Barbie movie: review roundup, Rotten Tomatoes score, critics on 2023 Greta Gerwig film from Guardian to Empire

The first critical reviews for the highly anticipated Barbie movie are hitting the internet, and reviewers seem to be having a good time with Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie's big-screen take on the iconic doll.

With the film's cinematic release just days away, fans have been eagerly awaiting the thoughts of reviewers for weeks, with critical reception to both Barbie and Oppenheimer likely to be poured over ahead of this weekend's marathon cinema visits.

At the time of writing, Barbie is currently sitting pretty with an 89% approval rating of Rotten Tomatoes, meaning nearly nine-out-of-10 critics who have seen the film have given it a positive review. According to critics, Gerwig's film is an intelligently funny comedy that benefits from a standout performance from Margot Robbie and a scene-stealing turn from Ryan Gosling.

So, will the critical response change your mind on Barbie? And how will it play into your Barbenheimer plans? Here's what some of the top critics are saying about one of the biggest films of the year:

• "Barbie is one of the most inventive, immaculately crafted and surprising mainstream films in recent memory -- a testament to what can be achieved within even the deepest bowels of capitalism." - Clarisse Loughrey, Independent (5/5)
• "Greta Gerwig delivers a new kind of ambitious and giddily entertaining blockbuster that boasts two definitive performances from actors already in their stride. Life after Barbie will simply never be the same again." - Beth Webb, Empire Magazine (4/5)
• "Gerwig’s film – while still fundamentally being a summer comedy adventure about the Barbie toy line – is far from the blunt-force cash grab many of us feared. In fact it’s deeply bizarre, conceptually slippery and often roar-out-loud hilarious." - Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph (4/5)
• "It is maybe down to Gerwig’s confidence and generosity as a feminist film-maker that she gives all the best lines to Ryan Gosling, who is allowed to steal the whole film." - Peter Bradshaw, Guardian (3/5)
• "At its best, the movie is like the kind of high-end restaurant that serves great food in the playful guise of favourite childhood desserts. The pleasures of that -- and the chutzpah of doing it at blockbuster scale -- are to be applauded." - Danny Leigh, Financial Times (4/5)
• "Has a few rough edges, but Gerwig continues to dance to her own beat." - Hannah Strong, Little White Lies (4/5)
• "The zaniness of Barbie, combined with Gerwig’s interest in skewering the patriarchy, sometimes makes the movie a baggy, tonally dissonant viewing experience. But for the most part, she achieves a pleasing balance between the silly and the serious. - Ann Hornaday, Washington Post (3/4)
• "This is a wonderfully fun watch that somehow manages to simultaneously celebrate and satirise the Barbie brand, its feminism and girliness pairing like gorpcore sandals with a floaty pink skirt." - Alice Saville, Time Out (4/5)
• "'Barbie' is a lovingly crafted blockbuster with a lot on its mind, the kind of feature that will surely benefit from repeat viewings (there is so much to see, so many jokes to catch) and is still purely entertaining even in a single watch." - Kate Erbland, indieWire (A-)
• "Barbie is really an insightful exploration of humanity, the meaning of life and the cognitive dissonance of a woman living in the patriarchy, all with a really big heart and style to spare." - Brian Truitt, USA Today (3.5/4)
• "Gerwig and her creative collaborators not only give the formerly inanimate figure a sparkling personality and a pastel-shellacked pop-art playground, they also deliver genuinely meaningful sentiments surrounding the complexities of gender politics." - Courtney Howard, AV Club (A-)
• "It's Gerwig's care and attention to detail that gives Barbie an actual point of view, elevating it beyond every other cynical, IP-driven cash grab." - Devan Coggan, Entertainment Weekly (A-)