Doogal

This was a new Disney movie I had the unfortunate desire to watch recently. I was lured to the film by all the wonderful actors doing the voices, a whole long list of some of my favorite people. All that talent! Wasted! In a ten-star rating I'd be hard-pressed to give it even a whole star, I'm leaning more towards maybe a half-star, and that's really sad considering how lenient I generally am in movies. Even my mother, in a term I cannot recall her ever using before, rated the movie - "Lame" she said.

The whole movie was filled with annoying characters and jokes upon jokes upon jokes...and they were all bad. Bad, bad, bad. The only things I can go easy on are the soldier, Jon Stewart and his character (possibly because they tried to make less jokes), some of the rabbit's jokes weren't as bad as they could have been, and the ending song sequence (just because I adore that song). Mr. Blue Skies by ELO, they're probably counting on it to sell soundtracks. It's a good thing too, that the movie ended on a happy song note or I would have felt utterly desolate at my waste of two hours and the suffering of horrid jokes; as it was I was tapping my feet, vowing never to watch a British animated film again without reading the reviews first and vaguely resentful of time wasted. Tricky.

On imdb.com the trivia section states that only two characters were not re-voiced for the American release. Bret Fetzer on Peerflix.com writes that "Presumably, Doogal's target audience is the very young, yet the dialogue (rewritten for the American market) is crammed with allusions to adult fare like Saturday Night Live and Pulp Fiction. In fact--though it may have seemed differently with the original script--the entire movie comes across as an ungainly patchwork stitched together from scenes fromThe Wizard of Oz, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Matrix, Ice Age, and much more. The effect is not so much funny as inexplicable." Because I really am a nice person and hate to be so damning to a movie, I'm going to assume the British release was better, maybe even funny. Will I go find the British release and watch it? No. For those of you braves souls who are contemplating it, the title there is The Magic Roundabout.

Looking through the imdb reviews it's astonishing to see so many 1/10 star ratings, and Doogal has succesfully made it into the bottom 100 movies. There is some defense though for the movie, mostly through people who argue that it's for the under 3 age group, and randomly from some people who's first language isn't English. There were two, however, who created reviews of the movie that reminded me why I was an English major. They rated it highly, except they did it with supreme sarcasm.
Horneyman71 gave it ten stars and ended with this - "I could write for literally pages about the wonders that make up Doogal, but my hand grows weary. For people who say this movie is bad and for children under 1, i have only one thing to say: wrong. These white yuppies, living in yuppyville, do not know the real world, which in fact does consist of evil springs. This story reminds me of my childhood, when i too faced perilous danger, but with the help of my farting moose and hippie rabbit, i saved the day. Will Doogal? Things are about to get hairy!"

But my favorite review I shall publish in full, such is its brilliance.

Doogal is a magical fairy tale that will enchant kids of all ages., 27 July 2006

Author: Mythicalreviewer from Texas, USA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The story revolves around a legend that tells of three "magic" diamonds that can be united to create a force powerful enough to freeze the sun. It is a believable enough premise because just the other day I was sweating profusely on a hot summer day and remarked how I would like to freeze the sun for a bit. If only I had these magical diamonds myself.

Of course there is always a bad guy and he is personified in the evil sorcerer Zeebad (funny name is it not?). Well "zee bad" guy escapes from a long lost ancient prison and makes a solemn promise to exact revenge for all of the bad meals he had in prison by deep-freezing the earth forever. Not just for a day or a week but FOREVER! When Zeebad said this it just sent shivers down my spine that someone could do such as dastardly deed. It is a scene that will disturb your emotions to the point of ripping you heart out.

As the movie unfolds the audience is treated with four unlikely heroes that band together to keep the dastardly (or bastardly?) Zeebad from achieving his villainous plot. Believe me when I say that you will breathe a sigh of relief once you learn of the crusade of these heroes.

Oh did I mention that the heroes are lovable mutts? The leader of the heroes is a candy-loving mutt named Doogal who tends to lick himself just a little too much for my tastes. Then with cute lovable mutt-friends Dylan, Brian, and Ermintrude, they all embark on an epic adventure to save the world.

But in order to find the three magical diamonds before Zeebad, they must brave icy mountains, negotiate fiery pits of molten lava, chart across vast oceans and pass through a booby-trapped temple guarded by an army of ninja skeleton warriors. All these serve to bring the realism of an exciting adventure that you will be sure to play over and over in your worst nightmares.

But the most beautiful aspect of this movie is the message that syrupy friendships can be the most powerful weapon, which even the evil Zeebad's magic cannot destroy.

I give this movie 10 stars for its soul inspiring message of using and leveraging friendships to achieving meaningless goals in one's life.

Hope you enjoyed. No it's not me, just a kindred soul from somewhere in Texas.