"Barbie" - Review

In a world of unyielding horror, divorced from emotion and human experience, purged of identity and soul and meaning: stumbles Barbie (Margot Robbie), a doll who has left her own world in search of the girl who plays with her (Ariana Greenblatt). Accompanying her across this post apocalyptic hellscape comes Ken (Ryan Gosling, we shall get to him), who sees himself as her boyfriend, on a quest for answers to his own identity and place in the world alongside his true love Barbie, who defines him. As Barbie spirals downwards, succumbing to depression, and Ken discovers the darkest impulses of man, a journey of self-discovery, self-actualisation, and the existential horror of our depressive lives ensues...

(Art by Joana Fraga)
You knew it was coming, the memes have been best described as "torrential" and the hype train has had no brakes on it. So here it is.
"Barbie" has lived up to it.
Greta Gerwig (this is the first thing I have seen of hers) has concocted a myriad of pastel coloured wonders, with a rapid fire joke rate subverting its plastic source material, and giving a different gag for every palette. There are surprise musical numbers, breaking the fourth wall, easy-but-still-funny swings for the fences of how Barbie as a concept has aged with girls in a more enlightened world, simple one-liners, a Michael Cera fight sequence and even an extended plot point about Nickelback (a personal favourite was a joke at the expense of "Zach Snyder's Justice League" of all things). A highlight for myself is (apart from the musical numbers, dance number reminiscent of old-school musicals and a shirt which reads "I am Kenough") a Scooby-Doo esque chase in an office cubicle which makes me want Greta Gerwig to make a "Looney Tunes" movie. It's fun, it's pastel coloured, it's a neon carnival of chaos and carnage:

And then, comes the candy-coated poison. I am A SUCKER for a movie with a sickly sweet exterior, hiding a dark centre, and "Barbie" has it in spades: it's about losing your mind, suffering from existential dread, desperately flailing in a downward spiral after perfection slips from your grasp and you begin to believe that you will never achieve anything. It focuses on existential dread, depression and then, in the second act, toxic masculinity stemming from a feeling of mediocrity and a lack of an identity or purpose in your own life, in a mirror to Barbie's own journey.
All this from a fucking "Barbie" movie, I swear to Christ...
Robbie is excellent, and the writing and characters pop, its style is fun without being obnoxious or overbearing. America Ferrera bears the emotional soul of the film, and bears it well, and there is a lovely emotional payoff with Rhea Pearlman (HELL YES) towards the end. It feels a bit crowded when Will Ferrell and his Mattel Goons show up in a throwback to "The LEGO Movie", but it works for the most part, and theire gags still land, only with a bit less bite (bar one about profits at the end). Kate McKinnon, unfortunately, shows up with what can only be described as "Miranda Hart on SNL in the 90s" energy, but is thankfully kept to a minimum here.

The highlight, as many could have predicted, is Ryan Gosling. Just... yes. Everything about Ken in this is letting him embrace his comedic chops, and showcasing the performance of his career.
A triumph.