Customer Reviews

Doogal

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

The Magic Roundabout is a British television series adapted into a movie. There are three versions for the UK, France and the USA, and this one is the US version. I've seen both the UK and the US versions, and the US version is the better of the two, largely due to the narration of Dame Judi Dench which is not in my copy of the UK version. The UK version also uses different actors for some of the characters. (Most notably Robbie Williams and Bill Nighy)

The story is very simple, back to the old basics of good versus evil. Shaggy dog Doogal (Daniel Tay) accidentally releases bad wizard ZeeBad (Jon Stewart) from his prison inside the Magic Roundabout, causing a chain reaction that traps his owner Florence (Kylie Minogue) and her friends inside the iced over roundabout. Doogal and his friends call on good wizard Zebedee (Sir Ian McKellen), who sends them on a quest to recover three magical diamonds and replace them in the roundabout. If however ZeeBad gets his hands on the diamonds he will have the power to freeze the sun triggering an eternal ice age.

The intrepid adventurers are Doogal, Ermintrude the opera singing cow (Whoopi Goldberg), Brian the brave snail who's in love with Ermintrude (William H. Macy), Dylan the tripped out rabbit (Jimmy Fallon) and Train the train with tunnel vision (Chevy Chase). ZeeBad enlists Soldier Sam (Bill Hader) formerly of the roundabout to be his accomplice, and along the way they meet a helpful but flatulent Moose (Kevin Smith).

With this kind of star power Doogal should have been a great movie, but somewhere along the way it changed from a children's story to an action movie spoof, thereby effectively losing both intended audiences. It has a few laughs, some catchy music and you'll have fun picking out the pop culture and movie references, but that's about it. Rent it for the star power, but don't expect too much.



Amanda Richards, July 3, 2006

The history of this film is a bit confusing to me. I first knew it as a production from the people who made "Hoodwinked," found out later that it was based off an old British stop-motion TV series, then after some research found out it was originally a French series translated into English on the BBC and now made into film. Reportedly the English fellow responsible for writing the English scripts for the show would watch the French episodes then write in new dialogue with his own story ideas. I think this was followed somewhat with this movie - more on that later.

The story is centered around a happy little town with a carousel at its center. The village is led by the kind wizard Zebedee, a strange toy-like fellow who's a spring from the waist down, who long ago trapped the evil twin wizard Zeebad in the carousel. One day out title character Doogal (who is oh-so-competant) is trying to hijack a truck carrying candy when he crashes into the carousel, unleashing Zeebad into the world. With the carousel frozen and Doogal's beloved owner trapped inside, Zebedee informs Doogal and his friends (Ermintrude the cow, Dylan the rabbit, and Brian the snail) that they have to collect three crystals from across the land to put in the carousel to trap Zeebad forever.

OK, few points her. First off, you couldn't put Zeebad, one of the most dangerous wizards in the universe, in anything more stable or defensive? A simple car crash unleashes death and destruction across the globe? Also, if these three crystals are the secret to keeping Zeebad locked up forever, why didn't you go get them and keep them handy nearby in case this happened? As a matter of fact, why didn't you go get them and use them the minute you trapped Zeebad? Am I the only one who thinks about these things?

Doogal and his troupe go on their wacky, wonderful adventure, screwing up along the way. Seriously. These people can't do anything right. They allow Zeebad to get all the crystals, and thirty minutes in they even give him the map to all the crystals. The dialogue in this particular scene is very bizarre - Zeebad is threatening Brian when Ermintrude steps in:

Ermintrude: "You mess with the snail, you mess with the cow!"
*pause*
Ermintrude: "Here's the map!"
Me: *watching the movie* "WHAT?!"

Wow, way to fight the villain guys. Here's an idea, just capitulate and let him reign death and destruction on all your loved ones if you're just going to spoonfeed the position of the crystals to him. Again, am I the only one that thinks on these things?

Knowing what I've just told you, you can probably second-guess what happens at the end, as I did thirty minutes into the movie. But really, I can't blame the movie's faults on the plot alone, because much of my anger was towards the dialogue and characters. Remember when I mentioned the English guy added his own dialogue in? Apparently this was also done with this movie. From what I've heard there was originally a British cast for this film and it was called "The Magic Roundabout," true to the original series. Except for the roles of Zebedee, the narrator, and Florence (Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, and Kylie Minogue respectively) the other characters were dubbed over. What does this get you?

Well, it gets you Whoopi Goldberg as a wise-cracking ghetto cow. Yes, a cow named "Ermintrude" that says things like "You're lookin' at a diva!" and sounds like any sentence she says is going to end in, "Shyeeeet!" I also agree Doogal's voice was very annoying, and to be honest it didn't seem to fit the character - I understand now why on the TV trailers for this film you didn't hear Doogal's voice at all. You also have Jimmy Fallon as Dylan the rabbit, and while Fallon's a funny guy the persona he gives Dylan of a rock 'n roll stoner seems odd and forced. In fact, you hear better, more relaxed voice acting from the entire cast in the bloopers at the end. I also want to talk about Kevin Smith and the moose - I don't know if there was originally a voice for the moose in the UK version, but his dialogue was the most forced...and what was with the fart jokes? Did we really need those for the moose? Seriously.

I also think they went with way too many liberties on the dialogue. I have a feeling that they added in a lot of stuff that wasn't in the original film. Why, you ask? For one, the lip-syncing is off so many times it becomes unbearable - what the characters say and what the mouths look like don't go together. Also, there were so many moments when characters didn't even have their mouths moving and were still talking! Remember at the beginning of "Mrs. Doubtfire" when Robin Williams keeps talking even when the bird on the screen isn't? Yeah, it looks like that. And, like I said, a lot of the dialogue comes across as forced, and there are so many wise-cracking stupid jokes that the dialogue will actually bump into each other, not giving you a breather for a second. This is combined with waaaaaaay too many pop-culture references. The greatest sinner in the entire film is the skeleton scene:

Skeleton Warriors: *mouths not moving* "Pirates of the Carribean!" / "Want some ribs?" / "Bring out your dead!"
Dylan: "I was trained by Morpheus!" *strikes a pose* "My name isn't Dylan, it's Neo..." *beats up the skeletons* "There is no spoon!"

It was right here I wanted to kill myself.

It could have been a cute little film, but in the end what you get is slaughtered by the bad dialogue. Forget shooting fish in a barrel - take an M30, stick it in the water, and pull the trigger, and THAT would be how easily the dialogue kills this movie. It's your typical example of why so many animated movies today fail. Instead of working on a good script to go with great visuals, you get billions of dollars spent on visuals peppered with pop-culture references that will die out in five years and stupid jokes every single second. Trust me, I doubt even your kids will like this. Just in case they might, however, blot out any sign that this movie exists to them...at least until they can comprehend things like "character development," "plot," or "good writing."

For all the people who enjoyed classic animated films like Beauty and the Beast or Peter Pan or Aladdin, be prepared to throw up on your television and gouge out your eyes. Doogal is so unimaginably bad, that it's a sin to God. The movie starts off with a moustached man named Zebedee who can shoot fireballs from his moustache and is fighting a man named Zeebad who can shoot iceballs from his moustache. The good guy, Zebedee, wins and then cuts to a scene where Doogal, the main character, wants some candy. Everyone else in Doogal's town is at a concert where a cow, Ermintrude, is singing. Only a snail, who probably wants the cow in bed with him, likes the music. Whene Doogal tries to get away from the concert he gets a lollypop but accidentily releases Zeebad from his prison. Zeebad was actually locked up in a ten thousand year old caresel, and, oh, did I mention that this caresel was magical? Somehow, Doogals owner gets locked up in the caresel Then out of nowhere, everyone chants Zebedee three times and the mosetache man who shoots fireballs from his mousache appears and tells everyone that they must go on a magical quest to get three crystals and save humanity. Then Zebedee takes out a magic box with a button on it and presses it. Then a magic train on crack comes out and takes them to find the three crystals. The movie then cuts to Zeebad where a moose farts a few times. Later in the movie the snail is almost killed by icicles that fall down only to say, "I slimed myself." Not only that, what is up with the pot smoking bunny? In one of the final scenes of the movie, the bunny says "I pooped myself!" If that's all the movie writers could think of when making this movie, they were on crack. The bottom line is that even a five year old retard on pot wouldn't like this film!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This movie should be buried in a landpile and burned to hell!!! I could give this movie lower than one star it would be negative 999999999999999 stars out of five stars.

After seeing Hoodwinked and enjoying it, I looked forward to this movie, by the same makers. Also, with talent like Kevin Smith, Chevy Chase, Whoopi Goldberg and William H. Macy, I had high expectations. I was very disappointed.

The movie makes a few cultural references, which is amusing, but not really funny. There are very few actual jokes, and characters that are not at all developed after the initial introduction. The wizards, good and evil, look like Jack-in-the-Boxes which have escaped their boxes, which seems odd and unnecessary. Their powers come from their pizza-box-guy stereotype mustasches, which is sort of cute.

Small children will probably enjoy the brightly colored scenes and the triumph of good over evil, but I'd give this one a miss if you're over 6. I gave it two stars because it wasn't so bad that I had to turn it off, though I came close.

This is a simple, sweet story that is definitely for littler kids. I suspect the people who have given the film a bad rating here were disappointed by it's "lack" of mature humor that is so brilliantly scripted in movies like Shrek. Monster Inc., or The Incredibles (I frankly found this the beauty of the film and quite refreshing). The animation is also more focused on an illustrated look rather than realism. So, if you're an adult without kids, ignore this film.

BUT, if you have little ones (mine are 3 1/2 and 18 months), definitely buy or rent this film. I'll be honest, it isn't a film that has such impact that you keep talking about it (like Incredibles or Shrek or Robots). It's simply a sweet children's story with a good plot that relates the dangers of selfishness and self-centeredness and the benefits of friendship and teamwork very well. It also shows that even the most misguided of us can be redeemed by our good actions. It's something you'd see on the Disney channel and worth adding to your children's library of "good message" movies.

I personally would love to see it with the original British cast (Dame Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellan, thankfully, remained in the film...and I loved the comic performance of Bill Hader as Soldier Sam!). I think the American cast was mixed oddly in the casting room office, some of the choices work, some don't. Two very odd choices were the use of Jon Stewart as the villian and Whoopie Goldberg as Ermintrude the Cow and I think they somehow work once you get over the juxtaposition of the voices to the characters. Jon Stewart pulls it off because he's so darned sardonic. I'm still trying to decide if Whoopie truly works as an opera singing cow.... Daniel Tay as Doogal...ehh...nothing to write home about. Jimmy Fallon portrayed the laid-back, hippie-esque Dylan the Rabbit with ease, of course. I loved William H. Macy as Brian, his calm voice fits the country Snail beautifully. Fallon and Macy (along with Hader) were probably the best performances in the film.

I've often found that young children go into animated movies with the same mindset: they'll love it even before the lights in the theater go dim. And what's not to love? Everything is bright, wacky, and fun, no one gets killed, and a happy ending is virtually guaranteed. Of course, adults have a different set of standards for the films they'd prefer to see. Sure, a family film is okay; at least then there's something for everyone. But if they're forced to sit through a cartoon made entirely for young children, then there's a lot to be desired. "Doogal" is definitely a children's film, and for them, I would recommend it. But for adults, even those who have young children ... well, it may be something you'll want to pass on.

A completely computer generated adventure, "Doogal" has everything a child would love: lots of vivid colors, talking animals, talking toys, juvenile comedy, and harmless dialogue. Of course, the visuals will probably distract them from the basic good vs. evil storyline. Then again, they may not; it's a genre that's been utilized in countless numbers of cartoons, most of which they've seen on more than a couple of occasions (and for that we can thank the folks at Disney). It's a genre that also has the ability to close cultural gaps. The film itself is proof of that; it was originally produced in France, only to later be re-dubbed by English speaking actors. The script was also completely rewritten by American born Butch Hartman, the creator of Nickeloden's "Fairly Odd Parents."

Nothing was complex or detailed as far as the plot is concerned, and the characters were appropriately made one-dimensional (a plus, considering the average child's attention span). In what was obviously crafted to be an under aged salute to the "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy, "Doogal" is the story of a puppy and his quest to save the world. When the evil sorcerer Zeebad (Jon Stewart) is accidentally released from his merry-go-round prison, he takes his revenge by covering the whole world in snow and ice. Things only go downhill when he steals three magic diamonds, the ones that have the ability to freeze the sun permanently. If there's to be any hope of thawing the frozen landscape, then the diamonds have to be restored. (It should be noted here that Zeebad is a metal spring. That's right: a metal spring.)

Here enters the good sorcerer Zebedee (Ian McKellen, whose character is also a metal spring). He puts together a ragtag fellowship specifically for this dangerous quest. It's led by Doogal (Daniel Tay), a self-serving, candy obsessed young mutt whose best friend, Florence (Kyle Minogue), has been imprisoned by a wall of ice. If he's to succeed in saving her--as well as in saving the world--he must learn to think of others and not just himself. Helping him are his friends, including: Dylan (Jimmy Fallon), a guitar playing rabbit who is always sleepy; Ermintrude (Whoopie Goldberg), a cow who dreams of musical stardom (despite the fact that she can't sing to save her life); and Brian (William H. Macy), a levelheaded snail who happens to be in love with Ermintrude. (Don't bother asking why; remember, this is a kid's film.) Completing the list of characters in the unseen narrator, voiced by the Academy Award nominated Judi Dench.

Yes, "Doogal" is the kind of film kids would love. Unfortunately, I'm an adult, and I couldn't help but analyze it from an adult's perspective. There was just so much that didn't work for me, not the least of which was animation that couldn't hold a candle to the likes of Dreamworks or Pixar. Every shot looked like an amateurish, half-hearted attempt, qualities that would only be dismissible were it a weekly cartoon on Playhouse Disney or Kids' WB. I'm not saying the characters had to look realistic: if anything, that would hurt the movie more. I just felt that the graphics people could have put a little more effort into things like texture, lighting, and movement. I also would have liked it if the characters' mouth movements were redone. I've already told you that this was originally a French film. Because of that, the voices were out of sync with the mouths. At first I could let it go, but after a while I found it to be distracting and detrimental to the movie.

Another problem was a noticeable clash of comedic styles. Visually speaking, the audience is immersed in a toddler's dream world: completely sterile, fantastic, and loaded with a mishmash of seemingly unconnected creatures. (Who'd have thought you'd see a film where humans, animals, and toys coexisted?) This in and of itself works. However, it loses cohesion when you factor in Hartman's Americanized dialogue. Almost every joke in this film is a pop culture reference, something that seemed too removed from the genre and too mature for young audiences. Would four-year-olds understand any of the references to "Lord of the Rings"? For that matter, would they understand the references to "Star Trek," "King Kong," or "Indiana Jones"? I hope they can, because they all find their way into the movie.

Even some of the voice styles worked against the movie. Case in point: Dylan the rabbit, whose guitar playing called for him to sound like a wasted rock star. Fallon's tired and consistently disinterested performance might have worked had "Doogal" been aiming for a preteen audience. I don't know; I just think that if the filmmakers insisted on including jokes adults would get, they should have veered away from the cruder gags only children would appreciate. The best example is a moose (Kevin Smith) that continuously passes gas.

I guess this review is basically a warning to parents: your child in all likelihood will love "Doogal," but you in all likelihood will not. It's just not meant for anyone over the age of eight. I suppose that's not a bad thing; kids enjoy seeing movies that live up to their standards of entertainment. I still think it would have been better if the humor had meshed with the film's overall look. But what do I know? As I said earlier, I'm an adult.

I hate the phrase A-okay just as much as I hate the movie Doogal! This movie barely had a story to it! It was just one popculture reference after another with no story connecting those references! I was just waiting for that crappy phrase it's the nineties ya'll! If it had the"It's the 90's" phrase I would have given it -100 stars! I do know it's not the 90's( this movie wasn't made in the 90's either) but even so that Phrase sucks now just as much as it did then!
Doogal had some ugly looking character designs and dull dialogue! I agree that Doogal's voice sucks!
I recommend Hoodwinked over this turd any day!

If I could give this movie less than 1 star, I would.

I saw this movie a few summers ago as part of a free summer screening series at a local theater. I thought it would be fun to take my two youngsters out to a wholesome G-rated movie...I'm STILL regretting the time spent there that I'll never get back.

I could not remember the name of this film and spent the last 20 minutes searching for it just so I could warn others to turn away...don't look directly at it! I am not a vindictive person and don't enjoy tearing apart the work of others. However, it is beyond me how so many talented, well-known actors found themselves doing the voices for this movie. Did they not read the script? I really wonder how far they got into making this movie before they realized - WITH HORROR - that they were contractually obligated to see it through to the end. A week? A day?

There is soooo much wrong with this movie and I don't remember the plot (even though I just read the synopsis of the film!) Perhaps it is because there IS NO PLOT. It is just one bad moment after another and the one part about it that I do remember involves the characters coming into a town. No one seems to be bothered by or even notice the absence of any other living thing in this otherwise cheery town. There is an amusement park or carousel or something like that in the center of town - no one running it and no inhabitants - yet there it is.

It's awful. And just to be clear, it's not the kind of awful that is so bad that it's good in a different way. No. This is a time waster with absolutely NOTHING redeeming about it. I saw it for FREE and still remember it as the worst movie I've ever seen. I can't imagine how I'd feel if I paid any money to see it.

Yes, the dog looking creature thing in the photo looks cute. That's what hooked me into seeing it. But there is a reason why you only see part of this creature called "Doogal." The rest of its head and body are just as incompletely visualized and realized as the rest of the movie. I don't know if it's a dog or a bear or an old skein of yarn and neither did my children who are pretty forgiving and easy going about these sorts of things.

Please don't let your curiosity get the best of you and buy it just for kicks...you'll be kicking yourself if you do!

This is a cut-down version of the superb Magic Roundabout from the UK. I found The Magic Roundabout around the time Doogal was coming out in theatres and my family loved it. We picked this up when it came out on DVD and wish we hadn't. Like I mentioned earlier, some parts of the US version were edited from the original UK edition (the UK version is 101 minutes vs the US version which is a lean 77 minutes. This editing, along with the inane voiceovers of the characters, killed this movie. It sounded more like Boyz N the Hood instead of a kids show. If only the scriptwriters didn't put in so many stupid references and concentrated on the product, this movie would have done better.

Do yourselves a favor - forget about this version of the movie. This was a blunder from the start. Pick up a region 1 version of The Magic Roundabout instead of this garbage and you will be much happier. The Magic Roundabout is a bit drier, but has so much more story that you'll be glad you did.

Too bad so many high profile stars were used for such a poorly written and boring movie. This should move to the bottom of the dustbin.