UglyDolls | |
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Directed by | Kelly Asbury |
Screenplay by | Alison Peck |
Story by | Robert Rodriguez Larry Stuckey (uncredited) |
Based on | |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Edited by |
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Music by | Christopher Lennertz [1] |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | STX Entertainment (United States) VVS Films (Canada) Huaxia Film Distribution (China) |
Release date |
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Running time | 87 minutes [3] |
Countries |
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Languages | English Spanish |
Budget | $45–53 million [4] [5] |
Box office | $32.5 million [6] |
UglyDolls is a 2019 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 by David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim, and follows a group of them as they try to find owners in the "Big World" despite their flaws. The film stars the voices of Kelly Clarkson, Janelle Monáe, Blake Shelton, Wanda Sykes, Gabriel Iglesias, Wang Leehom, Nick Jonas, and Pitbull.
UglyDolls was theatrically released by STX Films, the first animated film produced by the company. It received negative reviews from critics and grossed $32 million worldwide, and was the last film directed by Kelly Asbury, who died in June 2020 from cancer. [7] [8]
In a hidden universe within a toy factory, deformed dolls, or Uglies/UglyDolls, are dropped into a tunnel leading to the secluded town of Uglyville. Among these dolls is Moxy, who dreams of the 'Big World' and being loved by a child, despite Uglyville's Mayor Ox assuring her this concept is a myth. One day, Moxy enters the tunnel to find her way to the Big World, followed by the town's cynical chef Wage, easy-going Ugly Dog, shy wiseman Lucky Bat, and soft-hearted giant Babo.
The UglyDolls discover the Institute of Perfection, where Perfect Dolls (or "Pretties") are rigorously trained. The vain and superficial leader of the institute, Lou, tells Moxy and her friends that they cannot hope to pass the training for the Gauntlet - an obstacle course based on a human house, which determines if a doll will be allowed to use the portal to the Big World. Faced with Moxy's positivity, Lou relents and lets them train; however, he sends his three Spy Girls to find out where Moxy's group came from.
The Uglydolls's first days of training end in disaster. Mandy, one of the Pretties, sympathizes with them, as she has poor eyesight but can't wear glasses for fear of being labeled 'ugly' and put in the dreaded recycling center. She gives them some pointers, and helps them dress the part of a 'perfect doll'.
The Spy Girls return with a kidnapped Ox, and Lou makes him admit to Moxy he actually knew about the Big World, as he had once trained with Lou for the Gauntlet and nearly passed. However, the Pretties turned on Ox, and Lou sent him down the tunnel, claiming he thought it led to safety. Ox found the recycling center there; seeing other dolls like himself being shredded up, he rerouted the tunnel and founded Uglyville at the other end.
Demoralized by the realization they are factory rejects, the entire town of Uglyville falls into despair, and Moxy resigns herself to her fate. Mandy visits and encourages Moxy to keep her faith, as it has given all the imperfect Pretties hope that they might succeed. Moxy and Mandy try to return to the Gauntlet, but are waylaid by Lou, who has unblocked the recycling center. He leaves Mandy and Moxy to be shredded, but Ox learns what has happened and rallies the Ugly Dolls to rescue the pair.
The entire population of Uglyville arrives at the Institute on the day of the Gauntlet. Moxy, Mandy, and several Uglies demand to be allowed to participate. Lou announces he and several others will run with them, secretly planning to sabotage the Uglies' chances. However, once in the Gauntlet, Lou shows his true colors as a coward, abandoning his comrades and leaving them to be saved by the Uglies.
Lou loses everyone's respect completely when he kicks a robot baby, making it cry. Moxy comforts the baby instead of finishing the course, prompting all but Lou to do the same. The system automatically passes them, since a Doll's true purpose is to make a child happy. Lou, however, is failed despite finishing the course, and is forced to admit he is only a prototype and forbidden to leave the factory. When he saw Ox nearly pass the training, he couldn't bear to see an Ugly go to the human world when he, supposedly perfection itself, could not. He sabotaged Ox so he'd hopefully be killed in the recycling center.
Seeing everyone has turned on him, Lou smashes the portal to the human world out of spite. The Pretties capture and put Lou in a washing machine as punishment, but the portal is irrevocably destroyed. The Uglies and Pretties work together to build a new, permanently-open portal that does not require any training to pass back and forth through. They combine their towns into the City of Imperfection, still led by Mayor Ox. Moxy finally passes through the portal and is placed in the arms of her perfect child, Maizy, who has the same missing tooth as Moxy does.
During the credits, it is shown that several Uglies and Pretties have found their perfect human, while a bedraggled Lou has been demoted to janitorial duty.
In May 2011, it was announced that Illumination had acquired the rights to Uglydolls to make an animated feature film. Chris Meledandri was set to produce, with a screenplay from Larry Stuckey. The original creators, David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim, were set to executive produce. [11] Four years later, in 2015, Variety magazine reported that an animated film based on Uglydolls would be the first project produced by STX Entertainment's new "family and animation" division. [12] On March 28, 2017, Robert Rodriguez signed on to direct, write, and produce the film, with a release date set for May 10, 2019. [13] Animation for the film was done at Reel FX Creative Studios. [14]
In March 2018, it was announced that the voice of rapper Pitbull would be featured in the film for an unknown role, and he would also provide an original song for the film. [15] In May 2018, it was announced that Kelly Asbury had signed on to direct the feature film. [16] In July 2018, another singer Kelly Clarkson joined the voice cast of the film as the voice of Moxy, and would provide an original song for the film. [17] In August 2018, Nick Jonas joined the voice cast of the film, and he would also perform an original song for the film. [18] In September 2018, comedians Wanda Sykes and Gabriel Iglesias joined the film. [19] On September 20, 2018, it was announced that country music singer Blake Shelton had joined the film, and would voice Ox, as well as performing original music. [20] In October 2018, it was announced that Wang Leehom, Janelle Monáe and Emma Roberts had been cast in the film. [10] [21]
The film features original music from Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Blake Shelton, Janelle Monáe, Bebe Rexha, Pentatonix, Anitta, and Why Don't We. [17] [15] [18] [20] The musical score is composed by Christopher Lennertz while songs are written by Lennertz and Glenn Slater. The film's soundtrack was released by Atlantic Records. [22]
Clarkson's track "Broken & Beautiful" was released on March 27, 2019, prior to the album, as the soundtrack's lead single. [23] The Brazilian singer Anitta contributed "Ugly" to the original soundtrack in English. She also recorded two alternative versions of "Ugly", one in Spanish and one in Portuguese, for their respective markets. These versions were released prior to the release of the film and are not included in the soundtrack in these markets. [24]
Pitbull was also slated to have an original song for the film, which was to be a parody of "You Make My Dreams" by Daryl Hall and John Oates. However, Pitbull's contributions to the song were scrapped, as he broke the fourth wall as Uglydog. Pentatonix was then given the final version of the record, which was included in the movie's soundtrack. Pitbull's original version, titled "Dreams Come True", can be found on DJ record pools for promotional use. [25]
UglyDolls was initially scheduled to be released on May 10, 2019, but was later moved up a week to May 3 in order to avoid competition with Pokémon: Detective Pikachu . [13] [26]
The studio spent around $40 million on promotions and advertisements for the film. [5]
UglyDolls was released on Digital HD on July 16, 2019, and on DVD and Blu-ray on July 30, 2019.
A video game tie-in for various platforms was produced by Outright Games titled Ugly Dolls: An Imperfect Adventure, with the initial retail price being $39.99 USD. [27] [28] A variety of merchandise, including plush toys, playsets, and blind bags, was released by Hasbro featuring several characters from the movie. [29]
UglyDolls grossed $20.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $11.2 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $31.4 million. [30]
In the United States and Canada, UglyDolls was released alongside The Intruder and Long Shot , and was projected to gross $12–14 million from 3,652 theaters in its opening weekend. [31] The film made $2.5 million on its first day, including $300,000 from Thursday night previews. However, it underperformed in its first week, finishing fourth in box office receipts at only $8.6 million. [5] The film fell 51.8% in its second weekend, grossing $4.1 million and finishing in seventh place. [32]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 29% of 89 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.4/10.The website's consensus reads: "Very young viewers may be entertained by UglyDolls -- if only because they're less likely to recognize the many familiar elements in its affirmative yet formulaic story." [33] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 39 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. [34] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars and a 51% "definite recommend". [5]
Owen Gleiberman of Variety magazine was positive, saying that "the sincerity with which UglyDolls pits unblemished conformity against ungainly soul is touching—and, yes, instructive—in all the right ways." [35] Jesse Hassenger of The A.V. Club gave the film a grade C− and wrote: "Like their Troll ancestors, the UglyDolls combine an evergreen cuteness with a why-now lack of currency." [36]
UglyDolls was awarded a ReFrame Stamp in the category "Top 100-Grossing Narrative Feature" for involving women in at least four of eight key areas of production. [37] The song "Broken & Beautiful" was nominated in the 2019 Teen Choice Awards in the category "Choice Song from a Movie". [38] [39]
Kelly Brianne, is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of American Idol in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA Records. Her debut single, "A Moment Like This", topped the US Billboard Hot 100, and became the country's best-selling single of 2002. It was included on her debut studio album, Thankful (2003), which entered the Billboard 200 at number one, and also yielded the top-10 single "Miss Independent". Trying to reinvent her image, Clarkson parted ways with Idol management and shifted to pop rock for her second studio album, Breakaway (2004). Supported by four US top-ten singles – the title track, "Since U Been Gone", "Behind These Hazel Eyes", and "Because of You" – Breakaway sold over 12 million copies worldwide and won two Grammy Awards.
Troublemaker Studios is an American production company founded and owned by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and producer Elizabeth Avellán. The company is based in Austin, Texas and is at the former site of the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport. It shares space with Austin Studios, which is managed by the Austin Film Society, and houses production offices, sound stages and the largest green screen in Texas.
Christopher Joseph Lennertz is an American composer of film, television, and video game scores. He is a dual citizen of the USA and Italy. His musical scores appeared in Alvin and the Chipmunks, Hop, Think Like a Man, and Horrible Bosses, and the video game series Medal of Honor, created by Steven Spielberg. He composed the score for Supernatural, and Revolution, two television series created by Eric Kripke.
Kelly Adam Asbury was an American film director, writer, voice actor, and illustrator. He was best known for directing animated films, including Shrek 2, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Gnomeo & Juliet, Smurfs: The Lost Village, and UglyDolls.
David Z. Horvath is an American illustrator, comics artist, toy designer and author best known for creating the popular Uglydoll characters as well as the world they inhabit, The Uglyverse, with his wife, Sun-Min Kim. The toy line began in 2001 with a single plush toy called Wage, hand sewn by his sweetheart and creative partner, Sun-Min Kim for David as a gift, and grew into the brand.
Gnomeo & Juliet is a 2011 animated romantic comedy film directed by Kelly Asbury from a screenplay by Rob Sprackling and John Smith. It is loosely based on the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and features the voices of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Jason Statham, Maggie Smith, Ashley Jensen, Stephen Merchant, Matt Lucas, Jim Cummings, Julie Walters, Richard Wilson, Patrick Stewart, and Ozzy Osbourne. The story follows Gnomeo and Juliet, a pair of garden gnomes who fall in love, but due to the feud between their respective families, they must find a way to keep their blossoming romance a secret.
Uglydoll is a brand and series of plush toys created by Sun-Min Kim, based on an idea by Kim and her husband David Horvath. The Uglydoll line was launched on February 14, 2001, and was awarded the Specialty Toy of the Year award by the Toy Industry Association in 2006.
Rocket Pictures is a British film company founded in 1996 by Elton John to produce family and music-themed film and TV projects.
Alibaba Pictures Group is a Chinese film company under the Alibaba Group. The film company was formerly ChinaVision Media, of which Alibaba Group bought a majority stake in late 2014. It subsequently was renamed from ChinaVision to Alibaba Pictures Group. By April 2015, it was the largest Chinese film company by worth, with a market value of US$8.77 billion and by June of the same year it was worth US$9.6 billion.
STX Entertainment is an American entertainment and media company. Founded in March 2014 by film producer Robert Simonds, the studio produces film, television, and digital media projects.
Welcome to Marwen is a 2018 American drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis, who co-wrote the script with Caroline Thompson. It is inspired by Jeff Malmberg's 2010 documentary Marwencol. The film stars Steve Carell, Leslie Mann, Diane Kruger, Merritt Wever, Janelle Monáe, Eiza González, Gwendoline Christie, Leslie Zemeckis, Siobhan Williams and Neil Jackson. It tells the true story of Mark Hogancamp, a man struggling with PTSD who, after being physically assaulted, creates a fictional village to ease his trauma.
American singer Kelly Clarkson has released two video albums and has appeared in forty-four music videos. In 2002, she made her debut music video appearance for the video "Before Your Love", which was immediately released after winning the first season of American Idol. An accompanying music video for the companion single, "A Moment Like This", was also issued later that same year. From her debut studio album, Thankful (2003), Clarkson released music videos for the singles "Miss Independent", "Low", and "The Trouble with Love Is", the foremost of which earned her three MTV Video Music Award nominations, including Best New Artist in a Video. Thankful was immediately followed by the release of Clarkson's debut video album Miss Independent that same year. In 2004, a music video for her single "Breakaway" was released to promote the Disney feature film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. Clarkson's sophomore studio album Breakaway (2004) issued accompanying music videos for its singles "Since U Been Gone", "Behind These Hazel Eyes", "Because of You", "Walk Away", and an additional live video for "Breakaway". The music videos for the songs "Since U Been Gone" and "Because of You" earned a total of three MTV Video Music Awards and a MuchMusic Video Award. Clarkson's second video album Behind Hazel Eyes was released in 2005 as a companion piece to Breakaway.
The Kelly Clarkson Show is an American daytime television variety talk show hosted by American singer Kelly Clarkson. It is produced and distributed by NBCUniversal Syndication Studios and features Clarkson interviewing celebrities and segments about "everyday people". Clarkson opens the program with "Kellyoke", a musical performance of a cover version of various songs requested by a member of her audience and ends with her participating in an activity with her guests. "Kellyoke" classic was introduced in the third season, where Clarkson performs her own songs that were not released as singles.
UglyDolls: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 2019 STX Entertainment film UglyDolls, released on April 26, 2019, by Atlantic Records. The soundtrack features Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Janelle Monáe, Bebe Rexha, Blake Shelton, Pentatonix, Anitta, and Why Don't We. Clarkson's track "Broken & Beautiful" was released prior to the album, on March 27, 2019, as the soundtrack's lead single. Anitta's track "Ugly" was also released prior to the album's release.
"Broken & Beautiful" is a song by American singer Kelly Clarkson from the soundtrack to the 2019 animated film UglyDolls. It was produced by American DJ Marshmello with British producer Steve Mac, both of whom had co-written the song with American singer Pink and Irish musician Johnny McDaid. The song was released by Atlantic Records as the soundtrack's lead single on March 27, 2019.
"Couldn't Be Better" is a song from the 2019 animated musical film UglyDolls, written by Christopher Lennertz and Glenn Slater. The song was performed in its original show-tune "Movie version" in the film by American singer Kelly Clarkson in her vocal role as Moxy, accompanied by select members of the film's cast—Pitbull, Blake Shelton, Wanda Sykes, and Gabriel Iglesias. Lennertz and Slater also wrote a "Pop version" solely recorded by Clarkson that was used in the film's closing credits.