Barbie Metacritic vs Oppenheimer Metacritic

The movie industry has been having a tough time this summer: although there have been success stories like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, big films like Elemental and The Flash have underperformed at the box office.

That’s why movie executives everywhere are thanking their lucky stars for Barbie and Oppenheimer, two new films set to open this weekend. Oppenheimer is about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, while Barbie is a wild fantastia about the iconic toy. Directed by Christopher Nolan and Greta Gerwig respectively, the movies couldn’t be more different, but they’ve both created a lot of buzz, with some fans vowing to see both on the same day.

So which movie is “better”? Again, they’re so different that comparing them almost seems pointless…but we can try anyway. Here’s what review aggregator site MetaCritic has to say:

Barbie Metacritic

Barbie currently has a score of 81% on MetaCritic, which is high. Here’s a sampling of reviews, arranged from most positive to least:

• The Playlist: “Gerwig amplifies this feeling of liberation through understanding one’s confinement to Messianic lengths by the end of “Barbie.” Yet her and Baumbach’s screenplay foregrounds countless other intimate choices, too. It’s here where characters can opt to see the complexities of their identity as both complementary and independent. This is existentialism for consideration and consumption alike.”
• Variety: “By showing a sense of humor about the brand’s past stumbles, it gives us permission to challenge what Barbie represents — not at all what you’d expect from a feature-length toy commercial.”
• The Washington Post: “Viewers who have nurtured a loving if complicated relationship with Barbie might feel seen by the end of the film. Whether they’ll feel satisfied is another question entirely — especially when it comes to the film’s letdown of an ending, which was no doubt perfect on the page but lands with a deflating, didactic thud. Then again, that gnawing sense of ambivalence was no doubt precisely what Gerwig’s “Barbie” was aiming for.”
• New York Post: “The packaging of “Barbie” is a lot more fun than the tedious toy inside the box.”

Oppenheimer Metacritic

Oppenheimer currently has a Metacritic score of 90%, which is excellent. Some review snippets, also arranged from most positive to least:

• Associated Press: Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a kinetic thing of dark, imposing beauty that quakes with the disquieting tremors of a forever rupture in the course of human history.
• The New York Times: “Oppenheimer” is a great achievement in formal and conceptual terms, and fully absorbing, but Nolan’s filmmaking is, crucially, in service to the history that it relates.
• Little White Lies: “It’s not a faultless film, but it’s one that sits within the higher echelons of the oft-tawdry biopic form, and also reveals hidden depths to the Nolan project and, excitingly, suggests that we should brace ourselves for anything the next time around.”
• The Film Review: “With all of its quick cuts and time-hopping, Oppenheimer behaves like a film that’s worried that it won’t have the space to fit everything it wants to say and do into three hours. Then it exhausts its welcome in the service of reiterating points. Then it delivers lectures in case you missed the earlier rounds. It knows how to blow up the world, but it doesn’t know when to quit.”

So Oppenheimer is getting better reviews than Barbie, but both films are going over very well among critics. Also, according to CNBC, Barbie is expect to make more money over its opening weekend: $140 million vs $60 million.

Whatever you choose to see, it should be an interesting weekend at the movies!

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