Doogal

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Not to be confused with the 2016 Indian film Dangal

Doogal
Doogal ver2 xlg.jpg
Congratulations, The Weinstein Company! You’ve nearly ruined The Magic Roundabout series!
Genre: Adventure
Fantasy
Comedy
Directed By: Dave Borthwick
Jean Duval
Frank Passingham
Produced By: Claude Gorsky
Andy Leighton
Pascal Rodon
Written By/Screenplay: Butch Hartman (U.S. version; later rewritten without his consent by Harvey Weinstein)
Based On: The Magic Roundabout TV Series
Starring: Daniel Tay
Kylie Minogue (Re-voiced in an American accent, with some of her lines changed)
William H. Macy
Whoopi Goldberg
Jimmy Fallon
Chevy Chase
Ian McKellen (Retained from the UK version)
Jon Stewart
Bill Hader
Kevin Smith (completely silent in the French and British versions)
Judi Dench
Eric Robinson
Heidi Brook Myers
Cory Edwards
John Krasinski
Distributed By: The Weinstein Company (U.S. version)
Release Date: February 24, 2006
Runtime: 78 Min (U.S. version)
Country: United States
Language: English
Budget: $20 million
Box Office: $26.7 million
Sequel: Untitled The Magic Roundabout/Doogal Sequel (Cancelled)

Untitled New The Magic Roundabout Installment (In-Development)

Doogal is the official American English-language dub of The Magic Roundabout, released in France as Pollux - Le manège enchanté, a 2005 French-British computer-animated adventure comedy fantasy film, based on the TV series, of the same name. Doogal was released in the United States, where audiences are not as familiar with the series, on February 24, 2006. While both the original 2005 FR/UK version of the movie, and the 2007 revival television series was based on the original 1963 television series that had mixed-to-positive critical, and audience feedback, Doogal is panned, and is considered to be one of the worst animated movies, or dubs, ever made. It is a rare case, where a dub of a movie, and the original are judged, on different spectrums.

For over 19 years, this was the final main entry in the Magic Roundabout series, that is until 2023, were a new version is being made by Method Animation, targeted for 2024, that will try to, "find a balance between the French and English contexts".

Plot

This movie is the story of Doogal, an adorable candy-loving mutt who goes on a mission to save the world. Doogal must prevent the evil sorcerer Zeebad from freezing the earth forever with the power of the three mysterious legendary diamonds. Joining Doogal on his big quest are pals Dylan, a guitar-playing rabbit, Ermintrude, an opera-singing cow, and Brian, a bashful snail. Hopping on a magic train, they travel over ice-capped mountains, navigate fiery pits of lava, and sail across vast oceans on the perilous journey of a lifetime. Along the way, they learn that the most powerful weapon of all is their friendshipーwhich even Zeebad's magic cannot destroy!

Why It's Not Magical

Note: This will only focus on issues present in Doogal, the American version of, The Magic Roundabout; references to any narrative issues, present in the French/UK English dubs are based on their continued problematic presence, in the former.

  1. Overuse of pointless narration, presumably in an attempt to justify the cost of hiring Judi Dench in the role, of things that viewers can see for themselves, often undercutting several of the film's more prominent dramatic scenes, most notably Zeebad's breakout, and the slow-motion climax.
  2. Poor attempts at humor, consisting mostly of constant pop culture references, and flatulence jokes, which were not present in the original British and French version. The film therefore suffers, from an incessant number of context-irrelevant, and overly rapid-fire pop-culture allusions, some of the more egregious as follows:
    • One scene, where the now-audible skeletons flat-out mention, "here’s Johnny!", from The Shining, one of the skeletons says, "bring out your dead!", from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and when one skeleton mentions Pirates of the Caribbean, another tells the other, "I said no more Disney jokes", and one yells, “wazzup”, from Scary Movie.
    • Upon discovery of the hidden tunnel, Zeebad says, "well, someone’s been watching CSI."
    • A reference to Thomas & Friends, is said, during the chase scene, where Zeebad says, "we're gonna lose this race to Thomas the tank engine?!", obviously referencing, and poking fun, at the train, even though Thomas & Friends has nothing to do with The Magic Roundabout!
      • While the book version of Thomas & Friends was made, before The Magic Roundabout television series, it still feels very out of place.
    • When the gang finds the first diamond, Dylan catches the diamond, and lustfully claims, "my precious", then, "kidding", referencing Lord of the Rings.
    • During the camping scene, there were added sound effects, where Brian is playing a video game, and he mentions Master Chief from Halo, even though he never owned a gaming console, in the original series, and movie!
      • This is especially out of line for Brian to say that, as The Magic Roundabout, as in the 1963 television series that this film is based off of, was made WAY before Halo was even created.
    • During the temple scene, Dylan mentions Pink Floyd, when he is amazed by the alarm beams, and claims that he is Neo from The Matrix when the skeletons rise upon them.
    • When Train first appears, he says, "I'm the train, and you're not", which references Saturday Night Live.
    • Ermintrude says to the skeletons, "lookin' all dawn of the dead, and everything", referencing Dawn of the Dead.
    • When Zeebadbad demands Doogal to hand over the map, Doogal responds with, "forget it, frosty!", which references Frosty the Snowman.
    • When Ermintrude wakes up Dylan, he suddenly says, "what's up, Doc?", which is Bugs Bunny's famous catchphrase.
    • The train says, "I think I can, I think I can!", when trying to climb back up the ledge, which is a reference to both, Dumbo, and The Little Engine That Could.
    • Doogal mentions Hogwarts from Harry Potter, when the skeletons merge into a giant skeleton.
    • Zeebad mentions the Star Trek convention, during the chase scene.
    • There are so many random pop-culture references that we wish to add to the list, but all 27, or more are listed in IMDb here or a compression video on YouTube here.
    • Screenwriter Cory Edwards, co-writer of, "Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil", is mostly to blame, for these unfunny jokes.
  3. It's very unnecessary, to even dub Doogal, in the first place, as the original UK version of the movie was already in Englishーwhile it can be argued that US cultural preferences differ to the extent, where a re-dub could be justified, particularly in light of the unfamiliarity of the franchise to general US audiences, the re-dub in question attempts to distance itself from the UK dub, by exaggerating its, "Americanized", humor and dialogue, to an absurd, almost self-parodying degree, indicating the WC's approach to adapting the film to be overly extreme.
  4. False advertising: The trailer claims the movie was created by Butch Hartman, though he isn’t mentioned, with the line, "from the creator of The Fairly OddParents!". This is 100% false, since he wrote only 3% of his script for the movie, that appears in the final version.
  5. Stunt casting: The majority of the original British voices, have been dubbed over, by celebrities, more familiar to the American public, despite most of the original British cast, being famous in the United States, solely for target nationality, and/or to increase box office returns, and regardless of the extent to which these actors actually fit their respective roles, such as Kevin Smith, as the infamous flatulent moose. Only two members of the original British cast, Ian McKellen and Kylie Minogue, return to reprise their roles.
    • However, Minogue decided to re-dub her role, with an American accent, while McKellen remained the only character, whose voice was unchanged.
      • Speaking of McKellen, it's possible that the production crew re-used dialogue from the original British version, because in the scene, where Zebedee explains Zeebad's motives, he says the word, "roundabout", but most of the characters say, "carousel", instead.
  6. It has no sense of pacing.
  7. In the original version of the film, some characters like the train and the moose barely speak. But in this movie, they were given voices solely to provide Kevin Smith and Chevy Chase cameo appearances, also in the original United Kingdom version, the moose did not talk, but the train could do so.
  8. The lip-syncing is very poor, and there are moments, where there's added dialogue in scenes, where characters don't even speak, like for example, in the Mr. Blue Sky sequence, Brian says, "hey! It's Doogal, just in time for the picnic, of course!", however if you look closely, you can see that, he actually doesn't move his mouth, this is, due to the fact, that, in the original version, the sequence is mostly silent, aside from Ermintrude singing a part of the song, meaning, there was no need to add dialogue, there.
  9. Terrible voice acting, even from famous actors, such as, Jimmy Fallon, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jon Stewart. There's also barely any enthusiasm of the cast, because of how dead they sound, even for a CGI-animated movie. Almost none of them, were really even trying, especially the US actor, Jon Stewart, who plays Zeebad, the main villain, who sounds bored, instead of villainous.
    • On a related note, the voice of Doogal, provided by Daniel Tay, shockingly sounds nothing like Robbie Williams. Also, why would Doogal need a voice of a child?
      • In the US trailer of the movie, they kept Doogal's original voice, but not in the actual movie.
  10. Some of the characters are dumbed down, in this dub. For example, Doogal became a fat cowardly idiot, who only cares about sweets and candy, and Ermintrude has a sassy personality, similar to that of her US dub actress, Whoopi Goldberg, instead of a mature one.
  11. Many scenes and bits were cut, and moved around in this version, for continuity. For example:
    1. A post-credit scene, showing Zeebad in his prison, was removed from the American version, for unknown reasons, thus leaving Zeebad's fate unknown.
    2. Doogal's nightmare sequence of himself, and Florence, in a sugar paradise, before Florence duplicates herself, and becomes evil, were also removed, though this is most likely due to it be being scary, for kids.
    3. Live footage of the American actors recording for the film was added into the end credits.
    4. The sequence of Doogal playing with Florence and his friends which features the song, "Mr. Blue Sky" by Electric Light Orchestra was moved from the halfway point of the film to the very end, thus while making the ending a bit more involved and happy, makes it last way too long.
    5. Every shot, that involved Zeebad's ice fortress, was also cut from this movie. Glimpses of the fort can be seen in the background in a few shots, but it's never shown in full view.
  12. Poor grasp of the source material, especially for an adaptation, despite American audiences' lack of familiarity, with the 1960's television basis.
  13. Plot hole: It is revealed at the end of the movie, that the ice enclosing the carousel, could've been cracked, through conventional, means Ermintrude breaks the ice with her singing.

Redeeming Qualities

  1. Nice soundtrack, with most of the music score carried over, from the original version.
  2. The animation is at least decent.
  3. The fight scene, between Zebedee and Zeebad, is nothing short of awesome.
    1. On that note, the final battle was pretty epic.
  4. There are some unintentionally funny moments, such as when Zebedee says, "GET THE DI-A-MONDS!", while falling from the ice fortress, and the near the end of the volcano scene when Dynlan is trying to figure out how to use the Magic Box, only for Brian, Ermintrude and even Doogal to sarcastic stare at him and yell, "Just. Press. THE BUTTON!!!", at Dylan.
  5. The film is far superior in French and British English. It also has Tom Baker, better known as the fourth doctor from Doctor Who, as the voice of Zeebad, instead of Jon Stewart, providing Zeebad, despite his relative lack of defined characterization, with a more imposing, and menacing presence, absent from Stewart's more comical depiction.
  6. At least Florence, Basil, Coral, Mr. Rusty, Mr. Grimsdale, and Zebedee don't make lame pop cultural references, unlike everyone else.
  7. Butch Hartman, who wrote the original draft of the American dub, apologized for ruining the movie, claiming that only 3% of his script appears in the final version, approximately only two lines of dialogue.

Reception

While the original UK-dubbed version received mostly positive reviews, the US dubbed version, has become pretty infamous, for its overabundance of pop culture references, and flatulence jokes, Butch Hartman revealed in a 2017 interview during the Weinstein scandal and the MeToo and Time's Up movement that his actual script was actually re-written, and even re-recorded, without his consent, by Harvey Weinstein, and his distribution, and production company, The Weinstein Company, with a screenplay, by Hoodwinked! co-director, Cory Edwards. At least 3% of his actual script made it into the final cut.

Also, unlike the French-British CGI film, which was a success, at the box office worldwide, the American version miserably failed, at the box office, holding a record, for the time, of having the worst opening week for a computer-animated movie ever, only gaining $3,605,899 on its opening week, and $7,417,319, overall, domestically out of its budget, of $20 million. The record was later surpassed, by 2008's Delgo, at $511,920 on its opening week, and $694,782 worldwide, against a budget of $40 million.

Trivia

  1. So far, this is the only film, to be produced by Action Synthese.
  2. The US failure of the movie, alongside with The UK failure of The Hottie and the Nottie, led to Pathé UK, giving up UK distribution rights, in 2010, with one of their films, Chatroom, being transferred, to the now defunct Revolver Entertainment. The company then began producing biographical films, such as The Iron Lady, Philomena, Pride, Florence Foster Jenkins, and Judy, and since then, only distributed of Pedro Almodóvar's films in the UK.
  3. Doogal is the first and, so far, only film, in The Magic Roundabout series.
  4. This was the final film to be produced, by Bolex Brothers, before it was acquired by DHX Media.
  5. A sequel to this film was in development in 2004, by Action Synthese, before the film was released. Unfortunately to some, Action Synthese shut down in 2013, and the sequel, along with an animated film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, and a CGI film of Space Goofs, called Stupid Invaders, not to be confused with the video game, of the same name released in 2000, were both canceled.

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External links

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