Finally, the live-action fantasy-comedy movie that literally caused an international shortage of the iconic pink colour is hitting cinema screens tomorrow July 21.
Made with a budget of apparently $145 million is reportedly, the movie is projected to make $110 million at the North American box office alone during its premiere this weekend.
If you’re reading this article then you’re definitely aware that Barbie is one of the most-anticipated movie releases of the year featuring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken.
The film boasts an all-star cast including Will Ferrell, Dua Lipa John Cena, and many more. Before the release, Barbie had 159 reviews and a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 89 percent based on its US and London premiere.
Read more: How much is Margot Robbie getting paid for ‘Barbie’?
Manohla Dargis, chief film critic for the New York Times, wrote Gerwig handled the task at hand well—’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’—but ultimately there are many reminders that ‘reality proves a bummer’ and it’s difficult to forget the ‘inherently commercial parameters’ in which the film is set.
The Hollywood Reporter’s critic, Lovia Gyarkye, praised the humour and ‘pink fever dream’ of Barbie Land, but wrote the ‘muddied politics and flat emotional landing of Barbie’ are reminders of the film’s capitalist nature, and summarized the movie as ‘a tricky balancing act of corporate fealty and subversion’.
Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge said Gerwig’s ‘take on the ultra-popular toy line (is) so darn smart’, and mentioned the juxtaposition Barbie provides to Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer—premiering the same weekend—calling it ‘kind of perfect’ as ‘Gerwig’s girl-power blockbuster offers a neon-pink form of inception all its own’.
The Wall Street Journal’s film critic Kyle Smith was more critical of the film than many others, writing: “As bubbly as the film appears, its script is like a grumpier-than-average women’s studies seminar,” saying “The movie is bound to puzzle moviegoers who thought they were buying a ticket to ‘Fun Barbie’.”
