Barbie

Definitely a Meta film, a great financial success, playful and clever filmmaking, with an excellent Robbie and Gosling, great dance numbers and songs, good philosophical musings to ponder, enjoyable cameos and an originally conceived world. A few things are annoying and cringeworthy, but I surprisingly enjoyed it. The best part is definitely Barbie's trip to our world – it's a shame they don’t spend more time, as there were a few humorous interludes – but the patriarchy in Barbie's world had its moments too. Hard to rate, I don't need to see it again, but it entertained me. 65% (26/09/2023)

It's cute, it's funny and smart, it looks and sounds beautiful, but I felt like I'd seen it before. Rather than the copycat of The Lego Movie that the trailer smacked of, Barbie ends up reminding me of a run-of-the-mill but still more than good Pixar film. But I really like the campaign around the film, which for the first time in a long time (at least where I live, anyway) managed to get a lot of people excited about going to the cinema wearing something pink, from a baseball cap to a bathrobe, and just go have fun. That's good. (29/07/2023)

The exploration of the real world by people coming from Barbie Land is stimulating and original and hints at the promise of a clever, fresh and original satire reflecting the pseudo-problems of contemporary (western) society. But the potential inherent in that is cut dead by the subsequent “gender conflict” and its childish resolution to which the film resorts. And that’s a shame. Even the balance of entertainment for children and adults doesn’t work here, since the movie is not for kids at all. But let’s be glad that audiences are returning in large numbers to cinemas now that the pandemic is over. Barbie deserves thanks for that. And special praise goes to the originator of the brilliant “Barbenheimer” marketing concept, though the hardworking crew around Tom Cruise didn’t deserve to have M:I-7 overshadowed. (16/08/2023)

Heaps of creative ideas and social commentary that after half an hour feels like out of a machine-gun, and the rest of the running time is just recycled. Moreover, Barbie is too shrill and dramatically inconsistent. After an hour, I wished it would end. The acting is unsurprisingly good, at times funnily accurate in reflecting the problems of contemporary society, but I don't quite get the commercial success and worldwide hype around Barbie. (02/12/2023)

In terms of experience, it’s five stars. It's a riveting, visually stunning, imaginative, fun ride with a fabulous Margot Robbie and an even more fabulous Ryan Gosling. It's a pleasure to see a big-budget film that totally breaks away from the uniform grey that blockbuster Hollywood usually offers today. But the voice of reason complains timidly about the script's underdeveloped supporting (human) characters and the sometimes annoyingly literal feminist cannonade in the final act, when it seems as if they wanted every argument they could think of to be heard. So, four stars. (19/07/2023)