Doogal

Doogal is the official American English-language dub of The Magic Roundabout (released in France as Pollux - Le manège enchanté), a 2005 French-British computer-animated adventure fantasy film based on the TV series of the same name. Doogal was released in the United States, where audiences are not as familiar with the series on February 24, 2006. While the original 2005 FN/UK version of the movie and the 2007 revival television series it was based on the original 1963 television series had mixed-to-positive critical and audience feedback, Doogal is panned and is considered to be one of the worst animated movies or dubs ever made. It is a rare case where a dub of a movie and the original are judged on different spectrums.

Why This Dub Sucks
Note: This will only focus on issues present in Doogal (the American version of The Magic Roundabout) - references to any narrative issues present in the French/UK English dubs are based on their continued problematic presence in the former'
 * 1) Overuse of pointless narration (presumably in an attempt to justify the cost of hiring Judi Dench in the role) of things that viewers can see for themselves, often undercutting several of the film's more prominent dramatic scenes (most notably Zeebad's breakout and the slow-motion climax)
 * 2) Poor attempts at humour, consisting mostly of constant pop culture references and flatulence jokes which were not present in the original British version. The film therefore suffers from an incessant number of context-irrelevant and overly rapid-fire pop-culture allusions, some of the more egregious as follows:
 * 3) *One scene where the now-audible skeletons flat out mention "Here’s Johnny" from The Shining, one of the skeletons says, "Bring out your dead!" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and when one skeleton mentions Pirates of the Caribbean, another tells the other "I said no more Disney Jokes", and one yells “Wazzup” from Scary Movie.
 * 4) *Upon discovery of the hidden tunnel, Zeebad says, "Well, someone’s been watching CSI."
 * 5) *A reference to mh:Besttvshows:Thomas & Friends is said during the chase scene where Zeebad says "Are we gonna lose this race to Thomas the Tank Engine?", even though Thomas has nothing to do with The Magic Roundabout!
 * 6) *When the gang finds the first diamond, Dylan catches the diamond and lustfully claims "My precious" then "Just kidding", referencing Lord of the Rings.
 * 7) *During the camping scene, there was added sound effects where Brian is playing a video game and he mentions Master Chief from Halo, even though he never owned a gaming console in the original movie!
 * 8) *During the temple scene with the skeletons, Dylan mentions Pink Floyd, and Neo from The Matrix.
 * 9) *When Train first appears, he says, "I'm the train, and you're not", which references Saturday Night Live.
 * 10) *Ermintrude says of the skeletons, "Lookin' all Dawn of the Dead and everything.", referencing Dawn of the Dead.
 * 11) *At one point of the film, Dylan says "What's up, Doc?", which is Bugs Bunny's catchphrase.
 * 12) *The Train says "I think I can, I think I can" when trying to climb back up the ledge which is a reference to both Dumbo and The Little Engine That Could.
 * 13) *Doogal mentions Hogwarts from Harry Potter.
 * 14) *Zeebad mentions Star Trek during the chase scene.
 * 15) *There are so many random pop-culture references that we wish to add to the list, but all 27 are listed in IMDb.
 * 16) *Screenwriter Cory Edwards, co-writer of Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil, is mostly to blame for these unfunny jokes.
 * 17) The original version of the movie was already in English - while it can be argued that US cultural preferences differ to the extent where a redub could be justified (particularly in light of the unfamiliarity of the franchise to general US audiences), the redub in question attempts to distance itself from the UK dub by exaggerating its 'Americanized' humour and dialogue to an absurd, almost self-parodying degree, indicating the WC's approach to adapting the film to be overly extreme.
 * 18) The trailer is false advertising: It claims the movie is created by Butch Hartman (though he isn’t mentioned) with the line "From the creator of The Fairly Odd Parents;" this is 100% false since he only wrote only 3% of his script for the movie that appears in the final version.
 * 19) The majority of the original British voices have been dubbed over by celebrities more familiar to the American public, solely for target nationality/to increase box office returns and regardless of the extent to which these actors actually fit their respective roles (such as Kevin Smith as the infamous flatulent moose). Only two members of the original British cast, Ian McKellen and Kylie Minogue return to reprise their roles.
 * 20) *However, Minogue decided to re-dub her role with an American accent, while McKellen remained the only character whose voice was unchanged.
 * 21) It has no sense of pacing.
 * 22) In the original version of the film, some characters like the Train and the Moose barely speak. But in this movie, they were given voices solely to provide Kevin Smith and Chevy Chase cameo appearances (also in the original United Kingdom version, the moose did not talk, but the train could do so).
 * 23) The lip-syncing is very poor.
 * 24) Terrible voice acting, even from famous actors such as Jimmy Fallon, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jon Stewart. Barely any of the cast show enthusiasm because of how dead they sound. Almost none of them were even trying.
 * 25) *On a related note, the voice of Doogal provided by Daniel Tay sounds nothing like Robbie Williams. Also, why would Doogal need a voice of a child?
 * 26) *In the first trailer of Doogal, they kept Doogal’s original actor, but not in the actual movie!
 * 27) The characters are flanderized in this dub. For example, Doogal became a fat cowardly idiot.
 * 28) Many scenes and bits were cut and moved around in this version for continuity. For example, a post-credit scene showing Zeebad in his prison was removed from the American version for unknown reasons, and live footage of the American actors recording for the film was added into the end credits. A sequence that features the song "Mr. Blue Sky" by Electric Light Orchestra was moved to the very end of the film, as a credits song. Every shot that involved Zeebad's ice fortress was also cut from this movie. Glimpses of the fort can be seen in the background in a few shots, but it's never shown in full view.
 * 29) Poor grasp of the source material, especially for an adaptation (despite American audiences' lack of familiarity with the 1960s TV basis).
 * 30) It is revealed at the end of the movie that the ice enclosing the carousel could've been cracked through conventional means since Ermintrude breaks the ice with her singing.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Nice soundtrack.
 * 2) The animation is at least decent.
 * 3) The fight scene between Zebedee and Zeebad is nothing short of awesome.
 * 4) There is an unintentionally funny moment in the form of the "GET THE DI-A-MONDS!" scene.
 * 5) The film is far superior in French and British English. It also has Tom Baker (better known as the Fourth Doctor from Doctor Who) as the voice of Zeebad instead of Jon Stewart, providing Zeebad, despite his relative lack of defined characterization, with a more imposing and menacing presence absent from Stewart's more comic depiction.
 * 6) At least Florence and Zebedee don’t make lame pop cultural references unlike everyone else.
 * 7) mh:Terribletvshows:Butch Hartman, who wrote the original draft of the American dub, apologized for the movie, claiming that only 3% of his script appears in the final version (approximately only two lines of dialogue).