<Review by: Sailesh Ghelani>

Directed by Kelly Asbury. Starring the voice talent of Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Janelle Monae, Wanda Sykes, Leehom Wank, Blake Shelton, Charli XCX, Bebe Rexha, Gabriel Iglesias, Pitbull

Running time: 1 hour 27 minutes

When you want to sell a furry toy line, you make a movie. Just like they did back in the old days with TV-toy shows. Ugly Dolls doesn’t really have a great story, but it knows where its heart is and sticks with that theme.

Moxy (Kelly Clarkson) and her gang live in Uglyville way below the land of Perfection. They are toy manufacturing rejects but they want more. Moxy wants her ‘child’ to hug her and make her happy. So they venture forth into the land of perfection where lawyer/model dolls are all dolled up and trained by the scheming Lou (Nick Jonas) who doesn’t want them to pass the test. And of course they must struggle to get into the ‘real world’.

Ugly Dolls is one of those candy floss kiddie films about being different and accepting yourself for who you are and loving all your imperfections. It’s a great message for kids – who will probably still want to get dolled up for Instagram though – but it’s not something they haven’t seen a hundred other times before. Toy Story has done this far better.

Still, since Ugly Dolls has a huge cast of singers, the music carries you through it nicely. I love the fact that Pitbull is one of the voices.

So with A Dog’s Way Home, this is the second film about a cute creature trying to make its way to its ‘person’. If only people would step up and be more deserving and worth coming home to.
 

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