Given the massive waves of admittedly clever and very pink marketing we’ve experienced in the days and weeks and months leading up to the release of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” I found myself thinking this better be the “Citizen Kane” of Toy and Doll Movies, and you know what, it is indeed the “Citizen Kane” of Toy and Doll Movies. I mean, who’s going to lay claim to the title? YOU, “Transformers,” or you, “G.I. Joe,” or you, “Care Bears Movie,” or you, “The Lego Movie”?
Okay, so I actually loved “The Lego Movie,” but “Barbie” is next level. Thanks to the creative efforts of director Gerwig (who co-wrote the screenplay with her partner Noah Baumbach), the absolutely pitch-perfect casting starting with the gorgeous and talented humans Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, and a candy-colored, screen-popping production design that transports us to Barbieland and beyond, this is a truly original work — one of the smartest, funniest, sweetest, most insightful and just plain flat-out entertaining movies of the year.
