Search - Doogal on DVD

Fart jokes and Matrix references - where could you go wrong?

TrezKu13 | Norfolk, VA | 07/29/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"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.""

PAINFULLY BAD!

Midwest Reviewer | Midwest, US | 06/10/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"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!"