Psychedelic fantasy nonsense pop-art tripping sci-fi movie with some good kick from the flower power generation. Jane Fonda plays the super-sexy agent Barbarella who's mission is to find the scientist Durand-Durand, the inventor of a deadly weapon, and to save the galaxy from destruction and tyranny. This movie is simply fun to watch, pop-corn cinema at best, one of those movies who show you how much the contemporary movie industry lacks real imagination considering story making, and imo the "effects" and settings are far better looking as all the CGI stuff that imo in many cases is more looking like video-games than movies.Barbarella, an agent who beats the enemies with the powerful "weapons" of a woman - nowadays everything but p.c., but truly more progressive and feminist as today's ordinary women-right activist might think. Watch, if you like such movies like Flash Gordon (1980).

I've been a fan of this film for years, but just recently re-watched it - on Blu-Ray and a big screen. Outstanding! It's a visual treat.Yes, if looking just at the surface, it's campy to the point of being silly, but that is the point. Jane Fonda, Anita Pallenberg and Milo O'Shea are just perfect. They, and the movie, are over the top, but actually do a great job of capturing that ethereal late-60's vibe (I was there and remember).So find the Blu-Ray, a big high-def screen, and maybe a glass of your favorite elixir on the rocks, dim the lights, settle in, and let this cult classic psychedelic moving picture art just flow over you!

Not great, but not that bad either.Set sometime in the distant future, a young Earth woman, Barbarella (played by Jane Fonda), is sent on a mission to find and stop the evil Durand Durand, who has developed a weapon capable of destroying the world. In her quest to find him, she encounters some weird and wonderful people and creatures and has some interesting adventures...Has all the ingredients of a b-grade movie: random, weird plot; haphazard direction; hammy acting. Yet somehow it is reasonably entertaining. The sheer energy and pace of the movie keep it from falling apart. Jane Fonda's looks and nonchalant-yet-effervescent performance help too.I imagine it worked even better when it was released. The movie was made at the height of psychedelia and it has the right ingredients to capture that zeitgeist: bright-colour-filled, fantastical, trippy sets and plot and free love. I would think that being high would be useful when watching this movie..Probably its most enduring legacy is that it gave the English New Romantic-genre band Duran Duran its name.

One simply cannot comment on any of the following phenomena until they have first screened this tissue soft, searing fever dream of a romping film: Hollywood science fiction, Roger Vadim, Marcel Marceau, the American reply to Brigitte Bardot, Return of the Jedi, George Lucas, the Austin Powers franchise, the Rolling Stones, or any ranking of all-time female American actors on a scale of hotness. Speaking of hotness, you cannot look away from Jane Fonda as she plays the lead role of Barbarella. I'm sorry to discuss the looks of Ms. Fonda, a two-time Oscar-winner and a Hollywood icon, in such cro- magnon terms. But look for yourself; one simply cannot look away from her in this role. Sexual magnetism of the highest strength. Separation is not possible. And because Ms. Fonda is such a powerful actor, her ability to gamely deliver the lines written for a 41st century space adventure protagonist whilst flying a starship lined in shag carpet, and sleeping on Reynolds Wrap beds, and being dragged by a stingray unicorn- powered sled, and facing off with the haute and hot likes of Anita Pallenberg, all while being exquisitely costumed in high late 1960's go-go inspired fashions, results in a display of all out megawatt starpower that would incinerate Darth Vader before he could even get his lightsaber up. I won't share details of the film's plot. The movie is crazy, silly, and cajoling, in the best possible way. Once you see it, you can't imagine the history of the American film industry without its 98 minutes of run time, you won't wan't to live in a parallel reality where the film never existed. And look, I'm not alone in understanding the fact that Barbarella was the first blistering postmodern commentary on the pop-influenced excesses of American gender roles and sexuality. Duran Duran named themselves after one of this film's characters. All manner of directors stole ideas from this film, wholesale. Barbarella is a minor pop cultural miracle. Think of it as an art film, and one that both stands up over time and remains more interesting than anything Matthew Barney has ever made. See Jane conquer all. Notes:1. Not for watching with those under the age of 18. There is creative nudity.2. This film would be fairly easy to remake or update/reimagine. The producers just have to go all out, betting the house on the most extruded sets, costumes, and soundtracks that contemporary aesthetics will hold together. What about Sofia Vergara or Reese Witherspoon as Barbarella?