Who would have thought one of the most successful films of 2023 would focus on a plastic toy doll, propelled to huge box office when linked to a film polar opposite in tone and subject matter.

Yes, “Barbenheimer” was a real thing, people queuing to see a double-header of “Barbie” and Oppenheimer, the very definition of counter programming. Providing a pink sugar rush for one audience and something more serious and “worthy” for the rest.

Margot Robbie is “Barbie”, living in a plastic, totally fictionalised world created by director and co writer Greta Gerwig. Fictionalised in the sense that within Barbie’s world, women can and are, anything they want to be, without being harassed by annoying menfolk.

Of course there can be no Barbie without “Ken” (Ryan Gosling) or can there? Maybe Ken is not essential, what is he anyway, boyfriend, friend, gay bestie?

Such existential debates are not answered here but we do get spectacular, choreographed to within an inch of their lives, dance routines set to banging tunes.

Barbie is suffering some form of mid-production line melancholy, realising maybe at some point she might, like, die? Maybe there is more to life than chilling out with BFF’s every night, which maybe is a little shallow and what does it all really mean?

After being tempted by “Weird Barbie” (Kate McKinnon) Barbie decides to head to the “real world” with Ken secretly tagging along. Cue montage of the trip with deliberately and totally fake backdrops and set design, that even a school play might reject. Quite what the crew thought during filming would be interesting to know.

Once in the real world, Barbie gets to experience full fat male patriarchy, complete with bottom slaps, meanwhile Ken cannot comprehend how a Doctor can be a woman? A call out is deserved for the wardrobe department, fitting both leads in full on Barbie inspired outfits (…additional purchase required).

A partial pantomime villain is introduced in the form of the head of “Mattell” – who make Barbie in real life – played by (Will Ferrell), which drops another star in this blog’s rating system. Fortunately Ferrell is blessed with short screen time, which regains 1/2 star.

However, it’s obvious all lead actors are having fun which is infectious, sending themselves up, along with sexism, children’s toy dolls and everything else with gleeful enthusiasm. Whether there is a meaningful feminist message underneath the superficiality, is up to the viewer to decide.

Helen Mirren provides exposition where required, acting as narrator commenting on a characters hypocrisy at one point, breaking or edging near the fourth wall.

Difficult to ascertain the massive appeal, bearing in mind the double header, which couldn’t be more diametrically opposed.

Summary

Fun in a plastic, superficial and instantly forgotten way, admittedly this writer is not the target audience.

However, with a box office take approaching $1.4 Billion, expect more toys to hit the big screen soon, maybe “Action Man” finally discovering why he has “Eagle Eye’s”?