Barbie - Movie Review
Today I saw Barbie the latest movie from Greta Gerwig. This was not only my most anticipated film of the year, but it's also everyone else's favorite. The theater was full of people dressed up in pink, and it felt like 2006 all over again. I loved it! Me personally, I don't have a huge connection to Barbie, but I do love love love Greta Gerwig as a writer and director. Seeing her dive into such unique and challenging material had me intrigued - Yes, you heard me correctly - Barbie is challenging material. I'm not talking about the complexities of Barbie as a character; that's one thing. But I was worried that Mattel would be involved and drive filmmakers to the theater "safe" - which is definitely not an exciting or unique enough proposition these days. Plus, since studios lean towards something safe these days, even less than good enough can often become "barbie", unfortunately. Thankfully this wasn't the case with Barbie.I didn't want to see them flop, and you know what I am an idiot. I don't know why or how I could ever doubt these two, because Barbie is a blast. I really liked it when Barbie went to the real world with Ken in Barbie is about what happens when Barbie must go to the real world with Ken, and what happens when the stuff in the real world starts affecting stuff in the Barbie world. The film starts with the 2001 reference from that first teaser, which then leads directly into Barbie going about one of her perfect days in one of her perfect worlds. It is some of the most enjoyable filmmaking I've seen all year - every new detail, every new character, every new prop, and even every new gag only made my grin wider. I was overwhelmed with joy watching that opening sequence unfold. Imagine the Everything Is Awesome scene from The Lego Movie but with pink vibes and even happier. Every time I'm in Barbie land it does genuinely feel like I'm in a toy world - the amount of detail put into the color of these sets, the textures, and even the tiniest of props.I haven't seen a contemporary film that has genuinely amazed me with its movie magic since La La Land. Gretagrowexcitesjochto me and Jacques tati as inspirations for the world, and that is crystal clear to me. As well as how playful and filled in all of these sets feel - even the Mattel office scene - it's the first time I've seen someone come close to what tati was doing there. Yes, even closer than Wes Anderson himself. You guys know me; I'm a huge octati fan! Seeing this made me so happy, the cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto is stunning. I promise, it looksmuch better on an old-fashioned big theater screen than it does on a computer screen. The colors really pop when viewed in person! All of the traveling sequences look beautiful too. Nothing feels likethey're just throwing colors at the wall here . It all feels intentional - down to the placement of colors and how they design these sets. It just looks great from a technical standpoint!The film's artificiality was hard to believe and it reached a point within the first 30 minutes where I stopped feeling myself connect to the character of Barbie. However, Greta Gerwig's touch resulted in me seeing the film's emotional core within %ňmore minutes. Whether it's the music or the performances of her actors, Gerwig's movies make me cry. Margot Robbie's performance as Barbie is incredible. She takes the character in some very interesting directions, selling her dramatic moments well. I was happy to see Ryan Gosling in this roleI've been saying this for a while now - Gosling is one of the best actors alive. I'm glad the rest of the world has caught on and he was cast in this role. He's perfect for it - like he was born to play it. The ABS, the smile, the singing, the dancing... he's got it all. I think he deserves an Oscar for this performance. I know there will be other performances that top it for me in the future.I do want to mention Michael Sarah if I related to any character it was him. I am Alan deep down and that's okay. I loved being Alan and I'm comfortable with that. Some other performances that I liked include Issa Rae, Will Ferrel and Kate McKinnon. For me, their comedic timing was just perfect. Noah bombback is also one of the funniest writers out there and I found jokes flying at me left and right in this movie. However, some people may find the density of jokes exhausting. Personally, I enjoy a lot of jokes in my movies, which is how I like it i do not think the film kind of takes a dip in the middle of its run time and by dip I mean it literally feels like a car commercial in the middle of the damn movie. If some blatant product placement is what it takes for some of these ideas to come to life I'll take it I won't judge. I'm usually not snobby about stuff like that but damn if this wasn't just a wee bit distracting for me. It would cut to just the most random shots of the car driving, like a mid conversation. Oh but you know all that said, I hope credit got a nice free car out of that...
