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‘BARBIE’ RATED PG-13
When fans of the Mattel toy franchise turn up in droves at the theater wearing different shades of pink outfits, it’s undeniable that “Barbie” would take the box office by storm.
The toy line produced for worldwide consumption is so ubiquitous the dolls have been around for more than 60 years.
The film pays homage to the creator with Rhea Perlman appearing as Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler giving encouragement for Barbie’s liberation.
March 1959 marked the launch of eleven inches of curvaceous adult plastic, a revolution in the doll industry, which up until this time only produced baby dolls.
The Barbie doll was named after Handler’s own daughter, and remains the world’s top-selling doll.
Check out Mattel’s website and you will find a seemingly endless variety of “fashionista” Barbie dolls and a bunch of Ken dolls, even one with a prosthetic leg. Inspiring Barbies include Dr. Jane Goodall, Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, and Bessie Coleman.
How did I end up at this movie, you may ask? Two daughters were persuasive that this would be a nice family outing, and who can argue with that? Yet, “Barbie” is definitely not the type of entertainment that would have pulled me into an air-conditioned theater on a hot day.
What is the fuss all about? Margo Robbie is the “Stereotypical” Barbie, and let’s concede that she undeniably has the glamorous looks befitting the image of a blonde-haired and blue-eyed beauty queen.
At the film’s opening, the scene is Barbie Land, where just about everything is the color pink. Every day is bright and sunny and Robbie’s Barbie wakes up with a usual morning routine and waves to all the other Barbies in the neighborhood.
For some odd reason, the idealized setting of “Barbie” is reminiscent of another Warner Brothers film, “Don’t Worry Darling,” where the mid-century modern architecture lends itself to a flawless world in a desert environment, except nothing was truly perfect at all.
Barbie Land, with its impeccable dream homes and tidy landscape, is the fevered dream of a pink utopia, and yet Barbie is facing an existential crisis which will lead to leaving in her pink Corvette with Ken (Ryan Gosling) to find the Real World. Barbie Land is not perfect either.
Ken, like all his male counterparts in Barbie Land, is rather dim-witted and spends his time patrolling the pristine beach which doesn’t have an ocean. Water is non-existent in Barbie Land, which one would notice when Barbie takes her so-called daily shower.
Adding some fun to the Barbie world is Michael Cera’s Allan, the only non-Ken male doll, who’s different than the others in a fun and charming way, and who tries to make a break in the back of Barbie’s car.
There is no patriarchy in Barbie Land, which Ken knows nothing about since all the Barbies hold every position of power and prestige. A black Barbie (Issa Rae) is president. The Supreme Court is packed with all Barbies. Only a Barbie can be a doctor or lawyer.
The most fun Barbie is actually Kate McKinnon’s Weird Barbie, who is definitely neither glamorous nor a prototypical beauty queen contestant. Weird Barbie is delightfully funny and off-kilter. Her punk hairstyle and marked-up face are just right for the part.
Once in contemporary Los Angeles, role reversal comes into play for Barbie and Ken. Barbie is treated to a leering sexist objectification, while Ken finds ideas of a patriarchy starting to fill his empty head with a sense of male empowerment that doesn’t exist in Barbie Land.
The doll duo spend time in Venice Beach, where Ken discovers that his notion of “beach” from back home is quite different when he asks a lifeguard about getting a job.
With Ken strolling around southern California either in a fur coat or a cowboy outfit, he started to make me think of Jon Voight’s character in “Midnight Cowboy,” minus the sexual perversion of a seedy New York City in the late Sixties.
Taking to heart his newfound interest in male dominance, Ken organizes Barbie Land into something unrecognizable, a world where patriarchy takes over and an alternate world of frat house sensibility rules the day.
For Barbie’s sake, her new friends in the Real World include Mattel executive assistant Gloria (America Ferrera) and her surly teenage daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) who has outgrown any use for dolls. Both help steer Barbie back to her natural environment.
The most conflict Barbie faces in the human world is when she ends up at Mattel headquarters, and the smarmy CEO (Will Ferrell) wants to put her in a box package. The CEO and the all-male Board of Directors become the natural villains of the story.
To be fair, this reviewer was not the intended audience for “Barbie,” but Barbie Land’s alternate reality is the best part of the film, while the venture into the Real World offers some hilarious fish-out-of-water experiences for both Barbie and Ken.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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- Written by: Tim Riley
‘SOUND OF FREEDOM’ RATED PG-13
What could possibly be entertaining in a film about the sex trafficking of children? The subject matter of “Sound of Freedom” is powerful in its mission to bring awareness to human tragedy that is shameful and despicable.
If there’s just one film this summer that carries an important message, this one based on the incredible story of former federal agent Tim Ballard is it for shining a bright light on a dark underworld.
That there has been some controversy over “Sound of Freedom” is somewhat mystifying. Allegations have been tossed about QAnon conspiracy theories. But the QAnon Shaman dressed like a Viking during the Capitol riot is nowhere in sight.
One review posted on Rotten Tomatoes seems to think the movie is an alt-right rallying cry that is profiting off “conspiracy-fueled mass hysteria.” On the other hand, positive audience reviews are through the roof.
Granted, the anti-human trafficking activist Tim Ballard, who was a Homeland Security special agent and then founder of Operation Underground Railroad, is played by Jim Caviezel, an actor probably best-known for playing Jesus in “The Passion of the Christ.”
Whether Caviezel being a devout Catholic has maybe steered him to some unconventional stances is immaterial to the intensity and conviction he brings to the role of the federal agent first seen busting a consumer of Internet child porn.
If there’s a religious undertone to the story, Caviezel’s Ballard explains his obsession with the crime of child sex trafficking on his belief that “God’s children are not for sale.” That axiom is even a refrain in a featured song.
However, there’s no compelling reason, other than to cast aspersions on someone for perceived unorthodox viewpoints, to dwell on any ostensible political bias that’s not blatantly evident in the movie.
What’s on the screen is a thriller, and one should hope that going after pedophiles is not a left-right issue. After all, does anyone have anything positive to say about the likes of a Jeffrey Epstein? Didn’t think so, unless maybe you’re Prince Andrew, Duke of York.
Back to the opening story of taking down a creep for sexual perversion, Ballard has already arrested hundreds of the human filth who distribute sexually exploitative material, but now he wants to get to the root cause of the problem, and that means heading south of the border.
In Honduras, single father Roberto (Jose Zuniga) is enticed by former beauty queen and music competition show promoter Katy (Yessica Borroto Perryman) to allow his 11-year-old daughter Rocio (Cristal Aparicio) to audition for a contest.
Rocio’s 8-year-old brother Miguel (Lucas Avila) is part of the package as well for the talent show. The audition seems to be legitimate, but when the father returns later to pick up the kids, the place is empty and deserted. A parent’s worst nightmare ensues.
After uncovering some connections obtained from the last person he arrested, Ballard spearheads an operation to apprehend a trafficker at the Mexican border, leading to the fortuitous rescue of the traumatized Miguel.
However, it is not mission accomplished, since Rocio has disappeared into the wind, mostly likely in South America, but she could be anywhere, maybe in Russia or Los Angeles.
The trail might lead to Colombia and Ballard convinces his boss (Kurt Fuller) for a week’s leave and spending cash for an unsanctioned foreign operation, but soon he resigns his position with the support of his wife (Mira Sorvino) to go full lone ranger.
In Bogota, Ballard’s contact is Vampiro (Bill Camp), an American expatriate with a shady past of laundering money for the cartels but who’s now willing to work on the right side of the law.
A scheme is hatched to team up with the deep-pocketed Pablo (Eduardo Verastegui) to create a phony members-only exclusive club on a remote island for well-heeled pedophiles. The plan is to deceive traffickers in order to liberate enslaved children.
The plot works to a point. A bunch of truly horrible criminals, including the former beauty queen Katy, are captured by a Colombian task force, but Rocio is not among the children who are rescued.
The next step becomes far more dangerous for Ballard, who is now being helped by Vampiro. Signs point in the direction of the no man’s land of Narino Province, a place much like the Bronx in the Seventies. Neither the police nor the army dare to enter this criminal stronghold.
The remote jungle of the province is the domain of the warlord named Scorpio who runs a cocaine factory and has Rocio hostage as his sex slave. Ballard and Vampiro pose as U.N. doctors bringing vaccines to eradicate an imaginary outbreak.
Posing as the fake doctor in the rebel camp where Scorpio’s henchmen are a bunch of trigger-happy lunatics does ratchet up the dramatic thrills for Ballard’s single-minded determination to save Rocio.
“Sound of Freedom” takes dramatic liberties with a dangerous journey into the jungle, but it only serves to heighten the basic story of the horrors perpetrated by evil people.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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- Written by: Tim Riley
