The Magic Roundabout (film)

The Magic Roundabout (French: Pollux - Le manège enchanté) is a 2005 French-British computer-animated adventure fantasy film based on the television series of the same name.[3] It was released in France with a French dub on February 2, 2005, and an English-language version was released two weeks later in the United Kingdom on February 11.

The Magic Roundabout
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDave Borthwick
Jean Duval
Frank Passingham
Produced byClaude Gorsky
Andy Leighton
Pascal Rodon
Screenplay byPaul B. Davies
Martine Danot
Story byRaolf Sanoussi
Stephane Sanoussi
Based onThe Magic Roundabout by Serge Danot
StarringTom Baker
Jim Broadbent
Lee Evans
Joanna Lumley
Ian McKellen
Kylie Minogue
Bill Nighy
Robbie Williams
Ray Winstone
Music byMark Thomas
Edited byMathieu Morfin
Production
company
Action Synthese
UK Film Council
Pathé Renn Productions
Pricel
France 2 Cinéma
Canal+
Les Films Action
SPZ Entertainment
bolexbrothers limited
Distributed byPathé Distribution
Release date
  • 2 February 2005 (2005-02-02) (France)
  • 11 February 2005 (2005-02-11) (United Kingdom)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryFrance
United Kingdom
LanguageFrench
English
Budget$20 million[1]
Box office$26.7 million[2]

In the United States, the film was released as Doogal on February 24, 2006, with a new English dub and script. Only Ian McKellen's performance was retained, while Kylie Minogue redubbed her role from the UK release.

Plot

The wizard Zebedee, a red jack-in-the-box-like creature, is having a nightmare about the ice villain named Zeebad. Dougal the well-meaning cheeky, slacker dog places a tack in the road to pop a sweet cart's tyre, hoping to be rewarded with sweets for watching the cart. After the driver goes for help, Dougal accidentally crashes the cart into the magic roundabout at the centre of the village. Zeebad, the evil blue ice jack in the box-like creature, emerges from the top and flies away, followed by a Foot Guard figurine thrown off the roundabout. The roundabout freezes over, trapping repairman Mr Rusty, Dougal's young owner Florence, and two other children within an icy cell.

The horrified villagers, who are all animals, call upon Zebedee for help. He explains that the roundabout was a mystical prison for Zeebad. With it broken, Zeebad is free to work his magic on the world again as he once did before by starting the Ice Age. The only way to stop Zeebad freezing the world is by collecting three magic diamonds (one of which is supposed to be hidden on the roundabout, while the other two are hidden at separate locations far beyond the village). Slotting the diamonds onto the roundabout will re-imprison Zeebad and undo his magic, but if Zeebad retrieves them first then their power will allow him to freeze the Sun itself. Zebedee sends Dougal, Brian the cynical snail, Ermintrude the opera-singing cow and Dylan the hippie rabbit, to accomplish this mission along with a magic train. Meanwhile, Zeebad crash lands after escaping the roundabout, and animates the Foot Guard figurine, Sam the Soldier, to help him find the enchanted diamonds. Meanwhile, Zebedee's fellowship makes camp in the icy mountains. Dougal wanders off during the night and is captured by Zeebad. Ermintrude breaks him out of his prison. Zebedee then shows up to battle Zeebad but loses the battle with Zeebad freezing him and collapsing the cliff on which he stands.

Mourning for their friend, Dougal and his friends embark to recover the diamonds. This task takes them to a lava-bordered volcano and an ancient temple filled with booby-traps and evil skeleton guards, but Zeebad captures both of these diamonds; leaving the only hope of stopping Zeebad by getting back to the roundabout and to the final diamond before Zeebad does. The gang are forced to leave an injured Train behind, leaving them to return to the village on foot through the snowy barren wasteland the world is now freezing into. Zeebad, after having abandoned Sam the Soldier to die wounded in the snow, beats the gang to the now-frozen village, but is unable to find the third diamond anywhere. Sam then arrives on an elk, having realised his true duty is to protect the roundabout against Zeebad, he tries to make a stand but is easily defeated. Having learned Sam was in fact on the roundabout, Zeebad discovers that the third diamond is and always was hidden inside Sam, and removes it from him (ending Sam's life as a result).

Zeebad, with all three diamonds now in his possession, uses them to freeze the world by freezing the Sun. However, the gang finally reach the village, get to the diamonds, and put them into their places on the roundabout until only the third diamond is left. Though Zeebad beats the gang to the diamond and seemingly secures his victory, the timely arrival of a healed Train knocks the diamond out of Zeebad's reach and gives Dougal the chance to place it in the roundabout's final slot. Zeebad is now re-imprisoned, and the world is thawed, Zebedee is restored to his friends, and villagers are freed.

Of those trapped in the roundabout, a comatose Florence is revived by Dougal. As everyone goes for a ride on the roundabout, they discover it does not work because Sam is lifeless. At this point, Sam is restored and then reverted to his inanimate form, and placed back on the roundabout which functions once again. Dougal now realises the true value of his friends and the good qualities of selflessness, courage, and humility.

Cast
Character France (original) United Kingdom United States
Pollux/Dougal/Doogal Henri Salvador Robbie Williams Daniel Tay
Margote/Florence Vanessa Paradis Kylie Minogue
Zabadie/Zeebad Michel Galabru Tom Baker Jon Stewart
Ambroise/Brian Dany Boon Jim Broadbent William H. Macy
Train N/A Lee Evans Chevy Chase
Azalée/Ermintrude Valérie Lemercier Joanna Lumley Whoopi Goldberg
Flappy/Dylan Eddy Mitchell Bill Nighy Jimmy Fallon
Soldier Sam Gérard Jugnot Ray Winstone Bill Hader
Zébulon/Zebedee Élie Semoun Ian McKellen
Elk/Moose N/A Kevin Smith
Narrator N/A Judi Dench
Basil N/A Ediz Mahmut Eric Robinson
Coral N/A Daniella Loftus Heidi Brook Myers
Mr Rusty N/A Jimmy Hibbert Cory Edwards
Mr Grimsdale N/A John Krasinski
Skeleton Guards N/A Cory Edwards
John Krasinski

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the UK version of the film received an aggregate score of 60% based on five reviews (three positive and two negative) with an average score of 5.14/10.[4] Joe Utichi of FilmFocus wrote: "For all its undeniable promise, this take on The Magic Roundabout is just plain disastrous in its execution."[5] Stella Papamichael of BBC Online stated that "the story isn't inherently funny, relevant, or convincing. Essentially it's too 'dumbed down', tragically bypassing the cheeky 60s subtext of the original TV show and sapping its nostalgia value".[6] Time Out wrote: "The story’s clearly aimed at the Teletubbies fraternity who would never question a scenario as ridiculous as this ... granted, the level of computer animation isn’t exactly state-of-the-art, but it’s certainly florid enough to captivate undemanding five-year-olds ... [Robbie Williams] and Bill Nighy’s stoned rabbit help transform what should have been an unendurable fiasco into an, albeit forgettable, treat for toddlers. And toddlers only.[7] William Thomas of Empire wrote: "this version is far slicker and attempts a bit of Hollywood-style action-adventure grandstanding, but it works both as a trip down memory lane and as an entertaining movie for (very) young children".[8]

Doogal (United States)
Second American theatrical release poster.

According to William H. Macy, Harvey Weinstein saw the film and decided to do an American version. On February 24 2006, the film was released in the United States as Doogal, and was produced by The Weinstein Company. In the United States version, where audiences are not as familiar with the series, the majority of the British cast's voice work was dubbed by American celebrities such as Chevy Chase (Train), Jimmy Fallon (Dylan), Whoopi Goldberg (Ermintrude), William H. Macy (Brian), Kevin Smith (Moose) and Jon Stewart (Zeebad). Daniel Tay plays the titular character in the United States dub.

Only two original voices remained those of Kylie Minogue and Ian McKellen, Minogue, however, re-voiced her own lines with an American accent. The United States version also features Daniel Tay (Doogal), Bill Hader (Sam) and Judi Dench (narrator).

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, it received an aggregate score of 8% based on 49 reviews (4 "fresh" and 45 "rotten"). The consensus reads: "Overloaded with pop culture references, but lacking in compelling characters and plot, Doogal is too simple-minded even for the kiddies".[9][10] It has a score of 23 out of 100 ("generally unfavorable") on Metacritic, and an F rating from Entertainment Weekly writing that "very young children should be angry... where is it written that 4-year-olds don't deserve a good story, decent characters, and a modicum of coherence?". It was placed number five on Ebert & Roeper's Worst of 2006. Screen Rant ranked it #1 on its list of the twelve worst animated movies ever made.[11]

Randy Miller of DVD Talk says that: "Doogal is, after all, one of the worst excuses for a children's film during this or any year---and if you're really looking for an in-depth analysis of why it's so awful, you don't have to look hard. Filled to the brim with pop culture references and other such gags that'll be even less funny a few years from now, it's like Shrek without the occasional bit of charm and surprise".[12]

Michael Phillip of the Chicago Tribune described the film as "Eighty-five minutes you'll never get back." Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "The key frame animation, based on three-dimensional models, is rudimentary, with none of the characters proving visually arresting." Ned Martel of The New York Times wrote "In Doogal setting the world right again involves a badly paced quest for three diamonds, assorted jokes that don't land, and a daringly incoherent climactic confrontation".[13]

Accolades
Year Award Category Recipients and nominees Results Ref.
2007 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards Worst Supporting Actor Chevy Chase Won [14]
Foulest Family Film Doogal (TWC) Nominated
Worst Animated Film Won

Home media

The Magic Roundabout was released to DVD and VHS in the UK on 18 July 2005. The film was later re-released on a 2-disc Special Edition DVD with special features that includes an inside look at the film's Production History, 2 Making of featurettes, Classic English and French TV Episodes, Design Gallery, Cast and Crew Biographies, Theatrical Trailer and a TV Spot.

The American version of the film, Doogal, was released on DVD on May 16, 2006. This version is also available on most US streaming platforms in HD.

In 2011, The Magic Roundabout was released on Blu-ray in France. Despite being a French dubbed version with localized texts and credits, it is based on the original UK version and features the UK English language track as an option. The only change between the UK and French versions is a second post-credit scene of Zebedee saying "Time for bed" to the audience that only appeared in the former version. On most dubbed versions, this is a localized text screen as the French Blu-Ray is, although the line is retained in the English audio track.

Cancelled sequel

Before the film was released, a sequel to The Magic Roundabout was announced to be in development, with the voice cast expected to reprise their roles.[15] However, Action Synthese closed their doors in 2013, effectively ending any chances of a sequel being made.

References
  1. "Doogal (2006)". The Numbers. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  2. "Doogal". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  3. "Sprung! The Magic Roundabout", Film Review, Issues 652–657, Page 35, 2005
  4. "The Magic Roundabout (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  5. "The Magic Roundabout (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  6. "The Magic Roundabout review". BBC.
  7. "The Magic Roundabout review". Time Out.
  8. "The Magic Roundabout review". Empire.
  9. "Doogal (2006)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  10. "Rotten Tomatoes Worst of the Worst (2000-2009)". listal.com.
  11. "12 Worst Animated Movies of All Time". Screen Rant. 22 November 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  12. "Doogal". DVD Talk.
  13. "Movie Reviews". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  14. "Stinkers Bad Movie Awards - 2006 Ballot". The Stinkers. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  15. https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a18811/magic-roundabout-sequel-planned/
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