Charity's Place.com

DOOGAL

REVIEWED BY SHANNON H.

Our rating: 5 out of 5

Rated:

For the past several months, movie theaters have been hit with CGI animated cartoons such as Chicken Little and Hoodwinked. Doogal now joins the ranks. Narrated by Dame Judi Dench, the story takes place in a small community where humans and animals coexist with each other and everyone is friends with everyone. Doogal (voiced by Daniel Tay) is a candy addicted dog who merely looks out for himself and his best friend Florence (Kylie Minogue). His latest stunt involves sneaking out of a singing performance and "stopping" a candy clerk on the road (by putting a tack out to flatten the tires of the motorized cart) just to have his fix of jelly beans and lollipops. While the clerk goes for help, he sneaks into the basket of goodies but accidentally starts the cart up again and it speeds and crashes into the carousel in the middle of town, releasing an ice demon (who uses a spring to move around) named Zeebad (Jon Stewart) and three diamonds.

Zeebad is now free from being captive in the town carousel and threatens to take over the world by freezing the sun once he has his hands on the three diamonds that were released. To prove that he means what he says, the carousel freezes shut, locking in Florence and some other kids inside. Doogal's friends, Dylan (Jimmy Fallon), Ermintrude (Whoopi Goldberg), and Brian (William H. Macy), call upon their wizard leader, Zebedee (Ian McKellen), who also uses a spring for mobility. After some taunting, Zeebad leaves the carousel frozen solid and it is up to Doogal and his friends to find the three diamonds to save the world from being frozen. The journey doesn't start out well. Doogal insists on not taking part in setting up camp for the first night away from home and expects someone else to cook dinner. His friends are less than enthused at his arrogance and make him the watchdog for the night, (in fact, Ermintrude blames Doogal for what had happened). Soon after, he bumps into Zeebad again and is kidnapped. Aiding Zeebad is Sam (Bill Hader), the toy soldier that once stood guard on the carousel. Apparently Sam isn't good at being a villain and is tricked by Doogal to feed him caramel candies. Doogal's friends drop in to save him and after learning that their beloved wizard Zebedee may have perished after a fight with the springy ice demon, they continue their journey to find the three diamonds.

They encounter setback after setback. Doogal and friends have a habit of finding the diamonds but end up running into Zeebad who snatches them away. With all three diamonds in tow, Doogal and his friends could only watch in horror as Zeebad attempts to freeze the sun with his newfound powers, keeping poor Florence inside the frozen carousel. The film doesn't have any objectionable content except when Dylan goes to repair a boat they were using and says something about "pimping" it (a reference to the TV show Pimp My Ride). There's also a flatulent moose (Kevin Smith) that appears every so often. The movie, like most films geared toward children, teaches a moral; that friendship is what matters most and teamwork is important than looking out for one's own interests. It teaches kids not to be selfish and to be a team player. I can also see some Christian content in Doogal. Zebedee is presumed dead by his friends but is partially frozen solid in a crevasse. He later comes out from what was his icy grave to help his town from becoming an icy tundra. In a sense, it does represent Christ dying on the cross for us and resurrecting Himself to save mankind from sin. In dire times of need, Doogal calls upon his friends to not give up and to continue their fight against Zeebad. Doogal's love for his friend Florence reciprocates a verse in the Bible: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).

Doogal is strictly for kids ages 10 and under. Anyone older will most likely be bored and annoyed with the bad jokes associated with various pop culture references. It has a wonderful story but the film makers should never have remade the 1970 movie version. The jokes were bad, the dialogue was bad, and the premise is incredibly predictable. In fact, Doogal is another one of the three or four CGI films that came out this year that seemed to be poorly done. The animation, without a doubt, is stellar, however it is no Toy Story, Shrek, or Finding Nemo. It is just too unfunny and uninteresting to be a good movie.