Doug's 1st Movie

Doug's 1st Movie
Maybe you shouldn't count your chickens before they hatch.
Genre: Animation Comedy Directed By: Maurice Joyce Written By/Screenplay: Ken Scarborough Starring: Tom McHugh Fred Newman Chris Phillips Constance Shulman Frank Welker Doug Preis Guy Hadley Alice Playten Photography: Color Distributed By: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Release Date: March 26, 1999 Runtime: 83 Minutes Country: United States

Doug's 1st Movie (also known as Doug's First Movie) is a 1999 animated film based on the Disney version of the Nickelodeon television series Doug. The film was directed by Maurice Joyce, and stars the regular television cast of Tom McHugh, Fred Newman, Chris Phillips, Constance Shulman, Frank Welker, Alice Playten and Guy Hadley. It was produced by Jumbo Pictures and Buena Vista, and released by Walt Disney Pictures on March 26, 1999.

Plot

Doug and his friends find a "monster" living in the woods outside their town, but when they find the monster is actually kind of nice, they find themselves hunted by "bad guys" who want the monster. In addition, Doug has to compete for the attention of Patti Mayonnaise with a snobby 8th grader, Guy Graham. Will Doug get to take Patti to the Valentine's Day dance?

Unfunnie Qualities

1. The storyline is rather convoluted, clichéd, and poorly executed, and the film's pacing is pretty unconvincing, which makes it feel more like a 30-minute episode of the TV series instead of an actual script for a theatrically-released movie.
   • On that topic, the film was conceived when the show itself was already suffering seasonal rot during its last three seasons, which is not a good sign.
2. Some of the scenes defy logic to some extent, even by Doug standards:
   1. The mayor never gets anything right.
   2. Roger and his goons build a "Robo-Crusher" and a shrinking ray, neither of which gets them any recognition or fame, nor do they try to use them to get famous. Also, Roger's friends repeatedly defy him for no apparent reason by building the Robo-Crusher to be much smaller than he wanted, shrinking him when he demands they make him a bigger one, and apparently programming the robot to be a harmless robot maid.
   3. Many of the students, as well as the school faculty, believe that Doug's monster (disguised as a girl) is an actual girl.
   4. An entire squad of armed soldiers show up at the dance in plain sight, and no one questions it.
3. Overused and pointless fantasy sequences of Doug that are dragged on for way too long.
4. Infuriatingly dim-witted characters.
5. In one scene, Doug and Skeeter look at a photo and then it dissolves to one second later. Why was the dissolve needed?
6. The characters talk about the place the dance is being held called Funky Town, but the "N" is barely audible, making it sound like a curse word.
7. Despite the fantasy sequences, this movie feels out-of-pace by adding a monster in it due the actual TV show focusing on the realistic setting.
8. Misleading title/Sequel-baiting: Despite being called Doug's 1st Movie, as if they would have more than one movie, it is the only Doug film to be ever produced, because Disney refused to make another sequel, which is especially ironic, since they would normally make plenty of sequels to their old movies at the time.

Funnie Qualities

1. The animation is decent for a film based on a TV show.
2. The ending is pretty good and touching.
3. The voice acting is neat and decent, thanks to the cast reprising their roles from the TV show.
4. There were no plot holes in the movie.
5. Good soundtrack.
6. There are genuinely some funny moments:
   • The scene where Skeeter does his silly noises while he's being interviewed was entertaining.
   • Another funny scene where Mr. Dink introduces Doug and Skeeter to his "Virtual Reality" which shows them standing in his living room.
   • To be fair, the robot scene was pretty funny.

Trivia

• The movie was originally intended to be direct-to-video, however Disney decided to instead release it to theaters due to the success of The Rugrats Movie.

Critical reception

The film garnered a 26% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The critic consensus reads: "Doug's 1st Movie is a long snooze fest that should never have made it to the big screen."

External links

• Doug's 1st Movie at the Internet Movie Database
• Doug's 1st Movie on Rotten Tomatoes
• Doug's 1st Movie on Letterboxd

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