★★★

Mattel devoted the best part of a decade to distancing itself from the playful parodic pop of “Barbie Girl,” the 1997 über-hit by Scandi dance group Aqua. A lawsuit, in fact. Why so? Simply because the song’s plastic fantastic lyrics named Barbie a bimbo. How times have changed. Unto a world in which self-awareness is now corporate currency arrives the Greta Gerwig directed Barbie. A film in which Mattel’s blonde bombshell is not merely labelled a bimbo but accused of setting back feminism a half century. Don’t be fooled. As business is business, the film serves to reframe the narrative. That was yesterday, today’s Barbie is a paragon of inclusivity. And yet, there’s still the odd dig here that rings contemporaneous truth. It’s a peculiar beast, this; hybrid in intent and far from the film you might be expecting.