Review by Branda Gorgies

July 31, 2023 (San Diego’s East County) – Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig, has just been released on July 21. The Barbie movie has been long-awaited for this summer, with many coupling it with the film, Oppenheimer, which came out the same day but had a wildly different energy, as you can tell by the title if you know your US history. Barbie broke the record for the biggest box office opening weekend for a female director, making $155 million in North America and $377 million globally. Barbenheimer, the combination of Barbie and Oppenheimer, made $235 million in their opening weekend, making it one of the most successful opening weekends in box office history.

Barbie stars Margot Robbie, who plays stereotypical Barbie, and Ryan Gosling, who plays beach Ken. In Barbieland, all the Barbie dolls live their perfect lives in a world dominated by women. The president is a Black Barbie, the houses are all owned by Barbies, the Nobel prize winners are all Barbies, the entire supreme court is female and the Kens are just Ken. In this world, the Barbies live under the idea that they’ve cured all the problems women face in the real world. This isn’t true, and stereotypical Barbie realizes that when she has to go to the real world to save the girl playing with her doll, whose depressing thoughts of death are affecting Barbie. Due to these thoughts and the connection between Barbie and the girl playing with her doll, Barbie becomes imperfect. She has bad morning breath, expired orange juice, burnt waffles, a cold shower, flat feet and the worst of all: cellulite.