Barbie Isn’t Exactly a Kids’ Movie d2b25 Despite the Brand Being Primarily Targeted Towards Kids

Greta Gerwig’s live-action Barbie is rated U/A in India and PG-13 in the US, recommending some parental guidance. 5h86x

Written by Rahul Chettiyar, Edited by Ali Pardiwala | Updated: 18 July 2023 14:19 IST

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. 695n6e

Margot Robbie in and as Barbie

Highlights

Barbie is out Friday, July 21 in theatres worldwide
The key demographic for Barbie toys is girls aged between 3 to 12
The Barbie movie contains themes of sexual harassment, sexual innuendos

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Greta Gerwig's imagining is poised to contain some ‘suggesting references and brief language,' upping the age rating to a U/A in India. Don't be alarmed, as this wouldn't prevent kids from watching the movie, but rather suggests that the movie appeals to a wide range of audiences. The UK follows the same ruleset as India, where kids under the age of 12 must be accompanied by a parent, whereas in the US, the film's rating is set to PG-13 — a tad higher.

Given the trailers we've seen leading up to Margot Robbie's Barbie's dress. McKinnon plays the test subject version of Barbie that is usually discarded — in a sense — where girls would cut their hair in punkish fashion, burn their toes, and put on weird crayon makeup.

Maybe that's why she's aware of the harshness of the real world, which goes inline with the film's premise where she sends Robbie's Barbie out of Barbie Land. Upon reaching the real world with Ken, they're ridiculed for their outrageous outfits, are treated badly, and even end up getting arrested — all of which Barbie hates, but Ken loves. Adding fuel to it is Will Ferrell as the fictional CEO of Mattel, wanting to lock the pair back inside their cardboard boxes. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Ferrell called the film a great satire and that it was a comment on the male patriarchy. In summary, in all three countries, the Barbie movie is targeted at audience that are outside the core age range.

The marketing, however, has been covering the entire Barbie brand, be it Robbie showing up to premieres in iconic outfits worn by the doll herself, poster filters for fans to edit themselves into, and the toys themselves. In contrast, Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer at the box office, thanks in part to the memes surrounding their contrasting themes.

Then, of course, there's the floating theory that Warner Bros. is deliberately trying to sabotage trying to mend their broken relationship with Nolan, so he can resume making movies with the studio.

Barbie releases July 21 in theatres worldwide, alongside Oppenheimer. Tickets for both movies are now live on BookMyShow and PayTM.

The Chromecast with Google TV that runs on Android TV is here. When will Google learn how to name products? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Barbie 5o2a50

Release Date 21 July 2023
Language English
Genre Comedy, Romance
Cast
Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Will Ferrell, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Hari Nef, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Rhea Perlman, Ncuti Gatwa, Emerald Fennell, Sharon Rooney, Scott Evans, Ana Cruz Kayne, Connor Swindells, Ritu Arya, Jamie Demetriou
Director
Greta Gerwig
Producer
Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Robbie Brenner, David Heyman

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