UglyDolls Dvd

UglyDolls is a 2019 computer-animated musical adventure-comedy film directed by Kelly Asbury and written by Alison Peck, from a story by Robert Rodriguez, who also produced. It is based on the plush toys of the same name, and follows a group of them as they try to find embracement from the real world despite their flaws. The film stars the voices of Kelly Clarkson, Janelle Monáe, Nick Jonas, Pitbull, Blake Shelton, Wanda Sykes, Gabriel Iglesias, Wang Leehom, Emma Roberts, Bebe Rexha, Charli XCX, and Lizzo.

UglyDolls was theatrically released in the United States on May 3, 2019 by STXFilms, the first animated film produced by the company. It received generally unfavorable reviews from critics, who called it “well-meaning but derivative”. It was also a box office failure, grossing only $32 million worldwide. This was also the final film directed by Kelly Asbury before his death in 2020.

Plot

In a hidden universe within a toy factory, dolls are anthropomorphized and chosen for a single child, while deformed dolls are dropped into the remote town of Uglyville. Among these dolls is the idealistic Moxy (Kelly Clarkson), who dreams of the ‘Big World’ and being chosen for a child despite Uglyville’s Mayor Ox (Blake Shelton) assuring her this is a myth. Misinterpreting advice from the village Lucky Bat (Wang Leehom), Moxy enters the hole from which new Ugly Dolls arrive, hoping to reach the Big World with the help of Lucky Bat and her friends; easy-going Ugly Dog (Pitbull), cynical baker Wage (Wanda Sykes), and strong, soft-spoken Babo (Gabriel Iglesias).

Moxy and her friends follow the tunnel to the Institute of Perfection where dolls go through a number of tests, culminating in ‘the Gauntlet’, an obstacle course based on a human house, to be with their perfect child. The Institute’s superficial and selfish leader Lou (Nick Jonas) meets the Ugly Dolls , but states that they do not meet the standards to participate in the Gauntlet. Faced with Moxy’s positivity, Lou agrees to let them try, hoping to ruin her optimism. The friends meet a perfect doll named Mandy (Janelle Monáe), who is more accepting of the Ugly Dolls and has poor eyesight, but refuses to wear glasses after seeing another imperfect “Perfect Doll” named Nolan be forced to wear an “ugly” sign due to his freckles.

The Ugly Dolls’ first days of training end in disaster. They dress up like the perfect dolls for a better chance at reaching the Big World . In response, Lou sends the Spy Girls – the Perfect Dolls Tuesday (Bebe Rexha), Kitty (Charli XCX), and Lydia (Lizzo) – to kidnap Ox, and makes him confess to Moxy that he and Lou were once friends who trained for the Gauntlet. Ox nearly passed the training but the Perfect Dolls turned on him at the last minute and Lou saved him and sent him down the tunnel to escape. Ox found the recycling center and realized that Ugly Dolls aren’t supposed to exist. He survived and boarded up the recycling center entrance to redirect Ugly Dolls to his new home, and when the town sprung up there, decided to keep the Big World a secret to protect the other Uglies from heartbreak. Demoralized, Moxy abandons her quest and returns to Uglyville.

Learning that Ox has called them rejects, the residents of Uglyville all fall into despair. Moxy resigns herself to her fate, but Mandy visits and convinces her that she must keep her conviction that there is a child for her, to give the other Ugly Dolls and imperfect “Perfect Dolls” hope. With her confidence renewed, Moxy decides to rejoin the Gauntlet, but she and Mandy are kidnapped by the Spy Girls on orders from Lou. He puts the duo in the reopened recycling system, where they will be shredded up and their parts sent back to the factory to be made into more “perfect” dolls. Ox soon finds out about this and rallies the other Ugly Dolls to come to their rescue, and the entire population of Uglyville arrives at the Gauntlet, to Lou’s chagrin. Lou decides he, Nolan, and the Spy Girls will run the gauntlet with them so they can hopefully sabotage it.

As the Dolls advance through the challenges, Ugly Dog tames a robot dog by dancing (“Bon Bon”), while Lou shows his true colors as a coward, leaving the Spy Girls and Nolan to fend for themselves and be rescued by the Ugly Dolls. Lou makes a robot baby cry after kicking it in the face, shocking his followers, but an empathetic Moxy comforts the crying baby instead of completing the course, leading everyone else to do the same. Lou alone crosses the finish line, but the system fails to recognize him as a winner, while Moxy and her friends are allowed to bypass the Gauntlet for making a child happy, a doll’s true purpose. When the crowd demands an explanation from Lou, he admits that, as the prototype doll assigned to training duty, he is not allowed to enter the human world even if he does complete the gauntlet. When confronted, he further admits that, after seeing Ox nearly pass the training and realizing that an “Ugly” doll would be free while he himself never would be, he staged the whole “rescue” scenario out of sheer spite in hopes Ox would be killed in the recycling center.

Having lost everyone’s respect, a desperate and jealous Lou smashes the portal in a last-ditch effort to keep Uglies from the Big World. The Uglies and the robotic dog team up in an attempt to stop him, but the portal has been ruined, and Nolan puts Lou in the washing machine as a punishment for his actions. Encouraged by Moxy and Mandy, the Ugly Dolls and the Perfect Dolls unite to make a new, permanently open portal from the pieces of the old one. They merge their hometowns to create the united Town of Imperfection under the mayorship of Ox. Moxy finally goes through the portal, where she is put into the arms of her special kid, a little girl named Maizy who is missing a tooth, just like Moxy herself.

During the credits , the Ugly Dolls, Mandy, and the Spy Girls are each shown to have found their own special kid with similar characteristics, while a bedraggled Lou is demoted and forced into janitorial duty, overseen by the robot dog.

Cast

Kelly Clarkson as Moxy, the leader of the group with insatiable curiosity and limitless confidence. Her design is based on that of Gorgeous, a character from the original toyline.
Janelle Monáe as Mandy, a kindhearted lonely perfect doll who wears glasses for eyesight problems and befriends the Ugly Dolls
Nick Jonas as Lou, the spiteful, conceited, and preppy leader from the town of Perfection and a bully villain towards the Ugly Dolls and the other imperfect dolls
Blake Shelton as Ox, the Unofficial Mayor of Uglyville, mentor to all of the other Ugly Dolls and former friend of Lou
Pitbull as Ugly Dog, a one-eyed dog and Moxy’s closest and best friend
Wanda Sykes as Wage, a cynical baker who can be frequently found cooking up some amazing and inventive culinary concoctions
Wang Leehom as Lucky Bat, a gentle and thoughtful bat-like adviser, but he is very shy and insecure about his abilities. He is loosely based on a red variant of Ice Bat.
Gabriel Iglesias as Babo, the largest, soft-spoken and handiest of the Ugly Dolls
Emma Roberts as Wedgehead, the newest citizen of Uglyville
Bebe Rexha as Tuesday, a blue-haired perfect doll and one of the Spy Girls
Charli XCX as Kitty, a pink-haired perfect doll and one of the Spy Girls
Lizzo as Lydia, a purple-haired perfect doll and one of the Spy Girls
Ice-T as Peggy, a small one-eyed flying unicorn
Laura Nicole Harrison as Jumbotron
Jane Lynch as Scanner, Electronic Voice
Kelly Asbury as Gibberish Cat, Oliver, Chef, Buttons; this was also Asbury’s final voice role before his death in 2020
Natalie Martinez as Meghan
Stephen Zimpel as Michael
Enrique Santos as Nolan, a not-so-perfect doll that Lou called Ugly in “The Ugly Truth”
Rob Riggle as Exposition Robot
Steven Schweickart as New Arrival
Afi Ekulona as Tray
Jacques Colimon as Sporko