“Barbie” Review Round-Up: Stellar Performances in a Soulful, Bananas, & Ambitious Summer Splash

Writer/director Greta Gerwig said, in no uncertain terms, that the idea of making Barbie terrified her. This is precisely why she felt she had to do it. Here’s how she described her motivation on Dua Lipa’s podcast At Your Service: “It was something that was exciting because it was terrifying. It felt like vertigo, starting to write it, like: ‘Where do you even begin, and what would be the story?’ And I think it was that feeling I had, knowing that it would be really interesting terror. Usually, that’s where the best stuff is, where you’re like, ‘I am terrified of that.’ Anything where you’re like, ‘This could be a career-ender — then you’re like, ‘I should probably do it.’”

She did it, and now that the review embargo has lifted, critics are finally revealing what they think. It turns out that facing your fears and following that ‘really interesting terror’ is a great way to make a surprising, satisfying, wild summer film.

“The director wields the iconic doll like a broadsword in Barbie,” writes Tribune News Service‘s Katie Walsh, “cleaving through culture with gleeful spirit and savage humor.”

In Barbie, our titular, iconic doll (played by Margot Robbie) has an existential crisis that leads her to question her reality and ultimately leave Barbie Land alongside Ken (Ryan Gosling). It’s a fateful decision that will teach these two seemingly perfect beings what the real world is like, warts and all. So many warts, in fact, a far cry from the monotonous perfection of the fantasy life they left behind.

Let’s take a brief tour of the Barbie reviews. The film opens wide on July 21.

For more on Barbie, check out these stories:

The Brilliant “Barbie” Marketing Team Secretly Created an Actual Barbie DreamHouse

Things Get Real for Margot Robbie’s Iconic Doll in Official “Barbie” Trailer

“Barbie” Trailer Reveals Margot Robbie in Greta Gerwig’s Live-Action Look at Mattel’s Iconic Doll

Featured image: Caption: (L-r) MARGOT ROBBIE as Barbie and RYAN GOSLING as Ken and in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “BARBIE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. (PRESS KIT). Photo Credit: Atsushi Nishijima

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The Credits

The Credits is an online magazine that tells the story behind the story to celebrate our large and diverse creative community. Focusing on profiles of below-the-line filmmakers, The Credits celebrates the often uncelebrated individuals who are indispensable to the films and TV shows we love.