Barbie Review: 8 Ups & 2 Downs

The citizens of Barbieland are led to believe their role model status has fixed women problems across the globe. But when Barbie ventures into The Real World, she discovers she's regularly objectified by men. (She learns this the hard way.) On top of that, she's horrified to see her toyline company, Mattel, is run by the opposite sex.

Although exploring themes like this can be too on-the-nose, Barbie rarely goes down the obvious path. It's no surprise Barbie confronts the problems with commercialism, product oversaturation, and capitalism.

But it also deals with cliques, gender toxicity, and herd mentality in a way that's surprisingly realistic, despite the fantastical backdrop. These moments rarely come across as lecturous, since they strike an emotional cord, while remaining entertaining and funny.

Also, Barbie isn't afraid to do a takedown on its own IP. Throughout the story, the film repeatedly highlights how the concept of Barbie can affect people negatively, since it incentivises its demographic to pursue an impossible standard of beauty they can't maintain.

Even though such issues could've been glossed over, these discussions are the backbone of the plot, making Barbie astonishingly multi-faceted.