Ever since I was young, I’ve always loved Barbie. I had the dolls, the dreamhouse, and even watched most of the cartoons and movies (special shout out to Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse). So you can imagine that when I found out about the new live-action Barbie movie, I freaked out!
Greta Gerwig’s glittery new blockbuster is set to premiere in theaters on July 21 and features a star-studded cast including Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu, Michael Cera, and even Dua Lipa. Despite the release coming up, there’s still much we don’t know about the details of the movie. Luckily, a new trailer was released this week as well as a set of cute posters giving us more insight into the characters.
In the trailer, we see an aerial shot of Barbie Land encased by some sort of pink heart-shaped fence or forcefield. Then, we see Margot Robbie’s Barbie greet Ryan Gosling’s Ken on the beach along with the other Barbies and Kens including Issa Rae and Simu Liu. After this, the trailer becomes more mysterious. We see clips of Margot Robbie riding in a pink car through Barbie Land and a large sign in the middle of a desert-like area reading “real world this way”.
Based on the new trailer, fans are theorizing that Margot Robbie’s Barbie is going to leave Barbie Land to go on an adventure in the real world (with the possibility of Ryan Gosling’s Ken and his rollerblades joining her). This theory aligns with IMDb’s limited plot description of the movie which reads “To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken.”
According to the new trailer and plot description, fans predict that something is going to cause Barbie to be kicked out of Barbie Land and forced to leave for the real world. Even if this theory is confirmed, there’s still so much we don’t know about the movie yet. Do the Barbies and Kens know they’re dolls? Are they not allowed to leave Barbie Land? Do they even know about the real world?
I think it’s such a smart tactic that little information has been released about the movie so far. This allows for more suspense and interest to grow around the film. While I appreciate the tactic, I can’t help but want to know more! In the meantime, I’ll stick to watching the TikTok theories.