I have fond memories of watching the original 1960s - 1970s stop-motion series on VHS at my grandparents' house when I was a child and I remember my nan telling me about my dad and other children trying to get home from school in time for the programme. When I heard there was going to be a full-length CGI film based on the show with Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue (both of whom had already duetted on their 2000 single 'Kids') providing the voices of Dougal and Florence respectively, I was certainly up for seeing it because it came out before the time CGI completely ruined my childhood favourites such as 'Thomas the Tank Engine,' 'Noddy's Adventures in Toyland' and 'Bananas in Pyjamas.' I saw this film at the cinema with a family aide and we quite enjoyed it although I found some aspects a little disappointing, such as the lack of screen time for Florence due to her entrapment on the frozen roundabout. Other weaknesses of this film were Florence looking different from how she did in the stop-motion show, the pacing being somewhat slow and the plot consisting of drawn-out filler.
The positives surpass these negatives. The positives include the animation being fluid on the whole despite the jerky movements on the blue mousse towards the end; most of the characters staying true to the style of those from the original series albeit the detailed lip sync, expressions and facial features; the backgrounds having more colour and definition than those in the original series; the basic premise of Brian, Ermintrude, Dylan and Dougal going on a quest to retrieve diamonds in order to get the roundabout to work again; the dialogue having its witty moments; the voice cast and the soundtrack. With regard to the soundtrack, the incidental music was epic and cinematic for the film's nature and I liked the songs, especially Electric Light Orchestra's 'Mr Blue Sky' and Ermintrude's hilarious operatic singing along to it.
Overall, 'The Magic Roundabout' has its weaknesses but its strengths more than made up for them, it brought back significant memories of the original show and I'll definitely be steering clear of 'Doogal (what a stupid way to spell his name!)' because I despise it when British voices are dubbed with American ones and this has already happened to 'Spot the Dog' as witnessed on YouTube once. 7/10.
The positives surpass these negatives. The positives include the animation being fluid on the whole despite the jerky movements on the blue mousse towards the end; most of the characters staying true to the style of those from the original series albeit the detailed lip sync, expressions and facial features; the backgrounds having more colour and definition than those in the original series; the basic premise of Brian, Ermintrude, Dylan and Dougal going on a quest to retrieve diamonds in order to get the roundabout to work again; the dialogue having its witty moments; the voice cast and the soundtrack. With regard to the soundtrack, the incidental music was epic and cinematic for the film's nature and I liked the songs, especially Electric Light Orchestra's 'Mr Blue Sky' and Ermintrude's hilarious operatic singing along to it.
Overall, 'The Magic Roundabout' has its weaknesses but its strengths more than made up for them, it brought back significant memories of the original show and I'll definitely be steering clear of 'Doogal (what a stupid way to spell his name!)' because I despise it when British voices are dubbed with American ones and this has already happened to 'Spot the Dog' as witnessed on YouTube once. 7/10.