Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling Introduce the Campy, Plastic Land of ‘Barbie’ in New Trailer
Welcome to Barbie Land, where a doll’s life might seem too perfect to be… perfect. On Tuesday, Warner Bros. Pictures released the second teaser trailer of the Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie, out July 21. It gives a first look at the iconic doll (played by Margot Robbie) and her boyfriend Ken (Ryan Gosling) seemingly attempting to get out of Barbie Land for “the Real World.” (We finally get a hint at the parody plot!)
The teaser is set in the plastic-made, heart-shaped Barbie Land — the imaginary world is Barbie Land not the Barbie World Aqua sings about in “Barbie Girl” — as Robbie’s Barbie arrives at the beach and is greeted by Gosling’s Ken. (We weren’t a fan of Gosling as a cringy Ken when he was first introduced… but we get it now.)
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Viewers are then introduced to the Barbie multiverse if you will, as several other Barbie versions exist: there’s president Barbie (Issa Rae), journalist Barbie (Ritu Arya), physicist Barbie (Emma Mackey), and gymnast Barbie (Kate McKinnon), among other variations. (We don’t see her in the teaser, but Dua Lipa is playing a blue-haired mermaid Barbie.)
There are also multiple Ken dolls, played by the likes of Simu Liu (who seems to be Gosling’s Ken’s rival), Scott Evans, Ncuti Gatwa, and Kingsley Ben-Adir. Among the visuals teased in the clip are a beach fight, a dance sequence, Barbie driving her car through Barbie Land’s downtown, and a look at Rae’s tenure as president of the doll land.
“To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis,” reads the film’s logline. “Or you’re a Ken.”
The trailer captures Barbie and Ken as they realize they’re not real or perhaps they’re living in some sort of idyllic fantasy world where things might not be as good as they seem. They’re supposed to follow the Barbie Land rules but there are just some things about life they don’t understand. “I thought I’d stay over tonight… ‘Cause we’re girlfriend and boyfriend,” says Ken. “To do what?” asks Barbie as some crickets chirp and Barbie stares with a confused smile. “I’m actually not sure,” responds Ken.
The trailer captures Barbie entering what seems to be the quarters of the toy factory’s CEO (Will Ferrell) as the doll boss gets out of his seat in complete surprise after seeing Barbie’s arrival. The visual ends with Barbie and Ken driving toward the exit of Barbie Land, or what’s teased as “the Real World.”
The visual ends with a campy Ken vs. Ken vs. Ken fight as Liu’s Ken invites Gosling’s Ken and Ben-Adir’s Ken to a “beach off,” before Barbie breaks up the fight and declares, “All right! No one is going to beach anyone off.”
The film is set to have a stacked cast that includes the likes of Michael Cera, America Ferrera, John Cena, Ariana Greenblatt, Rhea Perlman, and Marisa Abela. Helen Mirren is the narrator. (Greenblatt and Ferrera appear for a split second alongside Barbie in what seems to be a spy van.)
Barbie is set to release this July after being pushed back five times. The film dropped its first teaser trailer back in December, giving a first look at Robbie as the doll protagonist.
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