Every day is perfect in Barbie‘s world, as we see during the opening of the first full trailer for director Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.” But there’s trouble in paradise that begins with a Barbie dance party ending with Margot Robbie’s title character asking, “Do you guys ever think about dying?”
From there, and to the poppy sounds of Dua Lipa — who also has a role in the film as Mermaid Barbie — Barbie goes on an adventure to find out why she’s dealing with cold showers, nightmares and getting flat feet. The journey to solve the riddle of what’s happening takes Barbie to another Barbie, played with demented glee by Kate McKinnon, who offers her the ability to travel to the real world — whether Barbie likes it or not.
The real world leads to all manner of hijinks, including Barbie’s arrest for assault and a Mattel executive, played by Will Ferrell, refusing to let people know Barbie is in our universe. Add to that Ryan Gosling’s doofy Ken, who accompanies Barbie on her journey, and takes the real world by deciding he should start performing routine surgeries (he, like Barbie, has been a doctor, you know).
It’s a lot to stuff into a nearly three-minute trailer, but audiences have been clamoring for more from Gerwig’s “Barbie” since the first teaser dropped in April.
According to an interview with Vogue, which dropped Wednesday, Gerwig saw “Barbie” being akin to an Old Hollywood movie musical. Specifically cited is the 1948 feature “The Red Shoes,” directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and Jacques Demy’s 1964 musical “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.”
“They have such a high level of what we came to call authentic artificiality,” Gerwig said in Vogue. “You have a painted sky in a soundstage. Which is an illusion, but it’s also really there. The painted backdrop is really there. The tangibility of the artifice is something that we kept going back to.”
Gerwig co-wrote “Barbie” with Noah Baumbach and directs the film, which stars Robbie and Gosling as the main Barbie and Ken but takes place in a fantasy world populated by many different Barbies and Kens.
You can watch the full trailer above.
“Barbie” zooms into theaters July 21.
