everything that you would want in a fairytale is found in this 2003 Barbie film; shapeshifting, talking animals, a unicorn, with lots and lots of frolicking and dancing in the woods.

This film, as fun as it is, has not gone without well-deserved criticism, especially in terms of antisemitism and how the main villains are portrayed in the film with heavy amounts of dangerous Jewish stereotypes. This is a pretty hard fact to ignore during the film's entire run as it really is blatant, even with all the magic and fun happening. Barbie of Swan Lake is a very well-loved addition to the Barbie film repertoire, but it's safe to say that it's not only the animation that hasn't aged the best. Rent on Apple TV

'Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses' (2006)

Directors: greg richardson, terry klassen.

The ninth film in the Barbie Cinematic Universe and the first film to be distributed by Universal Pictures is of course Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses , which is full of magical dance numbers and dazzling visuals. Catherine O'Hara also voices the film's animated villain , who unsurprisingly does an excellent job and helps to make this one of the best Barbie films in the entire franchise.

The heart of Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses lies within the loving relationship of all the sisters (even if their ages are slightly confusing), who may argue and disagree, but end up loving each other just the same. There's also the overlying message of the importance of solidarity and the strength of creativity still holds up pretty well. Rent on Apple TV

'Barbie as Rapunzel' (2002)

As only the second film of the Barbie empire, it is filled with awkward animation and the same dead eyes that afflicted almost every early 2000s CGI animated media, but that just adds to its nostalgic charm. Unlike other films on this list, Barbie as Rapunzel has really held up well over the years and the story is just as fun and compelling as it was when you first saw it.

The talking animal sidekicks in the animated movie , with one of them being a literal purple dragon who has a complicated relationship with her purple dragon dad, are also pretty fun and helped paved the way for other talking animals in future Barbie endeavors, and the villain is more than a delight to watch. If you haven't seen this Barbie film you are seriously missing out, and is a quintessential must-watch. Rent on Apple TV

'Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper' (2004)

What can be said about Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper that hasn't already been discussed? This film is undoubtedly the greatest Barbie film ever made , all thanks to an excellent idea to make the first-ever Barbie musical with songs that have since become staples of millennial and Gen-Z pop culture.

The story loosely follows the Mark Twain novel, The Prince and the Pauper , and focuses on the fabulously wealthy princess Anneliese and the indentured servant and almost physically identical Erika as they swap lifestyles and find love, because, of course, they do. While Erika's plight of working endlessly hard to support herself and her family is noble and understandable, Anneliese singing about how hard it is to be rich hasn't exactly aged well and is almost laughable to equate their struggles, but it's still an excellent film and pure art. Rent on Apple TV

NEXT: The Movies That Inspired ‘Barbie’, According to Greta Gerwig

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• March Madness
• AP Top 25 Poll
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

Oscars get audience bump from ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer,’ but ratings aren’t quite a blockbuster

A look at the highlights from the 96th Academy Awards. The bio-pic “Oppenheimer,” which became an unlikely billion-dollar box-office sensation, was crowned best picture and Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. also took home acting honors for the film. (March 11)

Ryan Gosling performs the song “I’m Just Ken” from the movie “Barbie” during the Oscars on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

• Copy Link copied

Robert Downey Jr., winner of the award for best performance by an actor in a supporting role for “Oppenheimer,” from left, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, winner of the award for best performance by an actress in a supporting role for “The Holdovers,” Emma Stone, winner of the award for best performance by an actress in a leading role for “Poor Things,” and Cillian Murphy, winner of the award for best performance by an actor in a leading role for “Oppenheimer,” pose in the press room at the Oscars on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Barbenheimer” brought a bump not a boom to Oscars ratings.

An estimated 19.5 million people watched Sunday night’s 96th Academy Awards ceremony on ABC. That’s the biggest number drawn by the telecast in four years.

But that upward trend comes from an all-time low during the pandemic, and is up just 4% from last year’s estimated audience of 18.7 million, according to numbers released Monday by ABC.

The Academy experimented with scheduling this year’s show an hour earlier , and for the first time in years had many nominations for huge hit movies that viewers had actually seen — “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.”

The viewership peaked in the final half hour, when the audience saw Ryan Gosling perform “I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie,” saw Cillian Murphy win best actor, Christopher Nolan win best director for ”Oppenheimer” and Al Pacino give the film the best picture Oscar in an odd presentation.

A major star, Emma Stone , also won best actress in the final stretch in the the night’s most competitive race over Lily Gladstone , and nearly 22 million people saw her do it.

The show actually started a little less than an hour early. With Gaza protests happening outside slowing down entrances at the Dolby Theatre, host Jimmy Kimmel kicked things off about six minutes late, but it’s not clear if that affected viewership.

Last year’s big Oscar winner, “Everything, Everywhere All at Once,” was hardly a slouch at the box office, bringing in $143 million globally. But that’s nothing like the “Barbenheimer” juggernaut, with “Oppenheimer” approaching a billion global dollars and “Barbie” surpassing it.

But they didn’t yield the same ballooning numbers for the show that the Academy and ABC might have hoped for.

The Oscars did top the viewership of the most recent versions of other top awards shows, which have gone through similar slumps. Its 19.5 million outdrew the 16.9 million people who watched the Grammys in February, and the Golden Globes and Emmy Awards in January each had far fewer viewers.

For many years, the Academy Awards were often the second most-watched television program of the year behind the Super Bowl. Until 2018, the Oscar telecast had never slipped below 30 million viewers, according to Nielsen records. The high-water mark was the 55 million people who watched “Titanic” clean up in 1998.

From the 43.7 million who watched in 2014, viewership declined steadily to 26.5 million in 2018, then went back up to 29.6 million in 2019, and 23.6 million in 2020. The bottom fell out with the pandemic-diminished show in 2021, seen by 9.85 million. It began rebounding in 2022 — the year of the Slap — with 16.6 million.

The movies and their makers aren’t entirely to blame. The generational shift to streaming and other video forms has gutted broadcast television viewership, and few live events other than the Super Bowl draw the sort of audiences they once did.

The Oscars led into the sitcom “Abbott Elementary,” which had a series high in viewers with a 6.9 million. The episode had an Oscar tie-in, with Bradley Cooper , playing himself, getting roasted in a classroom after a long season of heavy Oscar campaigning.

For more coverage of this year’s Academy Awards, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards

• Diversity & Inclusion

Sandhu ’25: The “Barbie” movie deserves more credit than it’s been given

I have always been drawn to fictional heroines. Throughout my adolescence, I idolized and tried to emulate female characters because I found their strong sense of self, ambition and determination to be extraordinary. In “Barbie,” the titular character’s journey came to represent something even greater for me and so many other women in my world. But, the reaction to the movie’s immense impact seems to be one of undermining the movie’s artistic value due to being too “ commercial ” or mainstream. The backlash, I believe, is unwarranted: a movie’s ability to resonate with viewers and have a positive impact should warrant its celebration, even if it’s not what some people and institutions may recognize as high art.

Leaving Providence Place Cinemas after watching the “Barbie” movie last July left me with a wholly different sense of admiration. I would have expected a movie that takes an aggressive stance on representing feminist ideals and the brutal realities of women’s experience to leave me with a burning sense of female rage. In many ways, the film did upset me. I was unsettled that every line in the screenplay resonated with me. I was disappointed that so many of my female friends were focused on whether our male peers understood the movie’s message, instead of focusing on how perfectly we all understood each other. But, to my surprise, beyond these tensions, I was thrilled because I knew that all the sensational qualities that this movie’s heroine embodied were already within me.

The “Barbie” movie helped me tap into a self-confidence that was entirely my own. Greta Gerwig immerses viewers into and back out of “Barbie Land” to effectively manifest the same awakening in the viewer that her characters experience on screen. Over the course of two hours, I felt just as “un-brainwashed” about my own life as the Barbies did. But I feared the temporal nature of cultural phenomena. I was scared my newfound feeling of empowerment, hope and solidarity would fade after a few months when our patriarchal reality quieted the “Barbie” excitement and stigmatized feminism again.

The patriarchy, it seems, found a way to crush female solidarity once again. Scathing reviews cast the “Barbie” movie as flashy, commercialized and unoriginal in its feminist standpoint. Some have called its “woke messaging” polarizing. Others called it exhausting , or even downright humorless. In the midst of all this critique, what happens to all the moments that profoundly resonated with viewers? How will we protect the hopeful momentum that this movie inspired in me and many others in the face of public dismissal? Why is it that when women get excited about empowering themselves and feeling confident in who they are, the patriarchy finds a way to make them feel embarrassed, label them as obnoxious or call them too loud?

Even at the most recent Academy Awards, “Barbie’s” popularity and feminist messaging made it the target of criticism. People claimed the movie didn’t even deserve nominations for the prestigious awards, and the movie’s lack of wins ( and nominations in categories like directing ) seemed to value it as lesser than some of the show’s big winners, like “Oppenheimer.” However, it’s not like the Academy is a stranger to recognizing more mainstream movies. In 2010, “ Avatar” was nominated for nine Oscars and won three of them. “Titanic,” directed by the same man, won eleven Oscars , including best director. Why could these blockbusters receive such accolades, while “Barbie” is somehow an affront to high-brow cinema? 

Maybe “Barbie” isn’t the most artistically complex and experimental film of all time, but it was never supposed to be. Ultimately, the biggest movie of 2023 was explicitly feminist, and that in and of itself is an achievement. The positive impact this movie had for women across the globe should be worthy of recognition. The “Barbie” movie shouldn’t go down in history as a “two-hour commercial” — women like me who felt understood by the movie are living examples of its profound impact. If a movie can make a positive difference in one individual's life, it has the ability to make a universal impact and this power should be recognized, harnessed and valued.

Meher Sandhu ’25 can be reached at [email protected] . Please send responses to this opinion to [email protected] and other op-eds to [email protected].

Chang ’27: What’s with all the cheaters in CS?

Valdes ’27: Irony won’t save you anymore

O'Riordan ’27: Country music is evolving — and we should, too.

Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney discusses future of American democracy, Trump, Jan. 6 insurrection, foreign affairs By Sophia Wotman | March 12

PhD candidate seeks reinstatement amid Ed. Dept. investigation into Brown By Samantha Chambers and Jennifer Shim | March 13

Admissions, student activism, politics: The Herald’s Spring 2024 Poll By Owen Dahlkamp and Kelvin Jiang | March 12

One win away from March Madness: Men’s basketball shocks Princeton in 90-81 win By Linus Lawrence | March 16

Brutal buzzer-beater keeps Brown from March Madness By Linus Lawrence | March 17

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Pop Culture Happy Hour

• Performing Arts
• Pop Culture

'The American Society of Magical Negroes': You don't wanna join this club

Aisha Harris

Aren (Justice Smith) and Roger (David Alan Grier) in The American Society of Magical Negroes. Focus Features hide caption

Aren (Justice Smith) and Roger (David Alan Grier) in The American Society of Magical Negroes.

Lately, I've been musing on the concept of time and its relationship to Black art and identity. I keep bumping into this question: What time do we all think we're living in right now?

In the year of someone's lord 2024, a recent episode of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans conjured up James Baldwin – the same James Baldwin who once wrote, "I don't like people who like me because I'm a Negro; neither do I like people who find in the same accident grounds for contempt" – as a Magical Negro to Truman Capote.

50 Years Of NPR

The best of james baldwin: favorite pieces from the npr archive.

A straight-faced excavation of this old Hollywood trope, which has been on the wane for some time, is startling enough. But now there's also Kobi Libii's feature debut, The American Society of Magical Negroes, which attempts to skewer it. The comedy writer and performer imagines an underground network of Black mystics who dedicate their lives to placating white people for the safety of Black people everywhere. "White discomfort," as one character opines, is the "nemesis" of Black existence.

If this all sounds like the premise for a classic Key & Peele sketch, you wouldn't be too far off . The trouble is, as far as I can tell, no one involved with writing Key & Peele had anything to do with the Society of Magical Negroes .

Code Switch

'key & peele' is ending. here are a few of its code switch-iest moments.

The movie has at least two crucial factors working against it. For one, the Magical Negro trope isn't anywhere near as pervasive in Hollywood as it was when Spike Lee coined the term more than two decades ago. So despite being set in the present day, Libii's social commentary brings with it no new enlightenment on the dominant stereotypes Black people face now, despite a nearly two-hour runtime.

Second, it has no Black characters. To be clear, there are real Black performers playing these roles on screen. But one would think fully human, complexly written roles ought to exist in a movie where the goal is combatting multiple centuries' worth of one-dimensional representation. Here, they decidedly do not.

The Illuminati, but make it respectable

In Society of Magical Negroes , Justice Smith plays Aren, a dull and depressing L.A. artist whose specialty is dull and depressing abstract yarn installations. His latest work is on display at an art show, but no one "gets" it. When a white collector mistakes him for the waitstaff, Aren obliges and gets the man a drink instead of trying to convince him to buy his art.

A member of the actual waitstaff has been observing him all night and introduces himself. It turns out he's Roger (David Alan Grier), a jolly older man who's arrived to recruit Aren into the American Society of Magical Negroes, a "firm" that views itself as a group of world-class superheroes. He leads him to their secret headquarters, tucked away behind a Black barbershop, with hallowed rooms and halls that resemble Hogwarts or the Clue mansion. The visual world-building in this regard is the film's sole inspired choice.

Egotistical tech bro Jason (Drew Tarver) is Aren's first "client." Focus Features hide caption

Egotistical tech bro Jason (Drew Tarver) is Aren's first "client."

Each Society member is assigned a white "client" who's experiencing some sort of crisis and is dangerously close to taking out their anxieties on innocent Black people. (A "white tears meter" assists in monitoring the threat level at any given moment.) The Magical Negro's job is to befriend and counsel their client through all their issues until they get whatever it is they want. Aren's first guinea pig is Jason (Drew Tarver), a disgruntled, egotistical tech bro at a software company called MeetBox, who's angling for a promotion he almost certainly doesn't deserve. Aren is hired at MeetBox and immediately gets to work practicing his skill of being a personality-less doormat, which has a great effect on clueless Jason.

Did I mention this is also a workplace rom-com? Sure, why not? Aren discovers one of his other new colleagues is Lizzie (An-Li Bogan), a woman with whom he had the gawkiest and most unsexy of meet-cutes at a coffee shop earlier in the day. Lizzie happens to be Jason's "work-wife," but he's also into her, so that complicates Aren's adherence to his Magical Negro responsibilities and tests his commitment to The Cause.

Author Interviews

'magical negro' carries the weight of history, maybe we're all just magical negroes.

So many disparate ideas and tones are being mashed up here, and none of them gel. Libii spends a ton of time obsessing over the details and internal rules of these proud, respectability politicians. Yet he also has a slippery grasp on the trope he seeks to interrogate. In this world, the Magical Negro is broadened out from its very specific real-world definition – Spike Lee was referring to movies with "magical, mystical" Black characters in films like The Legend of Bagger Vance and The Green Mile – to an all-encompassing label that includes any Black person who's ever merely decided "Not today, Satan" and resisted the bait when dealing with racial microaggressions at work and Crispus Attucks.

Movie Interviews

Spike lee: black people have 'been fighting for this country from day one'.

Those muddled conflations would be less jarring if Aren were written as anything other than a convenient vessel for showcasing a convoluted premise. We know nothing about him besides that he's a failed, self-loathing Rhode Island School of Design alum who's so spineless he'll awkwardly hold the door for a parade of oblivious exiting passersby before finally entering a coffee shop for himself. Before becoming a Magical Negro (I can't believe this is an actual sentence I'm writing), he has no community to speak of – no friends, no real job, and no family, except a white mom he offhandedly mentions. (This is somehow both very illuminating and not at all illuminating at the same time.) Where did he grow up? How can Aren afford to be a struggling artist with a decent apartment in Los Angeles in this economy? Has Aren ever spent any time with Black people? (Magical Negroes don't count.)

Lizzie (An-Li Bogan) and Aren (Justice Smith) have a tedious meet-cute at a coffee shop. Tobin Yelland/Focus Features hide caption

Lizzie (An-Li Bogan) and Aren (Justice Smith) have a tedious meet-cute at a coffee shop.

His character arc, if you wish to call it that, concludes with him superficially liberated. In the film's climax, he gives a grandstanding speech that's What It's Like to Be Black 101, a far more grating version of Barbie 's climactic Feminism 101 monologue. The moment is wholly unearned, and the epiphany lands with a thud because Aren didn't really start from any place real to begin with. There's nothing radical or daring about his journey to self-discovery, which hinges almost entirely on his romantic pining for Lizzie. In fact, Libii's script doesn't even try to engage with Black radicalism because if it did, The Society would have to come under far more rigorous scrutiny than the film is interested in pursuing. The Magical Negroes, so proud to have single-handedly "raised the Black life expectancy," at least according to society head Dede (Nicole Byer), exist in a world where the likes of Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey, the Black Panthers, and Bree Newsome never existed. The movie's finale seems content with that omission.

What time are we living in now?

Nicole Byer is Dede, head of the American Society of Magical Negroes. Focus Features hide caption

Nicole Byer is Dede, head of the American Society of Magical Negroes.

So: What time are we living in now? It depends on who you ask and where you look. Not unlike American Fiction , Society of Magical Negroes is convinced Black people on screen and in real life are, by and large, contending with the same stereotypes and barriers that we were 20 years ago. But that's its own kind of retrograde nostalgia trap to fall into, the kind that can only be constructed by ignoring key parts of history and the present reality.

There are pressing issues like pay inequities and Black-created TV shows being canceled far too soon. But there's also been so much exciting work being made by filmmakers on every level over the last decade – emerging voices like Nikyatu Jusu , Raven Jackson and Juel Taylor ; newly-minted titans like Issa Rae and Jordan Peele; established vets like Gina Prince-Bythewood. They've told stories spanning a breadth of genres, sensibilities and character studies, the stuff their predecessors dreamed of. Amid this landscape, it's hard not to view the Magical Negro as – thankfully – a relic.

Writing more than 25 years ago, bell hooks lamented how a dominant white supremacist environment forced too many Black artists to be hyperfocused on producing "resisting images," thus overwhelming their creative and upsetting artistic integrity. At the time, she observed that Black filmmaking was still a "fertile frontier" because of the lack of radical images, but that she foresaw a "far distant future" where Blackness will be "overworked, overdone" just as whiteness has been. We're a little bit closer to that future than we've ever been. But evidently, we've still got some ways to go.

• Tickets & Showtimes
• Trending on RT

• TV & Streaming Shows
• 100 Years, 100 Movies
• Best & Popular

Best Movies of 2024: Best New Movies to Watch Now

Welcome to our guide of the Best Movies of 2024, featuring every Certified Fresh movie as they come in week by week!

March additions so far: Love Lies Bleeding and Problemista , both from A24 . One Life , starring Anthony Hopkins. Ordinary Angels , starring Hilary Swank. Late Night with the Devil , which also tops our best horror of 2024 list .

And what about February ? Dune pretty good, thanks for asking. Part Two went Certified Fresh within an hour after the reviews embargo lifted on February 21st. With it outclassing the first Dune , we took a look at 20 sequels that got better Tomatometer scores than their originals . Otherwise, things got freaky with horror film Stopmotion and the comic zaniness of Hundreds of Beavers taking the crown for the best-reviewed of the year.

We didn’t have a blockbuster January like we did in 2023 ‘s, when genre surprises M3GAN and Plane went Certified Fresh. But Daisy Ridley got her post-Skywalker win with Sometimes I Think About Dying . Mads Mikkelsen re-teamed with his A Royal Affair director Nikolaj Arcel to find The Promised Land. With The Crime Is Mine , Francois Ozon is getting career-best reviews, and his 10th Certified Fresh film over the past decade-and-change. And Netflix scored with The Kitchen , Orion and the Dark , and Good Grief .

Late Night with the Devil (2023) 100%

Hundreds of Beavers (2022) 98%

The Crime Is Mine (2023) 98%

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (2023) 98%

Molli and Max in the Future (2023) 98%

Tótem (2023) 97%

The Promised Land (2023) 96%

Io Capitano (2023) 96%

Fitting In (2023) 95%

Driving Madeleine (2022) 94%

The Settlers (2023) 93%

Dune: Part Two (2024) 92%

Love Lies Bleeding (2024) 92%

About Dry Grasses (2023) 92%

Orion and the Dark (2024) 91%

The Kitchen (2023) 89%

One Life (2023) 89%

Stopmotion (2023) 88%

Monolith (2023) 88%

Ordinary Angels (2024) 86%

Disco Boy (2023) 86%

Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023) 80%

Good Grief (2023) 76%

Self Reliance (2023) 72%

More countdown.

Ghostbusters Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

How to Watch Ghostbusters Movies In Order

25 Most Popular TV Shows Right Now: What to Watch on Streaming

Movie & TV News

Featured on rt.

Star Wars: The Acolyte : Premiere Date, Trailer, Cast & More

March 19, 2024

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2024

Top Headlines

• Ghostbusters Movies Ranked by Tomatometer –
• How to Watch Ghostbusters Movies In Order –
• 25 Most Popular TV Shows Right Now: What to Watch on Streaming –
• Best Horror Movies of 2024 Ranked – New Scary Movies to Watch –
• 100 Best Dog Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer –
• All A24 Movies Ranked by Tomatometer –

• facebook-rs

Best Day Ever! Here’s How to Watch ‘Barbie’ at Home

By John Lonsdale

John Lonsdale

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.

Quick Answer: You can watch the Golden Globes-winning Barbie movie on Prime Video and Max .

Since it premiered in July, Barbie has earned Golden Globes, Oscars, Grammys, and smashed records at the box office, earning over a reported $1.4 billion and counting around the world.

The Greta Gerwig-directed blockbuster starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken quickly became the year’s hottest film, accompanied by a hit soundtrack with chart-topping tracks from Dua Lipa, Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj, and Gosling himself, who performed “I’m Just Ken” at the 2024 Academy Awards. (Billie Eilish even scored a second Oscar trophy for Best Original Song for “What Was I Made For?” )

Following its wins at the Golden Globes and the Oscars, here’s where you can watch Barbie from your very own dreamhouse online. Watch Barbie on Prime Video and Max

Where to Watch Barbie Online

Barbie officially became available to stream online back in September, a few months after its premiere. The movie has since earned nine Golden Globes nominations , including Best Picture – Musical or Comedy, and nods for Gerwig, Robbie, and Gosling. Barbie won two trophies during the ceremony, including Best Original Song for Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?”

“I was very, very miserable and depressed at the time,” Eilish said during her acceptance speech . “And writing that song kind of saved me a little bit. A year later, and here we are, and it’s really surreal. I feel incredibly, incredibly lucky and grateful.” Barbie also won the award for Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. Now fans can watch the hit film on Prime Video and Max .

You can buy it digitally on UHD for $19.99 or rent it for $5.99 on Prime Video. After you rent it, you have 48 hours to watch the film. (And if you’re hoping for an at-home “Barbenheimer” double feature , good news: Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is also now available to buy on Prime Video .) Watch Barbie on Prime Video and Max

Barbie Runtime, Rating, Reviews

Editor’s picks, the 250 greatest guitarists of all time, the 500 greatest albums of all time, the 50 worst decisions in movie history, every awful thing trump has promised to do in a second term.

“It’s definitely not a bad thing to turn a potential franchise, whether built on a line of dolls or not, into something that refuses to dumb itself down or pander to the lowest common denominator,” David Fear wrote in Rolling Stone ‘s Barbie review , which described the film as the “most subversive blockbuster of the 21st century.”

Fear continues: “And the victory that is Gerwig , Robbie, and Gosling — along with a supporting cast and crew that revel in the idea of joining a benefic Barbie party — slipping in heady notions about sexualization, capitalism, social devolution, human rights and self-empowerment, under the guise of a lucrative, brand-extending trip down memory lane? That’s enough to make you giddy. We weren’t kidding about the ‘subversive’ part above; ditto the ‘blockbuster.’ A big movie can still have big ideas in 2023. Even a  Barbie  movie. Especially a  Barbie  movie .”

Where to Buy Barbie Blu-ray, DVD

Fans can now order Barbie on Blu-ray and DVD on Amazon and Walmart . Both retailers currently have Barbie on Blu-ray marked down to as little as $17.96 at the time of publication, and $14.96 for the DVD on Amazon. Buy Barbie on Amazon and Walmart

Is Barbie Streaming on Disney+?

Jackson wang, peggy gou help christen launch of new tokyo edition hotel in ginza, here are the best amazon spring sale beauty deals to shop right now, your essential guide to buying broadway tickets online, is barbie streaming on max.

Yes, Barbie is now finally streaming on Max , which you can add onto your Prime membership starting at $9.99 a month. And while there’s not technically a Max free trial, there’s still a way you can get Max for free: AT&T customers with select AT&T Unlimited plans can get Max included with their package. Get Max with AT&T

We also spotted a deal that gets you three months of Max included with a DirecTV Stream plan. DirecTV Stream comes with a five-day free trial, then costs $79.99 a month after that for its base Entertainment package. The ad-supported Max add-on then goes up to the standard $15.99 a month. Get Max with DirecTV Stream

Where to Buy the Barbie Soundtrack

While the Barbie soundtrack is available for fans to stream online, you can also buy the complete album on vinyl. Barbie: The Album comes as a standard pink LP on Amazon for $26.68. The album features songs including “Dance the Night,” Charli XCX’s “Speed Drive,” plus Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken,” and Eilish’s Oscar-winning ballad “What Was I Made for?”

“I had a nightmare about this last night,” Eilish said during her Oscars acceptance speech on Sunday for Best Original Song . “I just didn’t think this would happen. I wasn’t expecting this. I feel so incredibly lucky and honored.”

Cheech & Chong Return for One 'Last Movie'

Trump throws tantrum after failing to post bond in ny fraud case, actor and drag star shangela accused of multiple sexual assaults, a chatgpt for music is here. inside suno, the startup changing everything.

If you’re looking for a more exclusive edition of Barbie the Album , the pros at record club Vinyl Me Please, a vinyl subscription service, have released Barbie The Album (VMP Designer Edition) and Barbie The Album (VMP Kendom Edition) online.

The two exclusive pressings of the Barbie soundtrack are now available to preorder on VinylMePlease.com at $160 each (or $140 each for VMP members). The Designer Edition features a “Sunsational Pink” vinyl record, while the Kendom Edition gets its own design spin, pressed on “I’m Just Ken” black vinyl. Both are expected to ship in March 2024.

Here Are the Best Amazon Spring Sale Deals Offering the Steepest Discounts (So Far)

• Amazon Spring Deal
• By Sage Anderson and Jasmin Sandal
• TOKYO TAKEOVER
• By Tim Chan
• Amazon Spring Deals
• By Jasmin Sandal
• GIVE MY REGARDS
• By Sage Anderson and Kyle Lamar Rice

How to Watch TNT Online Without Cable

• streaming guide
• By Oscar Hartzog

Most Popular

Bill maher fires caa after oscar party snub (exclusive), over 1,000 jewish creatives and professionals have now denounced jonathan glazer’s 'zone of interest' oscars speech in open letter (exclusive), rose hanbury just broke her silence on the prince william affair rumors, kobe bryant's parents face backlash after putting championship ring on the auction block, you might also like, ewan mcgregor says intimacy coordinator was ‘necessary’ to film sex scenes with wife mary elizabeth winstead: ‘it’s also about the crew’, the 12 best gel nail polishes for a professional, chip-free manicure, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, how jimmy chin and chai vasarhelyi moved from movies like ‘free solo’ and ‘nyad’ to non-fiction series ‘photographer’, carlyle group out as t-wolves purchase deadline nears.

Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.

Verify it's you

Please log in.

A Seriously Silly Oscars Moment

Ryan Gosling’s performance of “I’m Just Ken” was an irony-meets-sincerity spectacle.

Listen to this article

Produced by ElevenLabs and News Over Audio (NOA) using AI narration.

Must songs written for movies be serious? Each year the Oscar for Best Original Song nominations over-index on hushed ballads and motivational anthems—music that’s built sturdily, predictably, for utilitarian purposes. “I’m Just Ken,” the Barbie track performed by the actor Ryan Gosling, takes that tradition and skews it. Part piano confessional and part prog-metal rockout, it’s a deeply silly song about self-seriousness. Last night’s rendition of it was an irony-meets-sincerity cyclone of the highest order, making for the most lovable Oscars music moment in years.

Beginning his act while seated in the audience, with a cowboy hat obscuring his impossibly angular features, Gosling was in character as the woebegone Ken, a macho hunk doomed to play beta in the toy netherworld of Barbie . He sang over the shoulder of his co-star Margot Robbie, who was not in character. She let out a genuine-seeming giggle, which set the tone for the number as much as the fuchsia lighting did. Barbie’ s signature insight is that products and people, the worlds we escape to and the world we live in, exist not in opposition but in dialogue. So this was going to be a super-performative performance—but also one in which the fourth wall would be repeatedly broken. Gosling took off his hat, plopped it on the head of an audience member (his sister), and sauntered up to the stage.

From there, we got a classic movie-musical spectacle, populated entirely by men. Mark Ronson, the song’s co-producer, played bass guitar with his shirt billowing open, and Slash of Guns N’ Roses later appeared for a finale of shredding. On a pink bandstand, tuxedoed dancers wore pink sashes, and presented pink boards for Gosling to karate-chop. (This was all an homage to “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” except Marilyn Monroe’s version didn’t involve martial arts.) Barbie ’s jokey take on the male ego has been much discussed, but Gosling’s mannerisms last night conveyed something more poignant than mere satire. He moved slumpily, less like a plastic doll than a rag doll. His Ken is not just a symbol onto which feminist ideas can be projected, but also a character struggling, in idiosyncratic ways, to figure out who he should be.

Read: A very normal Academy Awards. Whew.

The tempo changed, the set changed, and Gosling kept moving—shadowboxing, kissing the cameraperson’s hand, crowd-surfing amid a sea of Barbie-face cutouts. The energy built in a controlled frenzy, bolstered by the grinning participation of Barbie ’s other Kens, including the actors Simu Liu and Kingsley Ben-Adir. Toward the end, in a warm emotional high point, Gosling offered the microphone to the women in the audience who made Barbie what it is: Robbie, America Ferrera, and the director Greta Gerwig. “I’m enough / And I’m great at doing stuff,” they sang together, a very ridiculous lyric that happened to feel, in that moment, absolutely accurate.