I have mixed feelings about the movie.
On the one hand, it was very creative. Beautifully staged and shot. Fantastically acted. I greatly enjoyed the song and dance numbers.
OTOH, I'm not sure about the message of the movie. So you had this world where women ruled and men were ignored and it was...utopia? And then Barbie and Ken go out into the "real world" and Ken brings patriarchy to Barbie Land and of course it's horrible...for the Barbies, though apparently they didn't know enough to know they should've been miserable. The Kens seemed to enjoy it though. Then in the end, Barbie and her fellow Barbies use their "feminine wiles" to distract the Kens, the Kens go to war and forget to vote on a new constitution and the Barbies regain control, putting the Kens back in their place but allowing them a modicum of self-actualization and some menial jobs. The line that really struck me at the end of the movie was when Original Ken asked if a Ken could be on the Supreme Court and President Barbie said no, but maaaaaybe a lower circuit court position would be OK. Ummm...
I remember the controversy when the movie came out. Women cheered and feminists celebrated, and men sulked and conservatives complained it was too woke. I saw one person argue in vain that the point of the movie was both total matriarchies AND total patriarchies were bad, but I didn't really see that. I did find it interesting that, rather remain in her Barbie Land utopia now (mostly) restored, Original Barbie decided to be human (and the last scene made me LOL).
I do wish at least one Ken would've been somewhat smart and important back in Barbie Land. But maybe that would've missed the point? I'm curious to know what others thought of the movie, especially anyone who enjoyed it. I liked the movie but am not sure it lived up to all the hype.
