Barbie Review: 8 Ups & 2 Downs

10. DOWNS - Some Cast Members Are Wasted

Being one of the hottest brands on the planet, it was expected that Barbie would boast a monumental cast.

But Barbie doesn't just have an ensemble, but an army of talented performers, including Michael Cera, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Kate McKinnon, Helen Mirren, John Cena, and countless more.

Although plenty of the stars get their moment to shine, just as many are woefully underutilised. Despite the talents of Ncuti Gatwa and Rob Brydon, they comes across as glorified cameos. Nicola Coughlan and Ritu Arya had heir own personalised posters, and yet, their characters only show up for a few seconds. Because of these blink-and-you-will-them appearances, it seems like the filmmakers didn't know what to do with these actors, but cast them anyway for their starpower.

Then there's Will Ferrell. His character, The Mattel CEO, is instrumental to the plot, and yet the cowbell-loving comedian disappears for a sizeable chunk of the run-time, making it easy to forget he's in the movie. Ferrell is solid in the role, but this compounds the argument that he and many of his co-stars should've been given more to work with.