Since the beginning of time, kids have played with dolls. Then, there was Barbie. And in July 2023, the Mattel icon makes the leap to the big screen in the live-action Barbie movie. Oscar nominee Margot Robbie nails the 100-megawatt smile and wears the outfits with pride in the Greta Gerwig-directed extravaganza, as proven in the latest trailer.
Robbie plays the Barbie to Ryan Gosling's air-headed Ken in the character's first-ever flesh and blood epic. However, there's more than one Barbie and Ken at work in Gerwig's surrealistic movie, which she co-wrote with partner Noah Baumbach. All will become clear (kinda, sorta) in the video below, which teases a teeming cast including Simu Liu, Issa Rae, Emma Mackey, Dua Lipa and Will Ferrell.
With its high voltage cast and an aesthetic that resembles an explosion in a pastel colours factory, Barbie is all but guaranteed to pop off the big screen this summer. It's unclear how the various Barbies and Kens will factor into the plot – we can discern a sign in the trailer that says 'Real World', so might we get a meta, LEGO Movie-style jump from one realm to the next?
It also looks a tad saucier than we might have expected with Gosling and Liu promising to beach each other off. One imagines the movie will work on two levels with the physicality appealing to the kids and the innuendos transmitting to their parents.
All will become clear when Barbie strides into Cineworld on July 21st (yes, the same day as Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer; now there's a double bill). For the time being, check out the full cast list in our Barbie movie poster rundown.
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