Film Preview: Barbie (2023)

Film Poster

Page Revisions:

(December 18, 2022) Original
(April 9, 2023) New Trailer (#2) — New Posters (#2-#26)
(June 4, 2023) New Trailer (#3)
(July 16, 2023) New Posters (#27-#29)

Release Date:

July 21, 2023

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “Barbie lives in Barbie Land and then a story happens.”

Poster Rating: D / C- / C (24) / C / C / B-

SEE ALL POSTERS BELOW
Review: (#1) It probably carries a lot of meaning to fans of Barbie dolls, not to mention those who are at least familiar with the logo, but it’s overall an uninteresting tease.

(#2) The big Barbie “B” is now populated and it’s only mildly more interesting than before. (#3-#26) The common backdrop to these character posters is hardly interesting and while it’s nice to see the internal backdrops better reflect the colors of the foreground characters, the entirety of the designs is rather uninspired.

(#27) A drab background for a peppy movie and a foreground that fits the personality of the film, but breaks no new ground. (#28) The use of these generic sky backgrounds is understood, but unwanted. (#29) The plainness of the background is more explanatory here with the cheap-looking palm, but it doesn’t add much to it. The interplay between Barbie and Ken, however, works well.

Trailer Rating: B+ / B / A-

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Review: (#1) What a shockingly bold trailer choice. If you’ve wondered what a Barbie film was going to look like, this probably wasn’t it. Although the pops of color splashed in the latter scenes certainly evoke the Barbie aesthetic, the Kubrickian tribute to 2001: A Space Odyssey is strangely fitting and one hopes that it’s actually part of the film itself rather than something just for the trailer.

(#2) While not as thematically engaging or interesting as the first effort, we do get more information about the cast of characters in the film. It would be a shame if this were the final trailer as we still don’t know what we’re supposed to be getting out of a film like this.

(#3) Kudos to the trailer editors for this film. Each of them have been unique experiences, but none give as much information about the film or create such a fascinating premise as this one. Intended to build on the absurdism of the Barbie universe and transplanting that into the real world is intriguing. Making it all self-aware is even better.

Oscar Prospects:

This film will be impossible to set Oscar expectations for without seeing it. However, Production Design and Costume Design seem like solid bets at this point.