Barbie And Ken's Epic Journey To The Real World Was A Practical Effect
In the 64 years since the first Barbie dolls were introduced, Barbie has amassed a mighty impressive and expansive lore, making it impossible for any movie about the doll itself to encompass its entire history. And yet, somehow, co-writer and director Greta Gerwig struck gold with her live-action film "Barbie," delivering what BJ Colangelo described in her review for /Film as "an absolute marvel hiding within the plastic pink confines of Barbie, making it a phenomenal reflection of the iconic doll that serves as source material."
Gerwig's film and Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer," which together form the so-called Barbenheimer double feature, have already made a huge splash at the box office, and it is easy to see why. Both films are rare examples of blockbusters not based on a pre-existing film franchise, as well as movies that are not immediately trying to set up a sequel or a spin-off.
Like Nolan's film about the father of the atomic bomb, "Barbie" is full of lavish practical sets and effects, with a lot of attention paid to making Barbieland feel real, which shows on the screen. And it's not just about building a Barbie Dream House set, or how every vehicle in the film is built to resemble an actual Barbie toy, but how the film channels silent era Hollywood movies for the transition between Barbieland and the real world, wherein Barbie uses a variety of vehicles and travels across magical landscapes (including space).
A behind-the-scenes featurette for the film reveals the making of this transition sequence and how each set was practical. As Ryan Gosling says in the featurette, "[The scenes were] using these old silent movie film techniques, it looked like a Karel Zeman movie," referring to the Czech filmmaker who often combined live-action footage with animation.
Life in plastic is fantastic
As production designer Sarah Greenwood explains in the featurette, the "Barbie" creative team "looked at theatrical methods of making things work, so the foreground goes very fast, then [the background] goes slightly slower."
Indeed, a B-roll video (posted to Twitter) shows the film's crew literally pulling the foreground and background with ropes while two stand-in crew members sit in the Barbie car to show the effect in motion. It's honestly a stunning sight. Sure, it's inherently silly, like emulating a Hanna-Barbera cartoon wraparound scene, but in the context of the film, and because it looks so different compared to other recent VFX-heavy films, there's something special about having such a relatively simple practical effect you know is fake yet somehow makes it feel more real.
It's no surprise, then, that those working on film productions in the vicinity of the "Barbie" set became curious enough to continually find excuses to visit, which is just what the cast of "Fast X" did, resulting in John Cena landing a coveted role in "Barbie." As to what his cameo is, well, it's best not to spoil it if you haven't seen the film yet. Just know it is unmissable.
"Barbie" is currently playing in theaters.