The Magic Roundabout (2005 film)

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The Magic Roundabout
Overview
Writer	Story Raolf Sanoussi Stephane Sanoussi Screenplay Paul B. Davies Martine Danot Based on the characters by Serge Danot
Director	Dave Borthwick Jean Duval Frank Passingham
Producer	Claude Gorsky Andy Leighton Pascal Rodon
Starring	See Cast Below
Music	Mark Thomas
Editor	Mathieu Morfin
Production Companies	Action Synthese UK Film Council Pathé Renn Productions Pricel France 2 Cinéma Canal+ Les Films Action SPZ Entertainment bolexbrothers limited Pathé
Distributor	Pathé Distribution
Release Date	2 February 2005 (France) 11 February 2005 (United Kingdom)
Runtime	82 minutes
Country	France United Kingdom
Language	French English
Budget	$20 million
Box Office	$26.7 million
Chronology
Previous Film	Dougal and the Blue Cat
Next Film	N/A

The Magic Roundabout (released in France as Pollux - Le manège enchanté) is a 2005 French-British film based on the show of the same name produced and animated by Action Synthese and distributed by Pathé in the UK and France. It is also the second film in the titular series following Dougal and the Blue Cat.

From 2005-06, the film was re-dubbed for American audiences as Doogal. The final cut of the U.S. edition was regarded as one of the worst animated movies and/or dubs ever made after its theatrical premiere. It was later disowned by its original writer Butch Hartman, as he revealed in a 2017 interview during the Weinstein scandal that most of his actual script was discarded and rewritten without his consent by Harvey Weinstein.

Plot

The film begins as the wizard Zebedee, is chased by the evil ice wizard Zeebad and sent plummeting off the ledge of his ice lair into the cloudy abyss below. He woke up only to have a bad dream before checking up on the magic garden to see if everything is still going fine.

The film then starts when Dougal sneaks around the titular Magic Roundabout unnoticed so he can swipe some sweets from the sugar cart when it'll come at 12'O clock, only for his young owner Florence to spot him, believing that he is come in time for Ermintrude's concert with Mr Rusty and Dylan participating, prompting Dougal to join her to watch the concert. Ermintrude's concert started off as a opera, but quickly turns into a rock concert when Dylan begins strumming his guitar and singing "You Really Got Me" with Ermintrude joining in. During the concert and with Florence's back turned, Dougal sneaks away and takes a tack from one of the signs where he goes outside the village to place it in the road to pop one of the tyres of Mr Grimsdale's cart, thinking to be rewarded for watching the cart. After convincing Mr Grimsdale to leave to get the things that Dougal "needed" to fix the cart, Dougal is trying to decide which sweet he will request or rather take, when he accidentally starts the motorbike up again and causes it to drive around the village out of control until Dougal falls out when the cart goes flying where it crashes into the roof of the magic roundabout. The motorbike engines explodes shortly afterwards and severely damages the roundabout and its mechanisms so much that it spins out of control with Florence, and two other children Basil and Coral who have got on the roundabout out of harm's way, clinging on one of the horses. As Mr Rusty comes to the rescue by hopping onboard the roundabout and got to the scenic panels to shut it down, he discovers ice is forming on the mechanisms and a bright light shines at the top. Zeebad emerges from the bright light and flies through the hole in the roof and out of the village, followed shortly after by Soldier Sam who is catapulted off the roundabout by the ice, which freezes the roundabout over, trapping Mr Rusty, Florence, and Basil and Coral within an icy cell.

Dougal, Dylan, Brian and Ermintrude are horrified by this development, and call upon Zebedee for help. He explains that the roundabout acted as a mystical prison for the evil ice wizard Zeebad to stop him from freezing the world again. But now with it wrecked, Zeebad is free to work his magic on the world again (it is implied he started the first ice age). The only way to stop Zeebad from freezing the world again is by collecting three enchanted diamonds (one of which is supposed to be hidden on the roundabout, while the other two are hidden at separate locations far beyond the village); placing all three diamonds in their respective slots on the roundabout will re-imprison Zeebad and undo his magic, but if Zeebad retrieves them first then their power will allow him to freeze the Sun itself. Zebedee sends Dougal and his friends on Train who can be summoned by a magic remote to accomplish this mission. Before Dougal leaves, Florence tells him not to blame himself. Meanwhile, when Zeebad crash lands after escaping the roundabout and changes a moose's fur colour from brown to blue, he animates Sam, to be his henchman and enlists him to find the enchanted diamonds first.

On the way to the icy mountains, the gang give Dougal a hard shoulder for releasing Zeebad where he tells them that all he wanted to do is to get some sweets. They make camp in the mountains for the night and leave Dougal out in the snow to be the guard dog. Dougal wanders off from the campsite and after encountering the moose, Dougal is then captured by Zeebad.

The next morning, the gang are looking for Dougal until they come across the moose. Brian asks the moose of Dougal's whereabouts and he leads them to Zeebad's lair. While being held hostage and interrogated by Zeebad, Dougal unwittingly lets slip of the information of the map which Zeebad forces him to spill more of the beans before ordering Sam to torture him when Dougal refuses to say anymore. However, Sam is told by Dougal to feed him sugar cubes in a way to torture him. With Zeebad's back turned and while he is busy monologuing to himself about his evil plans, Ermintrude breaks Dougal out of his prison. Zeebad discovers this and chases the gang to the cliff of his ice lair. The gang call for Zebedee and he shows up to battle Zeebad. During the battle with their magic from their mustaches and after seemingly defeating Zeebad, Zebedee spots Sam holding the gang at sword point and tries to stop him. As Sam tries to explain to Zebedee that he was told to be Zeebad's henchman, Zebedee informs him that while Sam wears a soldier's uniform but it's what's inside that counts. However, Zeebad had grabbed hold of the cliff and climbs back up where he zaps Zebedee in the arm. As the gang flee, Zeebad gains the upper hand and overpowers a weakened Zebedee, freezing him and begins to collapse the cliff on which he stands. Dougal and the gang turn around to save Zebedee, but he stops them for getting into Zeebad's way by using his own magic to cause some ice to fall and block their path. Zeebad watches in triumph as Zebedee falls into the abyss where he is presumed to be dead.

Mourning for their dispatcher, Dougal and his friends embark to recover the diamonds and save the world. They arrive at a lava-bordered volcano where they manage to cross the narrow and crumbling bridge. The gang arrive where the first diamond is held and see a vision of Florence and the children inside it. Afterwards, Zeebad and Sam suddenly show up and take the diamond along with the map (which all eyes from the gang were set on Dougal after they realized he had spilled the beans) before leaving them stranded in the volcano by destroying the bridge. However, Dylan comes up with a way to escape by using Zebedee's magic box to turn Train's carriage into a boat and using the tents to make a hot air balloon. Despite no longer having the map, they still follow behind Zeebad and Sam on the rowboat. Around the same time, the world is slowly starting to be freeze over since Zeebad is free to use his powers. That night, Dougal is still worried about Florence and tells Dylan that whenever she is woken up by thunderstorms, he climbs into her bed for her protection before he dreams about spending time with her and his friends in the village.

The next day, the gang arrive at the partially frozen island where an ancient temple is located. However, they didn't know that Zeebad and Sam had already beaten them to the temple and the duo encounter the booby traps. Upon seeing the gang landing from the distance, Zeebad and Sam hide out of sight to let the gang set off the booby traps so they can stroll in. As the gang start to go in the temple, they set one of the booby traps off before Brian slithers through, unknowingly setting off all the booby traps and getting through unscathed. As the gang enter the temple, Train, who is waiting outside, begins to enter the temple after being partially spooked by the jungle ambience, but due to his weight, he falls through the floor and into the mines.

The gang arrive in the room where Dougal activates a button the throne which reveals the second diamond, but it activates security laser beams. Unknown to the gang though, Zeebad and Sam secretly made their way into the room and were hidden out of sight. With no one volunteering to go through to the diamond, Ermintrude makes her way carefully through the beams, but Dougal was having his last gobstopper at the time, and when he begins to praise Ermintrude, he accidentally spits out his gobstopper that trips one of the laser beams. This causes the skeleton guards to burst into the room through the floor and corner the gang. Thankfully, Dylan reveals an exceptional knowledge of several types of martial arts where he takes them all down with the help of Ermintrude who takes out one skeleton that tries to attack Dylan from behind.

Meanwhile, Train was navigating through the mines until he spots the driller train and hopes not to get on the wrong end of that. Before the gang can get the diamond, the shattered remains of the skeletons merge together to be one gigantic skeleton who chase after the gang, but Dougal pushes another button on the throne that sends the skeleton falling down into the mines below through the trapdoor. The gang make their way to get the diamond, but Zeebad had taken it first and advances on the gang to get them to tell him about the third diamond. However on Ermintrude's command, Dougal sends both Zeebad and Sam through the trapdoor into the mines. With Zeebad now in the possession of the two diamonds, the gang plan to rush back to the roundabout before Zeebad and find Train in the upper part of the mines when Dylan leans on the pillar that opens a door.

As the gang were navigating through the mines, the giant skeleton attacks them again, but Train goes faster to shake him off and a low hanging beam smacks the skeleton off the carriage. Train speeds his way through the canyon where Zeebad gives chase in the driller train that was in the mines with Sam shovelling lots of coal in the firebox. Dylan, while observing the buttons on Train's controls to see what will slow Zeebad down, accidentally catapults Brian out of Train's cab after pressing the ejector seat button, causing the snail to land on the roof of the driller train. Because he is blindfolded by his scarf and having no idea where he is at the time, Brian unknowingly spills the beans of the third diamond within Zeebad's earshot. After openly gloating that he'll get to the roundabout to get his third diamond, Zeebad orders Sam to behead Brian, but Sam refuses by invoking the Geneva Convention. Brian quickly jumps back onboard Train. As Train spots that both tracks merge at the junction, he goes in front of the driller train, prompting Zeebad to try drill into the carriage, but the driller train explodes due to the pressure on the boiler being overloaded. As the gang were relived, Train crashes into a buffer stop, sending him flying where he along the gang, crash into the snowy field.

After learning from Brian that Zeebad now knows where the third diamond is, the gang are forced along the way to leave Train behind when his piston is broken, leaving them to return to the village on foot through the snowy barren wasteland the world is now freezing into. As Zeebad makes his way out the wreckage, Sam is injured from the explosion, but Zeebad berates him for sparing Brian and instead makes his way to the village alone, leaving Sam behind for dead. Nightfall comes and the gang begins to lose hope during a blizzard before they pass out, despite Dougal trying to wake them up. Then Dougal drifts off to sleep too and has a nightmare of him with Florence in a sugar paradise where he sees multiple copies of Florence giving him lots of sweets. He instantly wakes up and screams Florence's name out of sorrow. Meanwhile, the moose from earlier wakes Sam where the soldier realises he's been following the wrong commander in Zeebad and that his true duty is to protect the roundabout, and rides the moose back to the village to face his former boss.

The next morning, the gang wakes up and Dougal manages to find the now-frozen village where they follow the signposts. However, Zeebad had arrived in the village first and is unable to find the third diamond anywhere on the frozen roundabout. Then, Sam arrives on the moose to confront Zeebad and tries to make a stand and charge against Zeebad. However, Zeebad quickly overpowers him by freezing the moose and striking Sam in the chest, fatally wounding him. Having learned Sam was in fact on the roundabout, Zeebad discovers that the third diamond is and always was hidden inside Sam, and removes it from Sam, which ends his life as a result.

Just as Dougal and the gang finally make it back to the village, Zeebad, with all three diamonds now in his possession, uses the diamonds to complete his powers' freezing effect on the world by freezing the sun. When the gang are ready to admit defeat and accept their fate, Dylan finally snaps and intervenes by pelting Zeebad with a snowball, causing the maniacal ice wizard tries to attack him. After Zeebad zapped Ermintrude's tail which makes her scream in agony makes a crack in the ice, Dougal discovers a way to break the ice off the roundabout and he and Brian get Ermintrude to use her singing to shatter most of the ice off the roundabout to free those who are trapped and uncovering the diamond slots, as well as freeing the moose.

With the gang ready to face Zeebad and refusing to give up, they get past his attacks to the diamonds, getting each of them one-by-one into their places on the roundabout until only the third diamond is left. Though Zeebad beats the gang to the diamond and seemingly secures his victory, Dylan tries to use Zebedee's magic box on him, but it seemingly has no effect, and the gang are ready to accept defeat. Fortunately, the timely arrival of a healed Train, runs Zeebad over and knocks the diamond away in the air. Dougal chases after it, wanting to reverse his mistake and simultaneously redeem himself, while dodging Zeebad's ice blasts, and head-butts it in the roundabout's final slot. With all three diamonds placed on the roundabout, Zeebad is re-imprisoned by the magic of the diamonds and the roundabout which thaws the world back to normal. Meanwhile, Zebedee is revealed to have survived the fall from his battle with Zeebad and he manages to break himself free from the ice as it slowly melts before he springs his way back to village.

With the roundabout restored back to its former glory and the world thawed from Zeebad's icy magic with the sun shining again, the gang begins to celebrate until Dougal asks about Florence, who is seemingly lifeless due to the freezing conditions after being trapped in the roundabout. An anguished and desperate Dougal tries to wake her up, begging her not to leave him. When he licks her face, she begins to move. Seeing this, Dougal manages to revive Florence by licking her face until she wakes up and regains consciousness much to the relief of Dougal and everybody. Florence thanks Dougal for saving her life and everyone else's and offers him a reward, but he declines, saying that he has learnt his lesson. As Florence wonders where Zebedee is, he returns to the village to everybody's joy.

As everyone goes for a ride on the Magic Roundabout, they discover it still doesn't work, because Sam is still missing. As everyone turns to the lifeless Sam, Dougal still holds a grudge against him as he was Zeebad's henchman, but Zebedee tells him not to be too hard with Sam as he is the victim of Zeebad's maniacal magic. With that, Zebedee removes the third diamond from its slot on the roundabout and places it back inside Sam, resurrecting him back to life before reverting him to his inanimate form, and returning him back on his place on the roundabout. This allows the Magic Roundabout to function once again and for everyone to finally go for a ride. The moose is restored to his true colour by Zebedee just before Mr Grimsdale shows up with the things that Dougal has requested, only to discover the dog is on the roundabout and hiding awkwardly from him.

As the roundabout revolves, Dougal, who vowed to give up sugar when it seemed all was lost, forgets his former pledge completely when Florence nevertheless wants to reward him with a cube of sugar for saving her life and the world, but now realizes the true value of his friends and the good qualities of selflessness, courage, and humility.

In the first mid-credits scene, Zeebad wakes up to find himself back in his prison once again, which to his chagrin, is a molten lava cave far underground. In the second mid-credits scene, Zebedee delivers his famous catchphrase to the audience, "Time for bed", before disappearing.

Characters

• Dougal
• Florence
• Zebedee
• Brian
• Ermintrude
• Dylan
• Mr Rusty
• Basil and Coral
• Mr Grimsdale
• Zeebad
• Soldier Sam
• Moose
• The Skeleton Guards

Cast

United Kingdom

• Robbie Williams - Dougal
• Kylie Minogue - Florence
• Jim Broadbent - Brian
• Joanna Lumley - Ermintrude
• Bill Nighy - Dylan
• Lee Evans - Train
• Ian McKellen - Zebedee
• Tom Baker - Zeebad
• Ray Winstone - Soldier Sam
• Ediz Mahmut - Basil
• Daniella Loftus - Coral
• Jimmy Hibbert - Mr Rusty / Mr Grimsdale / Additional Voices

United States

• Daniel Tay - Doogal
• Kylie Minogue - Florence (Re-voiced in an American accent, with some of her lines changed)
• William H. Macy - Brian
• Whoopi Goldberg - Ermintrude
• Jimmy Fallon - Dylan
• Chevy Chase - Train
• Ian McKellen - Zebedee (Retained from the UK version)
• Jon Stewart - Zeebad
• Bill Hader - Soldier Sam
• Kevin Smith - Moose (completely silent in the French and British versions)
• Judi Dench - Narrator
• Eric Robinson - Basil
• Heidi Brook Myers - Coral
• Cory Edwards - Mr Rusty / Additional Voices
• John Krasinski - Mr Grimsdale / Additional Voices

France

• Henri Salvador - Pollux
• Vanessa Paradis - Margote
• Dany Boon - Ambroise
• Valérie Lemercier - Azalée
• Eddy Mitchell - Flappy
• Élie Semoun - Zébulon
• Michel Galabru - Zabadie
• Gérard Jugnot - Soldier Sam

Production

The idea of the animated film adaptation of The Magic Roundabout was brought up by Action Synthese. With more than 140 people contributing, the development started in May 2000 and lasted until December 2001. Around the same time, the animation studio decided to wait until they have developed all the characters along with the animation tests before they manage to get Pathé Pictures to finance the film production. During 2002, the film was in pre-production until the actual production commenced and lasted for 33 months.

Animation

The film was mainly animated in Marseille, France where Action Synthese is headquartered. According to Frédéric Bonometti, the director of animation, the animators chose to animate the characters with key-framing instead of motion capture as they didn't want the animation to be too close to reality, and they use real movements as inspiration when animating the characters. They first started using 3DSMax, although it was used to develop the characters, but the interface was not fast enough for the animators as they struggled to animate. Instead, they chose to switch to Softimage XSI which was much easier for the animators in working conditions and saving time in development.

When animating the hair for the characters, mainly for Dougal because of his fur, the animators used three techniques. They first tried the envelope tool which was simple and effective, then they used a second technique, which is the Hairs Dynamic in XSI, which was used for Dylan's tuffs of hair, but it caused technical problems causing the animators to abandon the technique mostly. The third technique that the animators use is a mesh that serves as a deformation cage for the characters' hair. This was used for Florence's hair as well as Coral's pigtails.

Because Florence's skirt and Coral's dress are the only clothes that require animation, the animators didn't use clothing simulator and instead use a series of bones in rotation around the skirt which deforms it via envelope tool and automatically calculates when the dress collides with the legs.

For special effects such as explosions, smoke and clouds, the animators use simple geometrical shapes as placeholders and reference points in space and time for the effect specialists.

As the animation is being made and rendered in Softimage XSI on the hardware provided by Hewlett-Packard, Avid Technology participated with Softimage to help with the animation and rendering of Dougal's fur. Films Action relied on Avid during the animation and rendering process.

Critical Reception

Upon its release in Europe, the original UK and French dub of the film received positive-to-mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 60% based on five critical reviews (three positive and two negative) with an average score of 5.14/10.

Joe Utichi of FilmFocus wrote: "For all its undeniable promise, this take on The Magic Roundabout is just plain disastrous in its execution." Stella Papamichael of BBC Online stated that "the story isn't inherently funny, relevant, or convincing. Essentially it's too 'dumbed down', tragically bypassing the cheeky 60s subtext of the original TV show and sapping its nostalgia value".

Time Out wrote: "The story’s clearly aimed at the Teletubbies fraternity who would never question a scenario as ridiculous as this ... granted, the level of computer animation isn’t exactly state-of-the-art, but it’s certainly florid enough to captivate undemanding five-year-olds ... [Robbie Williams] and Bill Nighy’s stoned rabbit help transform what should have been an unendurable fiasco into an, albeit forgettable, treat for toddlers. And toddlers only.

William Thomas of Empire wrote: "this version is far slicker and attempts a bit of Hollywood-style action-adventure grandstanding, but it works both as a trip down memory lane and as an entertaining movie for (very) young children".

In 2011, Total Film included it in the list of the "50 worst children's movies ever made", specifically for its poor CGI designs of each character and containing a couple of drug references.

Doogal (United States)

Doogal
Second American theatrical release poster
Overview
Writer	Butch Hartman (later rewritten without his consent by Harvey Weinstein) Cory Edwards
Narrator	Judi Dench
Music	Mark Thomas James L. Venable (Additional music)
Distributor	The Weinstein Company
Release Date	24 February 2006
Runtime	78 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

According to William H. Macy, the voice of Brian in the US dub, Harvey Weinstein saw the film and decided to do an American version. In 2004 as the animated film was completing production, Miramax acquired the North and South American film rights to the animated film where this was announced by Francois Ivernel, the managing director of Pathé UK. Unfortunately, as Miramax was being owned by The Walt Disney Company at the time, Bob and Harvey Weinstein left Miramax and established their new film production company called The Weinstein Company where the production of the US version resumes from there.

On 24 February 2006, the film was released in the United States as Doogal, and was distributed by The Weinstein Company. In the United States version, where audiences aren't as familiar with the series, the majority of original United Kingdom voices have been dubbed over by celebrities more familiar to the United States, such as Chevy Chase (Train), Jimmy Fallon (Dylan), Whoopi Goldberg (Ermintrude), William H. Macy (Brian), and Jon Stewart (Zeebad). Daniel Tay plays the titular character in the United States dub.

Only two original voices remained those of Kylie Minogue and Ian McKellen, Minogue, however, re-voiced her own lines with an American accent. The United States version also features Kevin Smith (Moose) and Judi Dench (narrator).

Butch Hartman (The Fairly OddParents) rewrote the dialogue in the film to make it more appealing to American audiences, but in the end, most of his rewrites were discarded by producer Harvey Weinstein (he later claimed that only 3% of his rewrites were accepted in the final version), and instead, the final version had numerous references to popular culture and flatulence jokes, which weren't in his initial script. Hartman revealed in a 2017 interview during the Weinstein scandal that the film was originally supposed to include a live-action frame story similar to The Princess Bride but was scrapped due to budget costs. Hartman also stated that the original U.S. film poster had his name and his production company Billionfold Inc. on it, until they were removed on later posters in copyright favour of Pathé and Action Synthese’s credits.

Reception

Doogal was panned by critics, and is considered one of the worst animated movies ever made. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received an aggregate score of 8% based on 49 reviews (4 "fresh" and 45 "rotten"), with the consensus: "Overloaded with pop culture references, but lacking in compelling characters and plot, Doogal is too simple-minded even for the kiddies."; the website ranked it the 82nd worst reviewed movie of the 2000s. It has a score of 23 out of 100 ("generally unfavorable") on Metacritic, and an F rating from Entertainment Weekly writing that "very young children should be angry... where is it written that 4-year-olds don't deserve a good story, decent characters, and a modicum of coherence?". It was placed #5 on Ebert & Roeper's Worst of 2006. Michael Phillip of the Chicago Tribune falsely blamed the final outcome of the film on Butch Hartman and described it as "Eighty-five minutes you'll never get back."

Randy Miller of DVD Talk says that: "Doogal is, after all, one of the worst excuses for a children's film during this or any year---and if you're really looking for an in-depth analysis of why it's so awful, you don't have to look hard. Filled to the brim with pop culture references and other such gags that'll be even less funny a few years from now, it's like Shrek without the occasional bit of charm and surprise."

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "The key frame animation, based on three-dimensional models, is rudimentary, with none of the characters proving visually arresting."

Ned Martel of The New York Times wrote "In Doogal setting the world right again involves a badly paced quest for three diamonds, assorted jokes that don't land, and a daringly incoherent climactic confrontation". SFGate also wrote that the original show this film was based on “sounds like a sex film.”

On November 10th, 2017, writer Butch Hartman revealed in a interview during the Weinstein scandal discussing Doogal's development in his personal YouTube channel expressed long-harbored remorse for his involvement, where he revealed that most of his script was actually rewritten without his consent by Harvey Weinstein and his distribution company The Weinstein Company with a screenplay by Hoodwinked! co-director Cory Edwards; he also claimed that only 3% of his original script made it into the final film.

Box Office

Despite receiving positive reviews within the mixed reception upon release, the original version (both French and UK) underperformed as it received $19.3m in Europe against the budget of $20m. On the opening weekend in the UK, it grossed £1,252,322 ($2.9m), ranking third in between Ocean's Twelve and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, while overtaking the latter animated film in the UK animation chart. At the end of April 2005, the UK version gathered £5.866m ($7.412m) at the UK box office.

The American version, Doogal, was a box office bomb, earning only $7.438m . In contrast, the original version grossed more than the American dub. In total, the profits that all versions earned at the box office add up to $26.7m.

List of countries that released the original version

• United Kingdom (The Magic Roundabout)
• Ireland (The Magic Roundabout)
• France (Pollux - Le manège enchanté)
• Netherlands (De magische draaimolen)
• Spain (El tiovivo mágico)
• Portugal (Franjinhas e o carrossel mágico)
• Croatia (Čarobni vrtuljak)
• Serbia (The Magic Roundabout)
• Poland (Magiczna karuzela)
• Israel (קרוסלת הקסמים)
• Hungary (A bűvös körhinta)
• Turkey (Doogal'in - Sihirli yolculuğu)
• Thailand (Doogal - ดูกอล เหล่าสหายหัวใจฮีโร่)
• Canada (Pollux - Le manège enchanté)
• Russia (Волшебное приключение)
• Czech Republic (Kouzelný Kolotoć)
• Slovakia (Čarovný Kolotoć)
• Bulgaria (Вълшебната въртележка)
• Greece (Το μαγικό καρουζέλ)
• Romania (The Magic Roundabout)
• North Macedonia (The Magic Roundabout)
• Slovenia (The Magic Roundabout)
• South Korea (두갈: 마법의 회전목마)
• Estonia (Võlukarussell)

List of countries that released the edited American version

• United States (Doogal)
• Canada (Doogal)
• Mexico (and the rest of South America) (Doogal - Aventuras peludas)
• Brazil (Dogão - Amigo pra Cachorro)

Trivia

• A sequel was in development by the animation studio Action Synthese around the time the 2005 film was being completed before its release, but the studio folded before it was completed due to its bankruptcy following its compulsory liquidation in 2013, resulting the film's planned sequel to be scrapped, along with the studio's planned films in development, which are "Stupid Invaders" and the animated adaptation of "The Wizard of Oz".
• This film marks the first for several things:
  • The first Magic Roundabout production to be animated exclusively in CGI by Action Synthese.
  • The first Magic Roundabout production in the UK to feature separate voice actors for the characters and with no narrator. This practice would carry over to the 2007 revival series.
  • The first time the titular roundabout and the setting were redesigned. Though the coloured trees still make an appearance as wallpaper in Florence’s house.
  • The first time the characters are redesigned but keeping true to the original character designs.
  • The first appearances of Coral, Soldier Sam and Mr Grimsdale who would later go on as recurring characters in the 2007 revival series.
  • The first time the titular roundabout breaks down and stops working. It is also the first time Dougal had caused it to break down.
  • The first Magic Roundabout production to be distributed by Pathé, which is also the first time it was distributed in both UK and France.
  • The first Magic Roundabout production to be produced in 1.78:1 widescreen, despite being cropped to 1.85:1.
• This film marks the only of a few things:
  • The only theatrical film animated and produced by Action Synthese.
  • The only appearance of Zeebad as he was created solely for the film’s main antagonist.
  • The only time Mr McHenry does not make an appearance. He was absent for unknown reasons and was somewhat replaced by Mr Grimsdale, who has the gardener’s French name in the French version.
  • The only film that has a theatrical American version.
• This film marks the last of a few things:
  • The last Magic Roundabout production where Zebedee says his catchphrase in the franchise, as he says it in a mid-credits scene at the end of the film.
  • The last Magic Roundabout production to be released on VHS in the UK.
  • The last Magic Roundabout production to be theatrically released in UK and France.
• This film marks the 40th anniversary of the year when the British version of the original series made its broadcast on British television in 1965.
• When the Weinstein Company folded due to bankruptcy, the film rights to its US Dub Doogal (along with the entire studio's library) was transferred to Lantern Entertainment with Lionsgate currently handling distribution as part of a 20% acquisition stake in Spyglass Media Group (of which Lantern helped revived and made an investment that included licensing TWC library).
• The franchise logo design was changed to coincide with the reboot. The font used for this logo is MVB Bovine. While Times New Roman was used for the first part of the opening credits and the closing credits, the font was also used for the opening credits sequence after the film’s title.
• The film takes place around the course of four days and three nights.
• Richard O’Brien was originally going to play Zebedee.
• Several characters have dialogue that references previous roles. Robbie Williams' Dougal states he likes Florence, as he "offers her protection", a line from his song "Angels".
• Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue, the respective voices of Dougal and Florence, recorded their dialogue in 2002 when the film was in production.
  • Williams and Minogue had collaborated together earlier in 2000 with their duet song "Kids".
• The lines on either sides of Zeebad's head resemble a cartoon drawing of a Christmas tree without decorations, Zeebad's intentions include making the world a permanent winter, the season in which Christmas takes place.
• Some countries would release the original version of the film dubbed while using the American title such as Turkey.
• During development, the English working title is called "Sprung! The Magic Roundabout", however even after the movie is released, the working title would still be used on many movie sites leading to misconfusion by Americans.
  • This was even proven through popular YouTuber, RebelTaxi in his review of the American version where he referred the working title of the UK version and not the final title.
• The film got a theatrical release in South Korea 9 years after the film's UK and France release and a year after Action Synthese went bankrupt.
• Most pirated sources of the original version would use credits from the French version while using audio from the English version. Most likely due to the ripper using BD ripping software that doesn't support multi-angle video, which is actually used in the Blu-ray release to display the credits and the title depending on what language you chose in the menu.
• There exists a bootleg Persian dub of the original version, which was common in Iran where dubbing studios would dub movies and TV shows without permission from the distributors since American companies would refuse to release films and TV shows into that country due to political reasons and under pressure from the state.
• There exists a hoax on the internet during the early-2010s that Shout! Factory was planning to release the original British version for the first time on Blu-ray, however even after the Harvey Weinstein scandal, there are no plans to release the original version to the USA yet.
• Work print versions of both the rocky bridge and train chase scenes with different takes of dialogue and lack of sound effects were leaked by the film's composer.
• For the film's teaser trailer, a recreation of the 1973-79 BBC2 Clock was used in place of the Pathé logo, with "BBC2 COLOUR" being replaced with "PATHE", on a vintage TV set before the original series' theme tune by Alain Legrand plays until the TV set cracks and explodes. This was made as a direct reference to the original show's tradition of being aired before the evening news on BBC1 at the time. Strangely, the BBC2 clock was used for this logo variation rather than the BBC1 clock.
• The film first aired on BBC One on 21 March 2008, and aired it the second time that year on 30 December 2008. A year later, BBC One aired the film the last time on 31 December 2009. BBC Two aired the film on Christmas Day 2011 and on 4 January 2013 while BBC Three aired the film on 27th July 2012.
  • Outside of the BBC, it was also aired on Comedy Central on an unknown date in 2014 and on Nickelodeon UK on 14 July 2012 .
  • In all airings, the closing credits are trimmed and edited (which was done to fit with the programme schedule) and the mid-credits scene with Zebedee is moved right to the end.
• To promote the film, several merchandise was released in late 2004 such as stuffed toys from Vivid Imaginations, small figurines from Berchet, small action figures from KFC, pencil toppers from Kellogg's and a promotional CD-ROM from AOL.
  • Coincidentally, Joanna Lumley, who provided the voice of Ermintrude in the film, also provided the voice of the AOL service on UK builds of it.
  • TWC accompanied a marketing campaign with McDonald's to release toys as part of the McDonald's Happy Meal to help promote the theatrical release.
• Coincidentally, Elie Semoun, who provided the voice of Zebedee in the French dub, also provided the voice of Fender in the French dub of Robots, a film which came out the same time as this film, especially with both characters having red skin colours.
  • Another coincidence is that Jim Broadbent, who voiced Brian, also voiced both Madame Gasket in the original English version of said film and Sergeant Monty in the Vanguard Animation film, Valiant, which also came out at the same time as the latter two.
• Jim Broadbent and Joanna Lumley had earlier collaborated together on the 1999 Red Nose Day Charity Special "Doctor Who: The Curse of Fatal Death".
  • Coincidentally, Tom Baker, who provided the voice of Zeebad and also provided the narrations of the Magical Mysteries Quiz Game and two behind-the-scenes featurettes, also starred in Doctor Who as the Fourth Doctor.
  • Another coincidence with the UK cast is that Kylie Minogue, Ian McKellen, Lee Evans, and Bill Nighy also guest star in the TV series.
• Jim Broadbent and Kylie Minogue also starred in Moulin Rouge! which is a coincidence, because Broadbent and Minogue will later star in the 2005 film to respectively voice Brian and Florence.
• Joanna Lumley and Ian McKellen are the two of the UK cast who made brief appearances in the Granada Television soap opera Coronation Street.
  • Joanna Lumley played Elaine Perkins in eight episodes in between July and August 1973 while Ian McKellen played Lionel Hipkis in ten episodes in May 2005, which is roughly three months after the 2005 film came out in cinemas.
  • Another coincidence is that Jimmy Hibbert, who voices Mr Rusty, Mr Grimsdale and the Skeleton Guards, also played three minor roles and voiced six minor roles in Coronation Street.
• Bill Nighy, who voiced Dylan and Ian McKellen, whose Zebedee would later go on to appear together in the 2006 DreamWorks and Aardman film, Flushed Away, voicing both Whitey and Toad, respectively.
• It is unknown as to why both the original and the American version were released at the same time in Canada, but there could possibly be any reasons.
  • Alliance Atlantis couldn't have time to produce a Canadian French dub of Doogal, so Pathé sent them the original version dubbed in French so it can allow a release for French-speaking parts of the country.
  • Considering that the original series was shown on French-language kids blocks on Canadian television, it could be possible that Alliance Atlantis was planning to release both the original English and French versions of the film, but due to realizing that they own distribution rights to films released by Harvey Weinstein's companies to Canada, they have no choice but to allow the American version to be shown across the country while releasing the French version to French-speaking parts of it at the same time, possibly due to still having rights to it, especially if it was the case for people in Canada who remember watching the original series in French.
• The song "Believe Yourself" bears a striking resemblance to Junkie XL's remix of the Elvis Presley song "A Little Less Conversation", with its big beat style, the melody, an Elvis impersonator singing the song, and its similarities to its backing vocals.
• It was reported that Patrick Allen, known for providing narration for both the Protect and Survive instructional films and the animated series Tugs, provided an uncredited voice role of the Skeletons. However, this has yet to be confirmed.
• When the film is made available on Netflix, it has the US dub instead of the original version, despite having the original title listed.
• The American version was rated G by the Motion Picture Association of America.

Goofs

• When Dylan nearly falls asleep while supposed to be playing his guitar for Ermintrude and after getting slapped by her tail, he immediately comes round and starts to play and sing a cover of "You Really Got Me". However, Dylan is playing his acoustic guitar as the song clearly has an electric guitar. This is particularly noticeable during his solo and the start of the song.
• Mr Grimsdale's cart still operates properly despite one of the wheels being popped.
• During the angle shot where the cart crashes into the roof of the roundabout, before the collision if one looks carefully, the flagpole seems to be rotating with the roundabout roof. It wasn't nearly as noticeable due to it being cropped out of the camera frame.
• After the cart crashed into the roof of the roundabout and explodes, a chunk of the roundabout boarding was shattered and left an area of the boarding charred. During the shot where Mr Rusty runs to the roundabout to shut it down, the boarding seems to be complete and unharmed. But in the shot where Zeebad flies out through the hole in the roof, the boarding was seen in its damaged state with a chunk missing and charred parts. During the shot where the roundabout freezes over if one pauses at the right frame or looks carefully, the boarding underneath the ice is complete but the area where the cart exploded is still charred. But in the scene towards the end of the film where Zeebad is being reimprisoned, the boarding is back in its charred and damaged state.
• The figurines in between Solider Sam on top of the roundabout change places at some points during the scene where Mr Grimsdale's motorbike damages the roundabout and releases Zeebad, and the scene when Sam is returned back on the roundabout, as well as the shot panning from the roundabout roof to everyone riding the roundabout in the final scene.
• When the roundabout stops spinning as it freezes over, it stops at the position where the damaged section of the roof - at the area where Soldier Sam is along with the third diamond slot - is facing the clock tower and the shop and remains in that position throughout the film. After the roundabout is restored and Zebedee returns Sam back on the roundabout, the roundabout had changed position where Sam's place is facing the other village buildings instead of the clock tower and the shop.
• After Train has managed to get across the narrow crumbling bridge over the river of lava in the volcano, he slouches down in relief. In the next shot where the gang are heading to the podium where the first diamond is held, Train appears to be standing up straight and looking normal.
• When Sam charges into the village to fight Zeebad where he gets overpowered and killed, his body lies in the front of the frozen clock tower and shop, and just a distance away from the frozen roundabout. Later, when the roundabout still doesn't work because Sam is missing, his body is now at the lamppost on a small grass area just at the other side of the roundabout.
• After Sam is killed by Zeebad, the colours on his face and body desaturate to symbolise his death. In the shots where Sam is lying lifeless, the colours on his body are normal. When Zebedee picks up Sam to put the third diamond back in his body, the colours are desaturated again.
• When the magic currents from the Magic Roundabout melt the remaining ice that is encasing the roundabout after Dougal placed the third diamond in its slot, there does not appear to be anybody inside it.
• When Sam is returned to his place on the roundabout which spins again, but in the shot where Dougal, Florence and their friends get on the roundabout to ride it, one of the places on top of the roundabout is surprisingly vacant.
• At some points in the film, the characters wouldn't even animate, notably in the final scene where characters froze until they come close to the camera and they start animating and in the final shot where Brian can seen staring at the camera without moving an inch as Dougal looks at the camera before cutting to the end credits.
• In the ending of the film when everybody's riding the roundabout as it spins, Ermintrude is standing next to Brian. In the final shot where Dougal is eating his sugar lump, Ermintrude is nowhere to be seen.

Version differences

Between French and British versions

• Train is completely silent in the French version, despite having dialogue in the French version of the original series. As a result, the French version includes additional sound effects for Train which would've symbolized his reactions.
• There are some slight alterations in the soundtrack in the French version compared to the English version and other international dubs:
  • Most of the copyrighted songs are completely replaced in the French version, with "You Really Got Me" being the only exception, as they are given new French lyrics.
  • The French version plays a French-language cover of the title song by Kylie Minogue during the opening credits, while the British and American versions instead play "Magic" by Pilot.
  • The English version features the song "Mr. Blue Sky" by Electric Light Orchestra during the flashback scene, however it was replaced in the French version with "Le Ciel Était Toujours Bleu" by Henri Salvador, possibly due to copyright reasons. Despite this, the French trailer features the movie's version of ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky".
  • All of Andrea Remanda's songs have either been completely muted or replaced with either Mark Thomas' unused score or covers of it.
  • There is no music when Brian yells "Chaaaaaaarge!" in the French version.
  • The opening theme from the tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra was used in the English version when the gang return to see Zeebad using the three diamonds to freeze the sun.
  • In the French version, "Sucré" continues to play throughout the final roundabout sequence, ending with the first pre-credits sequence with Zeebad. In the British version, "Sugar, Sugar" plays up until Mr Rusty laughs at Mr Grimsdale, switching to the aforementioned Kylie Minogue song.
  • Many of Mark Thomas' emotional parts of the score have also been replaced.
• The "time for bed" scene is not present in the French version.
• As there was a goof where Dylan doesn't move his mouth when he says "Look.", he doesn't say it in the French version.
  • Although this was a fix, there was also some lines that have been added that wasn't in the original British version, or changed.
• Zebedee would now say his catchphrase "Tournicoti, tournicoton!" whenever he was about to show up on screen in the French version.
• The Action Synthese logo doesn't have any sound effects.
• In the French version, Zebedee's dialogue has a phaser effect, indicating that he could possibly be some sort of spirit.

American version

• The film looks slightly darker in terms of brightness and contrast as well as having a brownish-orange tint.
• Zebedee's nightmare, the opening sequence, Ermintrude's concert, and various other scenes are shortened for time, making this version 3-5 minutes shorter than the original editions.
• Narration by Judi Dench is heard throughout the film.
  • The narration also tells the audience that Zebedee's reason for not joining with Doogal and the others on their quest was because he went to search for Zeebad; in the original, it was because he had to stay behind to guard the roundabout.
• "Dougal" is spelt as "Doogal" in this version, possibly to prevent any mispronunciation with the voice actors.
• Several cartoony sound effects were added in much of the scenes.
• Much of the original dialogue is changed, with the main addition of pop culture references, which have been added by Hoodwinked! co-director Cory Edwards.
  • During the train chase scene, Zeebad inconsiderably calls Train "Thomas the Tank Engine", a reference to the 1945 book series, The Railway Series by Rev. W. Awdry, as well as the Thomas & Friends TV series. Coincidentally, the 2007 revival series would also air on Thomas’s UK satellite broadcaster at the time, Nick Jr.
  • In another scene, Zeebad says "D'oh!" after getting hit with Brian's love heart, which is a reference to the 1989 animated TV series The Simpsons. Soldier Sam also does the same thing after getting hit with his cane.
  • Upon discovery of the hidden tunnel, Zeebad exclaims “Well, someone’s been watching CSI”.
  • During the temple scene, Dylan mentions Pink Floyd, Morpheus and Neo from The Matrix, John Woo, Wu-Tang Clan, and The Karate Kid.
  • Ermintrude says of the skeletons, “Lookin’ all Dawn of the Dead and everything”, referencing Dawn of the Dead.
  • While the Train struggles to climb onto the ledge of rocky bridge, he repeatedly chants “I think I can”, which is a reference to both Casey Junior from the 1941 RKO/Disney film Dumbo and the titular character from the story The Little Engine That Could.
  • As soon as Dylan discovers the blue diamond, he lustfully claims, “My precious”, and then quickly states, “Ha, kidding.”, referencing The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
  • One scene where of the skeletons says "Here’s Johnny" from The Shining, another says, "Bring out the dead!" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and when one skeleton mentions Pirates of the Caribbean, another tells the other "Hey, I thought we said no Disney jokes", and one yells "Wazzup" from Scary Movie.
  • During the camping scene, Brian mentions Master Chief from Halo.
  • At one point of the aforementioned camping scene, Dylan says “What’s up, Doc?”, which is Bugs Bunny’s catchphrase.
  • Zeebad also mentions Star Trek and Austin Powers in the beginning of the chase scene.
  • After being approached by the Skeleton Lord, Doogal mentions Hogwarts and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named from the Harry Potter series.
  • As soon as Train is summoned the first time by Zebedee, he says, "I'm the train, and you're not", which references Saturday Night Live.
  • Dylan mentions two brands of candy bars in one scene: Snickers and Three Musketeers.
• Some bits of the original music is changed or removed, as well as some of the sound effects. Additional music by James L. Venable is also added in.
• Many British words are changed to more American words, such as "roundabout" being changed to "carousel" or "merry-go-round". These changes were made to help make the film more appealing to American audiences.
• Additional dialogue and various one-liners are added into scenes that were originally silent.
  • Relating to the above, characters such as the Moose and the Skeletons are given dialogue despite being silent in the original.
• Farting sound effects are added in for the Moose as a new running gag of him constantly breaking wind.
• Train is given much less dialogue than in the original version, possibly due to time constraints and the narration.
• Many scenes and clips were deleted and switched around in the final U.S. edition.
  • Every shot of Zeebad's ice palace is cut; glimpses of the palace can be seen in the background in a few shots, but is not shown in full view.
  • During the scene of Zeebad trying to interrogate Doogal, a brief flashback depicting Florence trapped in the icy carousel is shown.
  • A sequence that featured Doogal dreaming about being home with Florence and having fun with his friends was moved to the very end of the film, serving it as the ending to the movie; this sequence features the song “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra.
  • The gang find out the third diamond is hidden in the carousel through hieroglyphics at the temple; in the original version, Zebedee already informed them that it was there before they set off on their journey.
  • An entire scene in which Doogal has a nightmare about Florence is cut.
  • A scene where Doogal and the others are wandering through the frozen village before encountering Zeebad is removed.
  • Instead of Brian, it is Doogal who finds the village.
  • The scene where Zebedee is revealed to be alive is shown after Florence questions where he is; in the original it was shown right after Zeebad was defeated.
  • A scene where the characters try to celebrate their victory by riding on the roundabout only to see it won't work due to Sam not being part of it is removed.
• Behind the scenes footage of the American actors recording for the film is added into the end credits.
• A mid-credit scene of Zeebad in his prison is completely removed.
• An additional song entitled “Simply Wonderful” by Andrea Remanda and Goldust is added into the credits.
• A second mid-credit scene of Zebedee saying to the audience "Time for bed" is moved to the end of the credits.

Other versions

• On Hungarian, Czech and Slovak dubs, there would be a voiceover translating the film's title and then list the voice actors from those dubs during the opening credits. Sometimes they would also read the posters and the "Stars" magazine as well, either by voiceover or by the characters. Then, during the credits, the voiceover would list the credits of the dub.
• Since Pathé only sent both A-film and Central Partnership stereo mixes of both the original English and dubbing tracks, both the Dutch dub and both the English option and the Russian voiceover on the Russian DVD release had an entirely new 5.1 mix, except for the Dutch release where the original 5.1 mix of the English dub from the UK DVD release was used.
• In the European Portuguese dub, all of the characters have been completely renamed.
• In the European Spanish dub, a quarter of a second of the movie was missing, and that happens between a cut to black after Zeebad was sent back to the roundabout and the fade in when we see Zebedee waking up as the ice melts.
• In Czech, Hungarian and Greek dubs, the Toreador song was translated in said languages, except for the latter where Ermintrude is just scatting.
• In the Dutch dub, the opening and closing credits were translated into Dutch very poorly, as the same text format and font was used on all of them, including the title, which includes a text transition effect, rather than re-create them using CGI software. Also, "You Really Got Me" was given Dutch lyrics.
• In the Czech dub, during the Pathé logo, there was a voiceover saying, "SPI International uvádi...".
• In the Slovak dub, during the opening credits, there was a voiceover saying, "SPI International uvádza...Čarovný Kolotoć"
• In the Hungarian dub, Zebedee doesn't say his first few lines.
• In the Turkish dub, the dialogue is quieter, resulting in inaudibility during the louder scenes. It also suffered from the worst quality of voice acting in it, mostly from Zebedee.
• In the Korean dub, during the Action Synthese logo, logos for BrunchMate Film Company and BridgeWorks Entertainment can be seen at the bottom fading in and out between. Also, during the opening credits, the Korean title was shown. However, once the logo disappears, it cuts back to the English version showing the original voice cast, since the rest of the film still retains the original English credits. The only other addition was that there was burnt-in subtitles for the Toreador and "You Really Got Me" songs, and when Ermintrude sings "Mr. Blue Sky". Also, Dougal was voiced by a female in the dub, most likely to understand that he was a child, similar to the American dub, as well as other foreign dubs to animated films such as the Russian dub of Valiant and the Japanese dub of Chicken Little. In addition, most of the ambience heard throughout the film is muted entirely. This was most likely an accident done by the dubbing studio.
• On both Korean and European Portuguese dubs of the film, the film immediately begins when the Pathé logo fades in, resulting in the first few seconds of the score cut out.
• On the Hebrew dub, there are some heavy reverb effects heard throughout the dialogue. Also, all of the audio channels would sometimes be off-sync. This could've been an audio processing error.
• On the European Portuguese dub, Dougal sounds more like a male teenager. There could be possibilities that the dubbing studio got an actual teenager to voice Dougal.
• On the Slovak dub, Dougal's voice is deeper, sounding more like a middle-aged man.
• The Latin American Spanish dub of Doogal has most of the pop cultural references said by the characters removed.