User
A story that tells that being totally stupid is OK.Rating for the US release of this movie ("Doogal" - 2.8) reflects my opinion: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0763304/?ref_=tt_rec_ttA lazy stupid gluttonous dog, a lazy junkie rabbit, a lazy opera singing cow with huge ego, snail (he's the OK one) and a not so magic train are on a mission to save the world from a powerful evil wizard. Despite all his powers, the evil wizard cannot stop the unfriendly bunch. I give it a 3 only because of the style and quality of the animations, but I'll never let my daughter watch it.
Chrysanthepop
'The Magic Roundabout' is a cute and fun family-flick. What really makes it so enjoyable are the lovable characters brilliantly 'played' by the voice artists that include numerous British talents (such as Bill Nighy, Sir Ian Mckellan, Ray Winstone and Joanna Lumley) and Australian beauty Kylie Minogue (what a beautiful voice!). Robbie Williams as Dougal is a little too whiny at times. The various vivacious characters include a gentle-snail, a shaggy dog, a singing cow, a guitarist rabbit, a small train and a half-spring character who are all on a quest in search of three diamonds to rescue the land from freezing over. The plot may not be seen as anything new and the CGI may not be of Pixar animation quality but that didn't hinder my liking for the film. I found it to be very adventurous and there were several funny and endearing moments. I also liked the creative use of different colours and the soundtrack is brilliant. My memory of the classic (from which the film was inspired) remains very blur. Hence, I cannot comment on how true it stayed to the original but as a film itself, it's good family entertainment.
experim626
This seemed to me like the perfect example of marketing gone wrong ! It's a pre-school property, but they want to get as many viewers as humanely possible, so they age it up to try and get 9 year olds, and add in jokes tailored for adults et al. But without the scriptwriting abilities of a Pixar or even a Dreamworks. Result : my 3 yr-old jumped out of his seat into my lap from the intro - too fast, too loud. I didn't even laugh politely at the jokes BUT I saw the original french version, there is yet some hope that it might have gained in the translation - that would be a first ! And visually, too bright too colorful, ends up being downright ugly !I attended the Paris launch event, and after the viewing, few and far between were those who went to congratulate the team. Kinda heartbreaking actually as they had put together a really nice event.
howard-dickins
OK, I loved it, and yet I was (slightly) disappointed too. Tom Baker voicing the part of the villainous Zeebad was absolute genius. His crazed, maniacal lines were wonderful. And Dylan was brilliant too - Bill Nighy was just the right choice. But I missed Dougal's cynical, world-weary quips from the original Magic Roundabout. And Ermintrude was disappointing too.The animation is certainly very good, although again I missed the original 'cardboard cutout' feel of the garden backdrops. (It was very good, but just not like the original!) I'm glad they kept the train the same! The 70's soundtrack was very welcome. It's not entirely obvious what music would work well, but I think they got that right.Generally, the original show's short format is not an easy task to expand upon, and I think they did pretty well really.