Seeing this movie healed an inner, younger part of me that I didn’t know was wounded. I stepped into the movie theater thinking it was going to be a fun and upbeat twist to the Barbie Dreamhouse series I remember watching on Netflix as a child. It was quite the opposite. It was a deep, emotion-filled movie that left me questioning: what was I made for?

The movie follows the protagonist Stereotypical Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, through her daily life in “Barbie World,” which is quite the opposite of the real world. In this world, the Kens are considered accessories to Barbie. I don’t want to spoil too much of the movie so I will just say it follows Barbie through her journey of self-discovery in the real world. She faces challenges and struggles with her self-worth in a world that advertently caters to men.

I took the little girls I nannied at the time to see this movie and expected them to just sit back and enjoy a hollow movie filled with pink, dolls, and a narrow plotline. I’m not sure they were quite old enough to understand the true message of the movie, but I walked out of the movie theater wiping tears from my eyes like every other woman there and couldn’t help but hope they absorbed at least a sliver of the message; the message to young girls that it is impossible to be everything that society expects you to be, and to stop trying to fulfill the idea of a false version of yourself. I think seeing this movie with varying generations of women made it all the more powerful. Elderly or elementary, this movie was for every single girl in that theater.

The role of Barbie was perfectly portrayed by Margot Robbie, the “real-life Barbie” of Hollywood. Her conventional beauty made an impact on the “beauty isn’t skin deep” argument that the movie tried to push. I wondered why they would choose someone so envied appearance-wise to try and convey that message, but it all made sense when I stopped looking at the movie through the androcentric lens that Hollywood blockbuster movies have always been viewed through. Just because she is a beautiful woman does not dampen the message that beauty lies more from within and not on outer appearances, and why should her looks automatically define the character that she plays? Would a conventionally attractive man playing a similar role be criticized in the same way?

Immediately after watching the movie, I did some more research on hidden themes that I may have missed during the initial watch. One that stood out to me was a take on how the Barbie movie wasn’t criticizing men but was showing how messed up the patriarchy is, and how it affects everyone. Another one that stood out to me described Barbie’s evolution from trying to please everyone in society to being a true version of herself, giving a modern take on Barbie dolls and being able to look at old toys in a fond way, while still believing in a more modernized agenda.

Overall, the Barbie movie resonated with me and my inner little girl who loved to play with Barbies growing up. I encourage you to take every woman you know to see this movie: grandmas, sisters, moms, nieces, or anyone who might need to hear the message of this film.

I swear on my Barbie Dreamhouse that you will feel different after watching this movie.

Going into this movie, I had low hopes for it. The genre was one that I normally would not watch, and it is not exactly a “guy movie.” I hadn’t heard much about it, other than people telling me I was going to love it and that I would have the songs stuck in my head after it was over. After watching the movie, it somehow did not live up to my expectations. While some parts of the movie were good, I did not feel like the time I spent watching the movie was valuably spent. While watching the movie, I kept four things in mind: the characters, character development, the plot, and the message.

Warning: Spoiler alert

Overall, I thought the characters were not very well organized. Every male was named Ken, and every female was named Barbie. While it made sense in context to the Barbie and Ken dolls that we all know, it was confusing to know who was involved in the scene. It got especially confusing when Barbie was greeting multiple Kens at the same time. She would say “Hi Ken” and would leave me to wonder if it was the Ken that went to the real world or if it was the Ken that the main Ken didn’t like, or maybe the Ken that wanted the Kens to keep fighting. So many Kens, so many Barbies, so much confusion about who was who.

While I thought the characters were not done well, I was surprised by the character development and the depth they had. The main characters of the story had reasons for what they believed, and it was clear what their stance was and why. It was clear why Barbie and Ken both wanted change. It was clear why the people from the real world did or didn’t like what Barbie had done for the world, and it was clear that there was a change in what the character believed throughout the movie. The characters changed and grew in ways that made them very relatable to the audience. The characters felt very real, which is something I was not expecting out of a movie based around dolls.

Having good character development also helped the plot move along. I felt as though it was easy to tell where in the movie I was, whether it was the rising action, climax, conflict, or resolution. The movie had a nice flow to it that allowed the story to be followed without having to take your focus away from what was currently happening in the movie. The movie also had a good balance between action to keep the audience engaged and exposition that kept the audience from falling behind.

Just like the plot, I felt the message was pretty clear, although not as appealing. The message felt very feminist, and did not seem too “male-friendly.” Throughout the majority of the movie, it felt as though women had to be in power, or else the world was going to be a worse place. Men were depicted as bad people who wanted nothing more than to be in charge and in total control. They wanted to control their jobs, the women in their lives, and overall how the world is run, and I don’t feel as though it was an accurate depiction of how guys act in the real world. I felt as though the men and women in the movie were doing the same things to each other, but the men were depicted as bad people with bad morals, whereas the women were seen as confident and powerful role models. As the movie concluded, however, I felt like both the men and women of the story found a happy medium where they could both live without the control they wanted, which I felt was a great way to wrap the movie up. Men and women living in a sort of harmonious lifestyle brought a welcoming end to the movie that I did not see coming the farther in the movie I got.

Overall, while I feel as though the character development and plot were very well written, I did not think this movie was great by any stretch. The message was one that really made it hard for me to like the movie. I can see how some might think it is well done. Overall, I would give this movie a 3/10, but could see myself giving it a 5 or a 6 if the message and tone of the movie felt less biased towards women being the heroes of the story. If it could have been more balanced like it was at the end of the movie, I would have thought higher of the movie than I did after watching it. At the end of the day, I can rest assured in my mojo dojo casa house that men and women are equal, just as the story showed.