The Magic Roundabout

I admit, I did not like this movie first time, but when I saw it today for the first time in three years I was surprised. While bearing little resemblance to the 1960s show, which is just timeless, this is a decent and colourful contemporary tribute.

There are flaws still with the film. The plot is very thin, and sometimes is made up of disconnected scenes. The script has some knowing lines but there are parts where the jokes only come across as average. Also it is a little too short so while the characters still maintain their simple charm, they weren't developed properly.

That said there are a vast majority of things that compensate. For one thing, the visuals are absolutely striking and colourful. Then there is the brilliant soundtrack, that is sunny and really pleasant to the ears. But what made the movie was the film was the voice cast, with fun supporting turns from Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy and Lee Evans(who I have found annoying in the past). Tom Baker is deliciously malevolent as ZeeBad and Ian McKellan is exceptional as always. But Robbie Williams's cheeky and charming performance as Doogal is the nicest surprise.

All in all, has its failings but it is decent and colourful. It is a shame really it was bastardised by its god awful American counterpart Doogal, which is little more than lame pop culture references and redeemed only by the quality of its animation and the in general talented voice cast(but Jon Stewart was completely wrong for ZeeBad) though they did deserve much better. 7/10 for Magic Roundabout. Bethany Cox

This film is about a group of friends trying to stop an evil Zeebad from turning the world into ice.

This film is for the very young kids to enjoy. The animation is quite pleasant. The soft colours, simple & clean animation, and colourful scenes make it quite visually appealing to watch. Dialogs are easy to understand, and there are quite a few lines that got me laughing. My favourite line is "This guy is seriously messing with my karma", which is something I totally did not expect in a kids' film! The music is quite good, the ending theme song is a Kylie Minogue song that I have never heard of! Putting the intended young audience into context, I think this film deserves more than the current rating on IMDb.

My friends dragged me to see this with them for a joke. The cinema was full of kids and I was really embarrassed! But I definitely don't regret seeing it.

The plot was, unfortunately, the weakest part of the movie. It was just so Saturday-morning-cartoonish (complete with evil twins, magic diamonds and walking skeletons) that anyone in the cinema over the age of nine is unlikely to be interested. But anyone under that age will be delighted from start to finish.

It's the cast and music that really did it for me. Robbie Williams, despite his complete lack of experience as an actor, pulls off his role as Dougal with natural skill and emotion, which is pleasantly surprising. Jim Broadbent and Joanna Lumley seem to have great fun in their roles (as Brian the snail and Ermintrude the cow respectively) and Bill Nighy, well, lets just say there's no one else in the world who could've done Dylan the drug-addled bunny like he did ("no way man! I'm in, like, a higher state of unconsciousness..."). Kylie Minogue did well enough, but she only has about three lines. Tom Baker and Sir Ian Mackellen also seemed to enjoy giving very camp performances as the arch rival jack-in-the-boxes Zebedee and Zeebad (though Sir Ian sounded a little too much like Gandalf). The music, which seems to include vocal performances from Kylie and Robbie, is fantastic and well above average for a kids film today. If you've seen the film, I think you'll agree the soundtrack is a must-buy! But still, it's not all great. The plot is full of gaping holes, and while it mostly works with a very young audience in mind, the jokes aimed at adults are not laugh-out-loud funny, they just raise a knowing smile. There are some rather strange movie references too. It features references to Pulp Fiction, LoTR, and The Matrix (courtesy of some unexpected kung-fu fighting on Dylan's part) and I'll be damned if I saw a Dragon Ball Z reference in there! (Watch the scene where Zebad fights Zebedee for the first time - then again maybe it was just cheesy...) I never saw enough of the original 5 minute episodes to be a fan, but really, it seems very different from the original, so old-time fans may be disappointed, or maybe they'll appreciate seeing their old favourites in some new action-packed situations. It's up to them.

Yes, it falls flat in MANY places, but it's also got a childish, endearing charm that may make you wish you were seven again.

This production hits the buttons at all levels. For the younger kids who will enjoy it as they would any new animation; the tweenagers who will enjoy the story and the action; and the teens & twenty somethings for all the many references to movies over the last 10 - 15 years. And for the rest of us, the vague sense of nostalgia - don't rush out before the end of the credits, just for that famous phrase you are waiting to hear! Robbie is excellent as Dougal, with Baker, McKellen and Broadbent not far behind. The other "famous" artists were out of my realisation until I read the credits and thought - "so it was". It's not what you watched just before the BBC news, but still worth the ticket, with or without a pre-schooler in tow.

On entering the cinema, I did have my doubts. I'd watched the original Magic Roundabout from a very young age, and one false step could have ruined both versions for good.

However, the filmmakers managed to make a perfect balance of "old" and "new" to bring out a whole new film, featuring characters that reminded me of the originals, but didn't try to take their places.

The storyline was fun, bearing in mind that it was aimed at young children, and included the token jokes (aimed at both children and adults), teary moments and interesting yet predictable twists. The graphics were excellent, and most of the older viewers were "Ahhh"ing throughout at the sight of the big, sweet eyes. Looking around, I could tell that the young 'uns were enjoying it too, and that's what really matters in a film like this.

Overall, a brilliant transition from a simple, sweet television show to an enormous, exciting movie.