Hollywood blockbuster 'Barbie' opens in Japan after 'Barbenheimer' controversy

Controversy? It just Barbie doll!

Thanks for letting me know... to make sure I don't watch it.

We're not going to see barbie until after we've seen Oppenheimer. Which Japan seems to suggest we won't be watching Barbie.

Thanks for letting me know... to make sure I don't watch it.

Oh go on, you know you want to.

It definitely won't make you a worse person but it might make you a better person.

Sounds like a dumb movie concept to me, but if they can make a GI Joe movie I guess Barbie is good too.

I'm looking forward to seeing it. It looks funny and smart. But, we're definitely waiting until after Obon week to see a weekday afternoon showing. I hate weekend and holiday crowds.

I'm looking even more forward to seeing Oppenheimer, which looks incredible. But, the way things are looking here, I may have to watch on streaming, which would be a shame to miss the big screen experience. I don't need to see it in Imax. But, I at least want to see it on a theater-sized screen, if possible.

We watched Oppenheimer but we won't be watching Barbie.

Really? People have THAT much $$ to waste ?

Good for them...if you're more than about 15, I would think you had better things to do with your money.

"But the movie was radiant, beyond that I had fun"

pun intended by the translator?

PaustovskyToday  05:13 pm JST

Oh go on, you know you want to.

*It definitely won't make you a worse person *but it might make you a better person.

Really? How? LOL!

Lost total interest , what a turn off.

Barbie movie: tremendous fun, wacky, cerebral, deep. Highly recommended.

3.5/4.0 stars from RogerEbert.com

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/barbie-movie-review-2023

wallace

We watched Oppenheimer but we won't be watching Barbie.

Do you not live in Japan? Did you download a pirated copy or something?

Really? How? LOL!

I dunno. I guess one could come out of the movie feeling uplifted, positive even, and henceforth decide to not be the kind of relentlessly boring old man who guffs on about woke children's movies.

Yes, I live in Japan and no I did not download any video.

Not my cup of tea.

VJ Day weekend premiere how ironic

Main cinema in my city on opening day - yesterday - had only 3 showings.

1 dubbed showing at 5:05pm and 2 with subtitles showing at 12:50 and 9:50.

Pretty weird I thought esp for opening weekend.

Usually a Big movie would have any number of showings for the 1st week and then take it from there.

Certainly seems like some external pressure to knock it down. Or maybe it's internal.

Regardless if you like the movie or not, the fantasy, coz-play, pink party fever that's happening in many other countries seems tailor made for Japan esp younger audiences.

What gives?

It's a good, funny movie.

PaustovskyToday  06:49 pm JST

I dunno. I guess one could come out of the movie feeling uplifted, positive even, and henceforth decide to not be the kind of relentlessly boring old man who guffs on about woke children's movies.

So now you're positive you know how old I am? LOL! Anyone can make an assumption. For example, for you to think that watching Barbie makes you a better person is because you're an uneducated, childish philistine who thinks they're a self-appointed social warrior a la Megan Rapinoe.

But I do I know for a fact that you don't know the difference between rated G and rated PG-13 and still feel sore about it!

We watched Oppenheimer but we won't be watching Barbie.

Agreed. You a probably a middle aged man like myself, rather than s teenage girl. My granddaughter would probably enjoy Barbie, rather than something academic, in her young stage of life. Still can't fully work out the controversy.

wallace

Yes, I live in Japan and no I did not download any video.

Download / stream

potato / po-tah-to

You certainly didn't see it in a cinema in Japan.

garypen

you can find it without downloading it. I never said I watched it in a cinema and I wouldn't anyway because I never go. But I can say this movie won't gain much by watching it on the big screen. More like a documentary.

Alan Harrison

We watched Oppenheimer but we won't be watching Barbie.

> Agreed. You a probably a middle aged man like myself, rather than s teenage girl. My granddaughter would probably enjoy Barbie, rather than something academic, in her young stage of life. Still can't fully work out the controversy.

I'm way more than middle age. 70+. I am happy with anyone who wants to watch it. Great for taking the grandkids.

"Barbie" meets "Hello Kitty", the perfect Japanese marriage of moolah and the politically innocuous.

The success of the fantasy-comedy was further boosted by the coupling with "Oppenheimer", the biopic chronicling the creation of the atomic bomb during World War Two that opened on the same weekend.

Haven't seen the movie since I am in Japan of course but have read the book upon which it is based, "American Prometheus". The bomb climax is about midway but a large part of the book focuses on the hysteric Republican persecution of Oppenheimer due to his leftist leanings and that of those around him.

An early harbinger of their anti-intellectual/scientific rhetoric and policies.

Should be required viewing (I wouldn't go as far as reading) for that contingent.

Wallace I will not enquire how, I understand there are private streaming services from Dubai.

Gossip you understand.

Ok can you review without spoilers. What do you think about the film.

I just am not so engaged with a Mattel toy.

I actually was sent a video clip of a meme of Barbie and Chucky

Totally created by a disturbed, unhinged unsound mind, in fact psychotic certifiable.

itsonlyrocknroll

Ok can you review without spoilers. What do you think about the film.

The format is unusual like a documentary. Lots of real interviews. Very honest very factual. I was a bit worried about my Japanese spouse, I'm always sensitive about that. But she watched it all detached from it. Some disturbing scenes as you would expect. Best I have seen on the subject.

@wallace

Have you been watching illegal downloads ? You have to be carful with that.

I tried watching Sound of Freedom but the dialogue had been dubbed with the voices of The Muppets.

The filmmakers earnest portrayal of the horrors of human trafficking, and my questionable desire to witness child actors traumatised for my entertainment, were somewhat spoilt.

Wallace,

Thank you, I hope for limited release in Japan sooner or later.

Your wife, I understand the subject with neighbors and friends wont rush to the cinema to relive a period when the country was subject to unimaginable destruction.

Controversy sell ticket

I'm from Liverpool UK. Our city was extensively bombed by the German Luftwaffe in WW2. Both of my parents suffered from Post Traumatic Stress for the rest of their lives. The horrors towards Japan in WW2 make me wonder about the sensibilities of the film-makers and distributors who would think it acceptable to release Oppenheimer in Japan. I would have been enraged if the German people had thought it OK to release a film which glorified the Luftwaffe during my lifetime. The pain of war endures for many generations in my humble opinion.

Our family home and street were destroyed in Liverpool. Family members died. The Oppenheimer movie does not glorify the atomic bomb and much of it is also about Oppenheimer and what he thought about what he had created. In the end, the US canceled his security clearance. It is a very important part of history.

I'm from Liverpool UK. Our city was extensively bombed by the German Luftwaffe in WW2. Both of my parents suffered from Post Traumatic Stress for the rest of their lives. 

I'm sorry to hear of your parents' trauma, but most Liverpool people (tough folk) were able to get over WW2 and get on with their lives, even able to watch war movies that "glorify war", which from my understanding of what I have read about "Oppenheimer", is not at all the case. The problem is more that those Japanese who object to the film are likely to have a hidden political agenda that has nothing to do with A-bomb trauma.

I don't think Barbie would resonate with Japanese folks since very few if any kids ever had a Barbie doll.

What controversy? 78 year old victim card playing and a "movie" to promote a child's toy? Don't see anything controversial, just typical self serving media garbage.

I don't think Barbie would resonate with Japanese folks since very few if any kids ever had a Barbie doll.

And yet, somehow,

"Tickets for "Barbie", starring Margot Robbie in the title role, nevertheless sold fast in Japan as fans flocked to the theatrical release"

the film seems to have an audience here.

proxy

I don't think Barbie would resonate with Japanese folks since very few if any kids ever had a Barbie doll.

Incorrect. My wife's childhood friends had them.

I do not see how Barbie can be translated and understood here. Totally different culture.

I don't need to see it in Imax.

I think this movie really needs to be seen in 70mm. Nolan has a big imagination that doesn't always work, but this looks like a good one.

Watch it on Imax if you can. That's an order.

wallace

you can find it without downloading it.

Like I said, download / stream, potato / po-tah-to. I don't do either, as I have this thing against stealing people's art.

I'll just wait until it's either released in the cinemas here, or settle for streaming once it's legitimately available that way, if they decide not to release it here.

I never said I watched it in a cinema and I wouldn't anyway because I never go.

You should go, once in a while. Not for every movie, of course. But, some movies are just enhanced by the theater experience. Plus, there's the popcorn, and the previews. I've missed it!

But I can say this movie won't gain much by watching it on the big screen.

I would imagine the sight and sound of a nuclear test blast is probably a tad more impactful in the cinema. Plus, as it was originally filmed in Imax, I imagine that Nolan and his DP most likely designed the shots to look best on a large screen. Why else go to that trouble?

....if you watch it on IMAX, you're watching an 18K movie, compared to 2K or 4K on a digital theatre screen.

Just different gravy.

@Wallace. Oppenheimer seems to be a remake of a 1980 two part TV movie screened in the UK. (By the way, I'm not far behind you, will be 70 on my next birthday, and sorry about your home in Liverpool). My family were fortunate in Southport during the war.

Imperial Japan surrendered to the US on August 15, 1945,in a humiliation defeat of Japan,in which they nevered recovered and will ever recover,living an eternity at the mercy of the US

I don't think Barbie would resonate with Japanese folks since very few if any kids ever had a Barbie doll.

Incorrect. My wife's childhood friends had them.

FWIW, another datapoint: My wife says they didn't have Barbie at the time, they had リカちゃん which, to my eye, doesn't come with the same cultural baggage as Barbie. I tend to agree that the cultural aspects of Barbie, which the movie seems to very much play on, will be mostly lost on people here.

The bomb climax is about midway but a large part of the book focuses on the hysteric Republican persecution of Oppenheimer due to his leftist leanings and that of those around him. 

An early harbinger of their anti-intellectual/scientific rhetoric and policies. 

So basically, the left ultimately created and caused a device that killed thousands within a blink of an eye. Tragic.

Should be required viewing (I wouldn't go as far as reading) for that contingent

I wouldn't quite disagree with that.

Watch the movie with my niece and she really love it, funny she ask me if I still have my Barbie dolls.

Hollywood Lackluster

Oppenheimer is a superb film with a phenomenal cast. I saw it opening weekend. Focusing on the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have made it a much poorer movie, as would have including the story of women involved in the project and those whose lives were affected by radioactive fallout from the nuclear tests. The movie makes its point and makes it well. It delivers.

Lots of Japanese never accepted responsibility for the war they started,that left 100 of thousands Japanese dead,

@Alan Harrison "Oppenheimer seems to be a remake of a 1980 two part TV movie screened in the UK"

It is not. What would make you think such a thing?

I think they should make a movie about Barbie’s middle-aged mom, Karen.

The movie Oppenheimer is more about him than the first atomic bomb. Thus, the title. It's the backdrop, not the premise.

Barbie must be fun but just a movie no one will remember.

Oppenheimer, I will remember, having watched it in IMAX.

My expectation were high. Movie was much more about feelings than showing life of R. Oppenheimer and discoveries and its consequences. Very far from sciences, in a movie often dreamlike were you don't see any geniuses, you get close to porn scenes (why on hell did they need to show the guy fully naked 2 or 3 times, and explicit showing of having sex, not for kids PG16), and last third about politics only in a useless frantic way. Not my taste at all after all, as an engineer and having read his biography and about project Manhattan, does not depict at all the real life of the guy : serious, keeping to his ideas, patriot.

Oppenheimer was a little too dark and could have been an hour shorter. Because director Nolan refuses, for some strange reason, to correct the dialogue sound and only uses the sound recorded at the time of filming, I found myself reaching for a remote in the theater to back it up so I try to hear a lot of the dialogue.

When I saw it, people were walking out about the halfway mark. Even the BBC film critic walked out of the movie. Audio is just as important as the visual in movies, but this was the worst sound I’ve heard for a movie. And what seemed like the same 8-bars of music played throughout the movie is tedious.

The timeline moving back and forth is also a distraction. Yes, some nude scenes with a woman who looks like a checkout lady from the supermarket were probably an afterthought by some studio suit to “punch it up.”

Robert Downey Jr. is the best actor in the movie, by far. I give it one star out of five. But I had cotton in my ears because the sound was unbearably loud. Plus the 20 minutes of previews for movies you couldn’t pay me to watch didn’t help my mood.

Movies are awful now, in general. Hollywood is an ocean of mediocrity now.

If you don't live in the US and and you've lived outside the US for a long time, then no, perhaps you aren't aware of the undercurrent that it's addressing. The buzz in the US is a thing. For a reason.

That, and the fact that it's directed by a woman and has grossed over a billion USD is also a thing whether you like Barbie or not.

Only a complete and utter fool would find any link between these 2 films. I think the whole thing is a media circus done by the promoters and media, and it worked superbly. Well, almost, I could not give a fig about either film, although the barbie film did make me get rid of my 20 barbie doll collection, but I was planning to do that any way. They went to a children's home and they have probably been cursing me since.........lol!!

So basically, the left ultimately created and caused a device that killed thousands within a blink of an eye. Tragic.

Sure, the bomb was created by some "lefty" nerds, but Truman and his military advisors were no lefties by any stretch of the imagination. They alone made the decision to drop two bombs on helpless populations, a war crime by any other name.

opheliajadefeldt

Only a complete and utter fool would find any link between these 2 films.

Or someone in the US who knows how to use a calendar.

Both movies were released on the same day in the US. That was the original inspiration for "Barbenheimer". Add the fact that they are both big-budget, star-cast films from a-list directors, combined with the complete contrast in subject matter and tone, and you have a perfect storm of meme fodder.

It doesn't take a theoretical physicist to figure that one out.