What’s Going On?

Barbie lives in Barbieland, a world made up primarily of the many different kinds of Barbies: doctors, writers, astronauts and of course Barbie (later referred to as Stereotypical Barbie, the Barbie you imagine if someone said Barbie). There are also the Kens, a group of usually well-meaning idiots with no agency or ambition, who exist as an accessory to the Barbies. Every day is a day of perfect happiness and effortless perfection until things start going wrong for Barbie; her feet do not arch, her shower is cold and she has thoughts of death. This leads Barbie (and Ken, who tags along) to journey to the Real World to solve the problem that is causing these issues.

Behind The Scenes

Barbie is a Mattel toy created by Ruth Handler in the 50s, the film is directed by Greta Gerwig and co-written by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, both indie darlings. Gerwig originally found fame as an actor in films like Frances Ha and Damsels In Distress, before also moving into directing in films like Lady Bird and Little Women. Baumbach is a writer and director known for films like Marriage Story and Greenberg and Gerwig and Baumbach have worked together many times.

In Front Of The Camera

The film has a huge cast but first and foremost is Margot Robbie playing Barbie, she is the star and everyone else takes a backseat to her. Then there is Ryan Gosling playing Ken, America Ferrera as Gloria (a real-world Barbie fan), Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie, a host of actors playing various Barbies and Kens (the credits usually just list them as Barbie or Ken), and Will Ferrell playing the clueless CEO of Mattel.

Does It Work?

Making a live-action Barbie movie in 2023 that wasn’t in some way awful was going to take a very ambitious and risky play, that’s what Greta Gerwig tried to do…and she did it. The opening scene of Barbie is a parody of the opening scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey, invoking such an iconic film is a risk, but Barbie pulls it off and this sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Barbie is a fun, intelligent, hilarious and moving film. It recognises the love many people have for Barbie but also the animosity many have toward it. It acknowledges the way there is a Barbie who can be anything: doctor, president, writer as very uplifting, but also recognises the Barbie whose unreal physical perfection damaged generations of children.

In terms of the cast everyone from Margot Robbie down knows exactly what their job is. Robbie is superb as the quintessential perfect Barbie who has a breakdown when her perfection slips, she is endearing and at times very vulnerable. Barbie’s mix of genuine intelligence, the naivety of the Real World when she lives in a perfect one, and her heartfelt desire to do right by people, especially the young girls who play with Barbies is charming. Ryan Gosling is never not funny, every second on screen he is putting in an amazing comic performance, the awful cloying puppy-dog attitude of following Barbie everywhere, his realisation that in the Real World women do not run everything (as they do in Barbieland) and demanding to be made a CEO or be allowed to perform operations simply because he is a man is hilarious. The transformation Ken undergoes on the return to Barbieland gets even funnier. Will Ferrell’s CEO is bizarrely funny, going between utterly idiotic, to spouting generic pro-women talking points like how there has been at least one…maybe two?…women CEOs of Mattel, to at one point sincerely declaring he didn’t become CEO of Mattel to make money to inspire young girl’s dreams only minutes after calling Barbie a jezebel.

Importantly, in Barbieland they believe that everything in the Real World has been fixed, especially in relation to women and men. The realisation that this isn’t the case is shocking and allows the film to confront the contradictions of Barbie as a role model over the generations. Gloria, the Real World Barbie fan, points out the daily struggles, impossible contradictions and hardships of being a woman. Stereotypical Barbie utterly collapses because she feels she isn’t enough and yet is introduced to the audience as flawless perfection, after a short time dealing with the Real World her confidence and belief in herself is shattered.

There has been a backlash against Barbie, and as with any film, its okay to not like it, for any number of reasons it might not be the film for you. But so much of this backlash is not about the quality of the film, but that it is “woke”, and it is telling when the first comments of a review are about dragging it into ridiculous culture war territory and not if it was any good. Barbie is a brilliant film and a film for anyone. Gerwig has done something truly spectacular in making this film work so well.

Rating: (4 / 5)

Also Read: “Little Women” & Cinema for the Self Partnered

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What if Will Farrell interferes in Ryan Reynolds’ life?

Anders’ movie is a modern take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, but with a beautiful twist. What if the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future would transform someone into a much better person every Christmas and not only once? The world would be so much better! For this Christmas, the Ghosts and their team found the perfect man: A hotel boss who treats his staff in the rudest way possible. However, before they start interfering in his life, the Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) runs into a hotel guest, Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds). The businessman uses social media and his ability to swoon everyone over with his fancy words to profit from weaponizing the war on Christmas. This goes against everything the Ghosts stand for, and because of that, Briggs becomes their target.

Present discovers that Briggs has no sense of morality when infiltrating his life. Briggs doesn’t see how worn out his loyal assistant Kimberly (Octavia Spencer) is, and when his young niece Wren (Marlow Barkley) wants to become an important person at her school, he convinces her to play it dirty instead of fair. However, it turns out that this mission might not be an easy one at all for Present. Briggs is stubborn as hell, and Present falls for Kimberly and has to face his dark past. Will Briggs be the unredeemable who’s redeemable after all, and how will Present face his demons?

Go on a joyful, Christmassy and never-ending trip

What makes Spirited extremely enjoyable is the chemistry and performances of the leads. After appearing in Elf and Eurovision, a film that combines the Christmas spirit and musical numbers is right up Ferrell’s street. He leads this movie with such humour, sassiness and emotional touches so that you can connect instantly with the characters. Hollywood-favourite Reynolds (Free Guy, Deadpool 2) is again on-point as a cruel and macho businessman who lets no one or nothing stands in his way. He brings bags of humour, witty moments and even an uplifting vibe to this movie.

For us is Spencer (Snowpiercer, Ma) an actress who shines in every role she takes due to her impeccable talent and delicate performances. This time is no different. She took singing classes for this movie, and it paid off beautifully. Her lovely singing voice is a beautiful addition to her multi-layered performance, and she heightens that touching feeling of this movie immensely. Some cameos throughout this movie will put a smile on your face.

When watching Spirited, it’s clear that cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau (Thor: The Dark World, Creed II) understood the assignment perfectly. The combination of red-green is seen in every scene in one way or another; the tailing shots bring the songs and dance routines perfectly to life, and the wide shots add another beautiful layer to this movie. With music from The Greatest Showman and La La Land duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, it’s not surprising that the songs and dances are full of glitz and glamour.

Sadly, Spirited is not all fun-fun, joy-joy. Due to using the same songs, sung each time differently, the film becomes too repetitive to stay interesting for the 2h7min runtime. Another reason why we can’t give this movie the full five stars is the cheap-looking production design. Sometimes it feels like the musical numbers are sung in front of a green screen or on a cheap set. The songs would have had a much better impact if the director would have used actual physical spaces.

Not a classic Christmas film but a pretty damn good movie!

Whether you like this movie mostly depends on how much cheesiness you can take from a film. As long as you want to be carried away by sweet and predictable plots, uplifting songs, over-the-top choreography and outstanding acting performances, this is certainly a movie you will enjoy! While Spirited won’t become a classic Christmas film, it’s a pretty damn good movie!

Rating: (4 / 5)

Spirited is out now in UK cinemas and on Apple TV+.

Also Read: Who Did It Better: Miracle on 34th Street

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The story

Emmet (Chris Pratt) is a normal, generic Lego construction worker, happily going through his life conforming to the will of big businesses. But when he follows resistance fighter and master builder Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) off the beaten track he ends up fused with the legendary “piece of resistance”. This apparently means that he is the legendary “special”, prophesized to bring down Lord Business (Will Ferrell) and bring peace to the universe. The only problem is Emmet really isn’t special. He is not creative, does not possess the skills of a master builder (people who can build anything from everyday materials) and doesn’t wish to get involved. Never the less he is pursued by Lord Business.

While on the run Emmet must work with many colourful characters to find a way to stop Lord Business from freezing the world forever with his superweapon, The Kraggle. Can Emmet defeat the enemy with nothing to work with his but his everyday knowledge and fondness for double-decker couches?

What did I like?

The Lego Movie’s success really did come out of nowhere. Upon release, everyone thought it would just be another cash grab. With a celebrity voice cast collecting a paycheque. An inconsequential story and brand recognition placed above creativity. But the Lego Movie dashed all of those presumptions.

Firstly, the film looks amazing. The colour scheme is vibrant and full of variety making it an absolute joy to look at. The film also shows great affection for the Lego fanbase by having many of the characters move at a lower frame rate to give the illusion of stop motion animation, similar to Lego online videos. Which elicits plenty of affectionate charm and admiration for its creativity, backed up by gorgeously flowing animation.

Then there’s the sound. The voice cast is uniformly terrific. Everyone brings perfect comedic timing to their roles, Will Arnett’s Batman and Morgan Freemans Vitruvius being particular highlights. Each character’s voice suits and parodies their archetypes simultaneously. For example, Will Arnett’s send-up of Christian Bale’s Batman voice is made funnier through his self-aware smugness. So, the well-written jokes have extra layers to unpack through their delivery and timing. The sound design is also fantastic. The score is also beautiful, often adding an OTT silliness to the proceedings. Great thought is also put into sound details such as how walking, construction and fights sound in this Lego world. And all capped off with “Everything is Awesome”. A song that ridicules and celebrates corporate pop music in a way that ensures you’ll never forget it.

As well as looking and sounding amazing, The Lego Movie’s characters are all unique, funny and offer something to the story. Emmet makes for an easily likeable protagonist, being the only down to earth person who just wants to be nice. Wyldstyle, despite her hostile introduction, shows herself to be a strong person who takes Emmet’s self-lessness to heart and unites the world. And the supporting cast all offer different flavours of critique on “adult” perspectives or showcase the joy of childhood wonder. And the story offers different things to different generations. The simple nature of the story makes it easy for children to follow and the satire easily engages the adult viewers. And by the end, despite the cynical nature of some of the jokes, it brings both audiences together. Showing that sometimes we need to let go of adulthood for a while and be children again.

And that is the ultimate key to why The Lego Movie works so well. It blends adult craftsmanship and satire with childlike joy and enthusiasm in a way that feels complementary rather than derogatory to the overall experience. Ultimately showing that despite our cynical nature, we all have the potential to be special in our own way.

What I do not like?

However, amongst the achievements of this film there are a few missteps. The biggest problem being the way it represents women. There are only two prominent female roles in the film. Unikitty is repressed and Wyldstyle has penis envy. The twist does explain these choices and the characters never feel insulting or malicious. However their roles are still unflattering.

Lastly, some of the humour is a little too reliant on self-awareness or referencing popular culture. Though not a terrible source for jokes, most are even executed really well, their occasional overuse becomes tiresome. At some points, it even becomes alienating to people trying to become absorbed in the world and the story. The constant fourth wall breaking draws into question how invested we should be in characters who have no regard for the narrative. Though these moments are usually well delivered and spaced out enough to not be a huge issue.

Verdict 

While occasionally too self-aware, lacking a decent female insight and an overreliance on reference humour, The Lego Movie is a great family movie that deserves revisiting. It finds unique ways to appeal to both children and adults without feeling overstuffed or disingenuous. It includes a fantastic cast inhabiting interesting and hilarious characters in a beautiful world that clearly had a lot of passion behind it. And every time you return there’s something new to chew on. The Lego Movie is a testament to the power of imagination and storytelling and for me, the best animated film of the decade so far.

Verdict: (5 / 5)

The Lego Movie is available on DVD and digital stores.

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