ENTERTAINMENT
Barbie: is the Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling movie suitable for kids?
The movie sees Barbie and Ken having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land, but is it a kids movie?
The highly anticipated ‘Barbie: The Movie’ opened globally this weekend with a cast that includes Helen Mirren as the narrator, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, along with Dua Lipa, Issa Rae, Simu Liu, Michael Cera, Will Ferrell, and Kate McKinnon.
There will be several Barbies and Kens in the film, all with different personas.
The feature film is an imagined story based on the classic Mattel Barbie World toys.
Mirren’s voice opens the trailer as the film’s narrator. “Since the beginning of time, since the first little girl ever existed, there have been dolls,” Mirren narrates. “But the dolls were always and forever baby dolls. Until …”
The film portrays Robbie as Barbie heading to the beach where she encounters several other Kens and Barbies, who all greet her enthusiastically, most notably main Ken, played by Gosling.
Is Barbie suitable for young kids?
The move has been given a PG13 rating with a series of suggestive references to the dolls’ bodies -- including Ken’s “nude bulge” -- and how a male-dominated society expects women to be ornamental and helpful.
The film is far from violent although there are a few lighthearted brawls and there is one bleeped use of “motherf--” plus the use if the word “crap“.
The film also deals with issues of gender and mortality and despite the PG Rating, younger children will appreciate the basic humour while the intellectual discussion will go well over their heads.