Greta Gerwig’s long-awaited film is now showing in UK cinemas – but what happens at the end?
*WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Barbie*
And so at long last the day is here: Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film has arrived in UK cinemas, opening to a wave of extremely positive reviews.
Much of the film’s plot has been shrouded in secrecy since it was first announced, with little revealed in the trailers beyond the fact that Margot Robbie’s ‘Stereotypical Barbie’ would venture to the real world with Ryan Gosling’s Ken after suffering something of an existential crisis.
But with the movie now available in UK cinemas, we know exactly what happens when Barbie comes face to face with the harsh realities of life away from Barbieland and meets the Mattel executives responsible for her creation.
If you’ve watched the film and need some of the final scenes cleared up, then you can read on to have the Barbie ending explained. But tread carefully, there are obviously some very major spoilers from this point onwards…
Barbie ending explained: Why does she join the real world?
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When Stereotypical Barbie first ventures into the real world to find her owner and reckon with her newfound problems, she is little prepared for what she finds.
Far from the utopian society she was expecting, she comes across a world replete with all sorts of problems – not least the existence of sexism at every corner.
Furthermore, when she eventually tracks down Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), the child she believes has been playing with her, she is greeted not with the awe she imagined but instead with disdain: Sasha chastises her for pushing unrealistic beauty standards and shallow consumerism, even calling her a fascist.
Ken, on the other hand, greatly likes what he sees in the real world. He is particularly enchanted by the idea of patriarchy, which he believes has something to do with horses. And so, armed with a number of books on the subject, he heads back to Barbieland with some ideas on how to change the way things are done.
Meanwhile, it emerges that Sasha’s mother Gloria (America Ferreira) is really the one who has been playing with Stereotypical Barbie, and it was her own worries about the world that led to Barbie’s crisis. The two meet and form a bond, escaping from Mattel executives led by Will Ferrell’s CEO – who is now chasing them desperate to get Barbie back in her box – and arrive back in Barbieland.
Except, Barbieland is no longer what it once was. The ideas Ken had learned about in the real world have now been adopted by the whole community, replacing their matriarchal society with a patriarchal one and relegating all the Barbies to lower positions.
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Naturally, Stereotypical Barbie isn’t happy about this at all and allies with Gloria, Sasha, Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), Alan (Michael Cera), and others to reverse the change. They agree upon a strategy whereby if they flatter the various Kens with attention, they will be able to snap the brainwashed Barbies out of a trance – before tricking all the Kens into a massive fight on the beach.
This proves successful, and the various Barbies are able to work together to return things to how they were before – following which Stereotypical Barbie and Ken have a heart-to-heart where she tells him not to base his entire identity on being loved by her.
Things then take another turn when an elderly woman (Rhea Perlman) – who had appeared briefly earlier in the film – shows up in Barbieland. It is explained that this woman is Ruth Handler, the original inventor of the Barbie doll.
Handler approaches Stereotypical Barbie and gives her a choice: either stay a toy and remain in Barbieland or embrace humanity and return to the real world. Although she is initially torn by this choice, Handler gives Barbie a glimpse of what it really means to be human – full of both joy and heartache – and Barbie ultimately decides that this would be a more rewarding life, whatever shortcomings might exist.
And so the film ends with Barbie – now going by the name Barbara Handler and living with Gloria and Sasha – living in the real world, as she arrives at the doctor for her first-ever gynaecology appointment.
Is there a post-credits scene in Barbie?
No, there is no post-credits screen in Barbie.
You might however wish to stay for the credits to listen to Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s track Barbie World, which heavily samples Aqua’s iconic Barbie Girl.
Barbie is now showing in UK cinemas. Visit our Film hub for more news and features or find something to watch tonight with our TV Guide and Streaming Guide.
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