The plastic doll is finally alive! Let’s see what the critics are saying about it.
Based on one of the biggest IPs ever, Greta Gerwig‘s live-action Barbie film is finally coming to theaters tomorrow. The fans of the plastic doll have been fascinated with the film since its first teaser came out. The excitement for the film is at an all-time high because of its brilliant marketing campaigns that show us the wonderful world Gerwig has created for Barbie. The viral marketing also contributed to the glorious Barbenheimer meme, which refers to Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer which is coming out on the same day as Barbie.
Gerwig’s Barbie also has one of the most stacked casts of any film coming out in 2023. Margot Robbie leads the brilliant ensemble cast as Barbie, which includes Ryan Gosling, Will Ferrell, Simu Liu, Issa Rae, Emma Mackey, Michael Cera, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, Ariana Greenblatt, Emerald Fennell, Ncuti Gatwa, and many more.
So let’s see what the critics are saying about Barbie, but before that Buy Yourself a Ticket for Barbie to find out if you like the film for yourself or not. Check out the review quotes from different publications lifted by Rotten Tomatoes below:
“Barbie” manages to straddle a vibrant film filled with enough Easter eggs and nods to the doll’s 64-year history to necessitate a second watch with a self-critical piece for those who believe Barbie is a detriment to feminism.
– Kristen Acuna from Insider
There is plenty in Barbie to be delighted by, even moved by.
– Richard Lawson from Vanity Fair
It is maybe down to Gerwig’s confidence and generosity as a feminist film-maker that she gives all the best lines to Ryan Gosling, who is allowed to steal the whole film.
– Peter Bradshaw from Guardian
“Barbie” is an exhausting, spastic, self-absorbed and overwrought disappointment.
– Johnny Oleksinski from New York Post
A masterful exploration of femininity and the pressures of perfection.
– Alyssa Mora from IGN Movies
However smartly done Gerwig’s Barbie is, an ominousness haunts the entire exercise. The director has successfully etched her signature into and drawn deeper themes out of a rigid framework, but the sacrifices to the story are clear.
– Lovia Gyarkye from Hollywood Reporter
Gerwig has made the kind of family film she surely wishes had been available to her when she was a girl, sneaking a message (several of them, really) inside Barbie’s hollow hourglass figure. That’s an admirable achievement.
– Peter Debruge from Variety
It’s Gerwig’s care and attention to detail that gives Barbie an actual point of view, elevating it beyond every other cynical, IP-driven cash grab.
– Devan Coggan from Entertainment Weekly
Barbie could’ve just been a commercial, but Gerwig makes this life of plastic into something truly fantastic.
– Ross Bonaime from Collider
The Mattel brand looms large here, but Gerwig, whose directorial command is so fluent she seems born to filmmaking, is announcing that she’s in control.
– Manohla Dargis from New York Times
Somehow, director Greta Gerwig has struck a balance between unhinged whimsy, deep humanity and comedic bliss.
– Emily Zemler from Observer
It would be easy to lean into the camp aspects of the role, but Robbie takes on Barbie with a wide-eyed earnestness.
– Esther Zuckerman from Bloomberg News
Gerwig artfully outwits the eventual think pieces and potential backlash by making her “Barbie” a rumination on the ineffable mysteries of life and the Kobayashi Maru that is being a woman.
– Looper.com from Dominic Griffin
Gerwig and Baumbach waste no time in racing through the scenes you might anticipate… Their exuberantly eccentric fairy tale has some of the dark, angst-ridden surrealism of Charlie Kaufman and the meticulous eeriness of Stanley Kubrick.
– Nicholas Barber from BBC.com
Everything about Barbie is crafted with both mass appeal and personal insight, much like the doll, resulting in a movie that knows how to please.
– Tatiana Hullender from Screen Rant
While it’s not as biting or sharp as it imagines itself to be, Barbie’s plastic parade of camp and goofy hijinks slowly give way to the kind of tender, insecure emotion that Gerwig is so damn good at.
– Hoai-Tran Bui from Inverse
A fascinating movie, even if it is occasionally a little frustrating.
– Matt Singer from ScreenCrush
The zaniness of Barbie, combined with Gerwig’s interest in skewering the patriarchy, sometimes makes the movie a baggy, tonally dissonant viewing experience. But for the most part, she achieves a pleasing balance between the silly and the serious.
– Ann Hornaday from Washington Post
A soulful film underneath all the persistent fuchsia. One that has heart and ambition as well as abundant beauty, inside and out.
– Tomris Laffly from TheWrap
“Barbie,” director and co-writer Greta Gerwig’s summer splash, is a dazzling achievement, both technically and in tone. It’s a visual feast that succeeds as both a gleeful escape and a battle cry.
– Christy Lemire from RogerEbert.com
Setting aside the question of whether an air-conditioned multiplex in peak summer is the best setting to ponder feminism, however, Barbie makes an admirable effort to introduce the concept to wide swaths of audiences the world over.
– Lisa Wong Macabasco from Vogue
“Barbie” is a lovingly crafted blockbuster with a lot on its mind, the kind of feature that will surely benefit from repeat viewings (there is so much to see, so many jokes to catch) and is still purely entertaining even in a single watch.
– Kate Erbland from indieWire
A big movie can still have big ideas in 2023. Even a Barbie movie. Especially a Barbie movie.
– David Fear from Rolling Stone
Greta Gerwig delivers a new kind of ambitious and giddily entertaining blockbuster that boasts two definitive performances from actors already in their stride. Life after Barbie will simply never be the same again.
– Beth Webb from Empire Magazine
Robbie takes an archetype long dismissed as an airheaded caricature and, moment by deeply felt moment, teases and fleshes her out.
– Justin Chang from Los Angeles Times
Barbie seems to be impressing a lot of critics, as it has recieved overwhelmingly positive reviews. It currently holds an impressive 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. So, if you weren’t sure before about the film we hope that these reviews have helped you. Barbie is all set to hit theaters on July 21, 2023. Check out the trailer for Barbie below:
