Recently at 2022's CinemaCon, director Greta Gerwig revealed the first look of her live-action Barbie movie. The movie stars The Suicide Squad actress Margot Robbie as Barbie, Ryan Gosling as Ken, and a range of other celebrities including America Ferrara, Emma Mackey, Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon, and Michael Cera. While there have been many animated Barbie movies in the past few decades, this is the first live-action take on the iconic doll.
Oscar-nominee Gerwig could be hoping to improve the reputation of movies inspired by toy franchises. According to review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the highest ranked movies based on toys are all animated; The Lego Movie, The Lego Batman Movie, and The Lego Movie 2 hold some of the top spots. Despite often being box office successes, movies based on toy franchises do not tend to be critical darlings.
Transformers: Dark of The Moon (35%)
While this may seem like a low percentage to begin the list, Transformers: Dark of the Moon beat out a number of other live-action films, including Battleship, GI Joe, and Bratz. The third installment in the Transformers franchise, this 2011 movie sees the Autobots and the Decepticons fighting for possession of a powerful technology from their world that crash-landed on Earth years ago. Most of the cast of the previous two movies returned for the film. Despite middling reviews from critics, Transformers: Dark of the Moon was extremely successful at the box office and was the second highest-grossing film of 2011, surpassed only by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. It's a fun watch because of the comedy and impressive action sequences, but is quite long and drags towards the end.
Mars Attacks! (55%)
A lot of younger audience members may not know that this 1996 cult classic is based on the trading cards game of the same name. The card game tells the story of Martians invading Earth, a storyline which was adapted into a comedy sci-fi film by writer Jonathan Gems and director Tim Burton. The film features a massive ensemble cast, including, but not limited to, Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Danny DeVito, Natalie Portman, Michael J. Fox, Annette Bening, and Martin Short. While not considered a box office smash in North America at the time, Mars Attacks! has since been widely considered a fun and campy classic that is worth a watch and provide a few laughs.
Transformers (58%)
This 2007 movie launched a franchise and a re-emergence of the Transformers toys into the mainstream. Starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, and Anthony Anderson, Transformers follows an average teenager whose first car turns out to be a member of a faction of alien Transformers called the Autobots. He ends up caught up in the war between the Autobots and their enemy faction, the Decepticons. Despite its less than stellar score on Rotten Tomatoes, Transformers is a fun, high energy, and high action flick, great for a Friday movie night with friends.
Clue (68%)
This movie, based on the iconic board game of the same name, has become a camp classic since it was first released in 1985. This black comedy mystery movie features Eileen Brennan as Mrs. Peacock, Madeline Kahn as Mrs. White, Christopher Lloyd as Professor Plum, Michael McKean as Mr. Green, Martin Mull as Colonel Mustard, Lesley Ann Warren as Miss Scarlett, and Tim Curry as the butler. The film famously has three different endings to the mystery, with different endings going to different theatres during its initial release. That gimmick alone makes it worth watching, but it's also quirky and funny with a generally fantastic cast.
Ouija: Origin of Evil (83%)
Probably the most unexpected entry on this list, this 2016 horror movie is a prequel to the 2014 film, Ouija. The movies were inspired by Ouija boards--flat boards with letters and numbers that are meant to be used to interact with spirits and are popular with spiritualists and teenagers at sleepovers everywhere. Ouija: Origin of Evil is considered superior to the original film. It follows a widow and her family who use a Ouija board to try and boost their scam seance business, accidentally allowing a real spirit to possess the daughter while doing so. For those interested in supernatural horror and legitimate scares, this movie should be checked out.
Bumblebee (90%)
The most recent film in the live-action Transformers franchise is the most critically acclaimed by a massive margin. The movie stars Hailee Steinfeld as a teenager in 1987 who stumbles across a yellow Volkswagon Beetle which turns out to be the Autobot B-27, or as she names him, Bumblebee. Despite having a lot of the same Transformers action and a good deal of humor, the film delves further emotionally than any of the previous Transformers films. Steinfeld was also highly praised for her charm and performance in the lead role. It's a fantastic action film even for those who aren't big Transformers fans.