It might seem a little odd that a movie about Barbie is rated PG-13. It’s based on dolls for little kids. But it is rated PG-13 and, based on the trailers, it looks like it will touch on some heady, existential ideas. Anticipation for it is so strong that Mattel, Barbie and Ken’s parent company, is going all-in on movies. That means we’re about to get a dark and thoughtful movie about, of all Mattel properties, Barney the purple dinosaur.
As per The New Yorker (in a bit teased out by Deadline), the long-in-the-works Barney movie, which has touted Daniel Kaluuya as both star and producer since at least 2019, is not going to be just for kids — or maybe for kids at all. According to exec Kevin McKeon, it will be “surrealistic.”
“We’re leaning into the millennial angst of the property rather than fine-tuning this for kids,” McKeon said. “It’s really a play for adults. Not that it’s R-rated, but it’ll focus on some of the trials and tribulations of being thirtysomething, growing up with Barney — just the level of disenchantment within the generation.”
McKeon describes the movie — again, about Barney the dinosaur who, on the ‘90s PBS series Barney & Friends, would teach kids about spelling and whatnot — as an “A24-type” film, referring to the ever-popular risk-taking indie studio/distributor. He added, “It would be so daring of us, and really underscore that we’re here to make art.”
Not that Barney will be exclusively for 30-something adults facing early mid-life crises. Mattel is also at work giving the character his own animated series. But if you watched Barney as a kid and you grew up to be a bit on the Debbie Downer side, Mattel’s got a movie for you.
(Via The New Yorker and Deadline)