The pink carpet was rolled out at L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium on Sunday for the big premiere of “Barbie.”
A select few got a sneak peek and their reviews are overwhelmingly positive.
Screen Rant’s Joseph Deckelmeier was very surprised by the film.
“‘Barbie’ caught me off guard and I mean that in the best way possible,” he tweeted. “It’s funny, bombastic, and very smart. Greta Gerwig aims for the fences & hits a home run. Margot Robbie’s performance is great and Ryan Gosling and Simu Liu are pure entertainment! The whole cast is brilliant!”
Collider.com‘s Perri Nemiroff said the “craftsmanship” was “incredible.”
“In particular the costume & production design includes next-level work that heavily contributes to creating the feeling that these truly are Barbies, their dream houses, and their worlds come to life,” she tweeted. “As for the story, that’s where I’m a bit more mixed. I think the film serves Margot Robbie’s Barbie and her journey especially well, but there are other characters experiencing important arcs that needed more screen time to really dig into and explore to the fullest.”
Jamie Jirak of ComicBook.com was highly impressed by Ryan Gosling’s performance as Ken.
“I can’t officially quit Twitter before telling you all that #Barbie is currently my favorite film of the year,” she said on the platform. “Greta Gerwig somehow exceeded my expectations. She tackles the positives and negatives of Barbie so beautifully. Give Ryan Gosling an Oscar nomination, I’m dead serious!”
“Pay or Wait” host Sharronda Williams also enjoyed Gosling’s performance. She did note one critique of the screenplay.
“#BarbieTheMovie is witty, heartfelt, and downright fun at times,” she said. “Ryan Gosling is a scene stealer delivering most of the laughs while Margot Robbie’s heartfelt performance will tug at your heartstrings. While I enjoyed most of the film the screenplay feels bloated at times.”
Williams continued saying,”Teetering between the camp #Barbie movie we expected to a sometimes too on the nose social commentary of society that takes away from important subplots and character development,” she tweeted. The production and costume design is stunning but overall I left wanting a bit more from the film.”
Variety’s social media editor Katcy Stephan found the film was just like Barbie herself: perfect.
“#Barbie is perfection. Greta Gerwig delivers a nuanced commentary on what it means to be a woman in a whimsical, wonderful and laugh-out-loud funny romp,” Stephan tweeted. “The entire cast shines, especially Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in roles they were clearly born to play.”
Ty Cole of African American Film Critics Association noted the film’s message.
“A lot of us strive to be ‘perfect’ like Barbie, but the film will show you don’t always have to be so perfect because even in a ‘perfect world,’ we still have flaws and that’s okay,” he said on Twitter. “It’s for teens and an adult crowd who grew up with the franchise.”
Cole went on to say that this movie “is everything you wouldn’t expect from the series. It peels the layers off the superficial doll we all grew up with while showing how Ken is more than an asset and is figuring his identity out.”
“Barbie” hits theaters on July 21.
