STX Entertainment’s UglyDolls only serves as a vehicle to sell merchandise to the legions of kids who will be grooving to this psychedelic highly predictable groove fest full of musical numbers highlighting the vocal range of the film’s lead, Kelly Clarkson. I feel that anytime Clarkson is in a movie whether it’s in person or vocally that she’s trying way too hard to atone for past projects. I hate to be the harbinger of bad news, but no amount of animated hits will make for the atrocity which was From Justin To Kelly.
I’m kidding … kind of.
UglyDolls does have a top-notch cast from Clarkson, Emma Roberts, Ice-T, Wanda Sykes, and Jane Lynch to name a few. The premise for the film is simple enough. The message is crystal clear from the moment you watch the trailer. But somehow this film gets so wrapped in its musical numbers that all of this gets muddled up during the movie. These creatures who are born out of what society deems to be an error are taught to embrace each other’s inner beauty even when society chooses to shun them.
Even when Moxy (voiced by Clarkson) is so driven to make her dream of being chosen a reality, you can see where the narrative is headed which is concerning. There’s nothing exceptional about UglyDolls. The animation is primitive, and the musical numbers aren’t anything special either. The film is eighty-seven minutes long, and that felt about twenty minutes too long. Does that mean a movie like this doesn’t have a place? No! I’m sure if you have a son or daughter who is into this series, then I guess they’ll love this. I do feel that if they had streamlined the film a bit and cut some of the needless backstories and were a bit more detailed in their approach to animating these dolls, the film would have been so much better. However, that’s not what we ended up with which is why unless you are seeing it for a dollar during a Summer Kid’s Movie Special then stay home.
Dewey Singleton has been reviewing new releases in television and film for many years. Dewey's reviews have been heard in multiple markets (Houston Atlanta, Tampa). Dewey's past work has been with awardswatch.com, awardsradar.com, and bleeding cool. Dewey is a proud member of the CCA.