Secondhand Setlists

Rather than fix ugliness itself, the film seeks to change your perspective on it, in this case – they used dolls and pop stars.

All animated films seek to entertain both children and their supervising adults, and the special ones land with a bit of an impact. For a music lover, Ugly Dolls, based on the dolls of the same name, checks a lot of boxes.

Storywise, the film begins in a community for dolls who failed to pass inspection at the toy plant. Here, the dolls live in blissful ignorance of their “unsightliness.” Some, including lead character Moxy
(voiced by Kelly Clarkson), even dream of being united with their own child one day. It’s basically an expanded version of the Island of Misfit Toys, singing included.

Moxy leads a crew which includes Ugly Dog (Pitbull), Wage (Wanda Sykes), and Lucky Bat (Wang Leehom). Others including Janelle Monáe, Nick Jonas, Charli XCX, Lizzo, and Blake Shelton all round out the wildly varied cast, which mostly appears united under Atlantic Records.

Ugly Dolls appears aware of its status as a film, specifically, an 83-minute film as Sykes’ character points out. The self-awareness peers around the fourth wall without quite breaking it, allowing the film to recognize its own absurdity. At the end of the first number, Moxy’s asked how she plans to spend her evening: “Well, I spent the whole day singing…”

Fascinatingly enough, the concept of attractiveness seems to be a conversation people want to engage, particularly how people respond to it. Ugly Dolls never divulges any life-altering epiphanies, but it does speak, if lightly, on current conversations regarding body positivity and ableism. The fact these messages come from pop stars like Clarkson and Lizzo, both of whom celebrate being bigger-bodied women, helps to add a bit of ethos to them.

As said above, this film will not change your life nor will it necessarily go into the pantheon of great animated films. However, it does succeed at 83-ish minutes of entertainment and positivity.