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With its starry musician-led cast and its message of diversity, acceptance and inclusion, new animated movie UglyDolls is a feelgood choice for EIFF’s family
gala. Director Kelly Asbury tells Katie Goh what
sparked his interest in the project and the pivotal role
music plays in the fi lm
28 THE LIST 1 Jun–31 Aug 2019
D ifference, unconventionality rule in UglyDolls, the new animated fi lm from STX Entertainment. While many kids’ fi lms preach about the need for self-acceptance, they tend to feature perfect, unrealistic animated versions of people that don’t look much like their audiences. UglyDolls, in comparison, is a breath of fresh air; a good-hearted, fun kids fi lm about
and freakiness
celebrating difference and friendship no matter what you look like.
In the town of Uglyville, we meet a host of colourful characters who, curious about the outside world, decide to venture beyond the safety of their town. On the other side of the mountain that shelters Uglyville, they discover another town, Perfection. There, conventional dolls are trained to be ‘perfect’ before heading into the arms of a child. The UglyDolls are forced to grapple with their identities and fi gure out what it means to be different in a world surrounded by perfection.
While UglyDolls explores relatively deep and timely issues for a kids movie, the fi lm is also a musical adventure, packed full of catchy tunes by the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Janelle Monae, Blake Shelton and Pitbull who also lend their speaking voices to the dolls. Other speaking roles are voiced by a similarly star-studded cast, including Wanda Sykes, Emma Roberts, Gabriel Iglesias, Wang Leeho, Bebe Rexha, CharliXCX and Lizzo. For director, Kelly Asbury, both the music and the emotions behind the fi lm sparked his interest in getting involved with the production. ‘I fi rst