Uglydolls Review
PG: For thematic elements and brief action
STX Entertainment, Reel FX Animation Studios, Alibaba Pictures
1 Hr and 31 Minutes
Director: Kelly Asbury | Screenwriter: Alison Peck
Voice Cast: Kelly Clarkson, Janelle Monáe, Nick Jonas, Blake Shelton, Wang Leehom, Pitbull, Wanda Sykes, Gabriel Iglesias, Emma Roberts, Bebe Rexha, Charli XCX, Lizzo
In the adorably different town of Uglyville, weird is celebrated, strange is special and beauty is embraced as more than simply meets the eye. Here, the free-spirited Moxy (Clarkson) and her UglyDoll friends live every day in a whirlwind of bliss, letting their freak flags fly in a celebration of life and its endless possibilities. In this all-new story, the UglyDolls will go on a journey beyond the comfortable borders of Uglyville. There, they will confront what it means to be different, struggle with their desire to be loved, and ultimately discover that you don't have to be perfect to be amazing because who you truly are is what matters most.
UglyDolls. Remember them? Well, now they’re a movie. In retrospect, I vividly remember when this movie was announced and was supposed to be made by Illumination Entertainment and then they focused on other things - more financially successful things. Then, it was supposed to be made by Robert Rodriguez. It still got his name on it as both producer and for the story. Yeah, this a Robert Rodriguez movie and there are several elements of the movie I appreciate.
A majority of the voice cast are well known musicians and, while they serve decent performances, the only voice performance that impressed me was Nick Jonas. I’m gonna be honest, the entire cast of characters are forgettable and resemble traits of pre-existing and more recognizable characters, but Lou stands out. He’s a messed up antagonist, for if Darla Dimple from Cats Don’t Dance was a boy and the dictator of a town, it would be him. He’s an egotistical prick leader who enforces his idea of beauty on everyone. He’s one dimensional for sure, but it’s Nick Jonas. Just hearing him play a prick was humorous to me. Nick Jonas delivers a hella fun vocal performance that has a lot of energy. This movie is forgettable, but he does make for a standout performance because he’s an ultimate douche here.
I did find a bit of value in UglyDolls. I saw the value for a young demographic considering how harmless the content is and how it features (one too many) positive messages. If only other animated movies with this concept didn’t exist and hadn’t done it better.
It’s 2019 and, while the animation is decent and slightly above average because of the detailing on the dolls, as far as production goes, the film feels creatively bankrupt.
The narrative feels like a Toy Story/Trolls ripoff but instead follows the narrative beats of - and bear with me when I say this - Monsters University. Even down to the film’s initial climax where the characters have to do a simulation race exam to prove their worth for the big world, the movie kind of becomes Monsters University. For a concept or property such as UglyDolls, it doesn’t contain much identity, including the music which is all pretty bland. So damn bland that each song has a reprise. Just saying, not every song in a musical needs a reprise.
All of the characters are forgettable, especially the UglyDolls’ lead, Moxy. Moxy has an existentialist complex where she believes in a higher purpose in life, and it's to be with a kid, which motivates her to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal. It’s a cute concept, but it’s been retreaded since... well, the first CGI movie ever made. Moxy is too on-the-nose and too similar to Poppy. Optimism and an upbeat spirit doesn’t make for an interesting character.
Her friends barely have any personality outside of loyal. It was one of my problems with Trolls, but at least Trolls had distinguishable characters by design and humor. Plus, it has beautiful art design that made the world pop. Here you only have around three locations and none of them are used to their full advantages, with the exception of “The Institute of Perfection,” which is an all-grey uniformed society that just screams conformity, fitting to the movie’s themes. Other than that, the locations never fulfill a 90-minute run time. This is the animation studio behind The Book of Life!
That movie is a beautiful work of art which had plentiful amount of production design and backgrounds, so for them to go from something like that to something like this 5 years later is disappointing.
The film’s message about loving your flaws is very muffled because it’s way too literal with its ideal definition of perfection. That issue comes to a head with Janelle Monae's character, whose “ugly” flaw is blindness. I mean, it’s an ‘80s trope we deviate from today, yet part of the conflict comes from glasses? Beautiful people also wear glasses sometimes, making them more beautiful than before.
The voice acting is rather poor because almost everyone is a musician outside of Wanda Sykes and Emma Roberts. A lot of dialogue is delivered in an often questionable way, taking away from the humor, which is not that funny to begin with. At times it’s chuckle-worthy but undercut by bad delivery and a bad punchline, but it’s mostly the former. Hey, at least everyone can sing. Sacrifice the entire vocal delivery for music.
As I said, this film is fast-paced and simple, which is good for younger kids around 7 or 8, and that’s good. I see value in this for kids but only for a home video viewing. Nothing more, nothing less.
UglyDolls may be forgettable but… nah, that’s all I got.
Rating: 2.5/5 | 52%
