Rating: 
Summary: Bleak outlook of junior high
Review: Welcome to the Dollhouse is a very dark comedy about a girl named Dawn Weiner (played perfectly by Heather Matarazzo) and the abuse she gets at home and at school.Some of the kids are filty-mouthed, and speak language pretty strong even for adults. That, in its own way, contributes to the humor, I guess. Some other humorous aspects are Dawn's locker, which in the middle of the bank of lockers, is the only one that has huge sprawling nasty comments written all over it; her brother and 2 other band members playing "Satisfaction" on the clarinet, keyboard and drums; and there is a conniving little sister as well who intentionally gets Dawn in trouble frequently. At one point, the family watches a videotape of the parents' 20th anniversay party they just had. When Dawn gets pushed into a small wading pool by the little sister, they all (except Dawn) giggle and want to see it again. Later in the middle of the night, Dawn takes the tape outside and beats it with a hammer. She is also tempted to do the same thing to her sister, befroe going back to bed. Some nice touches include a few lingering camera shots, and an occassional emphatic drum and guitar counterpoint. I like the movie, but it could be offensive to some. Skimpy DVD extras for a slightly high price.
Rating:
Summary: Autobiographical?
Review: I think that this most likely is Mr. Solondz' painful recollection of the abuse at school and the neglect at home that he endured when he was growing up in suburban America.
I did not find this movie to be a comedy, although perhaps
at times it is darkly comical. It is a study of the psychology of a girl who undergoes unfortunate experiences. I think you need to have a strong stomach to see this movie. It is not for the faint of heart.
Rating:
Summary: does being ugly make your life hell?
Review: Todd Solonz and other alternative film makers are often inclined to explore the lives of the disadvantaged. the ugly, the stupid, the poor etc. some of the characters have the 3 way combination and their life is extremely difficult as a result. even though films like this tend to be often frame themselves under the loosely defined genre of black comedy, it seems fairly obvious they are implying things about where these sort of disadvantages lead u. in other words, does being ugly necessarily result in unhappiness? i think the answer here may very well be yes. Dawn's mindset is shaped by her own negative experiences, most of which come as a result of the way she looks. your appearance has such a significant role in configuring your personality without you even realising it. most of this 'shaping' occurs in your formative and teenage years, the most discriminatory period of life. once this negative self image has been established it often carries through into adult life. that's the truly scary part. this shows a girl whose life is over before it has even started. very depressing stuff. it's a constant, and perhaps timely, reminder of how life without certain advantages is absolutely brutal and debunks the falsehood of childhood innocence, an extremely false ideology that is most likely a by product of our looks obsessed culture. i mean most kids are cute right? this 'cuteness' is a reflection of their inner selves right? this is the world we live in people and Solonz is giving us a realist view that's devoid of the rose coloured glasses bias of previous generations. highly recommended
Rating:
Summary: Darkly Hilarious
Review: This is one that you either get...or you don't get. I find myself laughing out loud at this movie over and over again. It is dark humor though and many may find it disgusting. I think everyone needs to see it at least once.
Rating: 
Summary: ~~~0.o~~~ THEY FOUND HER TUTU! >_<
Review: I'd heard Welcome to the Dollhouse called 'honest', but really had no clue what that ment until I saw it. Usually in movies that seem to be making a point of being honest or realistic, it's over issues that most of us normally (or at least try to) maintain a safe distance from (war/violence, drugs, (romantic) love- at least the kind that goes less or more than 2 ways). Welcome to the Dollhouse isn't really that 'sort' of movie, but it does manage to convey, fairly honestly, situations and feelings that are probably consistent with those of anyone whose been a Middle School/Jr. High student (at least they were recognizably similar to my experiences). I wouldn't say that any of the characters, even the protagonist, in Welcome to the Dollhouse are particularly sympathetic, but, at least as realistic stereotypes (the nerdy older brother, cute little sister who milks it for all its worth, the awkward girl with a name that invites teasing, the uncaring parents, and cold, distanced teachers who apparently have no idea about what goes on in their classrooms), they have recognizable qualities, many of which I could prescribe to myself as a 13 year old (although I had the good "fortune" to be neither teased, bullied, or popular) living a miserable existence in the public education system and at home. All of this makes for am incongruently satirical movie that is alternately smirk-inducing and frustrating, but oddly true to life. I found myself not enjoying it as much as if it were more overtly satirical (Election) or if had taken the conventional route of sweet-revenge heroics (Carrie)... but those approaches would make it 'just another' movie instead of Welcome to the Dollhouse. People turned off by this might want to check out Solondz-directed 'Storytelling', which I found a less off-putting and a little more humorous (though still of the 'spewing black bile' type) than Dollhouse or Happiness.
Rating: 
Summary: Humiliating, Horrific, and real
Review: If you are a parent with a child in Junior High School I would highly recommend seeing this movie. Although it is horrifying, it will help you understand the kind of world your child is probably inhabiting everyday, and help you to be more kind and compassionate towards them. This movie so closely mirrored my own experiences that I almost wept. Not out of self-pity, but out of gratitute that someone else was finally telling the truth about life for many at that age. This movie does not exaggerate anything. Junior High School really is as brutal and humiliating as it is portrayed in this film. Aside from being realistic, this film is also superbly acted, written and directed. Todd Solondz is a genius.
Rating:
Summary: Revenge
Review: I get the impression the director is getting himself some
revenge here. No problem, there. This movie reminds me of
Stephen's King novel (and the movie) _Carrie,_ in which an
outcast girl is tormented by the piranha pit that high school
can be. Unfortunately, the poor girl in this movie, Dawn the
Wiener Dog, can't fight back. She just has to take it. An uncompromising and unsentimental look at a semi-dorky young woman stuck in a situation she cannot escape.
Rating:
Summary: A painfully honest film you will never forget
Review: Bold, unabashedly honest, psychologically riveting, and painfully mesmerizing are just a few of the words and expressions that come to mind when I think about this uniquely extraordinary film. First shown at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, Welcome to the Dollhouse walked away with the grand jury prize, and it is easy to see why. Writer/director/producer Todd Solondz brought a unique vision of the sharpest kind to this film, cutting right through the fluff of the typical "geek makes good" nonsense and forcing his artistic scalpel forcefully down into the nethermost regions of the adolescent heart. The story is so unsettling and painfully uncomfortable that some parents hesitated or refused to let their children participate in the filming. It's just an amazing, unforgettable movie. Eleven-year-old Heather Matarrazzo gives one of the most remarkable performances I've ever seen from an actress of such tender age. Her eyes and bodily expressions encapsulate and transmit the hurt and misery writhing inside her every moment, leaving the viewer helpless to do anything but watch with increasingly unrestrained unease. Born with the unfortunate name of Dawn Weiner, the poor girl is ridiculed, ignored, teased, insulted, and basically mentally terrorized every day at school. Chants of "Weiner Dog" follow her throughout the hallways, her locker is marked with awful graffiti, and even her teachers and administrators are less than kind to her. Then, after school, she has to come home to parents who dote on her smart older brother and "little miss perfect" younger sister. Dawn has only one friend, a younger neighbor boy who seems to be following in her ignominiously alienated footsteps. Dawn does not escape all of this mentally unscathed, taking her own anger out on her sister in particular and doing several things that good girls should not do. In the most surreal of story elements, Dawn longs to be rescued from her situation by a boy, but hers is not a Cinderella type of fantasy. Her infatuation with a rebellious high school boy is somewhat understandable, but her relationship with a certain school bully is nothing short of surreal. I only wish I could discuss the psychology of this aspect of the movie in this context. The one thing that really struck me about this movie is the fact that we never see Dawn cry; she internalizes all of her torments, and this does not have a pretty effect on her. I may be inventing a phrase here, but the director's vision seems to me to have been one of unsympathetic compassion. Far from holding Dawn up as the paragon of innocent, unrecognized virtue whose Prince Charming will come some day, he gives us a girl who becomes cruel in her own right to those few people around her, turning her hatred of others into a deep hatred of herself, several times teetering on the peak of mental unbalance. Solondz does not stray anywhere near the realm of fairy tale, as this ugly duckling does have an ugly side to her. The brutal honesty and lack of a visibly sympathetic portrayal of the character makes her worst moments even more unbearable to the viewer, and this is where the compassion kicks in. Solondz seemingly makes no effort to redeem this character in our eyes, yet the fact that he shows us, in such a harsh and brutal way, the miseries of this poor child's life makes her a character you desperately want to see find a degree of happiness. The only thing I don't really understand about Welcome to the Dollhouse is the dark comedy label it seems to have acquired. I found nothing funny whatsoever about anything I saw here. Maybe that's the sensitivity of the former nerd in me, but honestly this movie is just utterly dark and depressing. Those looking for laughs will probably not embrace Welcome to the Dollhouse, but those who want to see the harsh light of truth shone into the bottom of an individual's soul and learn something from the painful experience will walk away from this film a different person than they were an hour and a half earlier. This movie has the power to touch you in ways you may never have imagined.
Rating:
Summary: Harsh at times.
Review: This movie was amazing. It was really good and honest because it was so harsh at times. I'm not like most reviewers here who can relate to Dawn, so I think my opinion counts more in some way because for a movie to grab at me like this one did is incredible, especially since I have no emotional strings attacted to a tramautic child hood.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Film You'll Never Want To See Again
Review: This was a terrific movie, a gloves-off look at kids in junior high and high school, and it was brutally captivating. Everyone who has ever been a kid has lived the Dawn Wiener experience at one time or another -- some kids do it every day -- and all of us can recognize the well-portrayed misery from those times. This was just a great film, and I really don't think I can bring myself to ever watch it again.
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