Think again. There are cute visuals embedded along the way, and one or two modestly humorous jokes, but generally it’s a 90 minute slog where the patriarchy animus is slathered on as though shot from a SuperSoaker instead of a scalpel. I guess I was expecting a more nuanced vision, and this certainly isn’t it. The inclusion of Will Farrell in the cast should have been a tip-off, I guess.
For the record, on the way to the theater Mrs. Goofy waxed nostalgic for the Barbies and Midges and Skippers she had growing up, and how her mother bought her a new outfit every week at the supermarket, and … to the point where I finally had to say “You are much deeper down the rabbit hole than I care”, and I tell you that only so I can tell you this. 30 minutes into the film she said “OK, it’s stupid. Do you want to go?”
I said no, but regretted it after another 30 minutes, and we left before finding out the resolution to Barbie’s cosmic dilemma of whether she should return to Barbieland or The Real World© because we Just.Didn’t.Care.