Ugly Dolls is the story of an “ugly” children’s doll living in Uglyville, longing to meet and love a child. Modelled from the adorably “ugly” stuffed animal line, the movie is fun…for kids.
First and foremost, the movie has such a positive message. It doesn’t matter what you look like. What matters about a person is that they are good and positive on the inside. With that goodness and positivity, you’ll do well in life and find love.
That’s a great message for all to hear, especially the young kids this movie will attract!
Here’s the problem, the movie KNOWS it has a great message, so it rams that message bluntly into you throughout the movie. There’s no “ahhhh” moment where you get the message. No, it isn’t subtle. I am not one to usually say words like “ham-handed” but that is how they handled it.
That’s fine. They got their point across. However, when a movie is done more subtely, more eloquently, I think messages like that resonate more. Take Toy Story 3, for instance. The kid is growing up. When he gives his toys to the little girl at the end of the movie as he prepares for college… WHEW! I doubt there was a dry parent eye in the theater.
Other than that, though, Ugly Dolls is OK. The “villain” is the pretty doll, a blond kid in a suit. He ridicules our heroes and holds them back from their success of finding the love of a child.
The script also is OK. The characters don’t really get burrowed out, we don’t find much about them other than Kelly Clarkson’s character’s go-getter attitude. Otherwise, there aren’t really any memorable lines or characters.
However, here’s where this review does a bit of a 180.
Little kids will likely really enjoy the movie. Sometimes, animated movies are “Family” movies. Sometimes, they are “Kid” movies. This would be the latter.
It’s a very pretty movie, very colorful. The simplistic plot and characters may not resonate with the adults but will likely do so with younger children. So, kids will really see that “what matters is what is on the inside” message and see that they can be whatever they try hard to be.
Wonderful.
That’s what kids should see and think.
See our other Movie Reviews.
Rated 2 out of 5 "babies"
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