“Doogal” is the laziest, most disheartening kind of animated children’s film: one that seems interested in entertaining kids only on the most fundamental level (through colorful talking animals and flatulence jokes) while cramming in as many pop culture references as possible to preoccupy their parents.
With its smugly self-referential manner, distractingly disproportionate characters and celebrity vocal cast that deserves better, “Doogal” could very easily be mistaken with “Hoodwinked,” the Little Red Riding Hood rip-off which also came from the Weinstein Co. this year. (There’s even a cutesy little dig at Disney, from which Miramax founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein splashily defected in 2005. Truly, at this point, who cares anymore?)
The movie is based on a British cartoon called “The Magic Roundabout,” itself based on French animation about a little girl (Kylie Minogue), her dog (Daniel Tay) and their buddies – Ermintrude the cow (Whoopi Goldberg), Brian the snail (William H. Macy) and Dylan the rabbit (Jimmy Fallon) – living in an idyllic hamlet that appears to be devoid of adults.
There’s good wizard Zebadee (Ian McKellen) and evil wizard Zeebad (Jon Stewart), who wants to freeze the world using three magical diamonds. Both wizards look like jack-in-the-boxes that have bounced maniacally to freedom. Not sure what kind of dog Doogal is, but he vaguely resembles Felicity Huffman in “Transamerica.”
Complicated, right? But wait. The minor army of directors and screenwriters responsible for “Doogal” messes things up further with a mind-boggling array of entertainment in-jokes. Chevy Chase, who plays a talking train, introduces himself with, “I’m the train, and you’re not.” In one scene, the characters barely even have conversations with each other, they’re so busy firing off references to everything from “The Shining,” “The Matrix” and “The Karate Kid” to John Woo, the Wu Tang Clan and MC Hammer.
It’s telling that the biggest laughs from the kiddie crowd at a recent matinee were prompted by a gassy moose voiced by filmmaker Kevin Smith, who’s perhaps best known for his character of Silent Bob. “Doogal” isn’t silent, but it sure is deadly.
* | “Doogal”
| G|1 hour, 21 minutes|KID FLICK| Directed by Jean Duval, Frank Passingham and Dave Borthwick; voiced by Judi Dench, Chevy Chase, Jimmy Fallon, Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Hader, William H. Macy, Ian McKellen, Kylie Minogue and Jon Stewart |At area theaters.
