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This aint your mothers Dreamhouse.
Or yours, most likely.
Im not sure what Barbie creator Ruth Handler would think of it, but Don Draper would be pleased.
In the process, they wrote a partial playbook for the approach the film would take years later.
If you liked the movie, youll see the two have a lot in common.
Hi, Barbie!
Shes Every Barbie
It takes a nation of Barbies to hold these jobs.
Without a different Barbie for every gig, how doesLife in the Dreamhousereconcile all this?
It doesnt, and thats the gag.
Shes been a flight attendant (that was career No.
37), a model, a rock star, you name it.
The fact that this causes juuuuust a few continuity problems is a constant source of comedy.
In an episode where Barbies getting her drivers license, multiple characters ask, Werent you a race-car driver?
In a Superman parody,hesthe one doing the Lois Lane Can you read my mind?
Simply put, Ken is in his simp era.
He routinely displays superhuman strength and speed if Barbie or her sisters needs him for any reason.
He means well, thats the main thing.
Some of these references are subtle enough.
Barbies very first look in the shows very first fashion show?
The same classic black-and-white striped swimsuit that launched the original doll and a monolithic Margot Robbie in the movie.
But over time, the references get ramped up to the point of absurdity.
Midge, the oldest of Barbies friends, envies her pals points of articulation.
Cars come with foldout assembly instructions.
And fans of Weird Barbie, rejoice: There are multiple gags about unmanageable doll hair.
Its a font of Barbie bar trivia.
Or where the Mattel execs take a stab at get life-size extradimensional-visitor Barbie back inside her own gigantic packaging?
Sight gags like that areLife in the Dreamhousesbread and butter.
Its the giant heads that really get me, though.
Reader, I lost it.
Still disturbing, even when animated!
But the themes are all there.
At one point, he threatens to sing a seven-act rock opera about BarbieatBarbie sound familiar?
(A day or twos walk, tops.)
If Ryans tomcat vapidity represents a stereotypical male weakness, Raquelles backstabbing materialism plays with its female equivalent.
Its not America Ferreras Oscar reel, but America Ferreras character never hit on a He-Man action figure.
Only in the Dreamhouse, kids.
