uglydolls movie review

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Sweet visuals and songs are complicated by mixed messages.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Messages somewhat mixed. Intended messages are tha

Moxy is a lovable character who, after learning ex

A notch more intense than parents might expect: mu

Ugly Dog is interested in female dolls and says th

Infrequent use of words including "butt," "oh ehm

No product placement within movie, but movie is ba

At one point, a male character whips out a bottle

Parents need to know that UglyDolls is about a group of plushy toys who learn they're worthy of love despite their unconventional looks. While that core message is undeniably positive, other messages weaken its impact, including catchy songs that tell listeners they're unworthy if they're "ugly" and that it's…

Positive Messages

Messages somewhat mixed. Intended messages are that conventional beauty doesn't equal goodness, that an unconventional appearance doesn't equal worthlessness, that our differences are actually what make us unique and special. But often key characters say the exact opposite, so positive messages end up weakened. Still, movie joyfully proclaims "Let our freak flags fly!" and says that love and compassion are a doll's true purpose. Group of friends shows teamwork, perseverance in pursuing and fulfilling a goal.

Positive Role Models

Moxy is a lovable character who, after learning experiences, comes to fully accept herself -- and to launch toward her dream (which she ultimately achieves). Mandy, a complex character, starts out as something of a villain but soon reveals herself as sympathetic to main characters' aims; she makes an important emotional shift. A group of friends is supportive of each other. A few female "perfect dolls" are stereotyped as "mean girls," do most of the dirty work; they talk about hairstyles, lip gloss instead of anything deeper. Bad guy Lou is hyperfocused on perfection, has no tolerance for anyone who doesn't meet his rigorous standards.

Violence & Scariness

A notch more intense than parents might expect: multiple scenes in which characters fall or are thrown from great heights and fall down dark, scary holes. UglyDolls are frequently threatened with being "recycled"; in one harrowing scene, they're thrown into recycling chute, almost shredded by sharp metal teeth of loud, red, glowing monster machine. Dolls battle in hand-to-hand combat. Dolls go up against potentially scary robot dog (which grabs one, carries him away, possibly to his doom), a big vacuum (which sucks one doll up), and a looming robot baby. Many characters are kidnapped and transported in big sacks through threatening tunnel.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Ugly Dog is interested in female dolls and says things like "Feel the energy between us?" At one point, he whips out a table and some sparkling wine and invites a female doll to join him.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Infrequent use of words including "butt," "oh ehm gosh," "oh my doll," "imbecile," "sycophant," and hurtful phrases like "you shouldn't even exist" and "get lost."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

No product placement within movie, but movie is based on a toy line, and there are tons of offline merchandising tie-ins.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

At one point, a male character whips out a bottle of sparkling wine as a romantic gesture to a female character.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that UglyDolls is about a group of plushy toys who learn they're worthy of love despite their unconventional looks. While that core message is undeniably positive, other messages weaken its impact, including catchy songs that tell listeners they're unworthy if they're "ugly" and that it's important to follow conventional beauty standards if you want others to like you. Adults are likely to understand that these lyrics aren't intended to be taken at face value, but that's much less certain for kids. Happily, other songs have more positive messages -- including "your differences make you special." And characters demonstrate perseverance and teamwork in pursuing their goals. There's a bit more scary stuff and violence than parents might expect, including hand-to-hand combat (no blood or injuries); several scenes in which characters fall or are pushed from great heights or down dark, scary holes; and a very frightening bit in which dolls are threatened with being "recycled" and are almost shredded by a big, loud, monster-like machine with sharp metal teeth. There's no sex or romance, but a male character offers his crush a bottle of sparkling wine and asks whether she can feel the "energy" between them. A few characters are stereotyped as "mean girls"; they do the bad guy's dirty work and talk in a clichéd way about boys, hairstyles, and makeup. Other characters are more sympathetic, including a doll who's dreaming of having a child to love her and a girl who's been trying to appear perfect and learns that she's lovable even if she's not. Kelly Clarkson and Nick Jonas co-star. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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• Parents say (29)
• Kids say (29)

Based on 29 parent reviews

Don't give in like I did. Hard pass.

Dumb storyline, what's the story.

In a quirky little town called Uglyville, Moxy (voiced by Kelly Clarkson ) lives among the UGLYDOLLS and hopes every day that today will be the day when she finds a child to love her. But she's gotten impatient for the outside world to find her -- and now she's decided to go in search of the world. She brings a cadre of loyal friends with her: lovable big lug Babo (Gabriel Iglesias), slick Ugly Dog ( Pitbull ), shy Lucky Bat (Leehom Wang), and cranky Wage ( Wanda Sykes ). What they find is the Institute of Perfection, which is under the total control of gorgeous uber-doll Lou ( Nick Jonas ) and is where dolls go to grow "from pretty to perfect." Is it really necessary to be perfect to be loved? Or will the UglyDolls learn to embrace their imperfections?

Is It Any Good?

The visuals are bright and appealing, the songs are catchy, and the toy-looking-for-love setup is sweet enough to appeal to kids and adults alike. But there are more mixed messages about looks and self-worth in UglyDolls than many parents will be comfortable with. True, the movie's overarching themes are "love yourself" and "your differences make you special," but we get to these ideas relatively late in the movie, after we've watched the main characters get shamed at length for being themselves. Adding weight to the iffy messages are two prominently featured (and quite catchy) songs, "The Ugly Truth" and "All Dolled Up." The first one, sung by the movie's villain, is a little easier to dismiss, though its message -- "ugly = worthless" -- is pretty harsh, and there's a moment when Lou moves down a line of dolls explaining why each is unacceptably imperfect ("You're way too short! You're too thin! Is that a blemish on your double chin?") that's cringeworthy.

"All Dolled Up," sung by the sympathetic Mandy ( Janelle Monáe ), is more problematic. To adults, it's obvious that Mandy's heart isn't in statements like "When you're all dolled up, people only see what you want them to see." But to kids, the message the song sends is more uncomfortable -- as if the "solution" to being different is to pretend not to be. It's not until the movie gets to the song "Unbreakable" that parents will sit up and really enjoy the vibe being pumped out: Be yourself, and show them you can't be broken. Once UglyDolls turns that corner, it's all sweetness and smiles: Perfection and Uglyville merge, everyone learns to love and accept themselves, and Moxy finds her place in a child's arms. Spoiler alert? Nah, you knew it was coming. It's just a shame that this happy ending doesn't feel more earned.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about UglyDolls ' messages about appearance. Does everyone agree about what's beautiful and what's not? What do Moxy and her friends learn about finding happiness and accepting themselves?

What does Moxy's storyline tell us about self-image ? Why didn't she think a child would love her as she is? How did her adventures at the Institute of Perfection ultimately give her the confidence to believe in herself?

Which parts of the movie were scary? Why? How much scary stuff can young kids handle?

What does it mean to persevere ? How did the characters in UglyDolls show perseverance? How did teamwork figure into their quest? Why are teamwork and perseverance important character strengths ?

How does Mandy compare to the other "mean girl" doll characters? Do you think she was the only one of the four who had more depth to her?

Movie Details

• In theaters : May 3, 2019
• On DVD or streaming : July 30, 2019
• Cast : Kelly Clarkson , Nick Jonas , Janelle Monáe
• Director : Kelly Asbury
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Non-Binary actors, Pansexual actors, Queer actors, Black actors
• Studio : STX Entertainment
• Genre : Family and Kids
• Topics : Friendship , Great Girl Role Models
• Character Strengths : Perseverance , Teamwork
• Run time : 88 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG
• MPAA explanation : thematic elements and brief action
• Last updated : April 30, 2023

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‘UglyDolls’ Review: Stay Ugly, Friends

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By Glenn Kenny

• May 1, 2019

Adults who regularly buy children’s gifts will recognize the denizens of the movie “UglyDolls,” the plush toys of the same name. Milder in design than old-school troll dolls, these figures have a message: Idiosyncrasies of appearance and personality are not “ugly,” but rather emblems of awesome individuality. The relentless positivity of this fable is put across with such bounce-house energy that children in the audience may be bludgeoned into submission instantly. (It made this adult’s teeth hurt.)

Here, Moxy, the most cheerful doll in Uglyville, wakes each morning just knowing there’s a child for her in “the big world.” Moxy and some of her misfit pals set out to find said big world, only to be obstructed by the Institute of Perfection, a land of pretty dolls presided over by a pert-nosed, golden-haired paragon, creatively named Lou. He and some mean-girl dolls in his thrall will stop at nothing to thwart Moxy and her dream.

These characters are voiced by some of the most prominent names in pop music: Kelly Clarkson, Janelle Monáe, Blake Shelton, Charli XCX, Pitbull and Nick Jonas, to name but a few. Comic talents such as Wanda Sykes and Gabriel Iglesias also feature. Yet every aspect of this computer-animated movie directed by Kelly Asbury seems equally overdetermined and tossed-off, as if it were a caffeinated weekend project for everyone involved.

The neon colors bring to mind what a “Candy Crush” movie might look like, while the never-ending songs are cute, flavorless paeans to self-love. Individual scenes evoking “The Lego Movie” and “Toy Story 3” feel like lifts rather than homages, and are blatant to the extent that your older kids might even notice.

Rated PG. Edgy as a box of Peeps. Running time: 1 hour 27 minutes.

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"UglyDolls" is less a movie than an infomercial for the plush Hasbro toys designed to be “ugly” in a commercially cute, lovable way. Unfortunately, the script is not particularly cute or lovable, just a muddled story with lukewarm musical numbers that takes pieces from better films like “ Toy Story ,” “Monsters Inc.,” “The LEGO Movie,” “ Smallfoot ,” “ Trolls ,” and all those other stories about how we should appreciate our own kinds of beauty and the individuality of those around us. It’s not bad. It’s just not very good.

Moxy ( Kelly Clarkson ) is a sunny character who wakes up each morning hoping that this is the day her dream will come true and she can be loved by a child. She's a resident of Uglyville, where the friendly residents live in a cheery world stitched together from scraps and cardboard. 

The benevolent mayor is Ox ( Blake Shelton ), who asks Lucky ( Leehom Wang ) to try to persuade Moxy that Uglyville is the only place there is so she can stop dreaming of “a child for every doll and a doll for every child.” But we know there is another place, because earlier we see a factory where imperfect toys are snatched off the conveyer belt so that only those that match the same identical template are given to children.

A new arrival shoots out of a portal into Uglyville ( Emma Roberts as Wedgehead). If someone can arrive, there has to be a somewhere to arrive from, and maybe that portal goes both ways. Moxy and her friends cross over and find a place where a handsome singing idol named Lou ( Nick Jonas ) presides over “the gauntlet.” It is a special kind of perfection boot camp that subjects the dolls to a rigorous series of tests. 

The participants introduce themselves, one a lawyer and model, one an engineer and model, and so on, all dressed in prep school plaid. Lou tells the dolls that “if you want someone to love you, you’ve got to look like me … kids just don’t want ugly.” 

Lou pretends to offer help to Moxy and her Ugly friends survive the gauntlet. He asks one of the “perfect” dolls, Mandy (Janelle Monaé), to be their guide and take them to a place he has selected for them to stay in. Mandy takes them past the row of immaculate, identically (and boringly) symmetrical houses to a shabby shed, which the Uglies immediately love. Just to hammer a bit harder on the theme, they see the items stored as junk to be treasures. Mandy, who has been hiding her glasses from Lou so she won’t seem less than perfect, begins to appreciate the warmth and optimism of the Uglies. 

“Perfect” here means more than to be without flaws or differences; it also means being free of “the three s's": stains, smudges, and smells. In Lou’s world, the kinds of wear and tear that come from playing or, really, any interaction, result in the most severe punishment: the washing machine.

As Moxy and her friends experience the bigger world, Lou sends three conventionally pretty but mean girl dolls to investigate Uglyville. They spend most of their time simpering about their crushes on Lou and making cutting remarks. It turns out that dolls who look “perfect” can be arrogant and selfish. And we learn that the upper-case "U" Ugly story has a lower-case "u" ugly history.

Like the dolls themselves, the movie is supposed to be concerned with kindness, but its appreciation of individual differences is regrettably superficial and cookie-cutter. Even worse, the voice talent is cast more for singing than creating distinctive characterizations, and while the songs are well-produced and performed, they're forgettable because they hardly move the story along. The always-welcome Wanda Sykes is here oddly relegated to a one-note role as a “can’t we just all stay home,” apron-clad, UglyDoll version of Betty Crocker.

"Uglydolls" struggles to sustain, much less promote, its message about how we should love to get messy and how our flaws make us who we are. The movie's conclusion seems to grossly suggest that children can only appreciate the dolls who share their imperfections, making it clear that some flaws, like this script, can and should be fixed.

Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

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Film credits.

UglyDolls (2019)

Rated PG for thematic elements and brief action.

Kelly Clarkson as Moxy (voice)

Nick Jonas as Lou (voice)

Janelle Monáe as Mandy (voice)

Blake Shelton as Ox (voice)

Pitbull as Ugly Dog (voice)

Emma Roberts as Wedgehead (voice)

Wanda Sykes as Wage (voice)

Gabriel Iglesias as Babo (voice)

Leehom Wang as Ugly Bat (voice)

Charli XCX as Kitty (voice)

Bebe Rexha as (voice)

Lizzo as Lydia (voice)

• Kelly Asbury
• Alison Peck

Writer (based on characters by)

• David Horvath
• Kim Sun-min
• Julie Rogers
• Nolan Sutherland
• Christopher Lennertz

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Film Review: ‘UglyDolls’

An impish dance-pop fairy tale that feels like 'Trolls Lite' uses the Ugly Dolls to salute the power of being your beautiful ugly — individual — self.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

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In “ UglyDolls ,” an air-popped animated musical fairy tale about learning to embrace the ugly — that is, ordinary (that is, extraordinary) — specimen most of us are, the title plush toys are monochromatic fuzzy-felt factory rejects who get tossed off the assembly line for one reason or another. Each has a flaw that fails to meet the corporate standards of eye-pleasing symmetry and cuddliness. Moxy (voiced by Kelly Clarkson ), the movie’s heroine, is a rambunctious blob of pinkness whose problem is her teeth (she’s got three, unevenly spaced, with a prominent gap). Ox (Blake Shelton), a rabbity green customer, has an X where his left eye should be — though at least he’s meant to have another eye. Ugly Dog ( Pitbull ), a cyclops canine mascot, has one glaring yellow peeper at the center of his forehead. And Wage, voiced by Wanda Sykes, sports two ungainly lower incisors, an homage, I assume, to the gargoyle voiced by Sykes on Disney Junior’s “Vampirina.”

The Ugly Dolls, in their just-ugly-enough-to-be-an-individual way, are no one’s idea of a perfect seamless prototype. But you couldn’t say the same thing for the movie. It’s based on an insanely popular line of plush toys launched in 2001, and in the years since there have been any number of kiddie film franchises that this one studiously imitates. The main one (which predates the launch) is “Toy Story” and its sequels. The characters in “UglyDolls” live in Uglyville, a Dogpatch-meets-Whoville shantytown for stuffie rejects, where most of the dolls accept their outcast fate. But Moxy has never relinquished her dream of going to the Big World and becoming the cherished plaything of a human child; that, and only that, will complete her. It’s a desire that couldn’t be a more direct echo of Tom Hanks’ Woody and his eager, loving, but needy relationship to the kid he belongs to.

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“UglyDolls” is “Toy Story” meets “Trolls” meets “The Smurfs” meets the Island of Misfit Toys. The “Trolls” connection is particularly telling. The whole notion of making the film into a spangly dance-pop musical in rainbow colors, with prominent music stars as the leads (in this case, Clarkson and Nick Jonas — in “Trolls,” it was Justin Timberlake), feels liberally borrowed from that movie. And even more than that, “Trolls,” one of the most splendid animated features of the last decade, had its own far more visually (and emotionally) sophisticated version of the Ugly Dolls: Prince Gristle and Bridget, the buck-toothed Bergens-in-love voiced by Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Zooey Deschanel. “UglyDolls” is “Trolls Lite,” and the way things work I have no doubt we’ll be seeing a movie in the next few years that’s “UglyDolls Lite.”

Yet this is still a winsomely appealing and joke-happy bauble for kiddies. Recently, catching up with “Missing Link,” I thought: It’s not badly done, but what small child wants to identify with a crusty frowning British adventurer like the hero of that film? “UglyDolls,” apart from the knowingly two-dimensional punk charm of its title toys, has been staged as a playground with moving parts. It’s the first animated feature produced by STX’s Family division, and the director, Kelly Asbury, coming off mediocrities like “Gnomeo & Juliet” and “Smurfs: The Lost Village,” here adopts a looser, funkier attitude. The movie isn’t aiming too far over the heads of 5-year-olds (and God knows, it’s not Pixar or the Spider-Verse), but for what it is, it works.

Five of the Ugly Dolls make it through a portal, but where they land isn’t the Big World. It’s the Institute of Perfection, a kind of Ayn Rand academy for finely chiseled tailored dolls with pinpoint noses to learn how to be the flawless specimens they think they were meant to be. At least, that’s the philosophy of the doll who rules the place. His name is Lou, and as voiced by Nick Jonas he’s a terrific contradiction: a pop-star guru who’s really a dictator, and an icon of standardized beauty who has more self-doubt than he lets on. The film’s best visual flourish is Lou’s hair: It’s a honey-er shade of pale, with each golden strand falling, like a perfectly cooked piece of pasta, into a pompadour from heaven. But Lou’s outfit — a preppie suit with handkerchief — is enough to tell you that he’s not to be trusted. Everything about the Institute of Perfection is uniform, down to the parochial-school dresses that the female dolls (including a trio of mean girls) wear.

The satire, even on a kiddie level, could have been a touch more biting. You wish that the filmmakers, in smiting overly fetishized children’s toys, had tweaked the American Girl Doll mystique. That said, the sincerity with which “UglyDolls” pits unblemished conformity against ungainly soul is touching — and, yes, instructive — in all the right ways. The vocal performances really register, from Clarkson’s life-force ebullience to Shelton’s saddened drawl to Pitbull’s street bravura. As Mandy, the Institute girl who’s trying to hide the fact that she needs glasses, Janelle Monáe captures the inner conflict of nice girls who don’t want to be mean but feel that’s the role that’s been set out for them. The message of “UglyDolls” — be yourself! — may not count as social justice, but it’s one that kids now need to hear from pop culture. And “UglyDolls” offers its own variation on it. The movie says that ugly is beautiful and that too much fixation on beauty is ugly. It says that the two should meet in the middle, a merger both you and your mirror can feel good about.

Reviewed at AMC Lincoln Square, New York, April 29, 2019. MPAA Rating: PG. Running time: 87 MIN.

• Production: An STX Entertainment release of an STX Family, Reel FX Animation Studios, Alibaba Pictures production. Producers: Jane Hartwell, Robert Rodriguez, Oren Aviv.
• Crew: Director: Kelly Asbury. Screenplay: Alison Peck. Editors: Julie Rogers, Nolan Southerland. Music: Christopher Lennertz.
• With: Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Janelle Monáe, Blake Shelton, Pitbull, Wanda Sykes, Gabriel Iglesias, Wang Leehom, Emma Roberts.

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• User reviews

An animated adventure in which the free-spirited UglyDolls confront what it means to be different, struggle with a desire to be loved, and ultimately discover who you truly are is what matte... Read all An animated adventure in which the free-spirited UglyDolls confront what it means to be different, struggle with a desire to be loved, and ultimately discover who you truly are is what matters most. An animated adventure in which the free-spirited UglyDolls confront what it means to be different, struggle with a desire to be loved, and ultimately discover who you truly are is what matters most.

• Kelly Asbury
• Alison Peck
• Robert Rodriguez
• David Horvath
• Kelly Clarkson
• Janelle Monáe
• 173 User reviews
• 70 Critic reviews
• 39 Metascore
• 1 win & 1 nomination

• (as Wang Leehom)

• Gibberish Cat

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

'UglyDolls' Cast Pick Their Favorite Underdogs

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Did you know

• Trivia Uglydolls had made several cameos in past family movies before, such as Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005) , Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007) , Enchanted (2007) and The Smurfs (2011) .
• Goofs Near the end of All Dolled Up, during the shot where Wage says "We are uglylicious", a really strange error happens in Moxy's model. The layer of pink fur that covers the model is moved too much to the right, making some of the fur clip through her uniform, and creating a weird effect in her right hand that makes it look double. This is specially noticeable in her face, since the holes made for the eyes and the mouth are also incorrectly placed.

Lou : [after Lou fails the gauntlet challenge, Lou laughs] Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag.

Lydia : You failed?

Tuesday : How could you fail?

Lou : You still don't get it. Of course I failed, I will always fail. I'M A PROTOTYPE!

Mandy : What?

Tuesday : Prototype's like a good thing, right?

Lydia : No, he ain't a real doll girl?

Lou : You thought, I stook around this place, because I cared so about you mindless sycophants?

Tuesday : Sycophants's like a good thing, right?

Kitty : Ugh no, you imbecile!

Tuesday : Is imbecile a good thing?

Babo : My gut says yeah.

Lou : I'm the model, the mould. Sent by the factory, to help guide you through. Sounds amazing, right?

Nolan : Ugh...

Lou : Wrong! Prototypes are not meant for public consumption, I was never allowed to go the big world .

Lou : [pointing at Ox] But you could, how can someone as ugly as you, be accepted and loved? While someone as perfect as I, never could and never will? Let's see how you feel, when you're trapped in this place forever. Just like me.

• Crazy credits The beginning of the end Credits shows the main characters (except for Wedgehead (Emma Roberts) and Lou (Nick Jonas)) with their kids.
• Connections Featured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: It's Not Ogre Yet (2018)
• Soundtracks Today's the Day Music by Christopher Lennertz Lyrics by Glenn Slater Produced by Christopher Lennertz Performed by Kelly Clarkson Kelly Clarkson appears courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.

User reviews 173

• Mar 8, 2021
• How long is UglyDolls? Powered by Alexa
• May 3, 2019 (United States)
• United States
• United Kingdom
• Official Site
• Dallas, Texas, USA (Reel FX Dallas)
• STX Entertainment
• Alibaba Pictures Group
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $45,000,000 (estimated)
• $20,150,241
• May 5, 2019
• $32,450,241

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 27 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Surround 7.1
• Dolby Atmos
• 12-Track Digital Sound

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‘uglydolls’: film review.

Reject toys learn to embrace their flaws in the decidedly unlovely animated musical 'UglyDolls.'

By Keith Uhlich

Keith Uhlich

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It’s been a long road to the big screen for the plush monstrosities known as UglyDolls. Though they were first created in 2001 by David Horvath and his soon-to-be-wife Sun-min Kim, it wasn’t until a decade later, after the adorably hideous toys had grown in popularity, that the film rights were snapped up and ultimately split between American (STX Entertainment) and Chinese (Alibaba Pictures; Huaxia Film) interests.

Robert Rodriguez , who knows his way around spy kids, sharkboys and lavagirls, was signed to direct. Stuff happened, as it always does, and Rodriguez left the project (he remains a credited producer). Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Smurfs: The Lost Village auteur Kelly Asbury replaced him. Finally, nearly eight years on from the signing of all the brand extension contracts, here is the primarily pop-star-voiced animated musical UglyDolls, an imbecilic eyesore that could lay claim to being one of the worst movies ever made if it was worth such hyperbole.

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Release date: May 03, 2019

Best to dispense with the film as quickly as audiences surely will — we’ve got Sonic the Hedgehog and Detective Pikachu to get to, after all! Moxy (voice of Kelly Clarkson ) has got spunk. What this pink, sentient, gap-toothed plaything doesn’t have is a human companion, something she sings bullishly about, in the first of several maddeningly bouncy tunes, to her friends and neighbors in UglyTown, a village on the far side of…where exactly?

A factory, to be precise. What Moxy doesn’t know is that she and her fellow Uglies — with names like Bobo (voice of Gabriel Iglesias ), Ugly Dog (voice of Pitbull ) and Wage (voice of Wanda Sykes ) — are rejects from a workshop assembly line. Instead of heading to Perfection, a kind of commune/trade school for aesthetically pleasing toys, they’re redirected to UglyTown. There, corn-pone Mayor Ox (voice of Blake Shelton ) tries to help every one of the amiable non-beauties under his care live in blissfully segregated ignorance.

Moxy’s curiosity gets the better of her, of course. And at the urging of tea leaves read by wise sage Lucky Bat (voice of Leehom Wang, because every Asian person is a wise sage who reads tea leaves), our rose-hued heroine embarks, with petrified pals in tow, on a transformative journey. Standing in the way is Perfection’s monomaniacal ruler/crooner Lou (voice of Nick Jonas ), who’s like Adolf Hitler reborn as Justin Timberlake. His final solution: Rid the world of every flawed toy, come hell or the high water of the washing machine into which he often tosses our poor heroes. Janelle Monáe is around, too, as the not-so-“perfect” Mandy, whom Moxy befriends and sings a few treacly power ballads alongside.

The morals of the tale: Love your flaws. Nobody’s perfect. Everybody needs somebody sometime. Yada yada. Thanks a lot, $45 million corporate product based on a toy line! I’d have never known.

Anything nice to say? Um, it’s kinda cool that the moon in UglyTown is a broken button. Uh, the training montage set to a Hall and Oates perennial is…fine. And, well, it’s pretty funny in a meta sort of way when, at the Uglies’ lowest point, one of them displays a sign that reads “Closed Due to Hopelessness.” I feel that.

Production companies: STX Entertainment, Alibaba Pictures, Huaxia Film Voice cast: Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Janelle Monáe, Blake Shelton, Pitbull, Gabriel Iglesias, Wanda Sykes, Leehom Wang, Charli XCX, Bebe Rexha, Lizzo, Emma Roberts Director: Kelly Asbury Screenwriters: Alison Peck, Erica Rivinoja, Vivian Wang Based on characters by: David Horvath, Sun-min Kim Producers: Jane Hartwell, Robert Rodriguez Associate producers: Andrea McCarthy Paul, Vivian Wang Music: Christopher Lennertz Editing: Julie Rogers, Nolan Southerland Casting: Ruth Lambert, Robert McGee Art director: Ravinder Kundi

Rated PG, 87 minutes

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Kelly Asbury

Napassorn Phuthornjai

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• DVD & Streaming
• Action/Adventure , Animation , Comedy , Kids

Content Caution

In Theaters

• May 3, 2019
• Voices of Kelly Clarkson as Moxy; Nick Jonas as Lou; Blake Shelton as Ox; Janelle Monáe as Mandy; Pitbull as Ugly Dog; Wanda Sykes as Wage; Leehom Wang as Lucky Bat

Home Release Date

• July 30, 2019
• Kelly Asbury

Distributor

• STX Entertainment

Movie Review

The perfectly adorable but misshapen doll Moxy believes in something special: A wonderful place where human children adopt dolls like her forever. Granted, she’s never actually seen that rumored outside world. (In fact, she’s never even seen a child. ) But she is unabashedly certain that it all exists out there somewhere. It’s a dream that fills her heart with fuzzy feelings of hope and love.

So each day she leaps out of bed with a smile on her face and a song on her pink, fuzzy lips. She dances through her little town, Uglyville, and declares to every other misfit and misshapen dollish resident that maybe, just maybe, today will be the day that they’ll somehow connect with their loving new owners! Today!

But despite Moxy’s earnest faith, well, she doesn’t really have much to base it on. That’s why most of Uglyville’s other imperfect residents just snort and roll their button eyes at Moxy’s unbelievable dream. There’s no big world or children out there, they chuckle. That’s just a story. A nice one, sure, but a tall tale nonetheless. But they don’t mind Moxy singing another cheery song in their cheery oddball town. In fact, tomorrow will bring another happy, sunny day, and another reason to sing out a little joy. It’s all good.

Truth is, Moxy is just as happy as all the rest. But she can’t help but wonder aloud: “Haven’t you ever felt that, even when you’re happy, there’s something more?” That unexplained feeling sticks with her as if sewn into her plush heart with steel thread.

Then one morning, the ever-curious Moxie starts thinking about the big mountainside that nestles up to their square-peg-in-a-round-hole town. There’s an opening way up on the mountain’s side that will occasionally shoot out another doll with too many eyes, or a stuffed puppy with a head that’s too flat on one side. But nobody’s ever wondered where that tunnel comes from . Or where it … goes .

Until today, that is.

So Moxy gathers a few friends, and they make their way into the depths of that mysterious dark opening. And they find something quite unexpected: It’s a place called The Institute of Perfection. It’s a sparkly clean new realm filled with beautiful dolls. Unlike Moxy’s motley crew, they all have perfect shining eyes, perfect woven hair, perfect teeth, perfect clothes.

These dolls are everything that Moxy and her friends are not. And the most perfect of their number—a singing, dancing dreamboat named Lou—is there to groom his spotless doll charges and lead them to their ultimate goal. If they can prove themselves worthy—if they can show that they’re beautiful and perfect enough—they can pass through a crystal portal and enter the world of humans. Once there, they’ll be wrapped in the warm embrace of … a loving child !

Well, Moxie just about sinks to her knees and cries tears of joy right then and there. She knew that place existed. She knew there were loving human children out there somewhere. She just knew it.

There’s just one little problem. Well, two actually. One, Moxy and her misfit mates are anything but perfect. And two, smooth-talking Lou isn’t about to let the freakish likes of these ugly dolls find happily ever after in the arms of a loving child.

Positive Elements

The dolls at the Institute of Perfection are all uniformly pretty and fashionable. And at first, Moxy and friends pursue that paradigm of perfection, convinced (despite their formerly carefree life in Uglyville) that they are in fact useless rejects (a sigh-worthy impression that’s harshly promoted and encouraged by Lou). But UglyDolls makes it crystal clear that external beauty and seeming perfection, while nice, are not the things of greatest importance. In fact, the prettiest dolls here also tend to be the meanest and least likeable.

Eventually, though, Moxy and her friends reject the superficial value system of the Institute of Perfection. Along the way, they also make self-sacrificial choices, and we see that what truly matters is what’s on the inside.

The ugly dolls’ friendship and self-sacrifice also change the minds of some of the perfection-focused Institute dolls. “ Love and compassion are a doll’s true purpose ,” the film declares—a message of encouragement that obviously applies to young human viewers as well. It’s also made very plain that individual differences and even seeming imperfections are the things that make us special and “make us shine!” The film repeats and reinforces that redemptive theme a number of times before the credits roll.

Spiritual Elements

Early on, you could say that Moxy’s belief in an “outside world” filled with loving children is akin to faith in an unseen, heaven-like realm. Even when her friends deny any possibility of it being true, Moxy clings to her convictions—and acts upon them. Even the manipulative Lou seems to support this idea. But that’s really about as far as the film takes this faith parallel.

But this feel-good tale also has some moments that seem to emphasize a kind of personalized relativism. A couple of times, we hear the idea that you have to “find your own truth.” That said, this line is never really unpacked or explored. And it seems to be couched in the context of encouraging Moxy to hold onto her “faith” in the hope of finding a loving child of her own.

One scene involves a character opening a fortune cookie. That character obviously doesn’t take the fortune inside very seriously, but Moxy does. She also asks him to read the tea leaves at the bottom of her drink. Though he’s very hesitant to act in the “fortune telling” role Moxy’s bestowed on him, when he says the word “leaves,” Moxy receives it as a prophetic word for her to leave Uglyville.

Sexual Content

Several girl dolls sigh and swoon over the handsome Lou. One of them says she has a crush on him.

Moxy’s friend Ugly Dog (voiced, I guess appropriately, by the singer Pitbull) seems interested in romance. He brags a couple of times about how suave he is with the ladies—who mostly don’t seem to notice his attempts to attract them.

Violent Content

After a doll accidentally steps on a rake and gets thumped, he doubles over, groaning, “Ooooh, right in the buttons.” Lou makes a concerted effort to discourage Moxy and her friends—sending them into messy situations and then repeatedly tossing them into a tumbling washing machine. (The washing machine is said to be the enemy of perfection because it causes wear and tear on the dolls.)

There’s also a gauntlet that competing dolls must work their way through that involves dangers such as a huge robot dog, a gigantic vacuum and a rambunctious robo-baby. These robot opponents try to grab dolls that pass by. We do indeed see a doll get tossed around in the jaws of a dog and another sucked up into a vacuum cleaner bag. But the attacks are never truly perilous.

Several different characters are kidnapped, wrapped in a large sack and thumped about quite a bit. Lou threatens Moxy and others with a recycling machine that looks like a set of chomping and slashing jaws. (This is the most intense visual in the film for very young and/or sensitive little viewers.) Moxy and her friends are almost swallowed up by this contraption, but they’re eventually rescued by a number of brave and devoted friends.

Crude or Profane Language

Characters call out “oh my gosh” clearly a handful of times. Other times, we hear variations such as “oh my goll” or “oh my doll.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

A very depressed character looks at a bowl of gray gruel and groans, “I need something stronger than this soup.” Ugly Dog and a female doll sit at a table with, it seems, wine glasses.

Other Negative Elements

A trusted individual lies, though he believes he’s doing so to protect others. We find out that Lou is a vindictive individual who repeatedly manipulates others to aggrandize himself.

Moxy and all the residents of Uglyville temporarily become convinced, thanks to Lou, that they are totally worthless because of their many imperfections. They all become incredibly depressed as a result . Their normally colorful world turns drab and gray. And one despondent character even seems to give up totally as his small boat sinks (though a mother octopus rescues him).

We hear someone shout, “Move your butts!”

There’s a certain irony in the fact that a movie that encourages kids to embrace their imperfections is itself a bit misshapen and lumpy at times. Specifically, those occasional “find your own truth” bits and pieces, while never fully explored, still feel unnecessarily stitched in.

However, like the pink, purpose-driven hero at its core, this movie’s heart is warm, fuzzy and endearing. UglyDolls encourages kids (and maybe even the parents who brought them) to stop worrying about everyone else’s “perfect” standards.

Instead, the story instructs, focus on being the most loving, compassionate and kind versions of yourself that you can be. After all, those things are far more important than the hippest hair styles or the flashiest fashions. And no matter how perfect someone might seem from the outside, it’s the character a person has on the inside that really counts .

Add those cuddly truths to this delightful story’s sweet moments, and you’ve got a misfit pic that’s a solid matinee fit for your fam.

Individual differences and even seeming imperfections are the things that make us special and “make us shine!” Help you kids discover their own special shine:

Encouraging Your Child’s Smarts

Study Your Family

Raising Resilient Kids

8 Great Smarts: Discover and Nurture Your Child’s Intelligences

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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clock This article was published more than  5 years ago

UglyDolls — yes, those goofy-looking misfit toys — are in a movie. And it’s actually kind of charming.

The story behind UglyDolls — the toys, not the new animated movie about them — is a real charmer. Aspiring artist/storytellers David Horvath and his then-girlfriend Sun-Min Kim created the first character, Wage (voiced by Wanda Sykes in the film), when Horvath wrote a letter to Kim, including a sketch of a cartoonish, apron-clad wage slave. When Kim mailed him back a hand-sewn felt version of the figure, Horvath ran over to show it to a friend, Eric Nakamura, who had just opened the store Giant Robot , dedicated to Asian and Asian American pop culture.

Nakamura said, “I’ll take 20.”

The rest, as they say, is history. Horvath and Kim are now married. And the line of UglyDolls — launched in 2001 — has grown to include a wide variety of goofy-looking animal and (vaguely) humanoid characters. They are now, in all likelihood, for sale in a store near you.

Based on Horvath and Kim’s appealingly cockeyed characters, “UglyDolls” begins in a place called Uglyville, where an outcast citizenry of misshapen and otherwise substandard dolls has been exiled, cut off from the love of children because of their perceived imperfections. And who cannot relate?

The off-kilter, jerry-built visual design of the place is actually pretty cute, even if it bears more than a passing resemblance, in spirit, to the Island of Misfit Toys from the 1964 Rankin/Bass holiday classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” There’s also a teensy touch of the “Toy Story” franchise here, especially in the movie’s secret-life-of-toys setting. But Horvath and Kim’s backstory and the sweet, small beginnings of their once-outsider product are nowhere to be found.

It probably wouldn’t have made much of a movie anyway.

And yet, as with a bay leaf that has been removed from the stew, there remains a whiff of that counterculture energy and that message of love to the film, despite the feeling at times that you are watching a feature-length commercial for the toys. Mostly, this is thanks to the powerful visual appeal of the dolls themselves, who have delightfully misaligned teeth, missing eyes and other lovable deformities. Their un-slick appearance helps to compensate for the fact that some of the main characters — Moxy, Ox and Ugly Dog — are voiced by pop music stars Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton and Pitbull. Nick Jonas and Janelle Monáe also voice characters from a land of “perfect” dolls, where our heroes journey to become more likable.

Yes, “UglyDolls” is a musical, and the peppy songs, while devoid of any subtlety, help tell the story, and are delivered with sincerity. Such ditties as Clarkson’s “ Broken and Beautiful ” celebrate body positivity and self-acceptance.

It’s hard to find fault with that, even if there are moments when the film’s explicit critique of idealized beauty is obscured by packaging that is also, in the end, a kind of product pitch.

UglyDolls are already adorable. You don’t have to work that hard to convince anyone.

PG.  Area theaters. Contains brief action and some mature thematic elements. 83 minutes.

'UglyDolls' Review: The Stitches Are Showing In This Empty, Manufactured Product

When UglyDolls opened with a scene of faceless dolls being manufactured on an assembly line, I wondered if it was being too on the nose. But subtlety, or irony, are not words that exist in the vocabulary of the STX Entertainment CG-animated movie, which produces as many empty platitudes and hollow proverbs about self-love as there are versions of UglyDolls.

Directed by Kelly Asbury ( Shrek 2, Gnomeo and Juliet ), UglyDolls is a movie designed for maximum outreach and replayability. In the ongoing content vs. cinema debate, UglyDolls falls squarely in the "content" arena: Its musical sequences presented like bright pop music videos, its characters made cute and non-threatening, its sweet self-empowering messages packaged up in tidy little bows. But the great tragedy of this shiny product is that the plush toyline upon which its based was a truly inspired creation made by two friends, David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim, who simply wanted to share their colorful characters with the world. Instead, their toyline has produced an empty piece of corporate media.

UglyDolls follows the free-spirited Moxie ( Kelly Clarkson ), an UglyDoll who dreams about entering the Real World and finding a child that will love her. Moxie has gathered around her a lovable group of friends that all have their own unique quirks: Wage ( Wanda Sykes ), a sassy chef who cooks up just as many comebacks as dishes; Lucky Bat ( Wang Leehom ), the wise and insecure advisor; Babo ( Gabriel Iglesias ) a strong doll with kleptomaniac tendencies; and Pitbull as...a rapping doll named Ugly Dog. Yes, really.

After some misinterpreted guidance from Lucky Bat sends Moxie on a quest to find the Real World for herself, she and her friends stumble upon a town called Perfection, populated by symmetrically faced models dressed in high school uniforms. Realizing that Perfection is her only chance to reach the Real World, Moxie convinces her friends to join her in passing the strict tests set by Perfection's leader Lou ( Nick Jonas , doing a thinly veiled Justin Bieber impression), who will do anything to get rid of the UglyDolls.

The reason that the entire cast is almost exclusively pop stars-cum-actors is because UglyDolls is, inexplicably, a musical. There's no inherent reason for this — the UglyDoll toys never showed any indication of being musically inclined, nor have singing dolls been shown to do well with a target audience. But UglyDolls seems to be following the trend as of late to cast vocally adept actors in animated family films ( Trolls, The LEGO Movie, Smurfs ) in order to score a Top 40 hit and earn the studio another revenue stream. Not that this practice is abhorrent in any way —Disney maintains its pop culture behemoth status with the help of massively successful earworms like "Let It Go" — but with UglyDolls it feels particularly egregious because of how obvious the intention is. The songs are made with easy radio listening in mind, all sleek production and multiple horn sections.

UglyDolls covers all its bases with a variety of musical genres too, from Disney-inspired songs that a drunk Alan Menken might have penned, to a theme song ("Couldn't Be Better") that veers eerily close to The LEGO Movie 's "Everything is Awesome." When Janelle Monae (who plays the lonely "Perfect" doll who befriends the Uglies) sings about loving herself, she is lifted out of the movie into a generic music video setting that could have been made in a YouTube video hit factory. The stars do their best to jazz up the songs, but their pop-star natures only succeed in making the songs less sincere, with R&B runs and country twangs only making each track sound more like a painfully banal radio hit. Clarkson is the exception, delivering each of her spoken and sung lines with a Disney princess-esque enthusiasm, but her Moxie is not enough. And don't get me started on Pitbull's rap verses.

The derivative songs only scratch the surface of the film's recycled elements. There is imagery that is blatantly lifted right out of other (better) animated films: the lanterns from Tangled , the incinerator from Toy Story 3 , the facial stylings of the Dreamworks face . UglyDolls is also full of random cinematic homages, from a reference to Oliver Twist, to one sequence done entirely in the style of Depression-era talkies. For what reason? Who knows? But UglyDolls is so jam-packed with stuff that it feels like a never-ending content machine.

For a film supposedly about originality, its "unique" heroes all look remarkably similar. There is nothing particularly "ugly" about the titular dolls — in fact, with their big eyes and soft, fuzzy figures, they present a much more friendly face than the so-called "Perfect" dolls whose mannequin-like appearances unintentionally calls to mind many a horror movie. While the film does throw in a few chuckle-worthy jokes that poke fun at film's own formula (the best joke goes to the reference of each "Perfect" doll as an insert-career-here/model), the humor doesn't fill in the gaps of UglyDolls ' tenuous plot.

It would be all more believable if the real-life UglyDolls toyline wasn't such a major global success. The plush dolls were a phenomenon from the moment they hit shelves in 2001, going on to appear in all manner of pop culture properties — from music videos, to K-dramas, comic strips. They were so ubiquitous precisely for their general pleasing demeanors that didn't offend or grate. Despite their "Ugly" name, they were cute.

UglyDolls tries to present its heroes as underdogs that come from an island of misfit toys, but there is little "misfit" about them. All the characters are perfectly tried and tested for maximum likability (yes, even Pitbull). It's not weird, or original, it's just safe. And it's a real shame that the cool alternative toy line that grew out of two friends who wanted to create something unique turned into a shiny corporate knockoff. /Film Rating: 2 out of 10

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‘UglyDolls’ Review: Charli XCX and Lizzo Are Best Part of Kids’ Movie Too Comfortable With Its Own Mediocrity

David ehrlich.

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For a disposable piece of children’s entertainment that features Pit Bull as the voice of a one-eyed, party-mad puppy named Ugly Dog, there’s something refreshingly straightforward about how “UglyDolls” goes about its agenda. At no point in its mercifully brief running time does this colorful pop confection pretend that it’s anything more than an 88-minute commercial for an innocuous brand of plush toys, and for that we should be grateful. Sure, it’s not as psychedelic as “Trolls,” nor as impressive a monument to the mediocrity of late capitalism as “The Angry Birds Movie,” but at a time when the typical animated movie spends $100 million trying to exhaust its young audience into submission, it’s kinda nice to see one that costs half that much, and tries half as hard.

Written by Alison Peck and Erica Rivinoja with an assist from Vivian Wang, the script doesn’t have much to go on, and it’s totally cool with that. In 2001, “UglyDoll” godheads David Horvath and Sun-min Kim created a line of semi-adorable stuffed animals that look like a cross between Ralph Wiggum and an inbred housecat; some of them have underbites, some of them have overbites, and all of them are designed to make kids feel like their supposed imperfections are the things that make them special. So far as this critic knows, the mythology pretty much stops there (although it seems that some of the characters were featured in a picture book about air conditioning ?) “Game of Thrones” this is not.

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The “UglyDolls” film makes the most obvious choice at every conceivable opportunity, and is all the more tolerable for that. Within the first 30 seconds of the story, it’s established that the UglyDolls are defective plushies that got messed up somewhere along the assembly line; rather than be recycled, the rejects are sent through a chute into a slum where they all live together on an island of misfit toys (it’s called Uglyville, natch), and sing about how “it doesn’t get better than this.” It’s the perfectly bland Platonic ideal of a premise for an inspirational fable about being yourself.

But while most of the interchangeably jubilant and self-assured characters who live in Uglyville act as though they’ve already seen this movie, one of them can’t shake the feeling that, well, maybe it gets a little better than this. Her name is Moxy, she’s voiced by Kelly Clarkson , and she’s basically what it would look like if a squid could reproduce with a fuzzy turnip. Moxy is the most confident of the group, but also the most curious, and it’s she who leads her friends on a journey up to the Institute of Perfection, where they join the flawless dolls (who look like prep school students for some reason) as they prepare to be paired with a human kid in The Big World above. There’s just one problem: The Institute is ruled by an evil (but seductive!) pop star named Lou, whose design has a real “Draco Malfoy dressing up as Liberace for Halloween” vibe about it.

It should go without saying that Lou is voiced by Nick Jonas, just as it should go without saying that none of the actors in this film spent more than 45 minutes recording their roles. The fact that Blake Shelton plays Ox, a grizzled one-eyed snot bunny who’s seen some real shit in his day, suggests that all of the dialogue was recorded during commercial breaks of “The Voice.” If you asked Emma Roberts how she felt about playing the iconic part of “Wedgehead,” Uglyville’s newest resident, she would probably look at you were an orange chef monster with two entire teeth in your head.

Speaking of orange chef monsters with two entire teeth in their heads, Wanda Sykes manages to bring some real spice to the character of Wage, and she’s not the only one who manages to turn a snack into a meal. Bebe Rexha, Charli XCX, and the rising star Lizzo (!?) lend their talents to Lou’s trio of snickering henchgirls, and their occasional snippets of dialogue are much funnier than the rest of the script (“That man can entertain and emotionally devastate like no one else,” one of them coos when Lou comes by). “Welcome to Marwen” vet Janelle Monaé, a multi-hyphenated mega-talent who will apparently voice any movie doll you’ve got when she isn’t busy becoming the next Prince, plays Mandy, a perfect doll whose defective eyesight makes her a natural ally for Moxy.

“UglyDolls” only has enough plot to extend across a short film, but it’s able to fill out into feature-length with the help of a half-dozen songs written by Christopher Lennertz and Glenn Slater. Oh yeah, it’s a musical. And true to form, these tunes are so anodyne and forgettable that your brain might not even clock when the characters begin singing them. Most of these sugary pop ditties sound like Kidz Bop covers of old Taylor Swift singles (or like major improvements on that new Taylor Swift single ), and the visuals that accompany them are manic enough to ensure that even the youngest kids in the audience will be glued to the screen.

Movies don’t skew much younger than this — anyone who isn’t still attached to an umbilical cord might roll their eyes at some of the story beats — but “UglyDolls” grows increasingly self-referential as it goes on, as if commiserating with all the parents out there who might not be able to stomach another standard-issue empowerment narrative. Of course it’s important for kids to recognize their own value and embrace what makes them different, but if the last 100 movies didn’t sufficiently condition them to think that way, it’s not like this one is gonna do the trick.

“UglyDolls” seems to be at peace with that fact. If “Shrek 2” director Kelly Asbury’s relatively calm visual storytelling doesn’t make that clear enough, the Exposition Robot — yes, there’s a character named “Exposition Robot” — will seal the deal when he shows up to sheepishly own up to the idea that love and compassion are really what people should prize in each other. “UglyDolls” knows what it is, and it’s totally okay with that. Yes, it does get better than this (a lot better, in fact), but with the bar for kids movies as low as it is these days, it’s nice to see one that at least knows how to like itself.

STX will release “UglyDolls” in theaters on Friday, May 3. 

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UglyDolls movie review: There’s nothing ugly about these Dolls

By sandy c. | may 2, 2019.

UglyDolls feels like a big warm hug to kids of all ages, leaving you wanting to love and positivity.

Before we dive into Uglyville and discuss the film, here’s some background information and fun facts about  UglyDolls you may not know, but should:

As soon as I saw the UglyDolls  movie announced, I thought it was a cute and unique idea. The message the movie tries to teach children is clear without doing any research — perfection isn’t real, no one is ugly and we are all worthy of love. However, I didn’t know UglyDolls is actually a brand of real dolls. It’s true, you can get your kiddo their own “ugly doll” and they have been around since 2001!

UglyDolls can be found anywhere from Wal-Mart to Barnes & Noble. I knew these dolls looked familiar. The collection includes Babo, OX, Tray, Wedgehead, and other characters we meet in the movie. And, if after the movie your kid can’t get enough UglyDolls, an animated series is on the way!

A while before the movie’s theatrical release, Hulu and STX Entertainment signed a deal for a 26-episode series order of  Uglydolls. 

With an animated series to follow the movie and a well-establish brand of dolls, does the movie live up to the hype? Light spoilers ahead! 

The doll factory is designed to create beautiful, perfect dolls. But just like its creations, even the factory has its flaws. Buttons are missed, the head of some dolls may be inflated a tad too much, you name it. Any dolls the factory detects an error on are sent to Uglyville, to live with other imperfect designs. All dolls there are perfectly happy there, though, unaware of their flaws. There’s one doll, however, with different plans than the rest.

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Moxy, a pink and jolly doll (voiced by Kelly Clarkson) has bigger dreams than living out the rest of her days (which are infinite) in Uglyville. She dreams and fantasizes about going to the Big World (the real world) to a young child who’ll love her. All Moxy wants in life is to be a child’s doll.

Frustrated with never being selected, Moxy and her closest friends venture out of Uglyville to go up to the portal themselves. To get there, they need to get through Lou (voiced by Nick Jonas), first. Lou is the self-proclaimed leader of Perfection, a village of perfect dolls. Lou trains dolls to be perfect and approves them to cross once they are ready.

Clarkson provides a sweet and happy tone for Moxy, making the doll instantly lovable. It’s Nick Jonas, however, who I believe steals the show. Jonas is the perfect match for Lou, a vain and cruel doll with the best tune in the film. You want to hate him, and at some point towards the end of the film, you do — he is a bully after all. But kids light up the most when Lou is on the screen, we don’t want him to win (and again, he’s a big bully), but you can’t deny he’s very intriguing.

It’s a good change of pace, and a great lesson to kids, to see a villain who is attractive in a children’s film and not some monster or creature. Lou may be a doll, but he looks like a handsome kid. This should teach children that bullies are all bad, no matter how they appear.

Lou’s lessons and teachings to be perfect are quickly questioned by the Uglyville residents. What even is ‘perfect’ and what makes someone ugly? Before arriving to the town of Perfection, Moxy never even knew she was ugly. It’s heartbreaking for Moxy and her friends to learn this and my fiver-year-old who I brought to the screening with me gave a look of concern, also never realizing the dolls weren’t perfect.

Another fun addition to the movie is Pitbull as Ugly Dog. Needless to say, Ugly Dog provides some very fun moments and a lot of jokes (mostly for the parents).

My favorite message the movie delivers is to be yourself and not what other people want you to be. Unfortunately, other than the colorful and endearing characters and powerful messages, the songs in the movie are forgettable. As mentioned previously, Lou and Ugly Dog’s songs are the most fun, but even those are long forgotten about as soon as you leave the theater.

Next. 10 TV shows and movies to watch on Netflix in May. dark

Still, it’s not a deal-breaker. By far, life lessons and characters you can’t get enough of outweighs the lack of catchy tunes. UglyDolls  is sure to entertain the entire family and leave you wanting a big hug and to spread love.

UglyDolls  is in theaters Friday, May 3. 

Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – UglyDolls (2019)

August 16, 2019 by Robert Kojder

UglyDolls , 2019.

Directed by Kelly Asbury Featuring the voice talents of Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Janelle Monáe, Blake Shelton, Pitbull, Emma Roberts, Wanda Sykes, Gabriel Iglesias, Wang Leehom, Charli XCX, Bebe Rexha, and Lizzo.

An animated adventure in which the free-spirited UglyDolls confront what it means to be different, struggle with a desire to be loved, and ultimately discover who you truly are is what matters most.

UglyDolls is an uninspired slog expressing the worthwhile message that outward appearances are irrelevant. As the world (social media in particular) seems to become more shallow by the day, that is undeniably a strong theme to ground an animated feature into, almost to the point where it seems completely impossible to miss out on hitting the intended emotional needs. Somehow, UglyDolls fails to do so, also containing some of the blandest cartoon characters in quite some time and a slew of lengthy musical numbers performed by a plethora of talented musicians that honestly should be literally anywhere else besides lending their vocals to this misfire.

Directed by Kelly Asbury who is most known for Shrek 2 and 2017’s Smurfs: The Lost Village (neither of them necessarily bad movies), it’s easy to see that he is most likely having trouble breathing life into what is the brainchild of numerous people; apparently UglyDolls comes from a story by Robert Rodriguez, has characters created by David Horvath and Sun-min Kim, and a script hammered out by three different writers. With so many cooks in the kitchen, it almost seems destined UglyDolls would fail to have a unique and imaginative or coherent vision that sparks some magic regarding its concerns about the importance placed on physical looks.

Take the songs (which are easily the main attraction of the feature); they mostly go on forever repeating the same point over and over across every verse with cookie-cutter lyrics and generic mainstream pop appeal. Some of the segments are so long that you won’t be blamed for checking your watch as they drag on and on, not really saying anything different from the last line or much of anything interesting. Not only that, but even when they finish and the movie launches into another scene, more often than not the song will start up again to reveal it’s not finished quite yet. Kelly Clarkson, Janelle Monae, Nick Jonas, Blake Shelton, etc. are all superb at their craft, but they don’t have any lyrically powerful songwriting to go off of or even a compelling story to create good songs from.

Also bizarre is that for a narrative primarily dealing with defective dolls happily living in their own utopia underneath the training grounds for aesthetically-pleasingly designed dolls, where one of the titular ugly dolls wants to break away from her isolation and go through that rigorous preparation necessary before becoming a long-lasting friend of a human child, there are no actual human characters in the movie. Instead, Kelly Clarkson’s Moxy and her band of misfit friends (all of which purposely look painstakingly boring, which is fine given the context of the story, but unforgivably have no likable personalities) attempt to rise up to the challenges from Nick Jonas’ Lou, a pretty boy doll that preaches beauty as the be-all end-all to acceptance while training other dolls to, I suppose become pretty through random exercises. An unorthodox approach is never a bad thing, but it’s also clear that no one put any serious thought into this beyond the admittedly clever idea of throwing the puppets into a washing machine as punishment for not living up to expectations.

There are attempts from Kelly Asbury to make this slightly more tolerable; if the unfolding events appear bleak for our heroes, the color palette becomes appropriately gloomy and washed out. The animation team assembled for him do their best to add a great deal of detail but unfortunately, are unable to reach any impressive heights. Occasionally, there is a joke that generates a small laugh. (references to Oliver Twist , characters poking fun at their imperfections, and a few lines from the trio of dimwitted girls sycophantic to Lou are fine).

That’s the thing, nothing in UglyDolls is downright terrible, but rather unbelievably boring, safe, cliché, predictable, and ultimately hollow. For a movie commenting on the vanity of physical appearances, it’s also probably not a good idea to have a song in it about purchasing trendy clothes. Misguided detours aside, there is a message here that kids need to hear, but they aren’t going to want to pay attention to this muck, and no one can blame them. As for adults, they will be storming the exits halfway through the first 10-minute song.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check  here  for new reviews, friend me on Facebook, follow my  Twitter  or  Letterboxd , check out my personal non-Flickering Myth affiliated  Patreon , or email me at [email protected]

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FILM REVIEW: ‘Uglydolls’

‘You guys are the ugliest’ is def my new fav compliment.

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Geek is chic, nerdy is in, and counterculture has somehow morphed into mainstream, but nothing says “let your freak flag fly” more than STX Entertainment’s  newly released UglyDolls movie, directed by Kelly Asbury. (Like, literally: it’s in a super catchy song.)

If you’re looking for something that reinvents the feel-good-animated-kids-movie wheel, UglyDolls isn’t it. And it doesn’t try to be. What it does do — and quite well, in my humble, B-movie-loving opinion — is shine a light on some of the issues that kids face, from bullying and weight to the pressure to be perfect and the desire to just fit in and be accepted. It is in turns silly and whimsical and ridiculously over the top, and other times a bit darker than a PG-rated movie should be. (Mild spoiler alert: Is it attempted suicide if it’s a stuffed, felt doll?! Asking for a friend. …)

The movie begins in UglyVille, a fab felt world full of giant, misshapen homes in all the colors you can imagine. Throw in some contrasting buttons, baubles, threads, and more, and it’s easy to see why the UglyDolls think it just “couldn’t get better.” My DIY-obsessed heart is inclined to agree, too. Moxy (Kelly Clarkson) is the star of the show, and she’s never far from her ragtag crew of fellow Uglies: Lucky Bat (Wang Leehom), Babo (Gabriel Iglesias), Wage (Wanda Sykes), and Uglydog (Pitbull). Mayor Ox (Blake Shelton) is a bit of a naysayer initially, but he too joins the crew later on in the flick.

Moxy is plump and pink and proud of it all. She sings a few lines about it in the first few minutes of the film; it’s fast and fun, but it sets a tone early on that being different is in and deserves celebration:

Hello gorgeous, let’s check out how you look today/Short and stubby, and, my gosh, look how much you weigh/ You’re pinkish red, got this thing on your head, and woah/ Girl, you couldn’t look better

Moxy loves her fellow Uglies and living in UglyVille, but she is certain that she’s destined for something more than just singing happy songs all day — something great: to be matched with her very own kid in the great Big World. But first, she and her BFFs (who tag along reluctantly) have to get past some impossible standards and a big, doll-faced bully named Lou ( Nick Jonas ). The UglyDolls find themselves on an adventure they weren’t quite prepared for, but they give it their all anyway, using charm, determination, and allll the catchy tunes to try to beat Lou and make it to the Big World.

Along the way, the UglyDolls get a little help from a visually challenged doll named Mandy ( Janelle Monaé ) even as a trio of mean girls — Tuesday (Bebe Rexha), Kitty (Charli XCX), and Lydia (Lizzo) — does everything possible to break the Uglies’ spirits and keep them from making it to the Big World.

Clarkson’s rather famous comfort in her own skin shines through Moxy, and the comedic talents of Iglesias, Sykes, and Pitbull (who knew?!?) help bring some levity to the heavier moments. Plus, they’re #SquadGoals. If you don’t love these dolls, you’re legit dead inside. The film may be wacky and a bit repetitive (I’d say it doesn’t need to be an hour and a half but then I remember the songs so fiiiiine), but it hits you right in the feels and makes it clear throughout that pretty does not equal perfect; individuality, messiness, compassion, and determination can get you close, but nobody is perfect, and that’s just fine. It’s a serious, important message that kids hear parroted from the authority figures in their lives, and the movie really reinforces it and drives it home.

At its core, UglyDolls is an electric reminder that “our flaws make us who we are,” friendship will get you out of the toughest of spots, and there’s nothing wrong with waving your freak flag high in the great blue sky.

Photos: STX Entertainment

About the author

Sierra McCleary-Harris

Sierra McCleary-Harris is a senior editor at Adventure Publishing Group, editing and producing content for the Toy Insider, the Toy Book, and the Pop Insider. If she's not at her desk, you can find her somewhere doing a puzzle, losing it over the latest arts and crafts, or hanging out with her kitties Hazelnutz & Pepper Ann.

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‘UglyDolls’ Film Review: You’ve Seen This Toy Story Before

Doubling as both a colorful recycling bin for tropes and ideas from a variety of preexisting children animated features and a casting session for “The Voice”‘s next batch of hosts, Kelly Asbury’s plush-inspired film “UglyDolls” is underscored by a well-intentioned message of self-acceptance, even if the delivery vehicle is unremarkable.

Developed from a story by Robert Rodriguez and written by newcomer Alison Peck, this musical adventure about misshapen plush dolls that were rejected by quality control in a toy factory is as energetic as its mechanics are perplexing. Sure, one must give in to the fantastical elements in films of this kind, but some of the plot details in this mashup production (“Toy Story” + “Monsters Inc.” + a generic stage show) are as visibly defective as its heroes but much less huggable.

Singer Kelly Clarkson, who herself has been on the receiving end of judgmental comments about her physical appearance throughout her career, voices Moxy, the adventurous pink doll with a bow-like protuberance on her head. A resident of Uglyville, a place where plushies with one-of-a-kind characteristics live, Moxy dreams of traveling to the human world and being loved by a child. Determined to make this a reality, she recruits her closest ugly friends and sails on a quest for answers.

Also Read: STX Entertainment Inks Partnership With Alibaba to Produce, Finance More 'UglyDolls'

Aside from comedians Gabriel Iglesias and Wanda Sykes, the rest of the cast could mirror the lineup at a music awards show: Blake Shelton, Charli XCX, Bebe Rexha, Leehom Wang. Pitbull (as Moxy’s best pal Ugly Dog, making a couple bilingual jokes and performing one of his own hits), and Janelle Monáe — the latter playing Mandy, a doll with bad eyesight but a great voice — rise above the chorus in the star-studded voice cast.

When the pack arrives in Perfection, the town where dolls who are up to standards receive final training before heading out to their respective children (the actual process is never fully addressed), the Uglyville-ites are met with rejection from humanoid dolls trained to aspire for immaculate presentation. Like most of the movie, this setting is not subtle about the importance of individuality and the detrimental effects of striving to fit in. A washing machine is harnessed as punishment for dolls that fail to stay clean.

Also Read: Kelly Clarkson Heads to Daytime With New Talk Show

Having fun with the over-the-top nature of the part, pop singer Nick Jonas voices their leader, Lou, a pristine doll best described as an older version of the title infant in the “Boss Baby,” mixed with the malevolence of Chucky from “Child’s Play,” the megalomania of Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear from “Toy Story 3,” and all the markings of the money-making motivational techniques of Tony Robbins. “Pretty makes perfect,” Lou constantly repeats as his superficial motto. Undeterred by Lou’s harshness, Moxy perseveres and catches the attention of Mandy, one of Lou’s henchwomen, who sympathizes with her plight; as expected, most of these developments are expressed in musical form.

Songs vary in quality and resonance, but somehow in multiple instances it almost feels like Moxy is going to breakout and sing “When She Loved Me,” Jesse’s song from “Toy Story 2.” It’s obvious how difficult it is to make a movie about sentient toys pursuing children’s love in a post-“Toy Story” world: A scene near the end when the UglyDolls have to rescue one of their own rings nearly copy-pasted from Pixar’s flagship franchise.

Also Read: Janelle Monáe's Wondaland Pictures and Universal Sign First Look Deal

Among the many spontaneous musical outbursts, the track “All Dolled Up,” when Moxy and crew opt for a makeover, stands out as perhaps the one that’s slightly more complex than the others, because its lyrics are much darker than the lively melody that scores them. Mandy sings about choosing your clothing not for you but for who you want to be, to hide your imperfections, to transform yourself and hide who you truly are.

The climatic song “Unbreakable,” a duet between Clarkson and Monáe, hopes to reach “Let It Go” sing-along status but likely won’t. Still, it’s a sweet, if not very original, power ballad about not listening to the haters and knowing the person who you really are inside. Again, it’s nothing out of the ordinary, but the sparkling mirror dance the characters do is kind of charming.

For a feature that’s all about celebrating uniqueness and defying homogeneity, the animation itself is bright but not stylistically inventive. The pretty dolls look exactly like all children do in most CG animated films: same head shape, same smoothness, same eyes. The point is for them to look alike, and that’s evident, but unfortunately they also resemble plenty of characters from other releases from multiple studios.

There are a couple textural elements that are somewhat interesting craft-wise, such as the felt material from which the ugly dolls are made or the yarn hair of the children-like figures. Neither of these are mind-blowing, but merely nice touches to give the movie’s world a little more cohesiveness, something that it generally lacks.

“UglyDolls” won’t stand the test of time as a memorable animated film. Besides not being visually singular, it also falls in the trap of being too self-referential and having a desperate need to be cool and sassy. Still, at times, it does hit some relevant emotional notes. At the end of the second act, when Uglyville hits a slump and sadness has taken over, it’s clear that the inhabitants of this town for cheerful misfits only become aware that the world outside thinks they are ugly when others point out their flaws. If only the rest of the film was as insightful.

Read original story ‘UglyDolls’ Film Review: You’ve Seen This Toy Story Before At TheWrap

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