It’s kind of obvious when you think about it. The problem is, you definitely never thought about it.
You have a film called UglyDolls, about dolls that, by definition, are “ugly”. And yet, as you can see in the first trailer for the film based on the popular toys, the dolls love themselves and each other.
Of course, if you made a movie about UglyDolls, it had to be about staying positive no matter what other people think or say — especially in the face of anyone who claims to be “perfect”. It’s a pretty important, complex message for a kids’ movie that looks to be delivered in an upbeat, bright way to mask its seriousness.
Admit it. You were tapping your toe to that song, right up until you got embarrassed to see a Pitbull doll.
The trailer offers enough breadcrumbs that we can begin to piece the story together, but an official plot description lays it out in black and white…and it’s kind of disturbing. Here it it is, with our own bolded emphasis added to point out some of the more surprising aspects.
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 and her UglyDolls friends live every day in a whirlwind of bliss, letting their freak flags fly in a celebration of life and its endless possibilities, occasionally looking to the sky, where a new UglyDoll will appear and be embraced by the community.
Moxy (Kelly Clarkson) loves her square-peg life in this round-hole town, but her curiosity about all things leads her to wonder if there’s something – anything – on the other side of the mountain which nestles Uglyville. Moxy gathers a group of her closest friends and sets off to find what’s on the other side. They discover another world – Perfection – a town where more conventional dolls are trained in protocols before they graduate and are sent to the “real” world to find the love of a child.
In Perfection, Moxy and her crew are subject to the manipulations of Lou (Nick Jonas), the perfect doll in charge of training recruits. Here, the UglyDolls 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.
That’s some heavy, heavy shit for a kids’ movie. We’ll see how it all plays out come 27 June, 2019 when the film hits theatres.
Directed by Kelly Asbury (Shrek 2), UglyDolls features the voices of Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Blake Shelton, Janelle Monáe, Wanda Sykes, Emma Roberts, Gabriel Iglesias, Wang Leehom, and, yep, Pitbull.