The Barbie trailer has dropped, and the internet has gone hog wild for Greta Gerwig’s over-the-top electric pink world. In Canada, a surge of searches pushed “Barbie movie” to the top Google search on April 4th, with a 5000% increase in searches in the last 24 hours. We can’t get enough.

The trailer begins with a birds-eye shot of Barbie Land, which looks like an expansive beachfront amusement park, before taking viewers low to the ground, where two bubblegum pink heels—with a puff of pale pink fluff—click-clack to a halt and two pristine feet slip out, holding the exact same high arch of the shoe. “I need to know everything about this shot. How many takes, if she held onto something, was she harnessed, is the landing mark sticky, are they her feet, who did the pedicure, really just a documentary on this shot,” tweeted Chrissy Teigen. 


It’s an instant iconic cinematic triumph that reveals so much about America’s number one doll in less than 2 seconds (namely her unrealistic body that impacted millions of young minds). 

The trailer then takes us on a dizzyingly fun tour through Barbie’s plastic-fantastic world. Margot Robbie cruises along ( hands off the wheel) in Barbie’s pink convertible to The Beach Boys’ Fun, Fun Fun, and audiences get a first look at some of the star-studded cast, with Issa Rae and Kate McKinnon appearing as Barbies, and Ryan Gosling and Simu Liu as rival Kens. In a lovely feminist twist, the Barbies all have professions — doctor, lawyer, president, diplomat… while the Kens… are just Ken. 

 

For many decades, Barbie was only a white skinny blonde girl. In the eighties, Mattel finally introduced Black and Latina Barbies, but many stores still only carried the white doll. It was only in 2016 that different Barbie body types started to show up on shelves. To see the diversity and careers represented on screen is a necessary and beautiful thing. “I grew up playing with a Blond Barbie and had a Ken doll. Never did I imagine them Asian. Curious about the upcoming movie with its many iterations of the iconic dolls,” tweeted film scholar and author Nancy Wang Yuen. 

Juno-nominated Canadian comedian Courtney Gilmour, whose performances often focus on her experiences as a congenital triple amputee, also chimed in: “There is a limb different Barbie now which is amazing because when was a kid I had make my own manually by letting my cousin’s dog chew the legs off.”

While the plot details for the summer’s biggest blockbuster are still being kept under wraps, the new teaser suggests that this perfectly plastic world isn’t the utopia it seems to be. It also appears that the dialogue, written by both Gerwig and her husband Noah Baumbach, mirrors that of a young child playing with their Barbie dolls: there’s heavy competition, fun outings in the car with no real plan, erratic plot changes, scrappy fights, and romance without sex (what’s sex?). 

The trailer is magnificent, but it’s the Barbie Self Generator that has taken the hype to a new off-the-charts level. Everyone is Barbiefying themselves and others, clogging up the internet with every kind of it-girl meme. 

Here are some favourites: 

Barbie will be released on July 21, 2023. We’re already planning our outfits, obvs. 

More Barbie Movie fun facts (we can’t get enough):

  • Margot Robbie’s black and white striped outfit from the initial teaser trailer is a nod to the first-ever Barbie doll. Several other characters appear to reference real Barbie dolls, including Issa Rae as the president Barbie, and Michael Cera as the discontinued Allan doll. 

  • Emerald Fennell, the director of Promising Young Woman, will play Midge, a pregnant Barbie who was first released in 1963. The doll was pulled from the shelves after parents complained that she promoted teen pregnancy and was initially not wearing a wedding ring. 
@jams_reads THEY GAVE HER HER KIDS BACK IM CRYING #jams_reads #barbie #barbiemovie #fy #fypシ ♬ original sound – Jam

  • Fans were quick to notice several Wizard of Oz easter eggs in the trailer, including movie posters of Dorothy, the Tin Man, and the Lion, and a pink version of the yellow brick road.
@catquinn The Barbie movie trailer reveals a huge Wizard of Oz easter egg that could explain the plot of margot robbie, greta gerwig, and ryan goslings movie. Between the dorothy gingham dress and the movie posters plus the pink brick road and slippers, its looking clear that this will be an epic journey. #barbie #barbiemovie #barbiedoll #margotrobbie #barbiemovieedit #barbietrailer #margotrobbiebarbie #ryangoslingken #gretagerwig #wizardofoz #wizardofozmusical #greenscreen #greenscreenvideo ♬ Fun, Fun, Fun – The Beach Boys

  • Hari Nef wrote a heartfelt letter to Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, explaining what being part of the Barbie movie means to her as a transgender woman. 

  • Barbie Land will have some Canadian representation! Ryan Gosling and Simu Liu will star as Kens (who, from the trailer, appear to have some beef) and Michael Cera will play the role of Allan, Ken’s best friend.

  • Three stars from the hit British Netflix show Sex Education will appear in the Barbie movie. Emma Mackey will play a Nobel Prize winning Barbie, Ncuti Gatwa will play a Ken, and Connor Swindells has been cast as an intern.