Barbie Feels the Cold Approach of Death in the New Barbie Trailer

Barbie has an existential crisis, Ken is in jail, and an epidemic of flat feet is sweeping the plastic nation. All these disasters and more are teased in the first full trailer for the upcoming comedy, Barbie.

Nearly two months after the movie’s viral posters, Barbie is finally giving theater-goers a full glimpse into the plot. Barbie (Margot Robbie) lives an idyllic, pink, bubblegum life with the other Barbies (Issa Rae, Emma Mackey, Ana Cruz Kayne, Alexandra Shipp, and Kate McKinnon) and Kens (Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Michael Cera and Kingsley Ben-Adir) in Barbieland. But something seems to be going wrong in the world.

Barbie can no longer levitate gracefully down from her dream house into her convertible. Her imaginary shower has gone cold, and her feet cannot sustain their arches. To top it all off, Barbie brings a bumping party with perfect choreography to a halt with the question: “You guys ever think about dying?”

In order to set things right, Barbie has to find out about the true nature of the universe—which means traveling to the Real World. She reluctantly agrees and sets off, with Ken (Ryan Gosling) tagging along for the ride. What follows are a series of misadventures on the streets of LA while a toy company executive (Will Ferrel) desperately pursues the dolls, hoping to put them back in their boxes.

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So far, this looks like a movie that knows how absurd it is. As Barbie contemplates going to the Real World, she is offered a Matrix-style ultimatum—not red pill vs blue pill but high heel vs flat Birkenstocks. Ken, meanwhile, tries and fails to mansplain his way into running a hospital. If the trailer is anything to go by, dolls were in fact hurt in the making of this film.

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In addition to the trailer, Warner Bros has released details on the movie’s soundtrack. Artists include Ava Max, Charli XCX, Dominic Fike, Dua Lipa, Fifty Fifty, Gayle, Haim, Ice Spice, Kali, Karol G, Khalid, Lizzo, Nicki Minaj, PinkPantheress, Tame Impala, the Kid Laroi, and—for some reason—Gosling himself.
Greta Gergwig’s technicolor summer comedy, Barbie, will hit theaters on July 21.