The Magic Roundabout (released in France as Pollux, le manège enchanté and in North America as Doogal) is a 2005 British-French computer-action-animated adventure fantasy film based on the television series of the same name. The film was produced by Pathé and the UK Film Council, animation done by Action Synthese and released by Pathé Pictures on 11th February 2005 in the United Kingdom and on 2nd February 2005 in France, and The Weinstein Company on 24th February 2006 in North America. The plot concerns a dog named Dougal (Doogal in North America) who has to save his best friend, Florence, as well as the whole world, from being frozen by an evil spring named Zeebad.
The original version of the film received mixed to negative reviews,[1][2][3][4] while the final American edition released by The Weinstein Company received very negative reviews, being considered one of the worst animated movies of all time[5][6] and eventually disowned by original writer Butch Hartman. He revealed during the Weinstein scandal that most of his script was discarded and rewritten without his consent by Harvey Weinstein.
Plot[]
The film begins as the wizard Zebedee, a red jack-in-the-box-like creature, is chased by the evil blue jack-in-the-box Zeebad. He woke up only to have a bad dream. The film then starts when Dougal sneaks around the carousel. He goes so far as to place a tack in the road to pop its tyre, thinking to be rewarded for watching the cart. After convincing the driver to leave, Dougal is trying to decide which sweet he will request, when he accidentally starts the cart up again and causes it to collide with the titular magic roundabout at the centre of the village. Zeebad emerges from the top and flies away, followed shortly after by a Foot Guard figurine that is thrown off the roundabout. The roundabout freezes over, trapping repairman Mr. Rusty, Dougal's young owner Florence, and two other children named Basil and Coral within an icy cell.
The villagers, who are all animals, are horrified by this development, and call upon Zebedee for help. He explains that the roundabout acted as a mystical prison for the evil ice wizard Zeebad. With it broken, Zeebad is free to work his magic on the world again (it is implied he started the first ice age). The only way to stop Zeebad's freedom from freezing the world again 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); placing all three diamonds in their respective slots on the roundabout will reimprison 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, Dylan the hippie rabbit, to accomplish this mission along with a magic train who can be summoned by a magic remote. Meanwhile, when Zeebad crash lands after escaping the roundabout, he animates the Foot Guard figurine, Sam the Soldier, to be his henchman and enlists him to find the enchanted diamonds first. Meanwhile, Zebedee's fellowship makes camp in the icy mountains near Zeebad's old lair. Dougal wanders off during the night and is captured by Zeebad. Ermintrude breaks him out of his prison; after a short chase, Zebedee shows up to battle his evil counterpart. Zeebad gains the upper hand and overpowers Zebedee, freezing him and collapsing the cliff on which he stands, where he is presumed to be dead.
Mourning for their dispatcher, 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 (at which point Dylan reveals an exceptional knowledge of several types of martial arts), but Zeebad captures both the diamonds from these respective locations; leaving the gang's only hope of stopping Zeebad freezing the world in ice to be getting back to the roundabout and to the final diamond before Zeebad does. The gang are forced along the way to leave Train behind when his wheel is brokern, leaving them to return to the village on their own 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 a moose, having realized he's been following the wrong commander in Zeebad and that his true duty is to protect the roundabout against Zeebad, and tries to make a stand and charge against Zeebad but is quickly 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 Sam (ending the latter's life force in the process).
Just as Dougal and the gang finally make it back to the village, Zeebad, with all three diamonds now in his possession, uses the diamonds to complete his powers' freezing effect on the world by freezing the Sun. However, Ermintrude, Brian, Dylan, and finally Dougal refuse to give up, and intervene to stop Zeebad; getting past Zeebad's attacks to the diamonds, and getting each of them one-by-one 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 away and gives Dougal the chance to place it in the roundabout's final slot. With all three diamonds placed on the roundabout, Zeebad is reimprisoned, and the world is thawed and turned back to normal; restoring Zebedee to his friends, and freeing the people.
Of those trapped in the roundabout, Florence is comatose, but is revived by a desperate Dougal. The moose (whose colour had been changed from brown to blue by Zeebad and helped Doogal's friends find Doogal in the earlier scenes of the film), is restored to his true colour by Zebedee. As everyone goes for a ride on the roundabout, they discover it still doesn't work, because Sam is still missing. At this point, Sam is restored and then reverted to his inanimate form, and placed back on the roundabout which functions once again. Dougal, who vowed to give up sugar when it seemed all was lost, forgets his former pledge completely, but now realises the true value of his friends and the good qualities of selflessness, courage, and humility.
Two post-credits scenes follow: one reveals Zeebad back in his prison, which, to his chagrin, is a molten lava cave. In another, Zebedee delivers his famous catchphrase to the audience, "Time for bed", before disappearing.
Voice cast[]
- Original UK Version (2005)
- Robbie Williams as Dougal, a sugar-loving Pekingese
- Bill Nighy as Dylan, a guitar-playing hippie rabbit, who is also skilled at martial arts.
- Tom Baker as Zeebad, a blue jack-in-the-box and the evil ice sorcerer who uses "cold" magic.
- Joanna Lumley as Erminitrude, an opera-singing cow.
- Catherine Bott as Erminitrude, singing voice (uncredited)
- Jim Broadbent as Brian, a bashful, cynical snail.
- Lee Evans as Train; always comes in the nick of time, though is slow, according to Ermintrude. He can speak, but none of the other characters can hear him.
- Kylie Minogue as Florence, a girl who, when in danger, has faith in Dougal, even if it was him who put her in danger.
- Ian McKellen as Zebedee, a red jack-in-the-box and the good magician who uses warmth and "love" magic.
- Ray Winstone as Soldier Sam, Zeebad's reluctant slave, who holds one of the magic diamonds. He follows Zeebad's orders, but is a good guy at heart and eventually turns against him.
- Ediz Mahmut as Basil, one of Florence's friends.
- Daniella Loftus as Coral, one of Florence's friends.
- Jimmy Hibbert as Mr. Rusty, a old man.
- as The Baker, a sweet man,
- as Skeleton Guards.
- US Version (2006)
- Judi Dench as Narrator
- Daniel Tay as Doogal, This is also Daniel's first movie voice role.
- Jimmy Fallon as Dylan
- Jon Stewart as Zeebad. In the final U.S. version Zeebad makes a lot of pop culture references (more info below).
- Whoopi Goldberg as Ermintrude
- William H. Macy as Brian
- Chevy Chase as Train
- Kylie Minogue as Florence
- Ian McKellen as Zebedee
- Kevin Smith as Moose, a cautious interloper encountered up north, who periodically breaks wind in the final U.S. version; he is turned blue by Zeebad; later helps Brian, Ermintrude and Dylan find Dougal and much later finds Sam who uses him as a steed. Restored to natural colour by Zebedee. He only speaks in the final U.S. dub.
- Bill Hader as Soldier Sam
- Eric Robinson as Basil
- Heidi Brook Myers as Coral
- as Mr. Rusty
- as Skeleton Guards
In the theatrical trailer for the American version, Doogal's voice was provided by a different actor (presumably Kenan Thompson or Kevin Smith).
Production[]
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Release[]
The film was released by Pathé Pictures on 11 February 2005 in the United Kingdom and France. In France the film was released under the title Pollux, le manège enchanté (English translation: Sprung! The Magic Roundabout).
Alternate Versions[]
Second U.S. theatrical poster for the North American edition of the film
According to William H. Macy, Harvey Weinstein saw the film and decided to do an American version. On 24th February 2006, the film was released in the U.S. as Doogal and was produced by The Weinstein Company. In the North American release, where audiences are unfamiliar with the series, the majority of original British voices have been dubbed over by celebrities more familiar to the American public, such as Chevy Chase, Jimmy Fallon, Whoopi Goldberg, William H. Macy, Kevin Smith, Bill Hader, and Jon Stewart. Only two original voices remained – those of Kylie Minogue and Ian McKellen (Although Kylie Minogue's original recordings were not present in the American version for she had re-dubbed her own voice in an American accent with some of her lines changed). The U.S. version also features narration by Judi Dench. and Fairly Oddparents writer Butch Hartman rewrote the dialogue in the film to make it more appealing to American audiences, but in the end, most of his rewrites were discarded by producer Harvey Weinstein and his production and distribution company The Weinstein Company with a new screenplay by Hoodwinked! co-director Cory Edwards (he eventually claimed that only 3% of his original script was accepted into the final film), and instead, the final version had numerous references to popular culture and flatulence jokes, which weren’t present in his initial script. Hartman revealed in a 2017 interview during the Weinstein scandal that the film was supposed to include a frame story similar to The Princess Bride, but it was scrapped due to budget costs. Hartman also revealed that the original U.S. film poster contained his name and his production company Billionfold Inc. on it, until they were forced to be removed on later posters in copyright favour of Pathé and Action Synthese's credits.
A few scenes and clips that were present in the original edition and Hartman's script were also cut and moved around in the final U.S. release by Harvey Weinstein for continuity; for example, a post-credit scene that reveals Zeebad in his prison was heavily cut from the final American version for unknown reasons and replaced with live footage of the American actors in the process of making the film. A sequence that featured the song Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra was moved to the very end of the film, thus serving it as the ending to the movie (in the original release the scene was a dream sequence). Every shot that involved Zeebad's ice fortress was also cut from the final American release; glimps of the fortress can be seen in the background in a few shots, but is not shown in full view. Also, the flashback depicting Florence trapped in the icy carousel was shown in the final American release of the film. The final American release also included an additional song entitled Simply Wonderful by Andrea Remanda and Goldust. In addition, many of the characters have been flanderized in the final U.S. dub; for example, Doogal became a fat cowardly idiot. The final U.S. edition of the film was also falsely advertised as an action-adventure movie.
Promotion[]
In 2005 before the film's release a few short trailers of the film were aired on Nick Toons UK.
In 2006, the American version of the film was heavily promoted by McDonald's who offered toys of the film's Characters in Happy Meals. A trailer of the film was aired during the 2006 Super Bowl, also known as Super Bowl XL.
Home media[]
The Magic Roundabout was released on DVD on 18th July 2005 by Fox Pathe. The film was later re-released on a 2-disc Special Edition DVD, with special features including 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, the theatrical trailer and a TV spot.
In 2011, The Magic Roundabout was released on Blu-ray only in France, the release contains both the French and British versions and is region-free. There has still yet to be a Blu-ray release of the film in the UK.
The final American version of the film (Doogal) was released on DVD on May 16th, 2006 by The Weinstein Company Home Entertainment. A Blu-ray of the final American version has not been released yet.
Reception[]
Original version[]
The Magic Roundabout gained mixed to negative reviews; some have criticized its childish plot, unfunny humor, poor animation, and its subtle drug references. Joe Utichi of FilmFocus wrote: "For all its undeniable promise, this take on The Magic Roundabout is just plain disastrous in its execution."[7] Total Film included it in the list of 50 worst children's movie ever made.[8]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".[9] 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.[10] 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".[11] On Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 60% rating based on five reviews (three "fresh" and two "rotten").[12]
American version[]
The final American version of the film was panned by critics, who claimed it to be one of the worst animated films of all time, as well as a giant middle finger to the titular Magic Roundabout franchise. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an 8% approval rating, based on 49 reviews (4 "fresh" and 45 "rotten") with the website's summary of the film being, "Overloaded with pop culture references, but lacking in compelling characters and plot, Doogal is too simpleminded even for the kiddies." [13] Other negative reviews included, a score of 23 out of 100 ("generally unfavorable") on Metacritic, an F rating from Entertainment Weekly. SFGate also claimed that the show it was based on “sounds like a sex film.”
on November 10th, 2017, writer Butch Hartman revealed in a interview during the Weinstein scandal discussing the Doogal's development in his personal YouTube channel expressed long-harbored remorse for his involvement, where he revealed that most of his script was actually rewritten without his consent by Harvey Weinstein and his distribution company The Weinstein Company with a screenplay by Hoodwinked! co-director Cory Edwards; he also claimed that only 3% of his script remained in the final cut (approximately only two lines of dialogue: “We must make it back to the carousel right away!” and “The carousel!”).
Box Office[]
The film earned a total gross of £5.8 million at the UK box office.
The final American version of the film grossed a total of $7,417,319 in the United States,[14] which is considered low by CGI animated film standards. It has become the second-lowest grossing CGI film, thus carrying on the record of lowest box office CGI animated film (a record formerly held by the 2005 film Valiant) until the record was later beaten in 2008 by Delgo.
Accolades[]
At the 2006 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film won for the Worst Animated Film and Worst Supporting Actor for Chevy Chase.[15]
The final American version of the film received the Film Advisory Board's Award of Excellence in 2006, as shown on the DVD cover.
Soundtrack[]
| Unknown | |
|---|---|
Unknown
| |
| Released | Unknown |
| Recorded | Unknown |
| Length | Unknown |
| Label | Unknown |
| Producer | Unknown |
Track listing[]
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Cancelled sequel[]
A sequel, entitled The Magic Roundabout 2: Dougal, the explorer, was in development, but the project was cancelled in 2013 due to bankruptcy at Action Synthese.
Other media[]
In 2007, Action Synthese released a CGI animated TV series based on The Magic Roundabout that takes place after the events of the 2005 film. The show aired on Channel 4 & Nick Jr. UK. and has been broadcast since 2008 all over Europe. There have been very few DVD releases of this series. It also saw a release in North America on Netflix for a limited time.
A video game adaptation of the 3D animated TV series was released for Wii, PC and Nintendo DS in 2008 only in Europe.
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