Movie Review: PollyWorld

PollyWorld a.k.a Polly World: Her First Full-Length Movie a.k.a Polly Pocket: PollyWorld
Curious Pictures, Humoring The Fates, Mattel, Universal Animation Studios, USA, 2006.

Polly has a new theme park PollyWorld and she invites friends to participate in a charity contest Roll Like That. The show is hosted by every girls' favourite megastar Donovan Ware. Beth, her rival, challenges Polly's team. Beth is jealous as Polly is the most popular girl in the class.

Polly (middle) and her friends

Beth (middle) and her friends

I don't know much about Polly's background but her dad is loaded, she lives in a mansion and has a butler named Samuel. Samuel is also driving Polly's limo. Polly and her friends play in their band Polly and the Pockets.

Samuel

The contest is challenging and Beth does mischiefs to win. Then comes the shock: Polly's single-parent dad John has a new girl friend. Lorelei seems to be nice but she is a scheming woman. Together with Beth she plans to send Polly away so she could get her hands into dad's millions. Polly has to make tough choices to ensure her dad's happiness.

John and Lorelei

Party!

The contestants

The Polly Pocket toys were originally pocket-sized play sets. The doll houses would fit into a cosmetic pocket box. Those that I remember seeing in the toy stores in the early 1990s looked like this:

When Mattel acquired the rights the doll designs were changed drastically. When this film was made they had evolved into a more Barbie-like dolls with teen looks:

Mattel must have annoyed a lot of old fans of the toys by removing the original key asset: miniature size. Although the dolls were still quite small, the new toy sets wouldn't fit into a pocket anymore. The ever changing character design must have been alienating for the new fans of the dolls also. The design changes made the toys more childlike in 2010 and that seems to have been the final nail in the coffin. New toys haven't been sold since 2015 so the toy line seems to quite dead at the moment. It is like the revamping of the Masters of the Universe toy line in 1989 that failed and killed the fan interest for the series but that is another story.

The movie is okay teen drama for girls and fans of the dolls, but for a random viewer the side characters' and most specially Polly's friends seem to lack personality. The butler is slightly more interesting case and he has a running joke about him being the mother-figure for Polly. The story has the usual elements of the genre, songs, some humour and friendship so it is nice entertainment for kids.

Rating: Average

Voice actors: Tegan Moss, Chiara Zanni, Nicole Bouma, Natalie Walters, Brittney Wilson, Tabitha St. Germain, Jocelyne Loewen, Nicole Oliver, Russell Robert, Kathleen Barr, Michael Donovan, Alessandro Juliani, Teryl Rothery, Andrew Francis, Matt Hill, Danny McKinnon, Terry Klassen, Cassidy Ladden

Director: Bill Moore