The Barbie movie is shaping up to be the blockbuster we need

Barbie is everything.

Or so the tag line for the new Barbie movie goes, echoing the squealing excitement of our inner seven-year-olds when we saw that a new trailer had dropped.

While it’s been hyped since it was first announced way back in the misty days of 2017, the actual movie isn’t out until July 21 — an interval almost as torturous as waiting for your birthday to see if your relentless petitioning for the Barbie Jeep has been successful.

The newly dropped trailer grants us one minute and 45 seconds of shiny fuchsia, plastic perfection. The shot of Barbie’s foot, stepping out of her Maribou-feathered heeled mules but maintaining her signature perpetually tippytoed form, promises to be worth the price of admission alone.

In less than a day, the trailer got over six million (and rapidly counting) views, shooting it to the top of the YouTube trending list. “Barbie movie” was the top search term on Google in Canada yesterday, with over 50,000 of us typing those words into the search bar. Among the cast, it was searches for Michael Cera, who the trailer reveals to be in the film as a long discontinued character named Allan, that spiked in Canada, rather than, say, Ryan Gosling who we already knew plays Ken.

Within hours of the trailer release, “Barbie” is absolutely everywhere, thanks in part to a clever marketing stunt from Warner Bros. Pictures: a “Barbie Selfie Generator” that allows you to turn yourself into a barbie. It’s particularly relevant because this movie’s cast seems to include all of Hollywood — from Helen Mirren to Nicola Coughlan — to play lower-case-b barbies, the noun used to describe the generic dolls, while Margot Robbie is capital-B Barbie herself.

Here’s everything else we know about the “Barbie” movie so far.

Aren’t there already tons of Barbie movies? Why is this one such a big deal?

You refer, of course, to the films Barbie herself has starred in, including such classics as “Barbie in the Nutcracker” (2001) and “Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia” (2006).

This 2023 film is a bit different: not quite a biopic, but close, in that it’s a story about Barbie herself and what appears to be a rather nasty experience in “the real world,” outside of Barbie Land. That would be the enchanted kingdom where the sand is pink, the rocks are pink, the lifeguard stations are pink and, OK, everything is pink, and pesky things like glass ceilings don’t prevent a woman from having over 200 careers, including presidential candidate, chief sustainability officer and, uh, cat burglar. (Reformed, of course.)

What’s the plot of the“Barbie” movie?

While plot details remain thin, the trailer offers some hints about where this tale takes us: Barbie, with Ken and his roller blades in tow, is expelled from Barbie Land, apparently for being imperfect, and goes in search of happiness among humans before returning to save her home. While this might sound like it’s going to be a kids movie, there’s a sense of darkness and winking self-awareness brewing in the background that suggests otherwise.

Who is the director of the “Barbie” movie?

None other than Greta Gerwig, which is the biggest pink flag that this movie is going to be a subversive delight. Gerwig, an actor-turned-director who specializes in nuanced, intellectually ambitious films such as “Lady Bird” and “Little Women” (both garnered her Oscar nominations) took over this movie after it had already been in the works for several years.

In fact, there was once a world where Amy Schumer was set to star in the Barbie movie, but she dropped out because she specifically wanted Barbie to be “an ambitious inventor” whose breakthrough discovery was a high heel made out of Jell-O.

Gerwig’s Barbie is likely to go off-piste in its own way. Just ask Issa Rae, who plays a barbie too. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter last year, she recounted Gerwig explaining her idea for the film. “I’ll be 100 per cent honest: When she was talking, like, it was entertaining, but I didn’t get it,” Rae said. “I was like … ‘whatever it is, I’m excited she’s behind it.’” Upon reading the script, Rae reported that she loved Gerwig “even more.” Seems promising!

Another interesting note: Gerwig co-wrote the script with her husband, Noah Baumbach, most famous for the heart-rending film “Marriage Story.” So buckle up for a thoughtful, complicated portrait of Barbie and Ken’s relationship, tackling the effect their lack of, uh, parts has had on their ability to truly know each another.

Who stars in the “Barbie” movie?

How long do you have? As revealed in the cast posters that dropped yesterday, Barbie is one connected woman.

The titular character, of course, is played by Robbie, who is also producing the movie through her own production company, Lucky Chap. Speaking to British Vogue last year, she acknowledged that Barbie comes with “a lot of baggage and a lot of nostalgic connections,” but said she sees this as an exciting prospect, especially with Gerwig on board. “People generally hear ‘Barbie’ and think, ‘I know what that movie is going to be,’ and then they hear that Greta Gerwig is writing and directing it, and they’re like, ‘Oh, well, maybe I don’t …’”

You can’t have Barbie without Ken (or can you? The film seems to hint it’s a possibility …) and that role, in all its swim-trunked, bronzed-to-the-gods glory, falls to Canada’s own Ryan Gosling, lending the role a daffy charm.

Who are the Canadians in “Barbie”?

One of Barbie’s lesser known career pivots was to Mountie in 1987, so naturally there are plenty of Canadians in this film. Ryan Gosling, of course, plays Ken, Simu Liu is “another Ken” and Michael Cera plays Allan, a long discontinued character revived for the film.

Who’s in the supporting cast?

There are plenty of barbies and kens in the Dreamhouse! “Sex Education” star Emma Mackey plays a doll with a Nobel Prize, while new “Doctor Who” Ncuti Gatwa is a guitar-strumming doll. Pop star Dua Lipa is Mermaid Barbie, “Bridgerton’s” Nicola Coughlin is a diplomat doll.

Speaking of comedic heavyweights: Will Ferrell stars as a toy company executive, while Kate McKinnon is a barbie who “is always in the splits.” (No toy chest is complete without one.)

We could keep going — Hari Nef is Doctor Barbie, “Umbrella Academy” actor Ritu Arya is Pulitzer Prize-Winning Barbie, Emerald Fennell is a pregnant Midge — but if there’s a takeaway, beyond how stupendously fun this looks, it’s that this casting represents a diverse, inclusive Barbie Land.

Sarah Laing is a Toronto-based freelance contributor for The Kit, writing about celebrity and culture. Follow her on Twitter: @sarahjanelaing

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