Barbie Review: 8 Ups & 2 Downs

After Barbiemania took the world by storm, Mattel started churning out Barbie accessories like there was no tomorrow. Before long, Barbie's showy car, luscious house, and obtrusively bright clothes were as much a part of her identity as her permanently pointed feet.

As such, it was imperative for screenwriters, Greta Gerwig and Noam Baumbach, to capture the aesthetic of Barbie's toyetic world. Fortunately, the film crew went above and beyond to make Barbieland feel like a real place, while still looking unmistakably fake. (The water on the beach is clearly a cardboard cutout.) Even if a location is shown for a moment or an item is tucked away in a corner, it's clear the set designers and prop crew put 110% into making every visual "pop" on-screen.

It's also worth mentioning how the director subtly relies on visuals over dialogue to tell the story. When Ken and Barbie enter The Real World, there are two separate scenes depicting the pair having an emotional awakening after being exposed to humanity. What makes both sequences so effective is how neither of them contain dialogue. Instead, everything they're feeling is conveyed through simple visuals, reaction shots, and the actors' nuanced facial expressions.

Even though this film adaptation perfectly encapsulates the over-the-top aspects of Barbie, Gerwig knows when to rein it in, and use understated imagery instead.