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Pre-Release
- In one scene, Barbie tries to introduce herself to four Bratz-esque teenage girls as their "favorite woman of all time", but Sasha asks "Who are you?" And in the main trailer, she says they "haven't played with Barbie since we were like five years old", and Barbie is dejected.
- In one TV spot, Gloria asks Barbie if they're shrunken down to the size of the figures, or if the Barbies are human-sized. Barbie simply replies "Yes."
Film
- The 2001: A Space Odyssey parody that opens the movie, with girls playing with baby dolls. The narrator says that before Barbie, girls can only play with dolls by playing the mother, which is only fun for a little while. She corroborates the point by telling the viewers to ask their mothers. It ends with the girls gathering around a giant Barbie as The Monolith before smashing their dolls around (complete with one tossing into the air parodying the "bone" match cut).
- The film opens with "Pink", a feel-good pop track by Lizzo, which is full of cute and funny moments.
- "If that was really a mirror, you'd see a perfect smile," referencing how all mirrors in Barbieland are either empty frames or non-reflective plastic.
- Towards the end of the track, Lizzo launches into a cheerleader-style chant, spelling out the title. The last one even sounds like she's trying not to giggle.
- The final lines, "Hey, Midge! Never mind!", acknowledging Midge being Demoted to Extra by Mattel.
- The Dark Reprise is hysterical, especially the new version of the chant
. - Note Lizzo says that last part completely cheerfully.
- During the opening credits as Barbie is floating down into her car, Lizzo asks the narrator to stop interrupting the song.Narrator: You use your imagination...
Lizzo: Hey, I was still singing! - Lizzo also audibly cringes after Barbie falls instead of floating daintily to the ground....Oooh, girl, you okay?
- Early in the film, the narrator points out Midge... and then decides not to focus on her, as a pregnant doll is just weird. Later when the Mattel executives arrive in Barbieland, the CEO yelps in surprise on seeing Midge and says he thought she'd been discontinued.
- All the Barbies and Kens say "Hi Barbie!" and "Hi Ken!" to each other, because that's their names.
- Beach Ken’s attempt to ride a wave to impress Stereotypical Barbie, but it ends with him hitting the plastic wave and then awkwardly flying through the air while Allan lets out an epic Big "NO!".
- Everything about Allan is hilarious. He's played perfectly by Michael Cera, and everything he does is filled with such awkwardness paired with an earnest desire to get along with everyone.
- When the narrator introduces Allan, she mentions that there are no variants/duplicates of him; there's just one Allan. Allan himself says he finds that confusing (no wonder, since he lives in a Planet of Steves).
- One of his early high points is the hilariously over-the-top scream he lets out when Ken gets injured.
- When he tries to escape with Sasha and Gloria, he complains that he's the only Allan in town because the others all left for the Real World and nobody noticed or cared. Five of them apparently became *NSYNC.noteAllan: Yes, even him!
- In an unexpectedly awesome yet hilarious moment, Allan manages to subdue an entire group of Kens who were trying to prevent him, Sasha, and Gloria from escaping. One shot shows him choking a Ken out with a shovel. He even preludes this by introducing himself with phrases directly from his packaging.Allan: Hi, I'm Allan. I'm Ken's buddy. Yeah, all his clothes fit me!
- The construction Kens are trying to build a wall to prevent anyone from leaving Kendom... emphasis on trying, as they're just blindly stacking bricks vertically on the side of the road. Allan is desperate to leave before they figure out they should also need to stack them across the road.
- The Kens have even set up a sign that says "Ken Working" instead of "Men Working."
- The "beach off" banter between Beach Ken and Rival Ken is way too innuendo-laden to be accidental.ExplanationBeach Ken: If I weren't severely injured I would beach you off right now, Ken.
Rival Ken: I'll beach off with you any day, Ken.
Beach Ken: (to Basketball Ken) Hold my ice cream, Ken. (to Rival Ken) Alright Ken, you're on. Let's beach off.
Basketball Ken: Anyone who wants to beach him off has to beach me off first.
Rival Ken: I will beach both of you off at the same time!
Beach Ken: But you don't even know how to beach yourself off, how are you gonna beach both of us off? It doesn't make sense. - All the dolls have a big dance party to celebrate "the best day ever," which apparently had been every day for them. Until...Barbie: You guys ever think about dying?
[Record Scratch; everybody stares dumbfounded at Barbie]
Barbie: ...I don't know why I just said that. I'm just dying... to dance!- And as the party continues, Barbie then tries to get in rhythm, awkwardly dancing and trying to shake aside what had just happened.
- Ken wants to spend the night with Barbie.Barbie: Why?
Ken: Because we're boyfriend/girlfriend.
Barbie: To do what?
[Chirping Crickets]
Ken: ...I'm actually not sure. - Some of the Nothing Is the Same Anymore phenomena that Barbie finds herself in includes spontaneously finding out that her shower now runs cold water. This is in spite of the fact that there is clearly no water coming out of her showerhead because her house is a big playset. Similarly, her milk is expired, despite there being no milk.
- Barbie's friends (and a Ken) are so disgusted by her new physical flaws that they grotesquely retch and throw up all over the place...
- But it amounts to what looks like a childish pantomime of the act because, per the rule that no real liquid exists in Barbieland, vomit can't physically exist either!Dr. Barbie: [calm] It's okay, lemme see. [Barbie shows her flat feet; she gasps] FLAAAAAAAT FEEEEEEEEET!
Barbie's Friends: [disgusted screaming] - The funniest part is that as you may have noticed, it's DOCTOR Barbie who's freaking out the loudest. Y'know, the one who's supposed to remain calm when faced with weird body parts?
- An understated response: Physicist Barbie slowly and cautiously touches her foot and only immediately after that starts freaking out.
- The Barbies telling Basketball Ken that he’s not allowed to join in on the gagging, and him apologizing for it.
- But it amounts to what looks like a childish pantomime of the act because, per the rule that no real liquid exists in Barbieland, vomit can't physically exist either!
- Barbie, visiting Weird Barbie for advice.
- She is offered a The Matrix style choice, but with shoes: the blue pill for staying in Barbieland is represented by a pink high-heel, whereas the red pill that leads her out into Real Life is a brown Birkenstock sandal.
Weird Barbie: The choice is now yours.
Barbie: (not even hesitating) The first one. The high-heel.
Weird Barbie: ...You have to want to know. Okay? Do it again.- Weird Barbie even admits flat out that she "only gave [her] a choice so [she] can feel some sense of control".
- The film doesn't shy away from jokes regarding Barbie and Ken's, well, Barbie Doll Anatomy.
- Weird Barbie — played by Kate McKinnon, an out lesbian — says she'd love to see the size of Ken's "nude blob."
- Some construction workers catcall Barbie (and Ken) so she helpfully informs them that she does not have a vagina (nor Ken a penis). They are surprisingly okay with that. Ken, immediately gets self-conscious, and quickly insists that he totally has "all the genitals."
- Ken accompanies Barbie as she leaves Barbie Land, in the form of a surprise as he pops up from the back seat. He scares her and the car somersaults.Barbie: [long-suffering tone] Did you bring your rollerblades?
Ken: [holding them up] I literally go nowhere without them. Please?
Barbie: Okay. [determined tone] Let's... do this.
Ken: Can I sit in the front?
Barbie: [almost instantly] No. - When Barbie and Ken make it to the Real World, they see a billboard for the Miss Universe beauty pageant:Barbie: Oh, the Supreme Court!
Ken: They're so smart. - Barbie and Ken's mug shots.
- While Barbie looks appropriately shocked and confused, Ken is winking and doing finger guns at the camera with an idiotic smile on his face.
- If you look at their placards, Ken's says "and Ken."
- As they’re arrested again shortly after for accidentally stealing clothes from a convenience store, Barbie is unamused while they’re having their fingerprints done, but Ken is as enthused as ever.
- During Sasha's rant about everything wrong with Barbies she calls the dolls "fascist". The next time we see Barbie she's sitting on a wall outside the school crying about what Sasha said.Barbie: She thinks I'm a fascist?! I don't control the railways or the flow of commerce!
- Beach Ken discovers the concept of patriarchy in the real world.
- His surface-level understanding leaves him with the impression that he's able to make his way into any position he wishes just because he's male. This results in some amusing incidents when Ken tries to apply his logic to real-world employment:
- When Ken is trying to get a corporate job, he tells a suit that won’t hire him he isn't doing the Patriarchy very well. In response, the suit gets defensive and says that they're applying it fine, they just conceal it better. This leads Ken to nod with an understanding "Ohhhhhh."
- Afterwards, Ken tries to pass himself off as a doctor, but a real doctor isn't having it.Female Doctor: No, I won't let you do "just one appendectomy".
Ken: But I'm a man.
Female Doctor: But not a doctor.
Ken: Please?
Female Doctor: No.
Ken: Can I talk to a doctor?
Female Doctor: You are talking to a doctor.
Ken: Can you get me a coffee?
Female Doctor: No.
Ken: And I need a clicky pen.
Female Doctor: ...no.
Ken: And a sharp thing.
Female Doctor: No.
Ken: [Walks after a male doctor] There he is. Doctor!
Female Doctor: [sighs] Somebody get security. - Next, Ken tries to get a job as a lifeguard, and fails since he can't actually swim and isn't qualified to rescue anyone or do first aid.Ken: I can't even Beach here!
- The intern Aaron Denkins tries to hash out what the rules of the film are, asking the Mattel executives if Barbieland is another reality or some kind of dreamland imagination hub or some other cause, to which he's dismissively told, "Yes." This is the closest the movie ever gets to explaining how the rules work.
- When Barbie is in the Mattel office face to face with their CEO, she suggests they should get Ken, but after a quick Smash Cut to him going on the return trip to Barbieland, he says Ken "isn't something [we're] worried about. Ever."
- The Mattel CEO offers Barbie a drink, and Barbie, not used to cups actually having liquid in them, winds up just dumping it in her face. Then, when she finds her way to Ruth's room and is offered tea, she has to awkwardly negotiate learning how to actually drink for the first time.
- Aaron's comment when Barbie asks if men have all the power and women don't."I'm a man with no power. Does that make me a woman?"
- The CEO reacts with outrage at the claim, pointing out that Mattel had a woman CEO in The '90s. Then he adds they also had a woman CEO at some other point, for a grand total of two. He then proceeds to dig himself deeper spectacularly, bumbling out that he is also the son of a mother and the nephew of a female aunt. And that most of his friends are Jewish.
- Also, look closely at Aaron in that scene. At first glance, he appears to be sitting at the table with the other executives, but he doesn't have a chair back behind him. He's actually kneeling on the ground.
- The CEO reacts with outrage at the claim, pointing out that Mattel had a woman CEO
- As Barbie is scrambling through the Mattel office trying to avoid being caught, she and the CEO end up almost bumping into each other... and instead of him seizing her, they scream in shock and go in different directions. The CEO then realizes that he was supposed to chase Barbie and goes to the direction Barbie went with an annoyed look.
- While Gloria and Sasha are trying to save Barbie from the Mattel CEO, Gloria talks about how she had been playing with their old Barbies, and making drawings with them, which wasn't fun for her. Barbie, tensely eyeing the conversation, rears in, and... The kicker is how Gloria enthusiastically says those two lines.Barbie: ...Did any of these drawings by chance have thoughts of death and cellulite?!
Gloria: Yes! Irrepressible thoughts of death Barbie!
Barbie: Oh my god!
Gloria: AND cellulite!- The way Barbie throws her whole body into the backseat of the van when getting in—like someone else threw her in instead.
- Many of the exchanges or quotes in the car, like with Gloria seeing the Mattel vans following them and to "lose [those] chuckleheads", proceeds to drive crazily like she just robbed a bank.
- Sasha asks Gloria if she's okay with leaving her husband behind to travel to Barbieland, and Gloria distractedly replies that he'll be fine. Sure enough, the film cuts to the husband happily practicing Duolingo, oblivious to the outside world.
- The side effect of the Kens taking over extends to the mermaids. There's a Ken merman (named Kenmaid) played by John Cena (who, for added humor, wasn't even seen before the patriarchy).
- The CEO mentions that he genuinely wants to make little girls happy, and the reason he's a corporate suit is because his dream is too creepy for any other career.
- As part of the many drastic reforms to make Barbieland fit within the "patriarchy" aesthetic, Beach Ken renames Barbie's Dreamhouse his "Mojo Dojo Casa House", and waves off Sasha and Gloria's protests that "dojo", "casa" and "house" are synonyms for each other.
- In spite of the patriarchy replacing the whole Barbie line with one centered around Ken, the latter line still somehow becomes a best-seller in the real world, with a warehouse worker proclaiming Ken's growing popularity. He even mentions that Warner Bros. is making a Ken movie that's already destined to become a box office smash hit.
- Beach Ken coolly putting on a pair of sunglasses... despite already wearing sunglasses.
- After Beach Ken kicks Stereotypical Barbie out of her Dreamhouse.
- He tells her to "take her feminine fashions with you!" Said fashions include actual outfits Barbie has worn throughout the years, a fact Gloria recognizes. She tries to take some with her, but Sasha stops her.
- Similarly, after Ken realizes his worth he bestows his fur coat to Basketball Ken, who becomes incredibly stoic and verbose out of nowhere despite being shy and not very well-spoken for most of the film.Basketball Ken: We were only fighting because we didn't know who we were.
- Ken balls the clothes up, but in midair, they unfurl, while also showing the name of the clothes, before returning to balled up shapes before they hit the ground.
- When Barbie storms out after Ken throws her clothes out of her house, Gloria and Sasha can be seen in the background briefly distracted by checking the clothes and asking if they'll fit them.
- After Barbie has her existential meltdown.
- Gloria decides to leave before she makes things worse... then realizes she has no idea how to get back to LA from Barbieland. Barbie, still faceplanted on the ground, tells her she just has to Now Do It Again, Backwards.
- Stereotypical Barbie's Darkest Hour would be heartbreaking... if it wasn't for the fact she pauses every few seconds to flop in Barbie poses, like a child trying to adjust the doll to just be the saddest.
- After Gloria and Sasha leave, Barbie declares that this is the lowest point she has ever felt in her life... and then a commercial for a Depressed Barbie doll is abruptly shown, complete with extremely sad facial expressions of anguish or ennui (contrasted with the bubbly kid actors presenting teary Barbies), sweatpants, eating a family-size bag of Starbursts until her jaw cries for help, and watching the BBC's Pride and Prejudice for the seventh time until she falls asleep. (Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle appear via archive footage.)"Anxiety, panic attacks, and OCD sold separately."
- The split-second Jump Scare as Barbie sees Weird Barbie smiling down on her.
- The tandem bike to and from Barbieland upgrades to a twelve-man tandem bike when the Mattel execs (and Aaron) are doing the "multiple steps of transport" to the doll world.
- Even if you don't know the lore behind Earring Magic Ken, seeing him as part of the resistance is still hilarious Explanation
- Sugar Daddy Ken. This one is actually explained in the movie; he's the dog Sugar's parent figure, but the name "sugar daddy" is obviously extremely suggestive and caused the doll line to be discontinued after controversy. Sugar Daddy Ken is questioned by Sasha on his provocative name and is very exasperated having to explain it for what must be the millionth time.
- Growing Up Skipper; Gloria is quick to demonstrate her claim to fame to Sasha, by raising her arm causing her to grow... in more ways than one. Sasha is bewildered anyone thought that was a good idea.
- Video Girl Barbie knows exactly why she was discontinued.Video Girl Barbie: I have a TV in my back. You know whose dream that is? Nobody. Nobody's dream.
- Weird Barbie then delivers this immortal line.Weird Barbie: That's Barbie Barbie, of course. She's not dead, she's just having an existential crisis.
- At one point during Barbie's depression (despite being a sad moment):Barbie: (In tears) I'm not Stereotypical Barbie pretty.
Narrator: Note to the filmmakers: Margot Robbie is the wrong person to cast if you want to make this point. - After being freed from her brainwashing, Writer Barbie describes the whole experience as a dream where she was "somehow really invested in the Zack Snyder Cut of Justice League".
- Lawyer Barbie's first words after deprogramming: A disgusted "I don't wanna touch a foot!"
- The montage of Barbies distracting the Kens by acting helpless, baiting them into mansplaining topics like Adobe Photoshop, financial diversification, and The Godfather.
- Beach Ken tries to serenade Stereotypical Barbie with a guitar. Cut to four hours later on the beach, where he is still performing the song. It then pans out to reveal that all of the Kens (even Kenmaid!) have brought their girlfriends on the exact same date, playing the same song, "Push" by Matchbox Twenty, in a row on the beach and also with their own guitars (except for Basketball Ken, who's on the drums instead).
- When Beach Ken is angry about all the Barbies trading places at the fire, he decides to declare war on... the other Kens. When one of the Kens asks how they'll tell which Ken is on their side, he waves it off. Sure enough, after the initial charge, all of the Kens just start randomly attacking each other until the dance number ignites.
- The Ken war has a few standout moments.
- "I'LL SEE YOU ON THE MALIBU BEACH!"
- The battle starts out with everyone moving in slow motion and ready to destroy each other with very colorful sports gear and hobby horses, as they carry out the Ken version of D-Day.
- One Ken can be seen using a tennis racket to deflect enemy projectiles as if it were a lightsaber.
- One Ken is seen trying to give his hobby horse CPR.
- The Kens eventually completely lose track of who they're supposed to fight and just start hitting whoever is in reach.
- In the background, you can see two Kens dancing a tango instead of fighting.
- Eventually, Ken and Rival Ken confront each other and have a Bishie Sparkle Beam-O-War, causing Stereotypical and Basketball Kens to become overwhelmed by the sheer Kenergy of the clash. Meanwhile Tourist Ken is... uh, getting a little too into being showered in the sparkles.
- All the Kens eventually have a huge choreographed dance-off to finish off the fight.
- When the Mattel executives arrive in the midst of the Kens' battle, one executive is hit by something. He anxiously asks whether there are real weapons in Barbie Land. The CEO tells him no, but near the end of the movie, the executive is seen with his injured arm in a sling.
- After the Kens have their massive battle and dance-off, which concludes with all of them feeling proud of themselves as though they all won, one of them pipes up and asks "Weren't we supposed to vote on the constitution?"Beach Ken: [super casually] ...Oh, dangit, that was today, wasn't it? [sigh]
- President Barbie calling the Kens "motherfuckers", except it's bleeped and her mouth is censored by the Mattel logo.
- During Ken's breakdown in front of Barbie, he admits that he didn't really enjoy enforcing the patriarchy... and once he figured out that patriarchy doesn't actually involve horses that much, he lost interest anyway.
- When Gloria suggests making a regular Barbie who isn't perfect, the CEO instantly dismisses the idea and calls it bad. The moment an employee points out how popular it is, he is quick to do a Verbal Backspace.
- When Ruth shows up again towards the end of the film, it's a heartwarming scene, interrupted only by Mattel's CEO casually mentioning that Ruth's ghost still rents office space from themnote , offhandedly confirming that ghosts are real. It's never mentioned again.
- Ruth also boasts that she IS Mattel... "until the IRS got to me, but that's another movie."
- After Barbie gives Ken a pep talk about how he needs to learn to value himself as his own person and takes it to heart, there's a shot of him wearing a rainbow-colored sweatshirt that says "I Am Kenough".
- After Barbie becomes a real girl, we get a scene of her heading into an office dressed professionally, with Gloria, her husband, and Sasha congratulating her on the big step she's taking as a human. She hands a file to a receptionist, who asks her what she's here for, and...Barbie: I'm here to see my gynecologist.
[Cut to credits] - In the credits, all the actresses who played Barbies are listed as playing Barbie, so the credit list is a long line of "Barbie" listed repeatedly next to their names. The same goes for all the actors who played Ken.
