Should be called Ken: Barbie reviewed

Finally, the Barbie film is here, for which we must be thankful, as the tsunami of pre-publicity meant you probably felt obliged to lock your bathroom door so the trailers didn’t follow you in there.

It’s a film that wants to have it all ways. Let’s parody Barbie but also isn’t she a feminist? There’s of lot of zeitgeist appeasement going on here. But the production values are sensational and there are some excellent jokes, even if Ryan Gosling’s Ken leaves Margot Robbie’s Barbie standing. They should have called this Ken, but I guess that’s not going to help bring down the patriarchy.

This is the first project from Mattel Films, the toy company that hopes to create a cinematic universe like Marvel. It currently has several films in development, including a Polly Pocket one, and I’m already fearing what the marketing people will do.